Author Scott Beal from AnnArbor.com was trying to show his daughters an old school Iron Maiden video while trying to look cool, and they stumble upon a video by Cinderella. Apparently, Eddie the Iron Maiden zombie did not quite provide a big enough “wow” factor, but the androgyny of Cinderella did. Um, Scott. They ARE girls, so what did you expect? Sorry that this event was so horrifying to you.
Here’s what Scott wrote (his faux hawk and all):
“I protested that we didn’t need to see it, that Cinderella was awful, and that I was going to be very upset if I clicked and got “Nobody’s Fool” stuck in my head. But they were adamant, and pretty effective arguers besides: “At least let us see how bad it is.” (Well OK, I thought -- maybe it will be educational!)
They loved it.
Imagine how unpleasant it was for me to type that last sentence. But of course that's where this story was inevitably headed, right? If they had heard the boring beat, the inane guitar line, the appalling screechy-whiny vocals, and said, "Ew!" then there wouldn't be much of a story here.
They loved it...”
The writer goes on to say that his daughters are contrarians at heart, so they go against Dad’s wishes from time to time. Scott, my friend, it is okay for your daughters to like a variety of music. In fact, most of what they may like will probably suck to most of the masses no matter what, otherwise every hit album would sell ten million copies. There’s no need to reexamine hair metal – it is the disco of the late 80’s. You remember disco, right? Once the disco craze hit, everyone dressed the same, got on the band wagon, took disco lessons and/or knew lines from Saturday Night Fever. And bands like Kiss and The Grateful Dead released outright disco (or at least disco-tinged) songs like “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” and “Shakedown Street.”* My nephew loved The Backstreet Boys as a ten year old, and now he’s really into classic rock, so it all turns out well in the end.
Truth be told, Scott’s article How Not to Talk to Your Kids About Aquanet and '80s Music straddles the line between being entertaining and just plain uptight. Perhaps the underlying irony is just lost on me. I know the music scene is dead right now, but why pick on the hair metal era? The music industry goes through a lot of changes and variety over time, and trends that become popular are great to some, and nails on a chalkboard to many. I, for one, enjoy a lot of hair metal. I liked White Lion, chicks in my conservative preppy town loved White Lion, and we could like White Lion together (if not each other). For me, hair metal was the gateway to chicks, yet I didn’t have long hair or even resembled Axl Rose. Good for me!
Here’s to you - Mr. Wearing Plaid Button Down Shirt to Compliment Your Faux Hawk. Now lighten up, and let you kids get Monsters of Rock
* It’s a matter of opinion as to whether “Shakedown Street” has a disco vibe, but I think so. Perhaps it’s the Lowell George production., but I hear something that is very danceable. Maybe not IN YOUR FACE, but danceable.
