80s Music

I was in Fred's a while back. If you have don't have Fred's where you live, they're kind of like a miniature department store. I haven't heard the term department store in a long time, but Google assures me they still exist in the current century. So, I was in Fred's, and their ambient music was 80s music. A Men at Work song came on that I recognized. I didn't have a lot of albums during the 80s, but that song was from one that I actually had. If you lived in the 80s, you know it was like every 5th song was a Michael Jackson song. A lot of songs never made it to radio. The Men at Work song was one of those. It was never played on air during the 80s. That made me wonder something. People today don't know what was on the radio back then. Since that song didn't make it to radio, is it really an authentic 80s song?

It was made during the 80s. It came out during the 80s. But is it authentic 80s? Nobody but people who bought the album ever heard it. Does it really count? The kids today listening to 80s music don't know the difference. It's all 80s music to them. I got to thinking about that.

Back in 2013 or maybe 2012 I was at Burger King. They were playing 80s music. A Duran Duran song that I hadn't heard since it was on the radio in the 80s came on. That was the first time that had happened to me. It's hard to describe the feeling I got. Burger King was a place I went during the 80s, so I was in an 80s-type setting. Music can trigger a lot of things in a person. Hearing that song again took me back to the point in time when I used to hear it. It was like I was seeing myself then and in the present. It was like the song put me in two time periods at once. It was extremely strange. I've had that happen a few times since but never as jarringly as that first time.

I've decided that the Men at Work song I heard at Fred's, even though it was never on the radio back in the day, is indeed an authentic 80s song. The kids today can listen to the old music and enjoy it. They're just doing it out of context. They don't have the 80s experience that goes with that music. The setting in which they're listening to it is out of context.
It makes me wonder if older people thought about things like that when I was listening to classic rock.

Book Stuff
I've gone through the proof copy of the mystery/romance and fixed things and ordered the updated version. It'll probably get here Monday. The plan is to mail it out right away to test readers and see what they think. I still have doubts about it. Ideally, I'd like to find an agent for it, if I can, though that might be very difficult.
I've been working on the Messengers sequel. I'm very close to the end. It's going to be a lot of work to get into shape, once the rough draft is done.