Song of the Week (Timbuk 3 - "I Gotta Wear Shades")

Just a few short weeks before school starts...OMG. The carefree days of sitting poolside, chasing girls and playing Final Fantasy into the wee hours is coming to an end. Don't act like you didn't play Final Fantasy...

A few days ago, a friend of mine got a job teaching at our old High School: Lake Highlands. He'll be the Speech Teacher / Asst. Wrestling Coach. This, of course, got me thinking about all things High School. More specifically, songs about High School. From The Police's epic - "Don't Stand So Close to Me", to Hall & Oates' cautionary tale "Adult Education", artists of the 80s loved singing about school.

This week we focus on Timbuk 3's "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrriKcwvlY

The first time I heard this song was when I watched a little movie I like to call "Kuffs". The buddy cop movie features a potentially peaking Christian Slater as George Kuffs. In a Risky Business moment, Slater is jamming this song while dawning the alleged shades in the song. I immediately needed to wear shades, as I thought Christian Slater was the coolest thing since Original NES.

I often find myself asking: what the F happened to Christian Slater? He was such an important component of my early film identity. Case and point: "The Wizard". When they debuted Super Mario Bros. 3 in the movie, I nearly lost it. How genius of Nintendo to capitalize on Christian Slater in such a subtle way. I was too young to watch "Pump Up the Volume" and "Heathers", but my sister wasn't, so I watched em. After watching "Heathers" I had a dream that I was playing croquet with my sister's head at the end of one of the goals. I was 10.

The video for "I Gotta Wear Shades" is pretty underwhelming. I think I filmed something of superior quality in 7th grade when me and Ryan Miller filmed ourselves rapping about Tom Sawyer to the tune of Sabotage. "Listen all Y'all it's a Tom Sawyer!".

Although it became an early 90s graduation anthem, "Shades" is actually a critique about Nuclear Holocaust. Thanks for nothin' Timbuk 3.

Shout out to my boy T-Y. Baby boy is all groweds up.

Hope you Dig,
JZ