This song reached number 12 in the United States and went to number 16 in the United Kingdom. A neat rhythm, rhythm guitar, and some interesting vocal effects kick off this mid-’90s hit for the Chicago, Illinois band. It seems pretty simple. The title is a year, so obviously this song is about the year 1979. If it was, I probably wouldn’t be writing about it.
So what does 1979 mean and why? The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan wrote the song. Incredibly, it has absolutely nothing to do with 1979. There is no mention of Superman the Movie, Bungee Jumping, Trivial Pursuit, M * A * S * H or Threes Company. This is simply a coming of age song. About what it’s like when he’s just entering adulthood and just out of his teens. This song is just about growing up. On the VH1 Storytellers TV show, Corgan said, “Sometimes when I write a song, I see an image in my head. For some reason, it’s the dark memory I have.” The memory that accompanies this song is from when I was around 18 years old. He was driving down a road near his home on a rainy night and was waiting at a stoplight. He says the image “emotionally connotes a sense of waiting for something to happen, and not being quite there yet, but it’s just around the corner.” Nice story. So what year was Billy Corgan 18? 1985! (1985 is a Bowling For Soup song) So why 1979? The year is the barley mentioned in the royal song. Maybe he used 1979 because it sounds good, maybe he just picked a year at random. Possibly he was trying to connect with 34-year-olds. When the song was released, a 34-year-old would have been 18 in 1979.
Maybe another reason. Billy Corgan once joked, “We wrote this song for Michael Jackson, but we found out he couldn’t do the Moonwalk.” Michael Jackson turned 21 in 1979. I’d like to know what you think. Please feel free to comment below.