You kids, get off my lawn!

I'm turning into one of those people. One of those people heading toward middle age, stuck in the past, always going on and on about how "their" music was the best. One of those people who listen to the radio station that plays the songs and artists from 20 years ago, when they were formative adolescents.

These people are a little sad and pathetic, I used to think, before I became one of them. I mean, my parents belonged to this group, right?

I didn't realize it at first. I like to think I keep up with popular music, or the mainstream edge of the indie scene anyway. I won't claim to be a Pitchfork hipster. But I buy a lot of new stuff, and I see new bands in concert (case in point, upcoming shows: Adele, the Faint, Black Kids).

So what, I thought, if I loves me some '80s night dance parties? Who doesn't enjoy an occasional little wallow in nostalgia? It's only occasional, right?

It's Last.fm that gave me away. I'd go to play My Neighbourhood or My Recommendations and all these '80s artists would keep popping up. Come on now, that's not really that much of my music library. Is it?

OK, so I have the whole INXS back catalogue, but that was purchased in a bout of nostalgia after Michael Hutchence's untimely death. It doesn't mean anything. And everything by Depeche Mode. And a whole lot of the Cure, and the Smiths. But hey, they kick ass! How many bands today have been influenced by them?

Oh, yeah, I've got a lot of Erasure, too. And a-ha. And New Order. Uh oh.

Then I look at my Top Artists and Songs. Ouch. Yep, all those bands are in there. Sigh.

How did this happen? And how do I escape impending fogeydom?

Maybe I should hide this music from my iTunes playlist. Hide my secret shame.

And maybe I shouldn't have bought those 2 Marc Almond albums on Amazon tonight to get the digital versions of old cassettes I knew and loved.

Return of the plague

OK, seriously, enough with the germs. I got over the cold 'n' norovirus funtime combo just long enough to get down to the '80s tunes at the Black Cat with DJ Lil' E (at which I discovered I was one of the few attendees for whom this music was a memory, not something "retro"), travel to Santa Fe for a big client pitch (unsuccessful, alas) ... and come back home and get sick again. Except this time, it hung on for over a week. I missed 3 1/2 out of 5 days of work last week. As some sort of perverse memento, I have been left with a lingering daily headache that won't go away. Sigh.

But speaking of '80s retro, you know you're old when you discuss the movie "Tron" only to have someone look at you blankly and say "That came out before I was born." Hard to believe it was once considered the very bleeding edge of special effects.

So in case you've somehow missed this milestone of cheesy sci fi, here's a taste: