If you are to know me, you must know that as a child I was obsessed with Zamfir. Obsessed with Zamfir. I made my mother buy all his cassette tapes off of the CNN infomercials so I could listen to his MASTERFUL PAN FLUTE.
BECAUSE IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL.
Speaking of which, did you know that Zamfir played the NATO summit a couple of weeks ago? Immeasurable glee ensues.
Out of curiosity, what kind of embarrassing crap were you into as a child? Tell me I’m not alone.
Peter, Paul and Mary.
(The musicians. Not the biblical figures.)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
In my neighborhood, I was Leonardo. Cuz he’s a leader.
(omg the shame.)
Horrible, horrible pop-country radio.
The best part is that all the songs they were playing in 1993 are still in heavy rotation on those stations — apparently they stopped making schlocky faux-redneck pap circa 1996, and have been using up their remaining stockpiles of it ever since. Or at least this is what I tell myself.
I did magic and yo yo’s. I blame David Copperfield specials and a Duncan yoyo trick book I found. That is just the tip of the iceberg… I was THE original weird kid.
(by the way, I had music playing in the background of my computer when I hit play on the youtube… and discovered that Zamfir and Ozzy Osbourne could have ruled the world if they had combined their powers.)
So Nick, were ya a Garth Brooks fan by chance? I don’t know how I missed the country thing growing up in Indiana, but I was shocked that at the high school dance they played a song I never heard of called “friends in low places” that everyone but me knew the words too.
Like I said, I was such a weird kid! :)
Sing with me:
She ran calling WI-I-I-ILD FIYER, She ran calling WI-I-I-I-I-IIIII-ILLLLD FIYER…..
Actually, I think it’s on my iPod, too. The shame.
OH! OH! I forgot!!!
I was all crazy for Rodger Whittaker. Yeah. Such a smooth mellow for the shuffleboard set. And nine year olds.
…
….
(small voice) I used to pretend to be in some weird Jem & The Holograms / New Kids On The Block Real Life Crossover, where myself and my cousin would pretend to be the various girls in the Misfits and have soap opera-like events taking place between us & NKOTB, complete with letters, phone calls, costume changes, everything. We did that for YEARS.
I think this is the reason why I can’t have nice things.
John Denver, before the shame flowed in and I stopped around age 12.
But as an adult I listened again, and I don’t care. He was good. Thank God I’m a country boy.
Death to all music snobbery.
So I wasn’t the only one who loved Zamfir as a child! I know I still have a cassette tape around somewhere.
I think most gals my age adored NKOTB at some point. (I suppose they were NSync for the Eighties, huh?) I should have their first (record) album in the basement, somewhere.
My true love was Weird Al.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ5eZSa7URA
Step by step?
No love for “Hangin’ Tough”?
I had a friend who idolized Vanilla Ice. He even had the haircut and those lines cut into an eyebrow.
Also, in pre-ninja turtle days, my cousins and I would play She-Woman. Because we all watched He-Man, and it was before She-Ra came out. She-Woman was usually a combination of a female He-Man and Gem.
Actually, that’s not bad for a six year old.
I didn’t know the words to NKOTB songs, because I thought they were lame and I would rather climb trees or play ninja turtles (this is what happens when yr a tomboy). But I knew all the words to Garth Brooks songs. My mom and I would duet on drives to the grocery store.
“I had a friend who idolized Vanilla Ice. He even had the haircut and those lines cut into an eyebrow.”
That. Is. Amazing.
Peter, Paul, and Mary are hardly embarrassing crap.
I was into KC and the Sunshine Band.
Sina - Word to your Mother…
lol :)
My brother and I were discussing Zamfir recently, and he made an excellent point. Shouldn’t Pan be considered the master of the Pan flute? I mean, to be fair.
i was obsessed with drawing ornate, elaborate dragons as a boy. i only realize now that their heads often bore a striking resemblance to something else i was discovering at the time.
But…but… Zamfir IS beautiful!!
When I was growing up we mostly listened to classical music in our house. My mom did have an album or two of show tunes - those were really the only songs with words I knew. I discovered pop music in 6th grade (a friend gave me a cassette tape he made by recording the radio broadcast of Kasey Kasem’s top 40 that year). At the beginning of 7th grade as part of a “get to know your fellow students” assignment we were asked to name our favorite song. My favorite song at the time was Olivia Newton John’s “I Honestly Love You”. Only, I didn’t know the name of the song or the artist, so I just wrote down “I love you”. Yes, the teacher did have us read our answers out loud. Yes, I did want to die.
I should have written down “Vivaldi’s Double Violin Concerto in A Minor”. That would have shut the little monsters up!
Hi Lauren! Hahaha not only did I like Zamfir as a child, I just posted a song by him on my blog just a few months ago…and I’ve gotta say, I will never be embarrassed about any of my eccentric or mainstream tastes, I choose to be as whimsical, solemn, cheesy, or sublime as I wanna be in any given moment…
Shaun Cassidy.
And the Bay City Rollers.
I was nine. That’s my excuse. I can’t account for the teenagers who loved them.
Well, now that zuzu brought up Shaun Cassidy…okay I change my position, that is embarrassing, and I did have that “Da doo run run” single, danced to it in my room as it spun on my plastic record player with the weird arm that cued up multiple records…um, yeah. Sorry.
Kiss
Rush
Judas Priest
Though the height of dorkiness was me in my gymnastics uniform.
I was into all sorts of embarrassing things as a kid. For instance, among my copious reading material was The Sleepover Friends. Bear in mind that I was an 8-year-old boy.
Huey Lewis and the News.
ABBA
Well, now that zuzu brought up Shaun Cassidy…okay I change my position, that is embarrassing, and I did have that “Da doo run run” single, danced to it in my room as it spun on my plastic record player with the weird arm that cued up multiple records…um, yeah. Sorry.
Yeah, but DID YOU WATCH THE HARDY BOYS, TOO?