I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, April 5, 2012

I Love the 80s

Okay, so there's that show on MTV. And there are plenty of novels that explore the sixties and even e seventies (nobody has a good picture from the 79s), but I'm blanking on novels based on a love of the 80s culture.

So here I expose my cultural ignorance and As if you know of any (can not have been written during the 80s, preferably published after 2000 to qualify as a truly retro look).

I mean, the music I used to go get drunk to and try and pick up chicks to is now considered "classic rock" and is pillaged for musak. I'm not saying it was a wonderful magical time, far from it. Bt there was a lot of fun to be had back then. It was the last burning of free love before HIV came along and spoiled the party. There was decadance to be had for the taking. And big hair bands with screaming guitar solos.

4 comments:

Dr. Phil (Physics) said...

Bright Lights, Big City is an American novel by Jay McInerney, published by Vintage Books on August 12, 1984.

Phiala said...

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Published last year, and I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see it on the novel shortlist that's released on Sunday.

It is both entirely 80s fanservice and very good.

Dr. Phil (Physics) said...

Then there's Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card -- set in 1983 8-bit computer gaming programming and the IBM Personal Computer, plus a serial killer.

Dr. Phil

Steve Buchheit said...

Hey Dr. Phil, yeah, things written in the 80s aren't so much what I'm looking for, but things written about the 80s (nostalgia, time displacement, etc). It's hard to see what will be important decades on, and what seemed important at the time falls to dust (acid wash jeans, anybody?). And the Lost Boys is cool. I'll have to check that one out.

Phiala, strange you mention that. The title came screaming out of the sky at me when I picked up audiobook of "Ready Player One" at the library (like I said, my library kicks-ass). I knew the book was an homage to the 80s video game scene. So when I started thinking, "Well, what does (GGM - my code word for the title, and no, it's not an acronym) mean, what's the story?" I immediately went to a specific time in the 80s that makes the title meaning full. So, good to know my instinct were on track.