[ no matter what you say - no matter what you do - we are united: young & proud!! ]
So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about bad culture. Not that I am one to pass judgment on culture or anything (I mean, I cried sincerely at Gigli-twice), but I think we can all agree that “As Long As You Love Me” is, at best, an atrocious (albeit catchy as fuck) song &, at worst, a very troubling message to send to preteens (“I don’t care who you are. . . as long as you love me”?).
The thing is, while I completely acknowledge that the Moffatts probably don’t actually know my soul so well as I thought they might have, there was a time I assumed that boy bands gave voice to my own hopes & worries & doubts. I remember a time when 98°’s “I Do (Cherish You)” seemed like it was written about me & my gay boyfriend (I am guessing he remembers this, too), & I definitely cried myself to sleep to the Spice Girls’ “Viva Forever”. & so the fact that these love songs were written for an audience who had never even fallen in love seems sort of irrelevant, because I drank this shit up, & I remember everyone around me doing the same. This is, of course, not even to start on Disney movies or Mary-Kate & Ashley flicks (which may well have instilled in me a thirst for grand gestures). I mean, before I was thirteen, I was bereft of any culture I didn’t at least find myself slightly ashamed of, & now I am wondering how much I really drew from all of the really dreadful pop culture I still openly adore. It’s easy to dismiss this all as meaningless, but I clearly made some meaning out of it, way back when, & I suppose I’m still doing so, because NSYNC still makes it on some of my meaningful mixes, ouch.
So, I really just wanted to ask where you guys got your ideas of romantic love-especially if your answers involve amazingly awful pop culture. Because I’m wondering how many people-like Sarah & Kenny-fell asleep to NSYNC’S first album, mostly, & am also just completely in the mood for old-school pop music.
For the record, I am not hating on pop music. Hell, the fact that Hanson’s “Madeline” was probably only titled that because it rhymed with “around again” doesn’t stop me from including it on half my playlists, after all. I am merely curious!!
Current Mood :
good.