Nostalgia, as a phenomenon, has been studied and considered
since the 17th and 18th centuries. It was once described as merely homesickness, the
desire to go home. By the late 20th century, this had developed into what we generally
consider to be "nostalgia" today. That is, the subconscious desire to return to an
earlier life stage. This is put in the most simple and deconstructed manner. Nostalgia, then,
relates to older versions of oneself reflecting on the past and having a desire to go
there (Sedikides 304).
Nostalgia, then, could describe the
experience of quite literally anyone reminiscing on a different, better, joyous time. For most, this time is
childhood, youth and the memories surrounding. Joseph Kotarba asserts that humans, generally,
are threatened by lifestyle changes, particularly as time moves on and they are asked to
grow up. Nostalgia, to Kotarba then, is the grasping for continuity and the
positive effects that the comfort of that continuity will give.
For Baby-Boomers, such as my
grandmother, "Bat Out of Hell" is an album that goes on to be beloved to them due their reminiscences of youth and
their rebellious and angsty times. Despite my grandmother growing up to have my mother,
she continued to listen to this album -- arguably for the sake of triggering nostalgia
of the times when she most closely related to its message. Unintentionally, the album
was "passed on" to my mother, who loved the album and cherished it for nostalgic purposes,
though that nostalgia differs very much, it seems between my grandmother and my mother.
My mother was exposed to "Bat
Out of Hell" in a passive manner: my grandmother would listen to it in the background while working, driving, etc.
and my mother slowly and passively took in the album and its theatricality until it,
too, rang in as something special to her. My mother reminisces on "Bat Out of Hell"
as well -- but her nostalgia does not come from a place of teenage/young adulthood riddled with
angst and rebellion. My mother recalls her mother and her love for the album as
something special, worth revisiting. The nostalgia is also attached to my mother's
early childhood, a time before even the angst and rebellion could kick in. This, is a new
form of nostalgia that is translated in the nostalgia I feel for the album as well.
My own exposure to the album and my
mother's taste for it was different from her exposure because, as hers was passive, mine was intentional.
The nostalgia my mother felt for her mother and the album lead her to listen to the
album with me. My mom and I would duet "Paradise By the Dashboard Light"
together before I could even dare fathom the meaning behind the song. As I got older, however, I
recognized the importance of the album to my mother, and the nostalgia that resonates with me
when I listen to "Bat Out of Hell" are those nights where my mother and I would sing
and dance while we waited for Dad to get home from work --
the sort of deliberate bonding with my mother that is irreplaceable in my childhood and through my adulthood, as
we still cannot resist the album when we have the time to be ourselves. My nostalgia
for the album is rooted in both my reminiscence of my mother, as well as in an implicit
connection with my grandmother which could often be overlooked. But,
recollecting now, I realize it is not my mother whom I should thank for my exposure to the legendary
rock-opera album, but my Baby-Boomer grandmother who paved the way for the album's
success and for the connection I have with my elders because of it.
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| My grandmother, my brother and I. (1998-2000?) |