Speaking as a child of the 80s, John Hughes died this week. He made movies about middle class, suburban white kids that wanted to be individuals fitting in (among other things - see above clip of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles). They came from affluent Chicago that could have been anywhere affluent America. But he did capture something that people think they can replicate but I haven’t seen someone do it yet. To some his films could look like some current teenage romance but that would be wrong. The 80s was a strange decade. It was the moment that the marketers perfected how to sell shit to teenagers. Woodstock was the eureka moment of a new, cashed up demographic and by the 80s the strategy was perfected. However, we weren’t clueless, sheep to the slaughter. Not all of us anyway. But none of us are immune. Maybe that’s what John Hughes did so well. He showed emotion in the time of Gekko. America has not left the mindset of Gekko, we just talk about it differently.

It’s not entirely right, but I see a strong connection with John Hughes’ films and The Smiths. It’s the wolf in sheeps clothes and what a beautiful wolf. Machismo and materialism ruled the 80s and Hughes and The Smiths subverted that mentality although Morrissey did it in a much bigger way. Hughes did it by focusing on the sensitive, yet attractive, anti-hero, outsider that could navigate relatively seamlessly through the high school social circles. Morrissey and Marr did it differently, in particular Morrissey. Just watch the video below and you might even cringe when you see him dance. Is he taking the piss? Is he serious? Is he just dancing? Who knows but so many people, macho or not, loved their tunes and had to deal with their emotions, and some with their homophobia, while they danced and sang and cried in their beers. Morrissey challenged all the nonsense just by putting out records. Really good records.

Both were critical, crucial and emblems of the 80s. It’s great that you can go to a bar in the Mission on the 3rd Thursday every month and hear The Smiths on vinyl. A lot of it is nostalgic but The Smiths and John Hughes will be referenced forever by anyone who wants to know about that decade.

Pretty in Pink being shown in Dolores Park (Mission), San Francisco, Saturday, August 1, 2009.

And here’s a great band from the nineties and naughts covering The Headmaster Ritual….

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