Blasts from the past unexpectedly reappear

Like many other boomers, there are things from the past that I’m happy to leave there. They were fun at the time, but didn’t have good shelf life, and newer ideas and options have emerged to replace them. Given this, I was somewhat taken aback to read this article in the UK newspaper, The Independent.

My memories of these things aren’t bad – as a teenager I recall seeing the Nolan Sisters on television variety shows, and neighbors routinely offered Campari and soda if you went to their house. Heaven knows how many miles I happily rode in the back of a Danbury VW camper van, or how many bounces I enjoyed on a Space Hopper, but the memories have been safely stored in the inner recesses of my mind – until now! Confronted with these products and concepts again, I’m not sure if I am pleased these things are having a revival so new generations can enjoy them, or embarrassed by them.

Certainly I’m glad that the recession has made simpler pleasures like camping holidays more popular, and wouldn’t deny anyone the surprising pleasures of bouncing around on a Space Hopper. I loved wearing floaty maxi dresses and flared bell bottoms, and while I’m not sure I’d wear them now, have no problem with others wearing them. I can’t remember what Campari tastes like, but am tempted to go and get some, if only to discover how much my tastes have changed since the 1970s! I think my reaction is strongest to the revival of seventies groups and singers.

Since the Nolan Sisters were wholesome teenagers in the 1970s, and the Bay City Rollers were much the same age, they must now be in their late 40s or 50s. I’m not sure I’d want to see the ‘boys’ from the Bay City Rollers in their high platform boots leaping around the stage now. My sensibilities have changed, and what appealed to me as a teenager doesn’t do so now. Would they still be singing about Saturday night’s being all right for fighting? Isn’t that an odd philosophy for a boomer to still hold to?

The sweet innocence of the Nolan Sisters was their charm, but by now as mothers, and possibly grandmothers, that fresh faced simplicity may not work so well. I’m sure their agents and publicists have thought all this through, but if I want to youthful exuberance, I look to today’s youth. If I want maturity and experience, I look to those who have gained it, and am not sure it is possible to convincingly shed these qualities.

For me it is more important to acknowledge and embrace not only where I’ve come from, but who and where I am now. While my reflection in the mirror continues to surprise me because I don’t look the way I feel inside, the reality is that it is who I am. I can’t be my teenage self again just by putting on a Laura Ashley dress or bell bottom denims, and in the same way, singers can’t recreate their teenage selves by re-staging their concert material at a lower pitch and with less energetic dance moves. Let’s enjoy the way the past the way we remember it, but live fully in the here and now with all it has to offer.

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