Little Girls, "The Earthquake Song"

I haven’t posted a forgotten/obscure music video in a long time, so, in the wake of yesterday’s west coast earthquake, I thought this little ditty would be nice to share.

(I’ve wanted to post this video for a while, but thought it was in poor taste after the devastating quakes in Haiti and Chile.)

For those of you wondering what a magnitude 7.2 earthquake feels like (though the affect here in SoCal was muted), it feels like someone’s humping your car. At least it did to me.

I’d just parked at the UCI rec building and felt my car shimmy. It was subtle, but I noticed the gyrations — the ol’ motion of the ocean. I hadn’t turned off the engine, yet, and automatically thought something was wrong with my car. However, the tachometer reading was nominal. An earthquake crossed my mind, but everything around me appeared unaffected; I couldn’t see anything else shaking, and when I walked into the building nothing was out of the ordinary. So I passed the shimmy off as some weird anomaly. When I got home I heard about the quake.

“The Earthquake Song” is a blast from my shameful past. During high school, I went through a hardcore ‘80s phase. It was born from ignorance, false nostalgia, and a distaste for everything current. I was very much a kid of the ‘90s, but was caught up in the first wave of sentimental recollection for the decade of decadence, greed, and Reagan. During the 1998 midterm elections, I was so enamored with the ‘80s that I considered myself a Republican. Disgraceful. When recalling that time, I can’t help but blush.

Thankfully, my artistic and political tastes have blossomed and matured, but the CDs I bought during my “phase” still color my music collection. One of those CDs is Valley Girl: More Music From the Soundtrack. It’s the second of two retro inspired soundtracks from the movie Valley Girl. (Though the movie’s not that bad — in that ‘80s sort of way — the fact I actually watched it is another can full of embarrassment.) I bought it at the Mall of America in 1998, at whatever chain music store was there at the time (I’m thinking Tower). (How do I remember that? I discovered the receipt in the CD booklet when I was last in IC.) It’s chock-full of rare ‘80s gems, mostly from LA-based bands. Among them is “The Earthquake Song.”

I’m unsure what the source of the video is, but the song is slightly edited. In this version, the vocalists sing, “…I only hope I don’t wipe-out in West LA.” In the studio version, however, the line goes, “…I only hope I don’t wipe-out in East LA.” For those unfamiliar with the City of Angels, East LA is a predominantly Latino neighborhood with a rough reputation; some may go so far as to call it a barrio. Basically, it’s not a place little rich white girls from the valley want to be. Someone, I’m sure, requested the line be altered to smooth over the allusion.