I have a real problem with nostalgia. Hard thing is, in my adventures in-and-out of the entertainment world, and now as a parent, nostalgia plays a big part of everyday life. You’re always sucked into the past, whether to provide ‘cred’ with what you can do based on what you’ve already done (your resume is nostaliga, but for getting a job), in conversation of popular culture, or as a testament to who you are. My entire office is filled with nostalgia, through pictures and artifacts from adventures long since passed, to an archive of music that reminds me of the past. Perhaps it’s my own bouts with depression, but lately I’ve been more interested in thinking about the future than the past – new adventures with my kids, but even those bring memories from years ago. What prompted this writing today, you may ask? FAITH NO MORE and KNIGHT RIDER both turn 30 years old this year. What do they have to do with each other? I’m not quite sure.
After more than a decade apart, FAITH NO MORE have been touring on-and-off since 2009. I’ve not seen them on this run, yet I’ve been known to wear one of the three t-shirts that I purchased from their online store when their SECOND COMING TOUR kicked of three years ago. Prior to embarking on their latest run in Europe, they posted what appears to be a death notice containing their current tour dates on their website and social networks, but followed it up a day later with a cryptic question about believing in “an afterlife.” Part of the text: “FAITH NO MORE (1982-2012)”
Known for playing with their fans like a string to a cat, does this mean that the “afterlife” will be a “rebirth” with a new album? If I’m not mistaken, their recent stage set-up is somehow connected to a funeral rite of somekind. Then there’s that new song they’ve been playing, now titled “Matador” on their setlists, which discusses a “rise from the killing floor.” What does this mean? I’m not sure… but FAITH NO MORE is keeping their work fresh, therefore defeating nostalgia. That I applaud.
Their album ANGEL DUST turned 20 last month. In all the preparation for baby #2, I didn’t get to pay my respects. What that means, is that come September, it will have been 20 years since I conducted my first interview – one conducted with FAITH NO MORE.
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These days, I avoid doing band/artist interviews at all costs… but without that chance back then, it’s highly probable that none of what I did since would’ve ever happened. Nostalgia. I don’t really like nostalgia where I’m directly involved. I do hope that FAITH NO MORE will continue for a very long time to come, and that maybe I’ll get a chance to see them once more.
Also in September, KNIGHT RIDER will also be 30 years old. It’s perhaps hands-down my favorite television show of all-time. To celebrate, Mattel has several variations on K.I.T.T. hitting retail, starting with something awesome contained in the black box to the left and making it’s debut at Comic-Con this month. I won’t be purchasing one of these, but I do kinda want whatever might be inside that box so sexily emlasioned with the “Knight Industries” logo. I have a crappy Matchbox “Star Vehicles” K.I.T.T. from the late 90’s – one so poorly made that it has a stock interior like a regular car – no cool dashboard, no gullwing steering wheel, just beige plastic.
Diamond Select Toys is also serving up some KNIGHT RIDER goodness (they’ve already released Minimates) including this large scale vehicle with an exclusive Michael Knight action figure. Even better, a prototype Super Pursuit Mode version has been seen, and rumor has it that it will be an exclusive to Toys R Us or a similar outlet.
So what do FAITH NO MORE and KNIGHT RIDER have to do with one another? Not much, aside from the fact that they’re both 30 years old this year – and I still like them. I have a feeling that my daughters are gonna dig FAITH NO MORE, but for them KNIGHT RIDER will probably hold little (if any) appeal.
What I really want to do is drive around in a K.I.T.T. replica while blasting the entire FAITH NO MORE discography. Surely the Knight Industries 2000 has an iPod jack, right?
This has been a weird blog entry, hasn’t it?
