New Wave Outpost Forum

Hi,
As you may already know from some of my other posts, I'm working on a coming-of-age novel set in Seattle's New Wave teen dance clubs circa 1983-84. One of the themes is life imitating art, or,as the movie version of High Fidelity paraphrased Nick Hornby's novel, "Did I listen to pop music because I was depressed, or was I depressed because I listened to pop music?" (P.S. Great Nick Hornby essay in the NYT on Friday re: the importance of keeping up with music as one gets older.)

Anyway, something I do (more than I care to admit) is mentally re-play songs of my teen years during particular situations, either as a pseudo self-help mantra or where a different person might, say, quote from the bible. For example, using "Pull your head off the floor, come up screaming; cry out for everything you ever might have wanted!" from "In a Big Country" to rally myself out of a depression and move on.

I can't be alone in this little quirk. Anybody else do this and to what songs? I could use some additional examples for my book, to show how pop lyrics (in this case from this genre and time period) get integrated into our daily thought processes. Thanks!

"I Might Like You Better If We Slept Together"
- Never Say Never, ROMEO VOID

Staying in the same place, just staying out the time.
Touching from a distance,
Further all the time.
"Transmission" - Joy Division

When you see the price they paid
I'm sure you'll come and join the masquerade
"Masquerade" - Berlin

Give me a fe

I don't like crowds much (hence why I had to get out of the music business). However, living in the trendiest part of the city I often find myself stuck in the middle crowds of those who think themselves fashionable. To keep my spirits up I always recite

The early 80s version of King Crimson was only arguably New Wave (thanks to the involvement of Talking Heads guitarist Adrian Belew) and this never appeared in a song, only an the cover of their Discipline album, but it has stuck with me: "Discipline is n

The ending lyrics for Icehouse's "Not my kind" go through my mind sometimes when I'm feeling like I don't fit in:

"She's just another girl
He's just another boy or man
Not my kind".

For some reason, it's reassuring that the lyricist feels as "out

The beginning of the Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way" "there's an army on the dance floor it's a fashion with a gun my love" (i agree with tory )
and also:
The Cure's "Lovecats" : "hand in hand is the only way to land, always the right way 'round".
as

"New Lace Sleeves" by Elvis Costello:

"Good manners and bad breath get you nowhere"

Smalltalk stinks--Bauhaus

"There's No Idle Gossip In Braile" [;)]

When I get impatient about anything, these lyrics come to mind and calm me down:

"The waiting is hell but heaven is waiting." -"Heaven is Waiting" by the Danse Society.

"This girl's beauty is split into two
Her mind and her heart
She doesn't play any silly games
With peoples emotions"

Lotus Eaters - Stranger So Far

"I'm A Nice Guy But I Don't Love You. I Just Wanna Sleep With You"
- "I Can't Make Love", Wall of Voodoo

2 songs that got me thru my high school years were "Because You're Young" by classix NOuveaux and "If Only" by Hazel O'Connor from the Breaking Glass soundtrack.

"It wasn't like movies, in movies, they work it out ..."
- Combo Audio, "Romanticide"

My yearbook quote from '85 still works-

"The past is the present, the future is mine."

-New Order