THE WTF FACTOR AND INSPIRATIONAL SONGS

Yeah, I know that they don't seem to go together, but I have managed to make this work. Don't ask me how, because I couldn't do it again.

Well... all of you who commented on yesterday's blog gave me something to think about. I am not oblivious to the fact that bullies exist everywhere. In fact, one of my Wilson facebook sufferers, Cathy, told me that she discovered while she was doing that helping out in kindergarten business stuff (why can't I think of the names of things???), that there was already one kindergarten girl bullying the others. She was like WTF is going on here? So, apparently they aren't waiting for middle school and junior high anymore. As soon as they get into school, let the torture begin. Since Cathy got it so bad in junior high (worse than I actually, but I didn't know that until FB), that little girl is lucky Cathy didn't dropkick her right there on the playground. I am not sure how you would explain that, but I guess if you planned it long enough, you could come up with something creative. Maybe there is a novel in there somewhere...

"She was only five and she was already a bitch. That gleam was in her eye, indicating that she was picking out her next victim on the playground. It was anyone's guess what form of torture she planned to inflict. It was uncanny. There was the mind of a thirteen year old in a kindergartner. She batted those baby blues innocently after each incident of another child taking a fall, running into a pole, getting sand in their eyes, their lunch in their laps, and teachers were hard pressed to believe it could be anything but an accident." Oh yeah, that kid is the next Bonnie to Clyde. I hope her parents are real asshats. Otherwise, my sympathies.

Oops. I realized that I just said ass again. Now, that makes it twice. And bitch. That's even worse. Quitting cursing isn't as easy as it sounds. In theory, no problemo. In writing, very hard. In talking, pretty easy. I don't say a whole lot around here. Besides, I like the word asshat. Damn. I did it again. Now I just said damn. And again. Eeeks. I better move on.


Today, is inspirational music day. When I was lying in bed NOT SLEEPING, I was thinking about today's post. My migraines have been bad the last week or so. I think that maybe it's the rain. Maybe I'm hormonal. Maybe it's the fact that I breathe in and out. Who knows? And I am still liking the idea of a video/song that I find inspiring on some level right now, and a video or group from the 80s that really worked MTV. Let's start with the former.

I have been thinking a lot about Billy Joel's song WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE. The video is actually pretty good. However, that is not why the song is on my brain. It has occurred to me that had he wanted to, he could have picked any decade to start that song, and had plenty of material. Yep. Any decade. He could have started BC if he wanted to do the research. Of course, the song would have been really long, and most people would not have known WHAT he was SINGING about. That is because, I repeat, people are stupid. I am throwing myself in on this one. I would have been like, say what? What is he yammering about? Of course, I was a teenager. Well, I am still not up on my history BC by the decade. Or AD for that matter. My point is that he could have started in 1800 and gone by the decade, and still had plenty of material. 1700. 1600. 1500. It doesn't matter when he started. He could decide that he wanted to add on to that song RIGHT NOW and he would have loads of material. I guess he knew that, because he ended the song by saying that the fire wasn't ever going to go out.

The only thing that he doesn't say that he should have said, in my opinion, is that maybe we didn't start the fire, BUT, we sure do keep throwing the gas on it. Or oil. Each decade contributes to the fire. And we are part of the decade. Granted, some of us are contributing more than others. Instead he says we try to fight it. Well, some of us try to fight it, but lots of people are throwing stuff on it, because it seems to me that it is getting bigger, rather than smaller. But that is just my opinion. Or maybe it has always been huge and my perspective has broadened. I don't know. It just seems like it's a damn big fire. Oops. I said the "d" word again. Let's start the video. Don't forget to turn off my music player at the bottom of the page. Sorry about that.




Okay, once again, you are going to have to rely on my unreliable brain because I am just not going to look this stuff up. Ha ha. I know that is crappy. But, I am not presenting myself as an authority on this subject; I am just telling you what I think. I think that some singers/bands really used MTV as a launching pad for their music and some didn't. How do I know this? Well, I spent hours doing my homework in front of MTV waiting for this band to come on. I am confessing my teenage crush here. My mother bought cork strips so that I had two rows on one wall to hang pictures of said crush. How did I get pictures of this crush? Tiger Beat magazine, of course. My humiliation is now complete. Every now and then some other cutie would hang up there temporarily, but pretty much all of my space went to John Taylor of Duran Duran. Ugggh. I feel naked.


My friend, Megan, was pretty convinced that he was gay. Yes, that is the same Megan who owned the Ford Mustang. She has excellent radar for this sort of thing. However, it didn't matter. There's this part of me that wants to do the Seinfeld bit: "Not that there's anything wrong with that." And there isn't, unless you're actually in a relationship with a real-life guy, and you strongly suspect he's gay. In that case, he isn't the guy for you. In this case, the reason it didn't matter was that I was a teenager who lived in the middle of Ohio. Hello. He was a MAN in his 20s and a ROCKSTAR. Even if had been heterosexual (and maybe he is) my chances were like...none. So, seriously, his straightness, or lack thereof, meant absolutely nothing to me. Then and now.

Can you guess what the most frustrating part of having a crush on John Taylor was? Aside from age and geography and my lack of being rich and a rockstar? The fact that he was the guitar player. Egads. Do you know how much face time the guitar player gets in a video? Well, just a little bit more than the drummer. It is ALWAYS better to crush on the singer. However, Simon did nothing for me. He was a great singer, but he did not ring my bell.

Okay, let's get back to Duran Duran and their video making. This is actually something that they picked up on and ran with, in terms of creativity. I think that one of their most creative videos is Rio. Unfortunately, there are almost no shots of.... wait for it.... John Taylor. Yeah, back in the day, this was a big disappointment if I had been waiting three hours for a DD video and I got this video. However, it is an excellent example of a band taking a great song and making an equally great video. It got a lot of play (take it from me) on MTV.

Click here to watch the video. It wouldn't embed.

That is always so annoying. Oh well. Unfortunately, just about all of the Duran Duran vids are not embedding. This one is not very original. It is an in concert vid that they used for The Reflex. However, it was my favorite b/c I actually got to see JT sometimes...lol.

You can click here to watch it.

He is the guitar player with the blonde streaks. He is also standing most of the time to Simon's right (our left). He doesn't make my heart go pitter pat anymore. I just laugh at myself. That is yet another sign of growing up I think!


I found the picture of John Taylor here.

The rest of the images were found at www.weheartit.com