Nostalgia: Bon Jovi

The other night, we went to our friend's house and were working on a project.  They had recently moved and were cleaning out old boxes.  As I was sitting at the kitchen table in full craft mode, my friend DJ placed an item in front of me.  Something that doesn't hold much value for many others, but to me, it was awesome.  Here's a picture...

An original Bon Jovi cassette tape.

Be still my heart.

Oh, the nostalgia!

The hair.

The music.

Rewinding and fast forwarding 14 times to get just the right spot.

It all puts a giant smile on my face.

Let's walk back in time for a moment and enjoy the music.

I was born in 1975.  (Yes, I will be the big 4-0 this year!!!)  During my youth, we didn't have mp3 players or even CD players.  We had cassette players...boom boxes...tape players.  I remember at one point my dad got a new one, so he gave me the old one.  It had places for two tapes and I knew at that moment I had moved up in the world.

Not only could I play my beautiful cassettes, I could play a tape in one side and record a song from it to a tape in the other side.... a.k.a. the mixed tape!  Sadly, the only mixed tape every given to me was full of sad songs from the boy I broke up with in ninth grade.  Ouch!  

Children today will never have the joy of opening that squeaky case, pulling out a cassette and putting it in the "tape deck".  They will never remember hitting the play button, only to find out it's on the wrong song, thus starting the process of rewinding and fast forwarding for 10 minutes to get to just the right spot.  Yes, at the time, it was a little annoying, but if I'm being honest, I sorta miss it.  Is that nuts?  

How about when the boom box decides to eat your tape, so you carefully remove it with the tape hanging out the bottom, then put a pencil in the hole and slowly roll it back up so you can still listen?  And holding your breath hoping it will still play? Remember that?  Those were great days.

Of course, we can't forget to take a moment to think about Jon Bon Jovi himself.  

Ahhh....Hello, Jon.  What an interesting jacket.... I loved that fringe.

Wow.  The hair. I had forgotten how jealous I was that he had that hair and I didn't.  

And the entire band....  80's fashion never gets old.  I mean, who wouldn't wear a technicolor dream coat to play power ballads?  Or black and white striped spandex pants....on a man?  The 80's were amazing.  And no one will convince me otherwise.

And of course, here he is now.  Still gorgeous, still making great music.  We love you, Jon!

Thank you, DJ, for giving me a wonderful gift that sent me down memory lane.  It was a great trip!

Cheryl