I Was A Teenage New College Student

As a high school senior (Class of '84), the only college I applied to was New College of Florida.  From the 1960's until just a few years ago, it was an innovative school where students had opportunities to design their own education. Under the current governor (who likes to say that Florida is "where woke goes to die"), the college was essentially dismantled by a new state-appointed board who fired faculty members, discarded a dumpster full of library books, rewrote the curriculum, and remade New College in the image of Hillsdale, a conservative Christian school.  

Whether you view that as a victory or a loss is a matter of perspective, but it was an early win for the Project 2025 activists who are now deconstructing the federal government from within.  You don't come here for political opinions, and I'm not going to rage against the machine or mourn the New College that I knew.  Let's talk about the music.

Palm Court (pictured above) was where we held our parties, dancing among the Florida palms at the center of the dorms.  There's a low wall around Palm Court that was the right height for sitting (while drinking, smoking, chatting, and watching the dancers).  An informal party was called a "Wall".  The bigger parties were called PCP's (Palm Court Parties).  That was when they brought out the big speakers, the kegs, and the punch bowl spiked with acid.  MDMA wasn't outlawed until 1985, so we were "sorted for E's" (if not wizz).

Today I'm sharing a selection of songs that were often played at those parties in the mid to late 1980's.  Students made mixtapes, and someone would plug in an amplifier, a cassette deck and a pair of speakers.  Throw in a case of Busch, and you've got a Wall.

There was something special about hearing these songs in the Florida night, dancing under the trees with the smell of cheap beer, patchouli and clove cigarettes in the air.  Hearing these songs again now is interesting.  It was a time when the US and Russia were sworn enemies, and we never imagined our presidents becoming friends. Many of us feared that Ronnie was going to let the nukes fly (as he joked about in the sample used in "5 Minutes").  Apartheid still existed ("Free Nelson Mandela").  Gil Scott-Heron's intro to "B Movie" sounds surprisingly relevant to the current efforts of Project 2025 Project 1955. 

It's also interesting to look back to what we imagined the future of music might be back then.  A lot of the tracks are examples of (or influenced by) electro, an offshoot of hip hop and one of the roots of EDM.  This was back before the internet, so I didn't know at the time that we were listening to Arthur Russell ("5 Minutes") and the members of Tackhead (who backed Grandmaster Flash and other rappers on the Sugar Hill label).  Keith LeBlanc's "Malcolm X (No Sell Out)" was also popular at our parties.  Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell and Nicky Skopelitis were listed on the sleeve of the Time Zone 12", so I did know that Material members were backing John Lydon and Afrika Bambaataa (and I recognized the "White Lines" bassline from "Cavern").  I really can't describe how amazing it was to hear "World Destruction", "Uncertain Smile" or "Bela Lugosi's Dead" at top volume in the open air on a warm night.  I invite you to Turn Your Watch Back and join me in a Time Zone...