It Just Hit Me
…I’m old.
yep….I’m officially old and uncool. Despite the fact that, somehow, the managing editor of Instinct Magazine came upon my blog yesterday and even commented on it (in triplicate, no less), I’m officially old.
You see, I was walking along Mass Ave this morning on my way to work when my iPod shuffled to a song by the 60’s girl group, The Toys (A Lover’s Concerto). It flashed me back to the early/mid 1980’s when my family was vacationing at my cousin’s cabin near Sebago Lake in Maine. My cousin, who was a teenager in the 1960’s, constantly played cassettes of 60’s music and I remember thinking at the time that I liked the music – despite the fact that it was a whopping 20 years old.
So today I was walking down Mass Ave when that song came on and it hit me: that song is now 40 years old. And the songs that are now 20 years old are the ones I was listening to as a teen. So, back then I thought of my cousin as old. Now it means I’M the old one.
How can it be? I mean, 60’s music sounds so old-school and different. It did even in the 80’s (compared to the synthesized 80’s music). But the music of the 80’s still feels too recent to be, gasp, old. I mean, Gary Numan’s “Cars”? Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran”? Duran Duran? Howard Jones? Suzie Q? R.E.M.? T’Pau? “Til Tuesday? And all of those soundtracks for a generation: Valley Girl? Pretty in Pink? Breakfast Club?
When did this happen? How did this happen?
15 Comments
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First, you’re hardly old. Second, I listen to all those things too, and I’m several years younger than you. And third, that Toys song rocks the house. So, cards sometime soon?
I knew we were old the second they started using our music to sell us cars and soda and hamburgers and stuff, because I remember how the baby boomers FREAKED in the 80s when they started using their music to sell them stuff.
ya old cuz ya tink ya old sistah. i think if you kept up with the times a weensy bit more, maybe your view of yourself wouldnt be so “old”. i find it hard to believe that there isnt current music out there that you dont like, especially with the crop of 80’s wannabes around (see: bravery, killers, vhs or beta, cut copy etc etc). youre still young, so dont let yourself believe any differently!
Oh, yes, Chris! I do have the Killers album…and I like VHS or Beta.
But it’s so hard to think that I’m the same age my cousin was when she has us listening to HER oldies.
Now I’m listening to MY oldies.
And I’ve got grey hair, and hair in places it wasn’t before. And my ass isn’t what it used to be. And I catch myself humming unknowingly.
Time, time, time, see what
i remember listening to the radio in the early 90s and the dj saying something like “yes folks, that song is 10 years old” and he was referring to “we got the beat” by the go-gos. i remember thinking “wow, what a milestone!”, but not necessarily that i was growing older. i understand though what youre saying in regards to your body aging: for me to do cardio on the elliptical machine (looooowest impact cardio, fyi), i have to wear a knee brace.
Old is relative. Just look at history. The USA is only 200 years old, but go to Europe and realize that 200 years is nothing in the scheme of things. As for 80s music being old. Nah. 70s music? Nah. 60s music? Nah. 50s music? Nah. It’s all relative. I don’t count years for something to be old, it all has to do with the heart and how one feels about things . . . ok . . . enough, I’m getting too mushy and too philosophical. Forgive me.
my ipod is full of rembetika. that’s a form of greek urban blues that had its heyday during the 1930s. it doesn’t usually make me feel old, but that’s because most of the songs are about hash smoking, so i usually just end up feeling really hungry.
A lot of the music I listen to is between 300 and 1000 years old. It’s wonderful–at my age it makes me feel YOUNG!
There are small, inexpensive personal appliances to remove hair that’s growing out of those new, non-Carson Kressley-approved places. And you look just great. Now go play cards with JC and stop worrying.
Geez, thanks, Karl. If you’re old, what does that make me? I’m coming up on a very sensitive age (39) But I guess, compared to Europe, I’m young.
GEEZ, I’M GOING TO TURN 40 IN THE SUMMER.
MAYBE YOU ARE JUST AN OLD SOUL IN A YOUNG MAN’S BODY KARL. MAYBE IT’S JUST CONFUSED.
I’ll get the hip replacement all ready for you, grandpa… 😉 Remember, I’m not that much younger than you!
Just think — for someone, somewhere, right now — Garden State and 8 Mile are serving as the soundtracks of their lives.
…and you’re not old.
i said uh laaaa la la la laaa la la la laaaa la la la la la la la la la laaa la la la laaaa la la la laaa la la la la la la la la la laaaaa… when you walk on by… when you call my name…..
We’re still babies. Consider this… many millions of people still remember when Benny Goodman was turning out fresh hits. We are SO not old. Hah lay loo
It’s all done with smoke and mirrors, darling.
Remember, we’re only early thirties! And even so – what’s forty??? Paf! Forty is the new thirty! So in 6 years, we’ll be younger than we are now. (And you thought I was bad at math.)
It’s just a number, lovey. Like…64. Just a number. 😉