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Talking Pie's avatar

Andrew Potter, thank you for doing this Substack. I’m excited to catch up on reading all your posts over the festive break!

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Mark A's avatar

As a millennial, the most shocking thing is that American Idiot was released closer to Dookie than the present day. I was a child when Dookie came out, American Idiot was the end of middle school. Time flies!

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Paul Wells's avatar

It's your rodeo, but I would hope for something ambitious about Spy Magazine, both in its own right and as a breeding ground, cultural guidebook and influence.

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Andrew Potter's avatar

I must have read your mind about three days ago; to my google doc of ideas and topics I added "from Spy to Gawker".

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Paul Wells's avatar

They came out with a coffee table book several years ago called "Spy: The Funny Years," with interviews from the principals. Including the magazine's last editor, who quickly did the math. "So you're doing a book called "The Funny Years" whose premise is that my years weren't the funny ones?" "Yes, that's correct." "OK. How much time do you need?"

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Andrew Potter's avatar

That's fantastic -- was that Tony Hendra?

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Paul Wells's avatar

I'll look it up and get back to you

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Brad Buchanan's avatar

I'm definitely here for "the long Eighties"!

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John Hepworth's avatar

I also regret getting rid of my c64…

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Stuart MacDonald's avatar

I had the tape drive too. All kitted out.

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John Hepworth's avatar

We had the 1541 floppy drive…and when we learned about the 1541 backup utiility? Ah those heady early days of software piracy…

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Stuart MacDonald's avatar

Great list. I'm fact, getting rid of my Commodore 64 remains one of my great regrets. I love the idea of "the long 80s" and might suggest including "Crappy Cars of the Period and Their Significance" as an angle. To wit: I still remember standing at the bus stop listening to the radio on my walkman (the yellow, waterproof "sport" one, you know?) listening to a jungle for the Chevy Citation: "The First Chevy of the 80s" and thinking "wooooow." Then came the Omni O24, Dodge Aries, the Hyundai Pony, the Lada... A lot can be told through the cars of those days. Anyway, just a suggestion. Love the writing and If you're so inclined check out Sloan "Kids Come Back Again At Christmas" for a pretty apt take on what being an Xer parent means, now, from a band who were The Next Big Thing for about 13 minutes, then.

https://youtu.be/taijYgkdnV0?si=lW5le8aiKeUgr5uR

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Andrew Potter's avatar

This is really interesting. But you know, I have a massive blind spot on cars -- I was never a "car guy", but you're right about the whole crappy car era. Ladas, Hyundai, K cars... One thing kids don't get is how bad cars were back then.

And thanks for the Sloan reference. It's a band I should love, and I don't know why I don't.

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Stuart MacDonald's avatar

Bad cars, yes, but like the C64, the start of something bigger. The Hyundai Pony was a rusty, cheap piece of garbage - but announced the arrival of South Korean automobiles which are now ubiquitous. Ladas - and Skodas - were this odd, cheap, communist throwback in our midst - and now, Skoda is a unit of Volkswagen. K cars "saved" Chrysler - but that didn't stop them from eventually becoming Italian owned. Xers were at the front of a lot of fundamental change (yes, hello web browser and http) the car biz among that. And re Sloan: I grew up in Halifax and lived in Seattle. Liking Sloan was mandatory.

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John E. Canuck's avatar

Most teachers agree that 1993 was the birth year of the " digital native ". So your timeline for the preceding era ( “the long Eighties” ) is bang on. Looking forward to reading this

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