OffTopic - PleaseMoveThisToTheAdjunct

(Discussion moved from TheEighties)

I do not remember the eighties.

''Well, that could be attributed either to your age, or the use of the drugs in common use during that period :)''

Again, every decade since 1960 has been "blamed" for drugs in this manner.  Everyone whose parents grew up in the 70's secretly wonders if they smoked pot, even before "That 70's Show" came on the air.  In the 80's, it was cocaine, and those of us who grew up in the 90's will be suspected of smoking crack, or ecstasy if the 00's doesn't claim it.

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The 80's were nice, but it's the 21st century now, and I think its about time to cut back on "the best of the 80's" songs that play all the time on the radio around here.  :-[

''(OK, I guess that's what I get for living in Saint Louis.  ;-)''

No, you pretty much get that anywhere.  Nostalgia sells, and (in America) nearly the entire radio spectrum is controlled by just a few cheesy companies aiming for the widest audience.  There used to be some good stations around the country who aimed for more discerning audiences with more money to spend.  But the most common formula seems to be to aim for the lowbrow, buy a prepackaged format, and sell ads for sneakers and soda pop.

Most people get stuck in the music of their youth, "none of that crazy new crap for me, thanks!"  To get the wide audience, you split your 5 stations in each market evenly among the previous 4 decades, aiming two at the <<Now Minus 5 to 15 Years>> period, because 5-15 years out of school we tend to have a bunch discretionary income but haven't developed the taste or refinement that precludes us from buying the crap in the radio ads.

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Interesting side note. It takes a while for each Decade to get started...

	* TheForties didn't start until December 7, 1941.
	* TheFifties didn't start until Elvis took off.
	* TheSixties started in 1963, when JFK was shot. 
	* TheSeventies started 
		* about the same time Watergate did, 1972.
		* with Unix?
	* TheEighties...
		* didn't start until "Don't You Want Me Baby"
		* was started by MTV
		* started in 1979, when Asteroids hit the arcades.
	* TheNineties didn't start until 
		* November 1993, the WorldWideWeb explosion.
		* "Can't Touch This"
		* it was time for Klax
		* the Gulf War
	* Some will say the 21st Century didn't really begin until September 11th.

''Isn't this an AmericanCulturalAssumption?''   yep

I'm confused, does it take a DefiningMoment to kick off a decade? I thought it was purely mathematical, 1 second past midnight of the previous decade. For cultural, musical, political, and historical events of the 80s see http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/1980s

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Words of UtahPhillips in an AniDifranco collaboration song called ''Bridges''

That's what I do, I collect stories, that's what I do I collect stories and songs and poems.

I seek out the elders and collect stories, stories and songs and poems.  

Characterized critically as 'ohh that's that 60's stuff.' 

If I suddenly do old rock and roll I'll be doing that 50's stuff, well or, this is the nineties you know.   

I have a good friend in the east, a good singer, and a good folk singer, a good song collector.  

He comes and listens to my shows and he says "you sing a lot about the past, you always sing about the past - you can't live in the past, you know."

I say to him I can go outside and pick up a rock that is older than the oldest song you know and come in here and drop it on your foot.

Now the past didn't go anywhere, did it.

It is right here, right now.

No, it's not that 50's, 60's, 70's, 90's that whole idea of DecadePackages, things don't happen that way. The VietnamWar heated up in 1965 and finished in 1975, well, what does that got to do with decades?

That packaging of time is a journalist convenience that they use to trivialize and to dismiss important events and important ideas.