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Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes! |
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Rocky Road From Classic Rock to Progessive to hip hop to today's hot new tunes! |
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In September 1989, I entered UC Santa Cruz, and was situated in the northern part of campus, which was forested. The black-tailed deer also lived here. In my dorm, the leader of the wannabe hippies, Heather, made a play on words about the "buck naked" deer. But she turned a little more serious, and said that, other than cars, the campus deer had nothing to fear, had no predators.
At the end of 1989, Electronic, the collaboration between New Order's Bernard Sumner and The Smith's Johnny Marr, came out with their debut single, "Getting Away With It." Featuring the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, it was not just popular amongst us college kids, it became well-loved among synthpop audiophiles.
In February 1991, Heather pulled off one my most memorable college experiences. She coordinated our quad's "student body wash." See, in order to be ADA-compliant, the dorm's first floor restroom had a walk-in shower, with a hose and shower head. The other floors simply had individual stalls with a fixed-head.
So Heather formed rotating crews, consisting of these jobs:
Sprayer: one who used the showerhead to hose off participants
Scrubber F: a female who scrubbed down participants
Scrubber M: a male who scrubbed down participants
Runner: since water pressure was low, the runner used the sink, to fill a pitcher with warm/hot water.
Heather provided the pitchers, buckets, bath sponges, body wash (no bar soaps!). Participants lined up, brought their own shampoo (optional) and towel, stripped down, and got washed by the crew. Each participant chose a Scrubber (or both), and washed his or her own hair (unless s/he wanted the Scrubbers to do so).
So that the hot water would not run out, the sprayer used lukewarm water. But that was fine, as the crowded and enclosed restroom got steamy.
The big Asian Indian coed provided a small boombox. Someone had a mix tape, which included Electronic's "Getting Away With It." We loved that so much, we often rewound the tape, and played "Getting Away With It" again.
Previously, I had been to Bay To Breakers, and participated in organized team sports. So I had seen plenty of naked people before. But I'd never seen so many, and up-close, as in the "student body wash." It was so fun and enjoyable, participants often went multiple times. Clearly, you will never forget such an experience. I rotated among the three jobs. When I was a Scrubber, my glasses (I'm blind) kept fogging up, so I constantly had to rinse them off. I loved being the Sprayer. And Electronic's "Getting Away With It" made this event even better.
Nora, who understood that many of our dormmies didn't always shower, joked that this was the cleanest they'd be.
One Caucasian guy remarked, "Man, we're not just white . We have lots of differences, from hair to eyes, to skin, to bone" structure.
After Heather successfully pulled off the "student body wash," you no longer just accepted things as being impossible. Your optimism grew, and as an audiophile, you were much more open, to trying products, checking out setup permutations. And, if you didn't already, you were more receptive to synthpop.
Interestingly, when Electronic came out with their debut album in early summer 1991, the UK pressings did not include "Getting Away With It." But subsequent issues did include it, which then extended its life/popularity.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Electronic, "Getting Away With It" - Luminator 13:58:23 02/8/21 (1)
- RE: Electronic, "Getting Away With It" - 6bq5 22:17:21 02/8/21 (0)
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