“When I was very young, my half-sister Jenny died tragically. She was
a teenager, and it was the 80's. She left behind a wardrobe of brightly
colored clothes, rainbow stickers, life-size paintings, doodles on
lined paper, and hundreds of tapes. These constitute most of my
memories of her. It's sad for me to look at these things, and usually I
don't. But a couple of summers ago I found a tape of hers with a
startling cover photograph – this was Footloose. I couldn't
stop listening: it was a portrait of 80's love, desire, pain, freedom,
and frenzy; of being a teenager in a time of change. By listening, I
could step into Jenny's shoes, see things from her vantage point. I
could be emancipated by rock and roll and walkmen, just as she had
been. We could listen together.”
Comments 2
I'm so glad you posted this! I heard Doveman's cover of “Let's Hear it for the Boy” on NPR All Songs Considered and was super-impressed.
There was a spot in my life where I thought “Almost Paradise” was the greatest song ever written. (This was the original version, not the current take.)
Did I mention that I grew up in a *really* small town?