Perhaps one of the best examples of a single song superseding and overshadowing the actual fame of the artist... A "one hit wonder" if you will. But I'd venture to say the song's fame had to do with more than the Teddy Pendergrass classic sample. I feel it was more than the video or the artist's vocal pitch. No, I think the reason for the song's timeless popularity had to do with it's message that just about anyone could relate to...
"Back in Tha Day..."
My 'back in tha day' is a place I take mental vacations to regularly... You see like most, my back in the day had NOTHING to do with bills, taxes and racism (or rather, I wasn't aware of it back then). I didn't have to worry about labels; the labels I wore, the labels on the food I ate, the labels I was given. Getting old wasn't going to happen, and tomorrow only held joys and thoughts of "what will I get into?".
Back then my resume only contained "coloring inside the lines (sometimes)", "fastest across the monkey bars", and "expert scab picker (I DIDN'T eat them like some folks did, though!)
If asked to name as many experiences from my childhood as I possibly could, I guarantee negative experiences would be far and few between. Did I ever have bad times as a child? Sure.
But I'm convinced that the true definition of adulthood in most dictionaries is flawed. Sometimes I think adulthood is merely when vulnerability becomes a negative, when magic isn't real anymore, and when "being nice" isn't enough to solve the worlds ills.
No, my recollection would contain the follow...
-The Get-A-Long Gang (the cartoon)
-G.I. Joe
-the Rambo halloween costume that had the fake muscular chest showing thru a ripped open fatigued shirt (of course the skin tone didn't match mine, but hey, I didn't care back then...)
-Teddy Ruxpin (never had one, but the commercials)
-the Domino's "Noid" character
-Slip 'n' Slide
-Super Soakers
-Nerf EVERYTHING
-Guy (the group)
-Pro-Stars (the cartoon)
-Body Glove
-"Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, in a dish. How many pieces do you wish?"
-See Spot Run
-the belts that had the magnetic toy car on the buckle
-picking every dandelion I saw for my mother
-The Jets (the group)
-SHOWBIZ (pre-Chuckie Cheese) Pizza
-Double Dare
-"You Can't Do That On Television"
-the Michael Jackson "Bad" video premiere
-Fat Albert
-"Buzz-Off" (He-Man Character)
-a poster of Doc Rivers in an Atlanta Hawks jersey that measured how tall you were
-a Dr. J poster
-California Raisins Christmas
-Michael Jackson (The Greatest of All Time)
-The Roots mini-series
-my first kiss (@ Martha's Preschool... I know, shameful, lol. I kinda skipped the 'eeewww, girls' stage)
-Thriller
-Pixie Sticks
-when my grandfather saved my life (lol, quite a few people saved me from quite a few things when I was a child. What can I say, I was adventurous)
-Scholastic Reader Day
...Too many things to name them all...
So I leave you with the aforementioned, timeless lyrics...
"Back in the day when I was young, I'm not a kid anymore, but some days I sit and wish I was a kid again..."
Love Up
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