Durandemonium 2013 part 1
I am fully aware of the fact that people find me a bit odd, they always have from the time I was a child. It doesn't bother me that much, it's just a fact that I was born that way and this fact is not going to change anytime soon. True, I would like to think that I have changed and matured over time, as we all do. We outgrow some things and we create new ones. During that changing period from childhood to young adulthood (now referred to as the Tween years, approximately age 9 through 13-15 depending on maturity levels), while hormones were raging, causing us to go through physical and mental changes nearly psychotic in nature, there is a tendency to lean towards obsessive behaviors. At some point, a thoughtful and innovative person or persons in publishing, marketing and entertainment industries decided to apply products, create an industry, and make a profit out of it. Hence, the teen idol.
Having written on this topic before, I will gloss over the hows or whys this happens. Many can attest to chemistry or psychological development alone, and of this I agree completely. All of us are looking for something in life or trying to find our way, defining what it is or is not that makes us what we are. At that tween point in life, as it seems, we become fans of teen idols. For me, there were a few whose names I won't mention as they have since fallen by the wayside or came to sad ends (child stars, doncha know). Oddly enough, though I fully recognize my love of now called Boy Bands (you know what I'm talking about), the original one, Duran Duran, was not quite in my scope of adoration. It does have a presence in my mind, though, as I remember being exposed to the glory of it as a kid.
My mom had a long time friend Joan who was kind enough to include my rather fractured family into her own family activities. Joan had a daughter, Lisa, who was/is four years older than me, and they just happened to live nearby us. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time at one another's houses for holidays and occasions and just because. It was 1984, I was 9 or 10, making Lisa 13 or 14. She was at the perfect age of being crazed and obsessed with Duran Duran, and she was. I have a vague memory of being in their living room at their house, watching their TV with Duran Duran on. If I am remembering correctly, it was something from the documentary of Sing Blue Silver, or perhaps another pseudo movie project they did called Arena. What I remember the most image wise from this VHS or Beta tape we were watching was a close up of a gal in the audience who looked like she had fainted. She was pulled up by a cable (as I would later find out was directed by the same director who did their video Wild Boys later on) to the ceiling, which I believe was from the Arena video project. And of course, of their live performances, I remembered Simon Le Bon doing his silly dances and singing one of their classic songs. Lisa was going off about how one of them had thrown a jacket into the audience and someone she knew managed to snag a piece of it when the audience ripped it to shreds.
I had never been exposed to such a thing. As the oldest child in my family, I had yet to trailblaze this onto my parents and I was still stuck in a bit of a childlike state of toys and rainbows and horses and things that all little girls like. Innocence, I realize. But even going into Lisa's bedroom and seeing all those posters on her walls of them and the vinyl collection against the wall did not make me want to go out and do it myself. I just didn't get it quite honestly, but I remember witnessing it. Later I would credit Lisa as the one who introduced me to the world of rock and roll, even though she did not give me tapes or 45s that I should have in my collections because this is what everyone should have like some thoughtful older siblings or friends would do for their younger peers. It wasn't a snub on her part, she didn't have the knowledge in which to do this for others at that point on her life either. Still, it was her enthusiasm and fan mania that I credit as the one who inspired me to do such things as well.
Duran Duran, on their part, endured their typical ups and downs with their career and popularity. I am not one who had been a fan since the very beginning, but their changes and endurance through the years always had a special place in my heart for them. They have a certain quality about them which seems to be lacking in this fickle world we live in today. Many things changed and evolved but somehow they endured. They crossed over a generation, there are people bringing their kids to their shows.
And when one has reached a certain age in life, one gets a little crazy, at least on my part. You're a crazy old maid who seems to have been passed over by all the losers left, right and sideways in favor of an equally trashy girl who will give them all the lusty and trashy they wanted without substance. And you're looking for something to give you meaning and cause other than your career or friends or interests, and you want other things but what? Then you come across this rather odd phenomenon, it sparks something once again within your being, an old memory or feeling in a nostalgic way that it was a more happy time before adulthood started to get super complicated. And you know that there are others out there who also feel this same way, who are trying to hold onto their youth or a happy memory when so many things in our lives have become so difficult. It brings us together, feeling such joy and delight in making us happy and wonderful. It is what, you realize, you are to do. There are people out there who chase football, baseball, world cup soccer, or go places to play championship golf courses. This is what I, and others like me, do. And it is a glorious thing.
Having written on this topic before, I will gloss over the hows or whys this happens. Many can attest to chemistry or psychological development alone, and of this I agree completely. All of us are looking for something in life or trying to find our way, defining what it is or is not that makes us what we are. At that tween point in life, as it seems, we become fans of teen idols. For me, there were a few whose names I won't mention as they have since fallen by the wayside or came to sad ends (child stars, doncha know). Oddly enough, though I fully recognize my love of now called Boy Bands (you know what I'm talking about), the original one, Duran Duran, was not quite in my scope of adoration. It does have a presence in my mind, though, as I remember being exposed to the glory of it as a kid.
My mom had a long time friend Joan who was kind enough to include my rather fractured family into her own family activities. Joan had a daughter, Lisa, who was/is four years older than me, and they just happened to live nearby us. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time at one another's houses for holidays and occasions and just because. It was 1984, I was 9 or 10, making Lisa 13 or 14. She was at the perfect age of being crazed and obsessed with Duran Duran, and she was. I have a vague memory of being in their living room at their house, watching their TV with Duran Duran on. If I am remembering correctly, it was something from the documentary of Sing Blue Silver, or perhaps another pseudo movie project they did called Arena. What I remember the most image wise from this VHS or Beta tape we were watching was a close up of a gal in the audience who looked like she had fainted. She was pulled up by a cable (as I would later find out was directed by the same director who did their video Wild Boys later on) to the ceiling, which I believe was from the Arena video project. And of course, of their live performances, I remembered Simon Le Bon doing his silly dances and singing one of their classic songs. Lisa was going off about how one of them had thrown a jacket into the audience and someone she knew managed to snag a piece of it when the audience ripped it to shreds.
I had never been exposed to such a thing. As the oldest child in my family, I had yet to trailblaze this onto my parents and I was still stuck in a bit of a childlike state of toys and rainbows and horses and things that all little girls like. Innocence, I realize. But even going into Lisa's bedroom and seeing all those posters on her walls of them and the vinyl collection against the wall did not make me want to go out and do it myself. I just didn't get it quite honestly, but I remember witnessing it. Later I would credit Lisa as the one who introduced me to the world of rock and roll, even though she did not give me tapes or 45s that I should have in my collections because this is what everyone should have like some thoughtful older siblings or friends would do for their younger peers. It wasn't a snub on her part, she didn't have the knowledge in which to do this for others at that point on her life either. Still, it was her enthusiasm and fan mania that I credit as the one who inspired me to do such things as well.
Duran Duran, on their part, endured their typical ups and downs with their career and popularity. I am not one who had been a fan since the very beginning, but their changes and endurance through the years always had a special place in my heart for them. They have a certain quality about them which seems to be lacking in this fickle world we live in today. Many things changed and evolved but somehow they endured. They crossed over a generation, there are people bringing their kids to their shows.
And when one has reached a certain age in life, one gets a little crazy, at least on my part. You're a crazy old maid who seems to have been passed over by all the losers left, right and sideways in favor of an equally trashy girl who will give them all the lusty and trashy they wanted without substance. And you're looking for something to give you meaning and cause other than your career or friends or interests, and you want other things but what? Then you come across this rather odd phenomenon, it sparks something once again within your being, an old memory or feeling in a nostalgic way that it was a more happy time before adulthood started to get super complicated. And you know that there are others out there who also feel this same way, who are trying to hold onto their youth or a happy memory when so many things in our lives have become so difficult. It brings us together, feeling such joy and delight in making us happy and wonderful. It is what, you realize, you are to do. There are people out there who chase football, baseball, world cup soccer, or go places to play championship golf courses. This is what I, and others like me, do. And it is a glorious thing.
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