My niece is here today spending the afternoon with my kids, and I took a quick gander at a few Tiger Beat magazines she brought with her.
I used to love Tiger Beat. But I swear, something has changed dramatically. Tiger Beat used to be for the teen market. Now, it is apparently targeting the 'tween' market of kids aged 8 to 12. Now, I know kids are growing up quicker these days. I get that. But I can't wrap my head around the notion that idol ogling is now the stuff of 8 and 9 year olds.
This Tiger Beat actually contained an article with booger jokes. There were letters from readers featuring 'gross-out' stories and the word 'boogers' appeared several times on the page. If I remember correctly, this word 'boogers' appeared once in a fancy font, so as to glam it up. Mind you, I am not saying that nose debris can't be funny, but sincerely believe such things belong within a certain context. And that context should be NOWHERE near photos of teen idols (unless, of course, they want to feature boogers on the pinups themselves, which I could heartily get behind as quality entertainment for people of all ages. I would subscribe myself to Tiger Beat if they had pinups of the Jonas Brothers all 'boogerized').
Can you imagine, Trapped in the 80s Moms, opening your Tiger Beat in 1982 to find out what Rick Springfield has been up to, and reading about boogers? I mean, how glamorous is THAT?
Every single page of this magazine featured boys who looked too young to shave and girls who had barely reached puberty, but were dressed to resemble world-weary fashion plates.
YES, I do admit that when we were kids, in every issue we had to look at something silly for a page or two, such Menudo, or Ralph Macchio, or Ricky Schroeder. But most of our pinup guys were old enough to shave. We had Rick, and Duran Duran, and Rob Lowe, and Michael Damien, and John Stamos, and Billy Idol, and Prince, and Michael Jackson, and Adam Ant. These were men.
I only make these criticisms because I loved the teen mags so much. Back when they were TEEN mags.
5 comments:
Ah yes, I remember waiting to see Ralph Macchio and eventually, Johnny Depp on the pages. I didn't even know it was still around but sounds frightening!
http://barefootbysea.blogspot.com
that is so sad and really gross too.
I see these mags on the stands but never pick them up to peek inside. That is disturbing to know it's for a younger market now. Yes- our 80s guys were older and I remember tearing out a full page spread on Michael J Fox to put in my trapper keeper!! Awwww, the 80s were the best. If you want to return to the 80s briefly.... take a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juAlj0MBVi0&feature=related
I never did get into those teenybopper mags. My grandmother bought me one once because she thought that I had a crush on Michael J. Fox - I just liked Back to the Future. I admit it - I did buy a special Duran Duran one on ebay last year - I guess that I was making up for not being into all that back then.
Hey Jessica, make sure to check out my Ralph Macchio post of today! He's such a great sport to make videos like that about himself!
Sparkle-Me, thx for the Johnny Hates Jazz!
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