That 70's Show

I was listening to this Frank Zappa track "Why don't you like me" the other day and I thought hmm well that doesn't happen ever. There's this person I see at my work place... Ah, well some thoughts are better left half-articulated even if one is assiduously anonymous.

Well anyway, the song got me thinking about the singer and I noticed how he embodied the classic 70's look. Not just him, all of them 70's musicians. Did these people ever realise they "looked" their time? Did they band together and thought up the look? Sure there are wide variations but the basic theme remains the same. Yeah well they all were reacting to the same realities. Part of the reason why their music too, even though it showcases individual talent is unmistakably 70's.

Still, I mean some of them could have been plump (Elvis was a mistake, he's more like 60's anyway) or beefy or short-haired or you know, generally cute. But all wiry, all with a leave-me-alone scowl, all, for crying out loud, so 70's?

What look do we embody? Are we really just a pastische of past generations? Or is Jameson wrong? Would we know better when we have the advantage of perspectival distance, say, 30 years from now? What would our "now" mean then? Would it be a neat "then" or cut up in parts we never recognised as separable? Do we do all this to past times? Wokay, time for my coffee.