The John Hughes Mixtape
I don’t consider my self a child of the 80’s, but I was a child in the 80’s. One of the biggest distinctions is my experience with John Hughes movies. Reading through his numerous tributes and obituaries I realized I never saw one of his films in a theater, but I had seen all of them on video. Those plastic boxes stacked behind an empty box. Ensemble cast photo on the front. Carry them up to the counter. Have them back by Friday.
The visceral essence of these films was of watching the big kids play. Snooping on their business. And one thing that stuck was the music. Sitting by the boom box, calling in a request to the DJ waiting to tape that song off the radio. The goal, a mix tape.
And there were rules.
You want it to all fit together. Pick something that had a cohesive vibe or arc. But never two songs from the same album.
Chic-a-chic-ahhh…
Raise your hand if you have ever tried to replicate that sound. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
With so many films set in high school, or with high school age protagonists, John Hughes managed to polish a fractal fabrication. Each one encapsulating the entire ethic, but each one special an unique, just from a different face.
Recreationally, I’ve taken in a few of the Hughes films from on high. In most cases, I can’t say that the already superlative efforts become greater. The stories are so universal, the space already so empathic, no special sauce is needed. The one place the swell explodes into the great green geyser is the musical montages.
From Chic-a-chic-ahh we swoop through the theme song for Wierd Science. Imagine someone trying to pull that off today. A comedy with a theme song. ‘Knocked Up’?
But the real jewels are the class of songs that are inextricable from the Hughes universe. When you hear them, you know they are from one of the films. You might not be able to sort if it was in 16 Candles or Pretty in Pink, but you see the school dance.
The John Hughes High School Playlist.
The moniker ‘Voice of a Generation’ is often thrown around lightly. Kurt Cobain changed pop music when Smells Like Teen Spirit hit MTV. For a kid my age, Nirvana’s short span still scintillates through my adolescent memories, but he was not the voice of a generation. By the time I entered high school. Sweater wearing Beemer driving Preppies were extinct. I have to imagine, at least partially, we have John Hughes to thank for that,
So, Maybe I’m not a child of the 80’s, but I’m definitely a child of John Hughes.
And then the last song, you break all the rules.
Danke Shoen
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