Misinterpretin' the '80s

In psychology, the Dunning-Kruger effect refers to the predictable tendency of people to overestimate their own abilities, including intelligence and expertise. Here's David Dunning with more:

In the domain of rock 'n' roll, you can see the Dunning-Kruger effect in action when you see people who "get" a song without even remotely understanding the meaning. And while that's been around as long as rock 'n' roll has been around -- the multiple misunderstandings of the '60s garage rock classic "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen is but one example -- the '80s kicked confident ignorance into interstellar overdrive. Gather 'round the screen while I give you two examples:

Bruce Springsteen -- "Born In The U.S.A." (1984)

The title track of Springsteen's most massive commercially successful album -- putting 7 (!) singles into the Billboard Top 10, although none made it to #1 -- has lyrical content that's pretty straightforward as an indictment of how America failed its Vietnam veterans, but it deftly illustrates what happens when you surround a trenchant and probing lyric with different instrumentation. No less an intellectual giant than former President Ronald Reagan saw the song as a stirring anthem of nationalist pride, and he wasn't alone at swinging and missing at the tune's obvious intent. NPR did an examination of the shifting interpretations of the song, including the different arrangements and instrumentation mentioned above, which is available here:

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/26/706566556/bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-usa-american-anthem

Dire Straits -- "Money for Nothing" (1985)

If ever there was a song and video made for MTV, it was this tune by Dire Straits, which had lyrical and visual shout-outs to the cable music giant, along with an epic stadium-filling guitar riff to propel it along. Throw in some cutting-edge-for-the-time computer animation, and you have one of the biggest hits of 1985. Here's the video:

The benefit of watching the video, complete with a verse usually excised from radio airplay, is that you get to see the truer intent of the song, which is a commentary on class with some ugly homophobic overtones written in character. See if you can find the visuals to go along with this lyric, which I've lightly censored:

See the little f*gg*t with the earring and the makeup / Yeah buddy that's his own hair / That little f*gg*t got his own jet airplane / That little f*gg*t he's a millionaire

You may or may not have heard this full version, but it was running on MTV in saturation rotation for months and years following its initial release. So imagine being a young gay male watching MTV in Topeka or Salt Lake City -- or imagine being George Michael, the closeted lead singer of Wham! whom the video is most likely visually referencing -- and hearing such lyrical content over and over again with neither context nor condemnation. If you really want to understand what living in the '80s was really like, it's harder to find a more apt example of irony and ignorance than "Money for Nothing," free chicks not included.