The SFB

Random musings from a Gen X life lived on the edge… of nothing except Lake Erie. 70s and 80s pop culture and music.

Gen X

  • 1984-What a year for music!

    And the year I graduated from high school. I followed a thread on Twitter (I still can’t call it X) started by @PreetBharara in which he posed the question “What was the best song of 1984?”. Impossible to choose.  I have been meaning to write about the music of 1984 for a while now in Read more

  • Where Are All the Kids Today and What Are They Doing?

    I frequently take walks around the village, through the neighborhood where I grew up, past houses where my friends lived, on streets where I hung out when I was a teenager, and most of the time the streets and sidewalks are empty. I wonder; where are all the kids?  What are they doing and where Read more

  • The Comfort of the Way Back

    I’ve invested a lot of time recently in an entire subculture; people who write, blog, post, and make videos about musicians and bands and singers they remember from their formative years who may or may not still be around.  This begs some questions.  Why have I done this and why does this subculture exist?  Why Read more

  • Born In the Wrong Era- I should have been a Hippie. Or a Mod. Or a Disco Diva!

    Do you ever feel like you really belong in a different generation? What if you’re 58 when you finally realize what you should have done with your life? I’ve  always had a feeling that I was born too late and took the wrong path.  As I have written before, I never really knew what I Read more

  • 1980 and the Teenage Soundtrack of a New Decade

    And where have 44 years gone? I wrote about the greatness of music from 1978, so time to discuss the tunes that ushered in the ‘80s. A new decade and new beginnings for me as I finished middle school and entered high school. What an awkward time in a person’s  life- thirteen and fourteen years Read more

  • It’s All I Can Do- The Cars’ Absolute BEST SONG

    Photo by Lynn Goldsmith- Elektra press kit 1980 ADDENDUM 3/25/25 I already gave props to the mighty Elliot Easton and his superior guitar work, but listening to this song again recently, for some reason I was really struck by the beat, the momentum, and decided I  must discuss the rhythm section in this song. That Read more

  • Remember when your friends were in bands? And when bands played house parties?

    I miss the tribal communal musical adventures of my misspent youth. Many things lead to the demise of radio, and the entire musical landscape. Many people who are way more expert than I have written about it.  But here are the things I think contributed and they are all connected. -Loss of free-form radio stations Read more

  • Remember the thrill of buying records and listening to your favorite song on the radio?

    An adjacent topic that’s not about Benjamin Orr! All of the internet reading and researching I’ve been doing tracing the history of The Cars lately has got me thinking about the music landscape, concerts, and how much things have changed in the last- almost fifty- years since I really became cognizant of the power of Read more

  • The Cars, Benjamin Orr, and everything else.

    Fair warning.  I am going to be writing a lot about Benjamin Orr.  It’s not even a choice.  There is a gut-level deep force that is compelling me. I don’t know where it’s coming from or why.  Believe me, I know it sounds ridiculous.  But it’s with me constantly and if I don’t get it Read more

  • Beautiful Benjamin Orr

    The reel that started it all…. OK, things are gonna get weird here, so beware. I think I’m having a mid-life crisis  (can 58 be mid-life?). Either that or I am having a psychotic episode.  Am I bored? Do I need a distraction? Am I feeling lost/sad because of fairly recent deaths in my immediate Read more