I Miss Back When-Coke in Glass Bottles, TV Dinners, $-1 gas, talent

“I love my records, black, shiny vinyl, clicks and pops and white noise, man they sounded fine.” This great song by Tim McGraw may not be Rockabilly or even rock for that matter. But I love just about all music. And this song expresses what I am thinking on a lot of things.

This song popped in my head earlier today when I was watching one of the cable news channels. They were talking about some of the soda companies are trying to come up with smaller containers for their sodas to boost sales. Which doesn’t make sense to me, but whatever. The girl on the TV was holding up a 20oz. plastic bottle of Pepsi and a 12oz. aluminum can of Coke. She was saying that the companies were trying to come up with a container that is about 14oz. or 16oz.

I was thinking, didn’t there used to be a 16oz. container for soda? There did. It came in glass bottles that you could buy in 8 packs. Call me crazy, but coke actually tasted better in glass bottles. I swear I can taste the aluminum and plasic in the modern containers. Actually, it might not be just the aluminum that I taste when I drink out of a can. I have heard that they spray the cans with some sort chemical plastic coating. Yes, I know, I can get coke in glass bottles now still. But they are only small 6oz. bottles that actually cost more than bottles or cans. That is rediculous. They only raise the rates because they are “commemorative” bottles. When they had the old 16oz. bottles they were the same price as the cans.

Another thing I miss is TV dinners. Yes, I know they still make TV dinners. But they just aren’t the same anymore. For one thing, when I was a kid they were in aluminum divided plates. The food somehow tasted better. Part of this can be attributed to the fact that, again, I can taste the plastic of the modern containers. But there is something else, I just can’t put my finger on it. For one thing is the mac & cheese. Oh do I miss the classic mac & cheese TV dins of the late 70’s and early 80’s. The top of the mac & cheese would be all crusty. I loved when my mom would leave it in the oven for too long. This has nothing to do with whether or not you put it in the microwave. Believe you me, I use a toaster oven. I can not get the crusty results anymore. Oh, try reheating leftover TV dinners in their little plastic containers. The plastic can’t take it. It gets all melty and the kitchen will stink and it tastes like crap. I miss the old Hungry Man and Swanson Dinners. They still make the Swanson dinners, still in the unapetizing turquise containers. But they ain’t fooling me. It ain’t the same!

I can’t even remember how much gas was when I started driving in the early 90’s. I know it was less than $1. I didn’t pay much attention back then. My grandma gave me gas money. She could give me $10 or $15 to fill up my little Chevy Berretta and I would have money to fill up the car plus have enough for a soda. Sometimes I would have enough to buy lunch at McDS. When I moved to Texas in the late 90’s gas was sometimes only .69 or .79c. I would talk to family in Michigan and they would complain that gas was over $1. Don’t ya miss the good old days?

And of course, who could forget when Madona and Michael Jackson had talent? Yes boys and girls, there was a time when neither of those two were weird. I miss the old MTV. Back when they played nothing but videos. And they were good videos, not a bunch of skanky hos jumping up and down in skimpy outfits. I really wish I had live way back in the fifties. That’s when music really had the talent. No one had to act like a fool back in the day. If a chick wanted to make it big, she had to prove herself by showing that she could sing and command stage presence. Anyone can bump and grind with barely any clothes. But it takes a true winner to use all they have in their voice and speak to the audience through music. I suppose the bumping and grindind w/o talent is just another symptom of our societies love of instant gratification.