I spent a little time over the weekend watching some old videos over on YouTube. I caught a bunch of (Bon Scott) AC/DC, chuckled at some Red Skelton, and re-lived some childhood memories with the Partridge Family and The Monkees. It kind of got me to thinking about one of WIGSF’s posts on music and the albums that changed his life.
I have vague memories of The Monkees when they were on prime time – yes, believe it or not they were once prime time TV, as were the Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch – and I had a huge crush on Davy from about the age of 3. I had older siblings, and when I was around 6, one of their friends gave me all her old Monkees albums. Having older siblings – and I mean older like teens and twenties when I was in 1st grade – meant that I was introduced to things musically much earlier than most of my friends were. Sure, I had my own little record player and nursery rhyme records, but I also listened to music by Jimmi Hendrix, The Doors, 3 Dog Night, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Lemon Pipers, Steppenwolf, The Beatles, Credence Clearwater Revival, The Stones … you get the idea. The radio was king and whatever was on top of the charts back then was what I listened to. Musically, my tastes are more along the lines of people about 10 years older than me. I can’t say that “changed” my life in any way, but I do feel I sort of got the benefit of several generations of music growing up. Not just mine and my sibling’s generations, but my mother also loved music from the WWII era, things like the Andrews Sisters and Glenn Miller, as well as gospel. I remember she used to listen to country music sometimes in the car on the way to school in the mornings, too. That may be one reason why I’m only just now starting to appreciate that genre. I swear, for years I thought that line from Kenny Rogers’ song “Lucille” said “.. with four hundred children and a crop in the field.” *rolling my eyes*
But Davy was my true love and one of the things I loved about him – apart from the smile and the British accent naturally – was how he danced. Now, most men have this label of being “unable to dance.” And for some reason, it seems to be just assumed in our culture that men can’t dance. I don’t get it. To me, music almost requires dancing. If you were to catch me listening to iTunes on my computer, you’d also catch me chair dancing. They just go together. I still love to watch Davy dance, although my favorite song that features him dancing from the TV show isn’t on YouTube. And I still think he was a sexy dancer. 
And what about that scene from White Nights with Baryshnikov and Hines? You know which one I’m talking about – the one in the dance studio. How awesome is that scene?
My point is that I believe a lot of men dance just fine, and that most of them would dance even better if they’d just let themselves believe that they dance just fine. Set aside the silly notion that “men can’t dance” because it just isn’t true. When the music’s in your heart it just comes out through your feet and your hands and your hips and it’s all good. It doesn’t matter what kind of music it it as long as you like it. So guys, have a private little dance party with your beloved, just the 2 of you. Trust me, you’ll have way more fun than you realize.
What did you say?