Remembering the year 1979

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I was a senior in college in the fall of 1979. Almost had to drop out because Dad tore up the tendons in his knees when he fell off the milk truck, his employer refused to pay workman's comp, and they almost lost everything.

Like the OP I graduated from college that year. Was in the rock crowd and I pretended to hate disco. But secretly liked some examples of disco,and Seventies Soul as well being into the Who, and Zeppilin.

While I (the OP) kind of liked a couple of disco songs there was no doubt about my view about it as a genre, I despised it. Disco really was ubiquitous after Saturday Night Fever for couple of years. I related a lot to this song for a number of reasons.


I can tolerate it these days and certainly realize the innovation of such songs as "I Feel Love". My bar has been lowered, what can I say?

1979, to me, was 11th grade, then summer break, then 12th grade.

1979 was when I started having feelings for guys and trying to figure out if I was "one of those."

Music was important to me; my salvation, if you will, so KISS, Foghat, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, etc came into play. I also picked up a guitar and started teaching theory to myself.

I had a friend in the 9th grade I was close to, but careless whispers caused him to get the f*ck away from me. That broke my heart and my grades suffered.

In 11th grade I made the honor roll frequently. In 12th grade, I no longer gave a sh*t about school.

If I was an outsider in HS during my 9th to 11th grade, then by 12th grade, I was an outright stranger, a misfit, an unwanted specimen from outer space.

Thoughts of suicide came to the fore. Back then, I thought about jumping off buildings frequently.

Completely drawn into my own world, I focused deeply on the guitar.

One year later, I would become a full time drunk with anti-social behaviours that would last to this day. (Last night, after temporarily sleeping on the sidewalk near the mall, I took off my clothes and walked naked into a hospital about half a mile away).

also graduated high school that year. I remember being impressed with ry cooder's "bop 'til you drop" album which was the first commercial pop music release recorded digitally. I remember an ailing john wayne showing up at the Oscars and giving a labored speech where he caused actor warren beatty to wince when he mispronounced his name, referring to him as "warner." I remember john wayne dying later that year, in june. I remember "star trek the motion picture" coming out in early December of that year. I never got to see it [no transportation available to the nearest theatre 10 miles away, no drivers license. no car. no public transit in my neck of the woods. I remember I didn't have a clue as to what i'd do after high school, no job prospects. a clueless time.