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Plastic Lampshades

comments: The worst part of the 70's is that people still believe in them. I'm not quite sure why. I think it has a lot to do with modern media essentially being controlled by old men -- of whom some are either nostalgic burnouts or really short on ideas. It's wrong to assume that trends "just happen." Media propagates them.

Someone, somewhere, was hoping that, this time, disco would work. The reaction works like this: Advertiser "A" finds out about this new rage in vogue with some kids in some town. This is because someone at Club "B" is DJ'ing some disco and funk, and someone else is into afros, platform shoes, and bellbottomed polyester outfits. Advertiser A also notices that magazine "C " proclaims disco and nostalgia to be "hot," and so A runs ads in C pandering to the new fad. Corporation "D" decides it's not only going to cash in, but cash in directly, and it does this by releasing various "Hits of the 70's" albums. Fashion outlet "E" begins selling 70's-influenced designs, because while the Salvation Army might be cheaper, half the "cool kids" "F," and "G," are too cool (G) to shop there. TV network "H" appeals to the sudden appetite for campiness by rerunning all kinds of cartoons and sit-coms that were even terrible in 1978. Bad bands "I" and "J" take this even further by covering and remixing 70's tunes (I) and others simply ride the wave to launch their short-lived careers (J) with cheesy songs and videos (like that terrible Mike Flowers Pop band that does the lounge-act covers of songs like "Wonderwall"), which brings us back to A.

"K," of course, is the lowest common denominator, and is an important part of any such social equation.

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To recap:

	
  A(C) + B(F/G)E + DH + (-J)(-I)
---------------------------------- = people are stupid.
		       K


© 1996 R.B.F.

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