10 posts tagged “80s”

I finally found one of the tunes I danced to on my prom night in '87 - with my then Malay girlfriend.  I didn't stop dancing for about 3 hours as I knew very well that she wouldn't mind dancing with other guys if I wasn't there to dance with her;).  Well, it was the first time I ever danced - and I haven't stopped since.  Still a danceable tune to me.  Those were the times people actually looked at each other and smiled whilst dancing.  Nice....and still love the tune.  Here are two video-versions of the same song.  Joy's 'Touch by Touch' - another tune I danced to on the 'prom night' follows.

ed

One thing I never did was to mistake 'moving on' for a virtue. 

If I did, that would only makes me little more than a self-negating hologrammatic projection of the billboards of the day.  Do you discard the memories or perspectives of yesterday just because it is a feature of the past.  If we thrived from the nutrition of yesterday, do we not replicate or incorporate it into the diet of today.  Same thing mate, when it comes to the 80s.  Its experimental and critical persona, it's non-arrogant fun-loving spirit, its 'I ain't gonna be sucked up by the corporate machinery' flamboyant attitudes, perspective and fashions (various aspects of which were more a feature of the 60s and 70s), etc, etc, is the kind of perspectival nutrition that enables me to become more of a Renaissance Man than I might otherwise be - one of the reasons why I have spent some perspectival time in the 70s, 60s, 50s, and in various periods of history throughout the world through history, cultural studies, philosophy, etc, etc. So nay, I say, to The Retards who are 'held back' by the present that they can't do as much tomorrow because they have made a virtue out of 'moving on' and hence discarded the perspectival nutrition of the past.

Damn!  I love this song!  Bespeaks of innocence and simplicity.  People laugh at 'kitsch', the 'backward' effects of past music videos, films, etc,....I relish in its simplicity.

Heaven is closer now today
The sound is in my ears
I can't believe the things you say
They echo what I fear
Twisting the bones until they snap
I scream but no one knows
You say I'm familiar cold to touch
And then you turn and go

Feels like heaven...

See how we planned for saddened eyes
And tears to pave the way
I fought the fever as I knew
My hair returned to grey
Study your face and fade the frame
Too close for comfort now
We can recall the harmony
That lingered but turned sour

Feels like heaven...

You wanted all I had to give
See me I feel, see me I live

ed

I've been hunting for this song for about 2 decades.  And finally found it.  It brings back memories of my prom night and dancing non-stop for 3 hours with my girlfriend.  Didn't want to stop as i was afraid she might just dance with another.  I remember a 'friend' of mine, Cris, the suave, always-dancing-on-stage-during-events, sweet-talking(when it came to girls...whether she was 'taken' or not), MJ and Prince-loving guy, and competitor to myself in breakdancing, coming to me whilst I was dancing and asking in as sickly a charming voice he could muster, "Excuse me, may I cut in"?  Me being a straightforward kinda guy, i replied, "NO!" and gave him a firm 'get-lost' push.  Well, actually, i don't remember doing that.  It was him who never forgot and took to reminding me every now and then for the past 20 years about it in a 'how could you dare do that to Me' tone.  We finally became firm friends (for a while) when he called out to me whilst i was queueing for lunch in the army - both of us shorn of our crowning glories (hair).  Well, they do say misery loves company. 

epilogue

'The Girl' married someone else as her family didn't like us being of different religions.

Chris - being deprived of a stable family background from where he could receive validation of his potentials and significance, took to acquiring validation from social circles in ways that might make one popular during one's teen years and got fixated on the same methods....till there was nobody left to applaud an MJ-impersonator or one who was creative as singapore took a turn toward ultra-conformism and uniformity in the late 80s to the present.  Has taken to boozing, working, and waiting for the Grim Reaper, whilst stuck in a loveless marriage to a chinese girl who views life as a means to work as opposed to a means to life - quite the norm here....where interest, imagination and initiative is confined to 'work' as opposed to relationships or life.  Sad isn't it.

ed'sperience

To my young mind, Siouxsie (pronounced 'suzi'), a part of Gothic culture, was the most gorgeous girl I had ever laid eyes on - back in 1984.  The 'Top of the Pops'(british) video-tape was circulating around school from an unknown source and eventually came my way.  I later found out that it belonged to a Michael Jackson follower who didn't really like me because my mischievousness in school sort of, according to him, 'stole his limelight'.  He was quite the MJ-impersonator and could perform his dance steps admirably well and on-stage, but still felt that I 'upstaged' him via my antics off-stage.  We became friends some years later, and remained friends for 20 years till singapore claimed his soul, as it did all my other friends, and he lost his youthful vibrance and curiosity.  When I watched it at home, 'Wow! What a Goddess!', was my personality-induced reflexive ejaculation. 

Why?  Because she reeked sensuality, power, melancholia, composure, danger, and couldn't-care-less, sceptical individualism.  I didn't have much of these words in my vocab then, but that is how I felt.  i must say that her being 'white' or 'western' had nothing to do with it - I was never a 'white' worshipper unlike most of the products of 'post'-colonial society who have mistakenly associated all features and customs of the west with the power they had wielded with 'good' - a natural, but thoughtless human psychological reaction.  I suppose it takes a particular and unfettered upbringing within a particular type of family and a relatively multicultural singapore to engender a character that can appreciate something like that.  Difference/multiculturalism spawns creativity, perspectival vibrance and an appreciation of character as opposed to simple 'looks'.

The following videos further evidence 'multiculturalism', albeit in the western pop sense, in the 80s - different ways of seeing things.  The Goth 'subculture' that took off in the 80s was not so 'sub' that one rarely saw it.  'Sub', back then, meant, 'existing next to the mainstream with almost equal social prominence'.  It didn't catch on in Singapore, but, thankfully, TV programmes from Britain were broadcast more than these days and my young mind was thus prodded to be more than singapore wanted it to be.  These days, the mainstream pop culture basically washes its banks clean of counterpositional flora and fauna, or forces it to migrate to the hinterland of oblivion leaving most of the young crowd just following whatever's diffused from billboards.   There was much perspectival competition between genres and within genres in the 80s - a consequence of the more inquisitive and introspective vibrance of the 60s-70s.   The production of prominent subcultures is evidence of a vibrant society.  Thus, being a product of a multicultural unbringing, i've never been one for monoculturalism, such as that experienced in a myriad of ways in the singapore of today.

ed'sperience

It was the first 'swing singapore' - I think it was back in 1987 - and Orchard Road('central consumer district', or CCD, aka, 'shopping district') was closed for a night of 'dancing in the streets'.  After burning my soles doing just that - yes, i still LOVE dancing - with about 30 of my pals, and as we were going back as the night wound down and the crowds were trickling out, this song played over the roadside speakers.  With sweat dripping down my brows, I smiled, and thought to myself, I'll remember this moment of youthful vigour and this song, and will hold on to my youthful vibrance, curiosity and awe of all the potentials this thing called 'Life' holds no matter what.  It's been an uphill struggle to do so in the spirit-crushing uniform experience of singapore-since-then as all my friends caved in and became 'employee'-minded, opportunistic, ceased to learn outside of their sphere of imposed interest, being passionate about life and being generically curious, but I've held on and have never let them 'build a wall between' me and Life.

The trick in being able to do this is that whenever you feel really good about something, and appreciate its developmental benefits to yourself in the future, to capture that moment by acknowledging it in your thoughts and taking with you a symbol of that time, i.e. like a song, a vase, or some trinket.  This serves as a 'mnemonic' that will help in bringing back that moment and the persona which appreciated that moment to your present whenever you see it.  If not, the self will be overwhelmed by the symbols of changing times and your self-of-value will eventually become little more than a fragment of your shadow which falls behind you as you're blinded by the glare of your current pressures.  'Tis like collecting seashells at the beach.  When you see it again, you hear the ocean.  Then you'll remember not that you've been there, but what your ears are for.  I did just that and have become more than the 'cog' I otherwise would have been.  (The lyrics of the song echoes my sentiments back then, as it still does today...a love song directed towards Life.)

Thus, the learning, scepticism, passion, and feeling continued and grew unabated...as the boy still breathes in a bubble of a time of his own mnemonic construction.

The 'dream' is yet to be 'over'......thank God for that.

Damn, I wonder when I'm going to stop LOVING this vid.  'Sweet Love', as illustrated in this video, doesn't seem to be as pervasive in music videos now as it was back then.  Too much 'booty shakin' and 'i'm so horny. Horny, horny, horny...' these days.  'Girls' mutated into 'Bitc*es'; personali-T was shoved aside for MUSCLE - t; 'dancing' became 'performing'; sensuality turned into sexuality; femininity into slutininity; 'dancing with each other' to 'dancing in front of each other'; 'thoughtfulness' turned into 'arrogance'; 'disco turned into boom boom 'rave'; and so on and so on. 

I wonder what the 'pop' crowd of today is going to say if asked by their kids in the future what their 'times' stood for?  "Butt-cracks and Boxer Shorts my dear".  Our time stood for experimentation, scepticism, personality and simplicity.(more so in the 60s-70s)  'Moving with the times', if illustrated by a movement from Personali -t to Muscle -t, is a downgrade from human to manimal I think - especially since it is only the animal that has to depend on its physical assets to survive.  Humans have potentially more.  Thus, to laud the muscle over the mind basically indicates that we are moonwalking up the evolutionary path. 

See any skinny fella wearing 'muscle-Ts' these days?  I've seen many back in the 80s.  The only qualification to wear it then was some semblance of a personality.  Muscle wasn't confused for personality. Too much muscle, when all you do is push paper or wield a screwdriver, is quite a pointless 'asset' isn't it? 

As for the following vid.  Creativity, back then, and before, was more than visual effects, where today, the latter is confused for the former.  The idea behind the following vid is indeed creative despite the effects - especially the final scene where he is shown to be struggling to get out of the comic book, which, is simultaneously taking place in the corridor behind the girl.  It brings 2 realities together seamlessly.  I suppose such creativity fed on the general creativity of the 80s pop crowd who came up with their own styles and fashions as opposed to simply mirroring the brands and billboards of today's so-called 'trendy' days.

'Moving with the times' is generally not too good a thing for those who've tasted better, and, in consequence, 'become more' enough to 'expect more', I suppose.

ed'sperience

The thing about the 70s and 80s was that pop culture was not yet incorporated into The Establishment.  It was quite the 'rebel culture' that made one sceptical of all authority - though this was more so in 70s.  Amongst others, it spawned a whole range of equally prominent fashion styles like 'punk', 'rock', 'new wave', 'gothic', the rebellious ‘breakdance’, and so on.  These days, all we have is 'butt-crack' and 'boxer shorts'.  People seem to have ‘progressed’ from being thinkers to mere, well, 'butt-cracks' and 'boxer shorts'.  Quite pathetic isn't it.  No 'belief' or 'personality' in that.  In the 80s, as always, pop music didn't give people a clear direction, but it did instigate us to 'question' and 'wonder' about the truth-value of what we were told was good or true.  In this sense, the 80s, and 70s, still lives on, in me that is.  Howard Jones did quite a good job here in prodding the young mind back then - which included myself. 

I remember skipping school halfway-through with a schoolmate from Sabah (timothy) and another good chinese friend(jeffery), going to Shaw Centre in beach road, and buying the above cassette tape there for $7 - which was a whole week's allowance for me!  Was worth the price.  You can also check out the following song, 'conditioning'.  Both are from the 'Human Lib' album.  The following is the music video of the 'New Song'.

Howard Jones - Conditioning

Howard Jones

I Refuse to Die,
but I'm Open to being Recycled into Life within the Breast of Another

- eds'perience

Joy - Fire in the Night

Joy

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Songs like these, back in the 80s, to my young mind, served as firefly-like beacons beckoning my spirit forward....to a greater light that nourished my mind later.  It got me seeking signposts, though I never confused these songs for signposts themselves as 'fans' do now.  But, it still has its place.  It still rejuvenates my spirit in a raw and primitive sense, whilst my mind, receiving an emotive boost from these songs, accesses greater beacons via the thoughts of those greater than myself.  Pop, like those of the 80s, has its place.  It's like a footstool which you stand upon to reach up towards the stars.  Just don't confuse the footstool for the stars that's all.

ed'sperience

postscript: thanks to the Simster for capturing this thoughtful moment of mine via his new sony t70 at some coffee outlet at Vivocity a couple of weeks back.  Cheers Simster!

(the above video is dedicated to my friend 'V' who is enough of real girl to love it. :)

Yum!  I love this song and the video. 

Just check out the fun-loving way she dances with little thought as to its being performed well, the way she sings without any effort made to sound good, the way she is dressed and no 'butt-crack' or 'boxer-shorts' in sight.  So full of life, not arrogant and not vulgarly sexual as it is with the bum-wiggling 'girls' of these days.  In other words, she is so full of herSELF as opposed to being full of HERself.  The latter, what a damn turn-off for the real man.  It was mainly a ‘personality-thing’ back then.  I've often thought that, 'butt-cracks' and 'boxer-shorts' are like 'harley davidson' motorbikes, you use it to complement a daring and fun-loving personality, not compensate for your not having one (a personality).

The thing about the 80s is that the girls back then were really into ‘fun’. 

They were generally not arrogant, did not equate the value of their personalities with ‘brands’ or their body conforming to this or that anorexic model; asserted their right to have fun as opposed to ‘assertion’ being perceived as fun in itself; and were relatively innocent, curious, playful and all round vibrant.  Many of the girls back then, compared to the ‘girls’ these days, were more inclined to go for a guy (or a girl;) ) because he was ‘different’, ‘intelligent’, ‘humorous’, ‘vibrant’ and ‘witty’ regardless of ethnicity, language, religion, age, and not having the 5Cs.  They viewed difference with curiosity and interest where today they either laugh at it or ignore it.  The person possessing these attributes was generally seen as a member of the ‘preferred race’ as opposed to one’s ethnicity determining preference.  Hence, their own personalities developed as they did not put an age/ethnic/etc ceiling on it.  ‘Good’ was ‘good’ whatever the social status, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, etc.  And many imbibed it all and became more for the effort. 

The above personality attributes,

...for instance, were the reasons cited by the Filipino, Malay, Indian and Chinese girls whom were interested/attracted to me, ‘came after me’, or with whom I had relationships, back in the 80s through to the 90s.  Nowsadays, these ‘girls’ go for a guy because he is…?  I once remarked to ‘the simster’ (also an 80s bloke but who was relatively ‘kwai’(good) back then till he exchanged his 'goody 2 shoes' for slightly suede ones) when we were watching couples go by in Orchard Road, that the girls these days obviously do not view ‘being different’, ‘intelligent’, ‘creative’, ‘confident’, ‘individualistically stylish’, and ‘all-round vibrance’ with ‘personality’ - judging by the look of the guy they walk alongside, or the chats they engage off and online.  Hmmm...something somewhere is definitely 'offline'.  I suppose that in an ultra-conformist and generally monocultural place like this ‘land of many possibilities’ but, evidentially, ‘few probabilities’, such attributes will invariably be cast aside and counter-labeled as, unlike in the 80s,

different/individualistically stylish = hilarious,

intelligent = troublesome/troublemaker/arrogant,

confident = arrogant,

vibrant/passionate = overly-excitable. 

So when the ability to appreciate these attributes in a positive fashion is taken away by an exceedingly narrow social experience, all that you are going to be left with is a walking ‘butt-crack’ or ‘boxer shorts’ as opposed to a vibrant, curious, and fun-loving Personality on two legs.  And that’s when girls cease to be ‘fun’, let alone know how to have fun.

God, I miss the real girls.  You out there?

singapore 80s