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Move over Nostradamus, ’cause we have divined a pattern in the lines of art and culture, and seen the cyclical nature of trends in fashion, music and cinema.
Nostalgia is a powerful drug and the creative industries are constantly looking backwards, reinventing old styles, knit-picking at new ones, searching for the alchemy to bring the past back to life.
Cult films are reinvented, bands from yesteryear reform, sequels are high-priority in Hollywood, and classic books are gaining precedent over contemporary fiction. The past is being re-produced and re-packaged.
And today, as we peer into the tea leaves at Purple Revolver HQ, one word only emerges out of the sediment; and that word is “schwing!”. It’s official: Wayne’s World is 20 years old this February and its impact is still being felt to this day.
Who would have thunk it, it has been two decades since those artful dodgers of grunge, the air-guitaring-headbanging duo of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, first appeared on the big screen. No one could have preempted the comedy flicks longevity or its sustained popularity.
It was the late 80’s, and Mike Myers was a fresh-faced unknown on the comedy circuit around Toronto, which nurtured another hot property of the time, Jim Carrey, in equal measure.
The both of them shot to prominence with stints on hit US comedy institution Saturday Night Live and became household names to the American public overnight.
Jim Carrey went off and developed his own thing; while Myers became the poster boy for a certain brand of American mischief.
There were no gimmicks or agendas in his act, and so he veered away from the socio-political tradition of Bill Hicks to create something unique and transcendental.
It was silly, and vacuous, and riotously funny. A bit like Steve Martin in the 70’s, but less surrealistic.
He didn’t have the electrified word play of a Robin Williams, or the mimicry and physiognomy of a Jim Carrey, but he knew how to develop a comedy character, and his sketches got some of the biggest laughs with the live studio audience.
This was something every comic was in competition for. The laugh that brought the house down.
The Comedy Store in London, where Mike Myers played during the early days, captured the essence of his effortless humour, saying:
“Myers himself excelled, (and was) strikingly adept and quick-witted, when his laughs came they were the biggest squeals of the night…”
“This was no chore for Myers- being funny comes naturally to him- he could’ve spent the whole two hours farting the Canadian national anthem and the audience would’ve still lapped it up.”
His stand-up was great, but Wayne’s World was his magnum opus, the definitive Myers movie. And it is interesting to note it had humble beginnings, having started life as a recurring sketch on the NBC show.
It was only a very small part of the SNL format, and could have been lost forever to the bigger picture. But the American public fell in love with the characters, movie execs smelt the cash and quickly moved in like vultures…
The film was developed and produced by Penelope Spheeris and featured Myers playing old favourite, Wayne Campbell, alongside SNL buddy Dana Carvey as Garth Algar.
Together they were the hyper-stoked hosts of the Illinois-based cable TV show Wayne’s World. They took calls from gnarly members of the general public and shredded their air guitars mercilessly.
All the while there was an underlying love theme, which drove the narrative onward and upward, as Wayne fought for the love of his Cassandra.
A snippet for your enjoyment:
Wayne Campbell: Cassandra. She’s a fox. In French, she would be called “la renarde” and she would be hunted with only her cunning to protect her.
Garth Algar: She’s a babe.
Wayne Campbell: She’s a robo-babe. In Latin, she would be called “babia majora”.
Garth Algar: If she were a president, she would be Babraham Lincoln.
The film exploded in the box office, made over $120 million, and people doted over Mike like a God. Everything changed.
His life became a sort of Beatle-mania, rushing in and out of blacked out transits while fans tried to tear him limb from limb. Chat up lines became defunct, as Garth’s Foxy Lady dance became the mating ritual of choice.
In many ways Wayne’s World revolutionised the movie song and showed that film could inject new life and significance into old music that had all but been forgotten.
Movies were now premier the record sellers, and the past was being reconstituted once again.
Take the much copied headbanging scene in Garth’s sky-blue 1976 AMC Pacer, which turned Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody from an obscure album track that barely registered on a national scale, into an epic Rock anthem to fill the likes of Wembley Stadium.
Many films followed suit in the shadow of Wayne’s World. Coolio did it with Gangsta’s Paradise in ’95, Bruce Springsteen did it with Streets of Philadelphia in ’93.
It could even be argued that Celine Dion was indebted to the way Wayne’s World had this absolute synergy with one song, and brought it to the attention of the masses. Even though Titanic was a pile of dog dirt.
So that is it, Wayne’s World’s anniversary is nigh, and it is still the codifier of a new generation of arty types and comedians, wearing washed-out tattered jeans and baseball caps.
Long may its mopheaded indifference to the mainstream continue to influence fashion, film, and music. There is only one way to end this. Wayne’s World, Party Time, Excellent.