I believe the children are our future (or, on the other hand...)

Those of you who have read My Girlfriend's Boyfriend in one or another of its forms may have seen that I work pretty hard trying to justify a few references to '80s pop songs. Though I hope you didn't notice too much, because if you did I'm not doing it right.

My problem is that it's the music that I love, and that informs much of what I write. To one degree or another both of the main stories of Girlfriend's Boyfriend owe their lives to things I've thought of while listening to music. If it's good enough for Aaron Sorkin, it's good enough for me.

And I like to put references to some of it into the work; I know when I'm reading something that mentions songs I happen to have, I put them on the CD player as soon as I can. I like the feeling that the writer has provided me with a "soundtrack."

I see my story taking place in this century, but I'm writing about characters who are mostly almost 10 years younger than I am. Colley & Mary are even younger. So I use characters like Giovanni, who is my age, and Keitha's older brother, who's a little younger, to get some references in. Plus putting Keitha to work in a "hip" record shop I hope justifies without the sound of too many gears grinding things like that she would like Morrissey and Kirsty MacColl.

Still, I worry, because occasionally you see TV shows and movies where characters make references to things you wouldn't necessarily expect them to get. So you can imagine my relief when, at Burger King this evening, I heard a young woman who couldn't have been more than 16 (if that) announce "I love this song," as Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper began to play.

So maybe I've been worrying about nothing. Wouldn't be the first time.