Tainted Love

Do you remember the "Hey" song they used to use at sports events twenty years ago? I remember one year both the teams in the Stanley Cup final (Pittsburgh and the North Stars, I think) were both using it as a post-goal celebration. I didn’t really remember where that song came from, but I vaguely remember it having some reference to Doctor Who. (Don't worry, non-geeks, this post will take a turn for the pop-cultural very shortly.)  Anyway, I saw a reference to it a few months ago, which was the first time in years I'd thought of it, so I decided to do some research.

I looked it up, and that song was called "Doctorin' the Tardis" and produced by a group called The Timelords. The Timelords were a novelty act; the same people would go on to form The KLF a few years later. (Gen-Xers will remember their songs "Justified and Ancient" or "3am Eternal.") Anyway, the song, "Doctorin' the Tardis" is basically a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music and the 70's hit "Rock and Roll Part II." And that explains why you never hear it anymore: "Rock and Roll Part II" was by Gary Glitter, who has done jail time for child pornography.

Yes, I realize that trip down memory lane came to serious screeching halt. But it's something that happens an awful lot lately: media memories ruined by what we later learn about the creators as people.

An obvious example is with Bill Cosby. Lots of people have found that their memories of The Cosby Show are tainted. And with Hulk Hogan becoming personna non grata, I've seen a few folks of a certain age complaining that their whole childhood is now tarnished.

I wasn't so directly affected by these revelations. I was never a wrestling fan. I watched The Cosby Show, but really I spent most of NBC's Thursday nights waiting for Cheers and Night Court. But still, when someone had been a big part of pop culture for so long, they touch a lot of things. Forgive me for bringing this up, but: Fat Albert. Yep, he's ruined too.

What's depressing is that we don't know just what we might come across in our memories that turns out to be tainted. For instance, I never listened to the CBC Radio show Q when Jian Ghomeshi was hosting. But then one day I found myself humming "King of Spain" (By Moxy Früvous, of which Ghomeshi was a member) and realised that was another thing we'd lost. But the ultimate was when I saw a news report mentioning one of Cosby's increasingly ridiculous denials, and said to myself, "riiight." And I realized that I was referencing Cosby's own Noah's Ark routine. That was depressing, but seemed strangely fitting, as though Cosby's work was passing judgement on him.

And that leads us to one possible way of reconciling our feelings in these situations: regarding the person and their creations as separate, and trying to appreciate one while condemning the other. That's especially true if we can take ownership of our own experience of the work, and see whatever enjoyment we got from Cosby's career as belonging to us, not to him.