Growing up, I would always have to listen to 80s music in the car. It was as if my parents were allergic to any music released after December 31st 1989. I think I knew every single lyric to every Michael Jackson, Queen and Lionel Richie single before I even knew the alphabet or, my old school favourite, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which, F.Y.I, has the same tune as the alphabet). I didn’t mind though as I got to spend all my time in my bedroom singing along to Spice Girls, Aqua, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys and Boyzone then got into the car to jam out to 80s music with my mum. I don't mean to sound like Hannah Montana but I got the best of both worlds.
And now, aged twenty-one, I can completely relate to my parents’ ways throughout my childhood. I can’t even remember the last time I downloaded a song that was released after my twelfth birthday. I turn the radio on and I’m constantly like “what’s this song?” or “who even is this artist?”. My Spotify saved list is full of guilty pleasures from the 80s, 90s and early 00s. My last ten songs played consist of the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Green Day, Boyz II Men, Nirvana, Westlife (of course), TLC and Hanson. I am so old! Writing this, I’m even listening to Eminem’s ‘My Name Is’.. It’s got to the point that I can't put my iPod on shuffle at parties without the fear of having Nicki Minaj be followed up with B*Witched or putting it on shuffle in the background of a study session in the library without getting That's So Raven visions of James Bay slowly fading into Destiny's Child. (Thank God for the invention of different playlists so I can separate my guilty pleasures).
Same goes for television programmes. Instead of getting addicted to television programmes I’ve never seen before, it’s always the shows that ended years ago. Whenever I’m home, you can guarantee the television in the family lounge will have Friends playing on it. During the exam periods, I’ll be bingeing on my Desperate Housewives boxset as I run through notes and university work. Having a down day and I’ll spend it in bed watching Gavin and Stacey. My Netflix list basically consists of How I Met Your Mother, American Horror Story (not Freak Show or Hotel which were both frankly pish) and Skins. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve watched these boxsets time and time again but I’ll still never get bored of them. They are endless classics.
Movies too. I don’t know how many times I watch the same movie over and over again. Take ‘White Chicks’ for instance - I’m onto my second copy of the DVD as I ended up watching the first copy so much that it broke. I sometimes go to HMV and buy new releases in an attempt to update my DVD collection but the majority of them end up having their cellophane wrapper left on them for months without being touched. I still have a couple of DVDs right now like that. I will get round to watching them one day but for now, I’m just gonna re-watch all my Disney classics followed by ‘Titanic’, ‘Ghost’, ‘Dirty Dancing’, ‘Grease’ and ‘Full Monty’ - my all time favourite movies.
Christmas movies are the same too. It seems like every festive season the film industry pump new releases out to suit everyone - cartoon movies, remakes of Christmas classics, rom-coms and even horrors - but I still fall back to my trusty nostalgic Christmas movies that I’ve been watching year in, year out since they were basically released. My family had a tradition since I can remember that we’d always watch ‘Elf’ the weekend we put the Christmas tree up and as a child, we’d watch ‘Santa Claus’ on Christmas Eve after we’d put the carrot, milk and mince pie out for Santa on a tray by the fireplace. And even though I’m getting a little older, I still watch the childhood Christmas classics like ‘The Grinch’, ‘Home Alone’ and ‘Jingle All The Way’ constantly but added ‘Love Actually’ and ‘The Holiday’ into the mix too! I guess I’m just a really boring person when it comes to films.
I’m not even sure why I’m basically still living in the 1990s. Maybe some psychologist would argue that there’s some underlying subconscious psychiatric condition going on but I think it’s just because they don’t make music and movies like they did back then. Kids today just don’t know that they’re born.. And you can bet your bottom dollar that when I have sprogs that they will watch the same movies I grew up with, just like I grew up with movies my parents grew up with!
