i love the 80s

You know very well by now I spend a lot of time every day listening to RadioIO80s. I am almost convinced I am the only person who does. Of course this isn't the case. How else would they stay in business? It's just--because no one else I know listens to it, I feel like it's all mine. We have this sort of thing in our lives all over the place, don't we? We're convinced no one else does/likes whatever it is because we can't see outside of ourselves, out of our own universes where we're the sun.

Oh, this is not the post I wanted to write. R.E.M. is playing again. Have I told you I can't stand them? Talk about twangy and sounding the same all the time. But this is neither here nor there.

What I wanted this to be about was my love of 80s music. If you ask me, it is the best decade in music. Sure, we couldn't have gotten here without what came before. And we wouldn't be where we are now without 80s music to some degree. Please don't get me wrong, I am not thinking in strictly causal terms here.

In any case, I recently thought that I would like to work with music. This sounds really vague. No, I can't play an instrument (I have no rhythm whatsoever) and I can't sing. And I don't want to review records or concerts. And I don't want to write biographies or film documentaries about obscure/long-forgotten/influential artists (take your pick). What I want to do is write about 80s music within the scope of my own interests, as a bit of cultural criticism. I don't have a general subject that interests me, but I am fascinated by the image/performance that musical acts such as Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow projected/represented.

Is it possible to study musical lyrics as poetry in English departments?