yall know i hate most of the fan made stranger things playlists because most of them are extremely inaccurate, but if you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO make one of the characters listen to mitski and kpop and stuff at least make it dustin
for some reason hes the only person i could even remotely imagine listening to that stuff
dustin just kind of has the vibe that his playlist could transition from tarzan boy by baltimora to washing machine heart by mitski
but in a 50 year old man strutting around the kitchen with his "air-buds" kind of way
little project from a couple months ago, which were redraws of some fitting 80s album covers with my oc, atticus! i had originally planned to do four, but life got away from me, and i am really satisfied with these two, actually. but perhaps in the future, there will be more. i have way too many ideas for him.
first one is the album "synthesist" (1980) by harald grosskopf. this album is legendary to me and reminds me so much of the energy of his story. i often put it on when trying to write scenes, and highly recommend it. i never thought i’d be trying to capture him painted silver but it was fun to try full rendering for the first time in about a decade.
now, number two is the single "tarzan boy" (1985) by baltimora. if my story were a movie or show, it’d definitely be making an appearance! this song and i go way back. i still remember really listening to the lyrics for the first time and thinking, “this has to be about being gay..” and then learned that it, in fact, is. it still makes me emotional from time to time, it’s just so good.. in the live performances he reminds me SO much of atticus, even back when i created him in 2016 i would always imagine he had some kind of secret lanky dancing talent haha. if i ever get to animating i’d love to use his performances to bring atticus’ moves to life. he has such a silly and fun charm that i find is integral to atticus’ character, despite his serious demeanor. also, while looking for an atticus-esque replacement band name, i learned that “oxymoron” has a plural form lols
On a rainy afternoon at the mansion, Dewey finds himself completely bored. Dewey, monologuing to himself: “I can’t believe that I’m resorting to this, but I’m gonna try and take a nap. Maybe something exciting will happen in my dreams.”
While asleep, Dewey dreams of being stuck in the middle of the jungle. He imagines himself as Tarzan, living off the forest, communicating with the animals, swinging on the vines. He can’t exactly use his flipper feet to grab onto stuff, but you can’t say he doesn’t try it.
When he wakes up, he notices Louie staring at him. Dewey: “How long have you been standing there?” Louie: “Since whenever you started yelling like a madman in your sleep.” Dewey, in response, blushes in embarrassment.
Hhmmm since Conan’s new album came out, there has been a lot going on in my mind. The track bourgeoisieses took a big space in my mind, I have been thinking about it for sooo long.
Now, I discovered the song “Tarzan boy” from Baltimora while looking for BYLER RELEVANT songs in stranger things. This music from the 80’s is about a boy struggling to come out (as trans or gay, it isn’t very clear). It represents the situation with Tarzan hiding something in a dangerous jungle.
Baltimora’s album cover is full of FRENCH WORDS and these are from a specific vocabulary of homophobia: “maladie immonde” (-dirty disease)..
Then, you can notice that Tarzan colors are YELLOW and BLACK/BROWN what are exactly the same theme colors than Conan’s album FOUND HEAVEN. This has also the whole 80’s vibe that is clearly intentional and calculated what may be relevant of the sources of his inspiration.
Now, just listen to Bourgeoisieses. I think you all know that bourgeoisie is a FRENCH WORD for upper class people. This is a first exact parallel between Baltimora x Conan
If you are careful, you can hear at exactly 1’53 a TARZAN CODED CRY!
I’m also mentioning that all these oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh are actually the SAME in both songs
Also, the lyrics from bourgeoisieses give a sense of non-belonging to /the old traditional way of being/ >> “Mom and dad got my back but I don’t need that..”
I’m not a song lyrics analysing genius or anything else and I am saying all this because I just want it so badly to be true. CONAN GRAY MIGHT BE GAY!! AND THIS SONG IS ACTUALLY JUST HIM HAVING A GAY PANICK!!! Hell yes this was my conclusion, I think these similarities are really relevant about Conan Grays album inspiration and all that.
So yeah let me know what you think about these shitty stuff, I’m interested about knowing your theories!
I was tagged by @ivy-veins to pick an album that embodies each season’s essence.
❄️winter • The Cure - Disintegration
🍃spring • Phildel - The Disappearance of the Girl
☀️summer • Baltimora - Living In the Background
🍂 fall • Blind Seagull - Personal Decay
I tag @southern-caster @moonstones-and-stardust @gogolemo @toscv @onthegreenlandsea @opheliaswitchinghour @snowandsage and anyone else who would like to do this fun music tag!
It wasn't until last Spring / Summer that I took finding 45's seriously. I blame my local retro- arcade for that. My visits there always played endless Eighties hits on the overhead and I did take notice, causing me to rifle through all the record-store's shelves for 7" records. Now "Tarzan Boy" - that I haven't heard in ages. It's one of those songs you've heard hundreds of times before but could never figure out who wrote it. That explains why no one at the arcade included this in their playlist, and I don't blame them. One of my favorite mutuals, who is the reigning champion of Eighties discographies, posted it and - boom - I finally got it. This time, she beat me to it. Even the luckiest of music sleuths like me get bested once in a while.
This was the debut single off of Baltimora's debut record Living In The Background (1985), during when Italo-disco was at its height. No dispute that this single was the Eighties with its highly-danceable rhythms, intense beats, and that unforgettable chorus. I wouldn't have recognized it if I had found it last year. Now? Let me have it.