Is it just me or is nostalgia not what it used to be?
Home »Is it just me or is nostalgia not what it used to be?
I stole that line, it’s the name of a book but I have been thinking about it a lot this week.
At Mix FM, the month of August is dedicated to the 1980s.
We’ve been compiling playlists and have re-installed a turntable in the studio. It’s nice to hear the crackle back on the air.
The 1980s was a glorious decade for me. It began the year I went into Grade 7 and by the end I was married. Which is weird, I agree, but I wouldn’t change it.
All my boyfriends happened in the 80s. I saw more live music, sat in more beer gardens and danced around more loungerooms in the 1980s.
Maybe everyone thinks this about their formative years but I feel like girls took control in the 1980s.
Teenagers had strong female role models on screen, like Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore and Cybill Shepherd. Rock music was female too, Joan Jett, Suzi De Marchi and Chrissie Hynde. We swapped skirts for baggy jeans and polo shirts, cut our hair short and went to uni. We were bold in the 1980’s.
TV was pure escapism. Happy families housing aliens, adopting kids and running the pub at Coopers Crossing.
It seemed to me that Australia got cool in the 80s. Between Olivia Newton-John opening Koala Blue in LA, Crocodile Dundee and Ken Done, we were taking the world by storm.
And media changed, after a generation of waiting for the Sunday Night movie to show us Hollywood blockbusters, the VCR transformed the sleepover. Just like the Walkman transformed music.
With your dual cassette tape deck at the ready, you could call a radio station to request a song, listen out and hit the record button. With high speed dubbing you could create the mix tape of your dreams in minutes. Magic stuff. Complete with tiny messy writing, telling you what was on the cassette.
From 2019 the 1980s certainly feel like a simpler time.
But in 30 years our kids will be saying the same things about this decade too. I just don’t know what they’ll call it, the Teens?
And they’ll be the same as us, they’ll remember when they used to be thinner, more sun drenched and carefree. And with luck they’ll have a radio station to remind them of their heyday.
But I hope, like us, they keep things in perspective. You used to be thinner but now you’re smarter. You used to laugh more but now you’re stronger. You used to be carefree but now you are the boss. You pay for the roof over your head and you protect your own.
It’s okay to look back and smile but be sure to keep your chin pointed forward. The best is yet to come.
Caroline xx
