Soundtrack of the summer of 1985

The year is 1985. We had just finished the 8th grade. In my neighborhood, it turns out that Cynthia "Cheese" Gibson's house was our headquarters that summer. Almost every single day, we'd congregate at Cynthia's. Weston, Trey, Brett, Bobby, Judy, Beth, Reece Young, and a few others. Cynthia's older sister, Brenna, was home from college that summer, and as you can imagine, most of us guys had HUGE crushes on her. So that was one of the reasons (obviously) we were up there so much. Ha! Anyway, Brenna was big into music (and she still is, I should point out...) and so every time we were up there, she was on the couch watching MTV and giving us lessons on what was cool to listen to.

If there is one song that reminds me of that summer, and of Brenna, it's "Wouldn't It Be Good" by Nik Kershaw. Brenna had this album, and I can remember hearing her playing it in her room upstairs. At that time, it was the coolest song I'd ever heard, and the video was even cooler. I got the tape immediately and listend to it all summer long. I found it on CD when I was in college, and still have it to this day.



That summer you couldn't pry me away from MTV. All we did was watch MTV day and night. I remember seeing this video by Go West and I immediately loved the song. I went out and bought the tape, and I listened to all summer long. I think I actually wore the tape out, if you must know.



I can remember being at Cynthia's house one day, and Weston and I were in the den hanging out with Brenna watching MTV. This video came on, and we'd never heard of Mr. Mister. As you can imagine, we pronounced it like it looks "Mister Mister." Brenna, the Goddess of Music, was quick to point out that it was actually pronounced like "Mr. Myster." Weston and I looked at each other like "whatever," and it turns out we were actually right. Anyway, despite being such a mellow song, this one still reminds me of that summer. They had a few more hits that remind me of 9th grade, but this one is definitely from that summer.



When this song came out, man we were sold on it. Especially Trey, Weston, and me. That summer, because none of us were driving at this point, most of us had 10 speeds and rode our bikes all summer long. I had a blue bike bag on the front of mine, and I kept my walkman in there so that i could ride with my headphones on. I had this Tears For Fears tape, and it totally reminds me of Trey and I riding our bikes around that summer. Our weekly journey was downtown where we'd park them and walk around downtown -- from Belk's, to Reid Brothers, to Borrum's Drugstore, to a few other places. A whole crew of us hung out downtown that summer, and I'm so glad because shortly after that, all the stores closed and moved across town.



Stay tuned.....