eDgY!!: “every yuppie’s fantasy”
To celebrate our Popular feature reaching the 80s, here is an exciting NEW SERIES of Freaky Trigger posts where we look back at that decade through the lens of A Decade Of i-Deas: the encyclopaedia of the ’80s, published by i-D magazine in 1990. This is a fascinating book as it’s a great snapshot of a) what seemed to matter at the decade’s end and b) an early historical judgement on same. It gets things right as much as it gets things wrong: but in this FT series we’ll simply be printing excerpts and asking you, our readers, to identify who i-D are talking about. So without further ado, who’s THIS:
“Versed in Shakespeare, morose and obsessed with the past, she is every Yuppie’s fantasy – an intelligent female who can quote Sylvia Plath and appreciate the finer aesthetics of CD sound. Never-smiling and now 20 years old, she looks poised to become as big as her 60s mentors. Whether you like it or not, this is the new face of teenage Britain.”
Obviously if you have the book yourself, NO PEEKIN’.
Tanita Tikaram?
Yes, it has to be TT. (I do own a copy of this book, but I didn’t peek.)
In 1989, a new colleague joined our team.
“I’m really good at working out what music people like, just by their personalities”, he chirped, eager to make an impression.
“Go on then, try me”, I challenged.
Long pause.
“Tanita Tikaram. I’m right, aren’t I?”
We didn’t get on.
Linder.
I well remember the Alexei Sayle song ‘Things That I’d Rather Not Do’
“Be a passanger on a jumbo jet and find out that the pilot is a yam
Ever listen to anything recorded by Tanita Tikaram”
Which song was it that had a video directed by Richard Attenborough that appeared to be the most expensive video ever made?
Betty Boo?
Wendy James?
(before looking at anyone else’s contribution)
i’m guessing another TT – tracey thorn