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I remember the first time I heard this song. It was from this video and it was late at night. I was 17 and babysitting for two young kids at a really nice, big house in Scottsdale Arizona. I used to love to babysit for these people because they had MTV and HBO. It was fun to get away from home and feel like an adult too!
I fell in love with Kim Wilde instantly and I still like this song! I thought she was so sexy!
I just heard this on the radio and had a flashback. Such great memories I have from that time in my life. Everything seemed so new and exciting. This music was like a breath of fresh air to me and I was totally into all the "new wave" music that was out then.
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I think one of the things that I miss about pre-90s music is the lack of doctoring to their voices. It was just natural, and unique as a result. Everything was so much more real.
She's totally gorgeous. But that dude at 1:45 is hot as fuck too.
I can't really figure out what the song is about though...
At first I thought it was about how cool it is to be a cool kid in America, then I saw that Kim is from the UK so I'm like WTF. Then I hear the part about 'new wave is coming'... were they trying to suggest there was a BRITISH INVASION!? That song was in 1981, new wave was already a thing. And why just eastern California?
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Haha! You're so smart, Trix!
I think that they were just trying to make a song that would do something in America. It's still very hard for most acts from the UK to have a hit in America, and I always thought they were just trying to appeal. That's one of the things I liked about it though, because I remember thinking that it was cool that they were from the UK and singing about American kids like me!
:)
You're right about the production and the vocals. Much more *real* and I think much cooler.
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Yeah, what the fuck is east California? There's nothing even there! LOL
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IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!
ROFLMAO.
No I'm not actually that crazy!
There's something about Kim which is very understated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_in_America
So apparently her brother and her dad wrote "Kids in America".
Look, this is hot:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e..._Dares.jpg
I still can't figure out who the hot dude is...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e...nymous.png
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(07-01-2017, 02:06 PM)Trix Wrote: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e...nymous.png
I think the one at the top left of her head is her brother. And the two other dudes are band members of The Enid I think but, that group has had like 20 members. LOL, but the only ones who were in the band around that time all look like Santa Claus now.
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(07-01-2017, 02:06 PM)Trix Wrote: IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!
ROFLMAO.
No I'm not actually that crazy!
There's something about Kim which is very understated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_in_America
So apparently her brother and her dad wrote "Kids in America".
Look, this is hot:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e..._Dares.jpg
I still can't figure out who the hot dude is...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e...nymous.png
You're right. There's just something about her that's so hot, but she's not in your face trying to be hot.... she just is... sexy I guess is a better word. She's sexy.
They all look like Santa Claus now? LOL! That's something that really makes me sad... that hot young people have to get old. I hate that so much.
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Trix, when I woke up this morning I thought about your "east California" comment again and laughed! I never noticed how retarded that was before. I don't know why I thought of it when I woke up though, lol!
Then I thought I'd make a meme with that. Have a map of the US and highlight the whole thing, except for a sliver of the west coast of California and say something like "we're the kids in America - New York to east California" I guess Kim couldn't quite get fully 100 percent behind the whole US, but she covered 99.9 percent of it. heh!
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GG, it's odd...
As I linked above her 'dad and brother' apparently wrote the song. Did they really not employ a map to see where the hell San Fran is? LA? LOL.
Of course that's an innocent enough excuse... but if it's really that simple, you'd think someone in 'the biz' would have set them straight over it...
Nay, my mind travels to darker corners and possibilities to explain this oddity.
Perhaps there are 'things going on that we don't know'...
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Ha!
I just think it's a vocal thing and the word east was more effective and "east" just flows better than "west" when you sing it. I do that in my songs a lot.... put some bullshit word in there only because a better word doesn't sound as good or flow right. The word "west" has a different vocalization when you try to vocalize the W sound - and the E sound is more open. Like when you're singing west, you have to kind of make a closed O shape with your mouth and the E you have an open, "smile" kind of form and it seems easier to get to the word California from there.
That's my take anyway!
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I totally agree with you GG...
But the thing is, why put a qualifier on it at all? They could have easily just left "east" or anything else out entirely. "California" could have been said differently or elongated in some way. The whole phrase could have been sang differently to make it work.
OMG check it out...
https://www.wilde-life.com/encyclopedia/...in-america
Search the page for "east".
"Cause it sounded better"...
THA FUCKKK.
Sounds like Kim has a really good sense of humor though.
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(07-03-2017, 02:59 PM)Trix Wrote: I totally agree with you GG...
But the thing is, why put a qualifier on it at all? They could have easily just left "east" or anything else out entirely. "California" could have been said differently or elongated in some way. The whole phrase could have been sang differently to make it work.
OMG check it out...
https://www.wilde-life.com/encyclopedia/...in-america
Search the page for "east".
"Cause it sounded better"...
THA FUCKKK.
Sounds like Kim has a really good sense of humor though.
LOL! That's funny!
When it was a hit in America, they were like, 'Why 'East California'? Why not all the way over to the west? Why miss out on that whole section of California that's not mentioned in the song?' And I said, 'Well, they already got it. The people from the west side have already got it. We just had to bring it over to the east.'
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ROFLMAO...
She says she's had to answer questions about it for '13 years'. So that must have been a long time ago.
It's strange to think about these famous people and how they have to sing the same songs over and over and they KNOW about the critique and all the history of it. All the drama...
Must be really weird.
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I mean actually she COULD HAVE SAID "WEST" California and it still would have been stupid to put a qualifier in, but it would have made WAY more sense.
It could have JUST AS EASILY been "WEST"...
I think it's a conspiracy.
That whole innocent sounding story of her dad/brother writing the song, COME ON.
There's a deeper meaning here, I KNOW IT.
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"West" rolls right off after saying "to"... at least when I try it.
A LOT more natural to me than "east". You have to put your mouth in a whole different position to say "east" after "to".
Man fuck this!
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LOL. You're so funny Trix!
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