I was born in the 80's. I love saying that, as I'm pretty sure the 80's (closely followed by the 90's and 70's) is my ultimate decade for music - a lot of one hit wonders ("Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners; "Tainted Love" by SoftCell), and bands typically associated with the 80's such as The Police, but also great years for current bands like Metallica and Depeche Mode. Trying to make it in the male-dominated world of engineering, I often wonder what I would have done if I was born a few decades earlier. I usually go right back to the practically medieval choice of washer women, because I (with my modern feminist tendencies) would like to think if I was born anytime after about 1920 I would somehow get a career in Engineering/Science despite it being unusual for a woman. However, I forget that I probably wouldn't have been brought up with the "you can be absolutely whatever you want to be" attitude, and I definitely wouldn't have grown up in a society providing me with opportunities to do this, so it might have been a bit trickier than I imagine.
For the past 5 years I have periodically questioned dropping my career choice in favour of one more associated with music (production, editing, event organising, etc). Every time I have come to the conclusion that I can enjoy music as a hobby whilst being an engineer, but I would find it difficult to satisfy my science-cravings if I was working in the music world (mainly because I would need my own lab with zillions of dollars of equipment in it). So I think, if I was born in the early 60's, making the beginning of my career throughout the 80's, I would have been a singer (or tried to be, but this is not the point). I think I would have liked to have started out along the lines of Tiffany, Pat Benatar, and Toni Basil, but hopefully would have changed direction to more of an early 90's band thing, like Letters to Cleo, and possibly Hole. And seeing as I have total control over this little fantasy, I think I had better say I would be born in the USA, seeing as none of those artists come from little island NZ.
On that note, here's Laura Branigan with my fave song of the week, Gloria (1982):
For the past 5 years I have periodically questioned dropping my career choice in favour of one more associated with music (production, editing, event organising, etc). Every time I have come to the conclusion that I can enjoy music as a hobby whilst being an engineer, but I would find it difficult to satisfy my science-cravings if I was working in the music world (mainly because I would need my own lab with zillions of dollars of equipment in it). So I think, if I was born in the early 60's, making the beginning of my career throughout the 80's, I would have been a singer (or tried to be, but this is not the point). I think I would have liked to have started out along the lines of Tiffany, Pat Benatar, and Toni Basil, but hopefully would have changed direction to more of an early 90's band thing, like Letters to Cleo, and possibly Hole. And seeing as I have total control over this little fantasy, I think I had better say I would be born in the USA, seeing as none of those artists come from little island NZ.
On that note, here's Laura Branigan with my fave song of the week, Gloria (1982):
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