I always knew it would happen one day. Or at least hoped. The day my child said she wished she had been around in the 80’s so she could’ve experienced the music.
My thirteen-year-old recently came across the Jennifer Garner flick “13 Going on 30” on Netflix and was immediately taken in by the 80’s theme of the film. Especially the music. “Head Over Heels”, “Jessie’s Girl” and particularly “Thriller”.
“Why couldn’t I have been around in the 80’s?” she whined.
“Just because you weren’t doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy that music now,” I reminded her.
The other day we were returning from running errands and sat in the car listening to the last strains of Wham!’s “Careless Whisper”.
“I love this song,” she said. “Who sings it?”
“George Michael,” I told her.
“Who?”
“Wham! George Michael. You know, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’. You know that song,” I reminded her.
“Oh yeah.”
We continued talking about Wham! and 80’s music as we entered the house. I relayed my teen love for Duran Duran to her.
“You know, the group who sings ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’.”
“Oh, yeah. I like that song.”
“Yeah. You know what the lead singer’s name is?”
“What?”
“Simon. Want to know what his last name is?”
“What?”
“LeBon.”
She laughed. “What a funny name!”
I smiled. “Yeah, that’s what the rest of the band thought too when they first met him.”
I went on to tell her how there were three members in the band with the last name of Taylor but they weren’t related.
“Really? How can they not be related?” my daughter asked.
“Because in England the surname Taylor is like the surname Smith in America.”
She also thought it was cool that John’s real name was Nigel, because that’s the first name of one of The Muppets. Which is another thing from the 80’s that she loves.
But that’s another 80’s story for another time.
michellemchatton.com 