We’re Not Gonna Take It: When Authority Gives You a Bad
Reputation, You Have Fight for Your Right to Smoke in the Boys Room
June 13, 2011
Nothing feels quite like the exhilaration of letting your rebel flag fly.
The thrill of doing the thing that you know you’re not supposed to do is
timeless and not at all unique to one generation or another. I am sure
there is some philosophical or more likely psychological theory that
explains our pleasure at getting the better of authority, but happily, I
don’t know the name of it. What I do know is that this thread of
rebellion makes for some great music—the kind of music that makes you
roll the windows down and crank the volume up.
And, while adulthood eventually sets in and the opportunities to break the
rules get less frequent, or perhaps we simply choose not to (damn, you,
maturity), we can still feel the pleasure of the rebel through the music
that played as the backdrop to our rule-breaking.
So, make yourself a drink and enjoy these 80s rebellion songs.
#1 – First up is 1983’s “Authority Song” by John Mellencamp. “Growing up
leads to growing old and then to dying / oh and dying to me don’t sound
like all that much fun.” Here’s hoping you come out grinnin’.
#2 – “What d’you want to do with your life? - “I wanna
rock!” And so starts the 1984 video for “We’re Not Gonna Take
It” by Twisted Sister. If Neidermeyer were my Dad, I’d declare
war as well. “We'll fight the powers that be / just don't pick our
destiny.” Yeah. So take that.
#3 – Next is 1985’s cover version by Motley Crue
of the Brownsville Station song “Smokin’ in the Boys Room.”
The intro says it best, “You ever seem to have one of those days where
everyone’s on your case from your teacher all the way down to your best
girlfriend?” The solution is clearly to get sucked into the bathroom
mirror by Vince Neil. Problem solved.
#4 – 1986 brought us “Fight for Your Right” by
the Beastie Boys. This song was written as a parody of songs
like “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” above. However, the B Boys overestimated
everyone’s ability to spot the irony, and the song became exactly what
it mocked.
#5 – We saved the best for last. Regular readers of Like
Totally 80s know that we are devoted Joan Jett fans.
Her 1981 song “Bad Reputation” perfectly embodies the
don’t-give-a-damn attitude that runs through all the songs in this
story. She said it best, “A girl can do what she wants to do / and
that’s what I’m gonna do.” Come on, join us, you’ll love it.
