This blog post stems from a conversation I had with a friend the other day. We’re in our 40’s now which means we were teenagers in the 80’s. Music was loud and fun and in some ways very suggestive and in other ways very blatant in the meaning and message. Love meant sex in songs. It didn’t matter if it was pop or metal. A lot of it was about sex.
“For sex and sex I’d sell my soul, All in the name of, All in the name of Rock”, sang Vince Neil, the front man of Motley Crue…
They and others like them sang about the glamour of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. They sang about the pitfalls too. They weren’t much older than my friends and I at the time and they made it seem so easy for the teenagers like us to get at the rockstars we idolized.
Yeah, they sang about 15 and 17 and talking dirty and cherry pie… But WE were 15 and 17 and wanted Bret Michaels to talk dirty to us, and many of us would’ve given it up to Warrant or a dozen other bands if we’d gotten close enough to the bus or the hotel. Many of us did.
We, the teenagers in the 80’s, were the target market for 80’s glam metal…
They lyrics were scadalous, the leather tight with cocks outlined perfectly, and the beats were infectious. I wouldn’t trade any of it for anything. I mean really, where do you think I got my taste for tattoos, piercings, and leather clad bad boys?
Music today is just as suggestive, the beats just as infectious if you know where to look and who to look to… The leather isn’t as prevalent anymore, now it’s casual and jeans, but hey, if you’ve got an imagination…
What about you? What did YOU listen to as a teenager?
When characters die on television shows or in movie franchises, we mourn. Sometimes for years, depending on how beloved, or for a moment.
When the actors die while in the midst of filming or in the off-season or in the middle of the viewing season, it hits us a little harder. We like to emesh ourselves in the shows we watch the same as we do with the books we read. Those characters become part of our lives, entwined, and when they are gone, when the one who brought them to live on screen for us is gone… There is no comfort for our sadness. We are shocked and in disbelief. The show will never be the same and we will never be able to watch it in the same way we once did…
Some of my favorites who’ve passed away over the years…
Actor John Ritter – Character at the time: Paul Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules
Actor Jerry Orbach – Detective Lenny Brisco on Law and Order (beloved also as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast)
Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing… (actress Kathry Joosten passed away last year, but I still remember her on The West Wing and she will always be Mrs. Landingham, no matter what else she did after…)
The news broke about Cory Monteith over the weekend and has devastated millions of Glee fans. I didn’t watch Glee. I caught snippets from time to time, mainly scenes with Jane Lynch, but as I was flipping channels one night several years ago, I came across Glee. I stopped because they were singing Sweet Caroline. And then, there was another one, not long ago and I think for the sadness people feel right now, maybe it’s appropriate, too…
Over on the sidebar, there’s a College Football countdown widget. If any of y’all know me, y’all know I love me some college football. I like the NFL too (don’t have a fave team, just certain players I follow), but my heart and soul with football is college ball.
Now, I’m not a huge Kenny Chesney fan, but he had a song, The Boys of Fall that hits me in the gut every time. For most people, you’re still looking at Summer. You’re counting down to when your kids go back to school, but at the same time you’re seeing Summer. Me, I’m itching for Fall. Cool weather, and football.
There are so many sports romances out there too. Hockey, baseball, racing, wrestling, and football. I don’t read many of them myself, but I do love that they’re there for you to read. I love that sports are not just for men anymore, that the female fan base is growing by leaps and bounds.
So, if you’re looking forward to Fall and looking forward to football, there’s a hot new contemporary romance from Selena Blake, Ask For It.
Trevor Wyatt has lusted for journalist JJ Fairchild since before he retired from the NFL. Now she’s back in his life and he’s not going to miss the opportunity to show her just how good they could be together.
Words may be JJ’s tool of trade, but when it comes to the bedroom, words escape her. Trevor’s an excellent teacher and before she knows it, she’s asking for what she wants.
But when outside forces threaten to expose dark secrets from Trevor’s past, can he overcome his suspicions and trust the woman in his bed?
It’s been a long weekend, y’all. San Antonio was awesome. I definitely want to go back, rent a car, and drive around. It was green and lush and beautiful. It was busy and vibrant and completely not what I was expecting but exactly what I’d hoped for. I’m feeling inspired and curious and ready to get back to work on the Lone Star Sweets series…
But before that… I’ve always had musical inspiration on all my writing, even the pieces that are stuffed in the back of cabinets and drawers and file boxes. Most know that Keep It Together came from Miranda Lambert’s Mama’s Broken Heart. Twisted Up came by way of a SheDAISY song, 360 Degrees of You.
The song Famous In A Small Town is what hit me as a great theme for my short story, Small Town Famous…
Twisted Up might have come from a line in the SheDAISY song, but Justin (the real Justin) loved Sugarland and so as I wrote the book, those two groups played the entire time.
I love music and it keeps me sane, keeps me feeling young even. One of the reviews I glanced at for Trouble In The Making commented that Liz and Johnny talked/acted younger at times than their ages and yes, they probably did. I don’t talk for my age either. Not always. I feel old a lot of times, but certain music makes me feel different, years younger and maybe that translates into my books. A lot of the musicians I loved when I was in my teens are in their 50’s and 60’s and they act, talk, play younger now than when they were 20 years younger.
In our 40’s we’re still insecure, still emotionally unsettled, still uncertain, still trying to find our way. When the younger set is our age, they’ll be the same… Hell, there are many 18-19 year olds who act like they’re still 10, so…
Music and laughter help us feel younger, act younger, even play younger, especially when we get around people who are younger or who we knew in our younger days… I definitely don’t want my characters, who are in their mid-30’s-early 40’s to come across as old and stodgy 😉
Before I go, I think I like this song. This girl… damn, I wish I had her body, but LOVE the title, Giddy On Up..
I’ve been working on Eli’s Promise (male/male) edits over the weekend and writing on Slide Down On Me (contemporary erotic). Working on two such different books is hard sometimes, but music helps me differentiate the moods and the tone I’m going for.
And yeah, there’ve been a lot of 80’s classics going through my earbuds. Glam rock. Pop Metal. Hell, I don’t care what anyone calls it. It was fun. It was sexy. It was pushing a line and pissed off Tipper Gore on Capitol Hill. It was also when MTV was about the music, the videos, the bands and artists.
And to 15-19 year old girls in the mid-late 80’s…these bands were everything. At least where I was from…
We definitely liked a little Poison…
And a little Great White…
I never went in for the lead singers either… I always wanted the bassists with the exception of former (maybe, who the hell knows) Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. Damn that was a hot man… Still is.
But music sets a mood for a book, at least for me, from beginning to end. And when a reader comes to me and says that they can hear a particular song when they read a book of mine, and it’s the one I was hearing when I wrote it… That’s flippin’ cool.
