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I'm from the '70s (I love it)


I don't listen to a lot of current music. But as someone who does turn on music every chance he gets, a few modern day songs are bound to seep into my brain.

If you're of a certain age (re: young), you've probably heard this song "I Love It," by a Swedish group called Icona Pop. It's kind of an electronica thing that is catchy in the most vacant way possible (I just read that it's the theme song for a reality show, or what I call a "lowest common denominator" show).

I get to hear the song because there are teenagers floating through my house more and more these days.

Outside of the constant repetition of the sentences "I love it" and "I don't care," there are only two sets of lyrics in the song. I am going to repeat them here and there is cursing in the lyrics, so if you don't like that, click on some site with daisies or butterflies.

Here we go:

"I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone
I crashed my car into the bridge, I watched, I let it burn
I threw your shit into a bag and pushed it down the stairs
I crashed my car into the bridge"

My only thought outside of "what a lucky gal to be able to walk away from crashing into a bridge" is "this must be a short-lived relationship because there is no way all of MY shit is going to fit into a bag you can push down the stairs."

But whatever. You have your relationship, I have mine.

Other set of lyrics:

"You're on a different road, I'm in the Milky Way
You want me down on earth but I am up in space
You're so damn hard to please, we gotta kill this switch
You're from the '70s, but I'm a '90s bitch"

All right, this one strikes home a bit more, only because ... hey, I'M from the '70s!

I LIKE being from the '70s. I spent ages 4 through 14 in the '70s and it was one of the highlights of my life. It was full of carefree do-nothing days, sunshine, wild colors and shaggy people dressed in burnt orange and avocado green. It was fantastic and I wish I could go back to visit.

However, the closest I can come to visiting is by acquire cards from the '70s when I see them. I did that recently when The Diamond King presented one of his PWE Challenge cards.

It was the Sal Bando Kellogg's 3-D card up at the top of the post.

It's a 1972 Kellogg's card. Those cards are from before my collecting time and I've been restricting my Kellogg's purchasing to the cards I dug out of cereal boxes back in the '70s. But there is a part of me that knows in the distant future, I will be trying to get every Kellogg's card I can find.

Because I'm from the '70s.

So I am elated to have this '70s Kellogg's card of an Oakland A, and I hope I find many more.

Meanwhile, the Diamond King said he was low on Dodgers so he'd try to send me something else I might like.

And that something -- totally a surprise to me -- was MINNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Terrific dy-no-mite 1975 minis off my want list.

The best cards of all from the '70s. For somebody from the '70s.


Check out that '70s hair (regular-sized card dragged out of binder for comparison sake).


Check out that '70s red White Sox cap.


Check out those '70s sideburns!


Check out the '70s version of whistling in the graveyard!


Check out the '70s checklist, the way they used to make them!



And check out the '70s tributes to the '50s, very appropriate in the age of "American Graffiti."

I have one thing to say about these cards.

I love it!

I know these cards may seem SO OLD to some people. As someone who lived during this time and who doesn't think of himself as all that old, it puzzles me that people would consider the '70s the distant past.

Some collectors say the players on these cards are hard to relate to because they didn't know them. I get sad about that just because these are the players that I LOVE, but also I actually try to get to know players before my time (one of the reasons I'm doing the 1971 Topps blog).

I understand the whole thing about aging and not being in the 18-34 demographic, and my interests and stories being "dated" and uncool. Like I said, I have a teenager to remind me of this.

But I think if people would just try to understand the '70s a tiny bit (don't focus too much on the gas lines or the economy or the disco), they might like it just a little.

But if you don't like it, as the song says, I don't care. I love it.

I'll take the '70s.

You can have the '90s, bitch.

Comments

I'm with you, the 70's rule!
jackplumstead said…
I'm loving the 70's at the moment as well! Sadly overlooked...
Fuji said…
Why no love for the 80's?
jacobmrley said…
I hang out in a dive bar with a most sketchy cast of characters. One of them is a woman of, shall we say, loose morals. One night she played that song on the jukebox like 10 times in a row. I will never not think of her when I hear that song nor the very short dress she danced in. I'm sorry, what were we talking about?
Josh D. said…
That song is awful. You are completely justified.