You're probably wondering what the heck a sappy, cat-rescue story has to do with 1982. Well, I'm getting there. See, Derek and I decided to be clever and name one of the cats, Setzer. "What's so clever about that?", you say? Yeah I figured as much. No one ever gets it. Here we thought we were being so cool and witty, but we were overlooking one very important fact....no one remembers that there ever was a band called The Stray Cats, much less that it was fronted by Brian Setzer! (For those of you still not up to speed, she was a stray cat and Brian Setzer was the lead singer of the rockabilly group, The Stray Cats, so we named her Setzer.....oh forget it!)
It's not even so much that The Stray Cats were a staple of 80's culture. Not even a piece of scotch tape, really. I mean, you don't often have conversations with friends and co-workers reminiscing about your Jordash jeans, jelly bracelets, and MTV-watching when MTV still played music videos, and hear one of them say, "Man, I was totally into The Stray Cats!" But come on....they had two major hits in 1982, one of which was a Billboard Top 10! "The Stray Cat Strut" had everyone walking around with arched backs and fluffy tails. And "Rock This Town" had everyone....well, rocking their towns.
The real tragedy that is represented by everyone's failure to catch the 80's reference in our cat's name, is that the 80's are slowly falling further and further from our memories. People don't remember the decade in which Tom Hanks dressed in drag, Aqua-net stock skyrocketed, and parents didn't have to monitor what their kids were watching on TV because Punky Brewster was always wholesome. With our Nintendo Wiis, iPhones, and MacBook Pros, no one appreciates the ground-breaking technological advances of Atari, cordless phone with call waiting, and Apple computers for drawing with Logo or playing "The Oregon Trail". Everyone seems to have lost touch with that feeling of awe (which, by the way, is actually how aweSOME became a word), that we had when all these things were not merely new versions, but brand new ideas! And, no one remembers Laura Branigan.
Ok so maybe this blog hasn't been quite as LOL as some of my previous ones, but I feel this is a serious matter. We need to bring back the 80's, people! Where is Doc Brown when we really need someone to build a time machine out of a DeLorean? I say we go back. Let's go back to a time when having a cat named Setzer would make people look at you and say, "Right on, Dude! I'm totally feeling ya!" It's time to return to a time when the world was free of Britney Spears....because you just can't argue with that.
The major problem with the 80's was it just couldn't match up to the 60's or 70's. Especially along the lines of the music scene. Being an older adult, it's possible I just chose not to remember much of the 80's genre. Although the 80's did bring us Disco! Now there's something people thought would be around for a long time!
ReplyDeleteAs for The Stray Cats, they apparently got lost in some alley or are buried at the bottom of a trash can. But they should be thankful there are
two people who have some memeory of them. It's
obvious they just didn't have what it took to
get the people to forget The Beatles, The Monkees
or even The Animals.
Now if you had named your kitten Ringo, or dare I say, Elvis, everyone would know to whom you are referring!
Elvis Costello right? Just kidding! Yes everyone would get the reference, but there wouldn't be a joke! As for as I know, Ringo doesn't have any feline in his blood. If I had a pet monkey named Davy, perhaps that would amusing as well!
ReplyDelete