"That's an obvious title, Wyatt. You run Rediscover the '80s, we are fans of the '80s, so that statement is quite evident."
It is very apparent. However, since I inherited Rediscover the '80s, my ears have truly been more attuned to the Generation X, with a more zoned in 1980s playlist. I hear far more '80s music than I had noticed before. While walking through a popular department store, grocery store, big box stores, restaurants, and many other places, the primary music coming out of the overhead speakers are 1980s music. From Madonna, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, to Whitney Houston, ZZ Top, Rick Astley, and Tears for Fears, and so many more in between.
Why write about the obvious (I repeated, I know)? My family and I had the opportunity to go on an Eastern Caribbean cruise recently and it appeared as though I went audibly back in time. The welcomed abundance of the GenX pop culture music as well as a few delightful and familiar sites along this journey was, well, relaxing. This was our family get away: sailing, eating, swimming, relaxation event and I still felt like I was working: 1) as the parent so there really isn't much of a vacation from that and 2) for Rediscover the '80s.
The moment we walked on the ship, the promenade of the ship was playing Phil Collins Sussudio. At first, I somewhat wrote it off as, well, it's a popular song and I'm sure that I'll hear a modern song from the 2020s next. We made our way through the casino (passing through much to my wife's dismay) and I heard The Power Of Love by Huey Lewis and the News. I thought to myself, well the Broadway musical Back To The Future is onboard, it is likely a "plug" for the show on the following night. Again, I mentally wrote it off, yet I caught myself singing along and turning to my 10 year old mini-me son as I sung the lyrics.
We made it through and discovered the Surfside on the 7th deck which included the arcade, a carousel, the toddler/kiddie water bucket and slides with a three foot pool for older adolescents. As we walked out, I heard Van Halen's Jump followed by Allstar by Smash Mouth and this is when the playlist sank in that we were going to be listening to GenX pop culture tunes. I'm down with that! We stepped into the arcade center and played a few rounds of free air hockey games, then on we went.
Soon after, we made our way down to the Deck 6 and explored the teen area for my oldest son. To get there, however, we needed to walk through a bar area which has two arcades: a Ms Pac-man and Donkey Kong cabinet both set to free. Alright! Then, I heard Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard faintly pumping through the noise of sports channels and vibrant chatter.
After our casual exploration, we heard the announcement that we could now go see our staterooms. Being a large family, we had two separate rooms thankfully about twenty doors apart. However, as I walked through the ninth floor hallways, I saw pictures of all '80s items or scenes on the wall. The 1980s was now wall art! A cassette labeled mix tape, a Rubik's cube, a roller skating scene, a neon lettering "Living in the 80s," and so many more down the length of our floating hotel hallway.
As we near the late evening of the initial cruise day, the particular cruise line has a bon voyage celebration in the promenade that drops copious amounts of balloons, which many patrons then proceed to pop. My family and I arrived as, what appeared to me, nearly everyone onboard was singing Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer! Of course, I joined the chorus and was singing to all of my children: a couple were chuckling while the older children were rolling their eyes. And that was day 1!
Day 2 (No I'm not going over every day's itinerary) was another day filled with primarily 1980s music. Every where we went, including the initial island we stopped at, was pumping out pop culture music. Later that day, we came back aboard, showered, and went to see the Back to the Future the Musical. Please click on my article to read a review. Again, I'm regaling and likely annoying my children as I recite lines and songs.
That was my vacation throughout the voyage. I would walk in and out of areas on the cruise ship or even on the island taxi's and ferry boats and hear Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, Garth Brooks' Friends In Low Places, Toto's Africa, John Mellencamp's R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., and so much more. In fairness, I would hear an occasional 2000's current music, but by percentage is was far less than our GenX music.
It is certainly clear that our 1980s music is the music of choice!
0 Comments