Dan Synge - Whatever Happened to the Teenage Dream?: Postcards from the edge of '80s pop

C86 Show - Indie Pop

Dan Synge in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1068530812

https://open.spotify.com/track/546BO0xumtrdTs9FMiqbvb?si=eb83d941dd2c41ce https://rosavillemusic.bandcamp.com/album/soundtrack-of-our-lives www.dansyngeauthor.com Anyone can start a band. Anyone can be famous. Not everyone can wait a lifetime.
From hammering it with the ‘gods of rock’ to heroin diaries, white line fevers and the inevitable ghost written My Story, it would seem that every gnarled old pop star has had a crack at the rock and roll memoir. Wrong-side-of-the-tracks childhood? Check. Abusive stepdad? Check. Salvation with the band followed by booze, sex, acrimonious rows, near death experiences, sobriety and, eventually, religion. Yeah, I think we get the picture.
But what about rock’s also rans? The no hopers. The ones who never even got as far as a record deal. Shouldn’t these less-feted performers with their doomed musical adventures and dashed hopes of super stardom be allowed to tell their tale too?
So here’s a real rock memoir. An honest, warts and all portrayal of what it’s like to fall in love with music and start your own teenage band (or indeed several bands) spanning the eras of glam, punk, new wave and 80s pop, right up to the so-called ‘second summer of love’ in 1988.
Whatever happened to the teenage dream?
Find out by joining guitarist and songwriter Dan with his band Stranger Than Paradise as they chart their rise to the top alongside a cast of outrageous characters and oh, so many disapproving grown-ups. Get ready for a no holds barred, tragi-comic ride through the euphoric triumphs and near misses of raw creativity and joyous music making.