The Soundtrack of My Life – The Middle School Years, or Can You Smell the Loves Baby Soft

I started a series of posts labeled The Soundtrack of My Life – well, the first post was published almost 3 months ago, [I know, not really a series with one post] and life got in the way, but now I'm back with the 2nd post! Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this up before the end of the year! [Note I didn’t say which year….]

My first post focused on the music of my childhood - through 5th grade. So now, we enter .... The Middle School Years..... [cue angst filled music]

For some reason, those Middle school years are a complete blur – only certain random memories remain – like the fact that I didn’t wear shorts the entire time I attended Middle school. That I exhibited bouts of serious drama (OK, what pre-teen doesn’t?). That the desire to fit in (ie, conforming to social norms) started to impact what I wore, regardless of my true opinion (like clogs I couldn’t walk in and Loves Baby Soft – which really doesn’t smell that great).

So maybe I blocked all the music out – with the exception of 1980. That year yielded such hits as Don’t Stand So Close to Me by the Police and REO Speedwagon’s I’m Gonna Keep on Loving You.

Yeah, I'm gonna keep on loving you
Cause it's the only thing I wanna do
I don't wanna to sleep
I just wanna keep on lovin' you

Brings back memories, doesn't it?

I remember being in Art class with my best friend, Laura and her obsession with Bob Seger’s Against the Wind. What a great song and performance. Back then, recording artists were muscians first, performers second - without technologies like auto tune.


Laura also introduced me to ACDC and their Back in Black Album. Truthfully, the ACDC music wasn't my favorite and I only pretended to like the music because it was rebellious and what the other kids at school were listening to. So maybe it's the same with my kids' choice of music these days - some of the music they listen to isn't really music to me!

What music did you love in the late 70's and early 80's?