At 40, life's icons begin to disappear

Independence Institute ^ | 9/13/05 | Jon Caldera

[lugsoul]

Two words. Nels Cline.

[Born Conservative]

Not to mention H.R. Puff n' Stuff, Snagglepuss (exit, staaaage right), Underdog, Charlie's Angels, Three's Company, etc....

[PaulaB]

My fav

Comin' Under Fire
Pyromania-1983

[WhiteGuy]

I guess the author has forgotten about The Ramones and The Rocky Horror Picture Show...................

[BossLady]

I am with you on that Jimmy Carter thing! Ugh!!

I clearly remember Watergate and watching Vietnam on TV....that really affected me growing up.

[Caipirabob]

41? Me, too. I thought Jeanie was waaay hot. Ginger AND Mary Anne, too. Samatha didn't do anything for me.

Mondays everybody would be doing their recreations of the latest SNL skits, especially after one Steve Martin hosted.

LOL! I remember those days, back before when everyone on SNL was openly gay...

Jeez, I can almost hear myself relating it to my children "When I used to watch most of them were straight..."

[MoochPooch]

What about STAR WARS? I'll never forget the long lines.

In spite (or maybe because) of the decadence, the 70s was a great period creatively. Hollywood gave us Spielberg, Lucas, Scorsese, DePalma. The music industry exploded with LP wonders. (Remember LPs?

Punk rock, anyone?

I believe America began its cultural decline in the early 80s. By then, I no longer cared about any shared icons.

[Vor Lady]

Let's do the Time Warp Again....

[codyjacksmom]

"70's & Disco - oh yes, I was the roller skating queen in the 70's... those were the good ol days."

I was a skating queen too...there was nothing like it, especially when a cute guy would come up and ask me to slow skate. What great memories!!! My kids laugh too, but it really was good.

[RepoGirl]

Heheheh, I love your posts on this thread. I am so there, babe!

I just turned 37 last week. This weekend, I was parked out front of a Subway sandwich shop, waiting for the hubby to pick up lunch. My two year old daughter was in her car seat in the back of the truck.

The only radio station I can stomach is the Classic Rock one. While we were sitting in the car, Eruption starts playing. Now, I wasn't a metal girl. I was a punk as far back as 1979. But... Van Halen is another story.

My husband comes out to the car, subs in hand, to find me air guitaring and singing along to "You Really Got Me..." and the best part, our daughter was head banging and clapping along. She likes the Ramones. She's a cool toddler.

The late 70s were sort of fun, especially when new wave peered its pink striped head around the corner. The 80s were an awesome decade. We had Reagan, MTV when it still played music videos and before it started sucking. The 90s were so pretentious and full of cynical irony; the oughties are better, but still problematic. And the music still sucks.

I never had enough hair for Aqua Net, but I did try to get my spikes to stand up with Scrunch Spray and Studio Line! from L'oreal. Manic Panic hair dye, those dorky lace-up jazz oxfords, and parachute pants. Ah... youth!

[Publius6961]

What's a JR?

[Publius6961]

It must be great to be a kid. :^}

You noticed that too?

[Publius6961]

Hay days?

[dakine]

Nostalgic at age 40? What a maroon...start becoming nostalgic in the rocker....

[PaulaB]

Heheheh, I love your posts on this thread. I am so there, babe

Thanks love
I love the 80's and miss them
we had our issues but nothing a guitar solo from a hair band couldn't get us through..

Tesla/Cinderella/Skidrow-Thanks guys for the therapy ;)

[PaulaB]

Hay days

aka -Long hair, jeans with holes, concert t-shirts, spending my whole check just to catch a glimpse of Brett Michaels and other lead singers of that day

;)

[PajamaTruthMafia]

I too just turn 40 and I think we do have one shared experience: Islamic terrorism. It started with the PLO (Olympics, Entebee, Hijackings). Continued with Beirut (kidnappings and bombings), Iran, Libya, Iraq and then 911. I bet lots of us saw them as a big a threat as the USSR....

[ShadowDancer]

Remember waiting all week for Saturday morning cartoons?

God, do I. Omce in a while my mom would buy us a special Saturday morning breakfast treat (usually the assorted generic donuts in the box or if we were REALLY lucky, Honey Buns) and we would park ourselves in front of the TV in the basement with that and our orange juice and feel like God Himself programmed the TV just for us.

[meowmeow]

I'm 41. We had Ronald Reagan...and right when most of us were first starting to think about politics. That's better than all of the other "shared experiences" the author cites put together. ;)

I'm also 41 and have to agree, although I had a thing for Nixon when I was 10. My parents were horrified. But Carter turned them off to democrats forever.

[uncitizen]

My sense is that younger generations may have many more icons,

Yeah. That's what scares me. Better to have no icons, than to have Puff Daddy and Eminem.

I-Pods now allow individuals to become their own station programmers. A million different kids can be watching and listening to a million different things at the same time.

I prefer radio. I like the idea of not knowing what they'll play next. I like asking my husband "who sings that song again?" I like knowing that i'm listening to the same thing as thousands of others. It gives me a sense of community. You know, the old concept of neighborhoods that people of our generation remember are gone. I miss those old neighborhoods. It's unfortunate our kids don't have that.