Ain't she a beautiful sight?

There was a question last night from one of my readers for me to explain just what the hell the deal was with CB Radio in the 1970’s. Ok, it wasn’t put that way but basically I need to explain the completely bizarre fact that for a portion of the late 1970’s Americans fell madly in love with the idea of people driving big tractor trailer trucks. This was pretty much the perfect definition of a fad.

There were two defining moments to the trucker movement. The first was the release of the song “Convoy” by C. W. McCall, which as I mentioned yesterday was a number one single in 1975 beating out “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers and “I Write the Songs” by Barry Manilow. Dear god, did the mid seventies suck for music. Anyway, Convoy is half spoken, half sung number in which the main plot is that a group of trucks have joined forces on the highway in an effort to protest gas prices, toll booths and hippies. Here is the video…



As you can tell this song makes absolutely no sense at all. That is unless you talk CB radio, which is like speaking British English in the fact that you know what the words mean but the sentences are incomprehensible. In that “bears” are police officers, “what’s your 20” means where are you and “Rubber Duck” means….ok, I’ve never figured that one out. Again, this was a hit song.

The second defining moment was of course the release of Smokey and the Bandit (starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field) in 1977. This was the second highest grossing film for the year behind only Star Wars. That is the seventies for you. The film is essentially the story of Burt Reynolds and company illegally driving a shipment of Coors beer to Georgia. At the time, Coors was illegal in the state of Georgia; a law that I see no reason why it was ever overturned. We’re not talking Coors Light here; we’re talking actually Coors which is like Miller in that I can’t recall seeing anyone ever drink it even in an ironic sense. Anyway, the movie is one big car chase combined with most of the characters talking over a CB radio in slang, Jackie Gleason acting upset, and Burt Reynolds hooking up with Sally Field.

Now the bigger question is why the hell was all this popular? I’d give part of the reason to the fact that CB radio was a bit of a precursor to cell phones and the internet in which you could connect with people outside of regular channels. Plus, it had its own unique language so there was a sense of the underground to it. That doesn’t explain the admiration of truckers though. Mainly I take that as a response to the oil crisis. Given the price of gas it was tough to drive anywhere so the guys who could still take to the open road were given a sense of awe. And who wasn’t against toll roads? I’m not saying it made sense because once American culture ever starts to make sense we are basically doomed.

Embracing your inner geek

I am so upset that no one asked me what today’s date was just so I could answer “Ten four good buddy.” Ever since the end of the CB radio era in the late 70’s you really only get one day a year where you can use that phrase in polite conversation. Actually, there is one fad we could really use a return of. I know that the trucker hat has seen a rebirth and merciful end of its popularity but I don’t know why we can’t all have CB handles and have “Convoy” blasting from our stereos at every possible moment.

(Convoy was a number one hit in the US and reached number two on the UK charts. Ah, the seventies. The time that culture forgot. Except for Dynamite magazine; that was freaking awesome.)

Also, I must note that I completely missed Talk Like a Pirate Day this year. It has typically been a blog holiday along with Pi Day, Pi Approximation Day and the Mole Minute on June 2 at 10:24 A.M. Oh and Star Wars Day on May 4th. Basically, any legitimate reason for me to be a geek is considered a holiday in my mind. How I am lucky enough to have a wonderful fiancé like Kim is beyond me.

I know that people make fun of me for being a geek (and for the fact that I am 37 and am still proud of the fact that I can tell you that the name of Jabba the Hutt’s court jester was Salacious Crumb) but there is a sense of liberation that comes with never being the cool kid. And I never was at any moment in time in my life. I’ve never been at the top of any social structure, never had the envy of my peers in that sense. But what that has meant over time is that I have learned to not give a damn about what anyone thinks about me. If you know you are going to lose the popularity contest you suddenly learn that you no longer have to play.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve seen people who are still trying to win the popularity game when in reality it ended ages ago. Look at your friends on Facebook and all of these people from your past who are still broadcasting every moment of their lives in an effort to gain what exactly? Attention? Notoriety? A brief sense of accomplishment? I know I shouldn’t critique given what I do but most of my writing is a critique of myself. I’m not overly concerned with what others think; I’m more interested in enjoying my time here and if that means making Star Wars jokes so be it. Life is so damn short that I can be bothered wasting time trying to act cool just so other people will be happy.