When I was a sophomore in high school, my GF was a wild-child whose divorced mother was absent from the house most of the time. GF introduced me to Rocky Horror Picture Show and began throwing parties that led to going to the midnight showing.
This group of friends was TOTALLY into the story and actively participated in the audience songs and antics. Rice, newspaper, squirt guns, flashlights, toilet paper, we did it all. We dressed up, we practiced the lyrics and dances, we memorized lines.
Why my mother let me do this at age 15, I have no idea.
At age 16 when I went to Europe with my French class, we saw the stage show of Rocky Horror in London. I was the owner not only of the movie version of the album, but the original stage show album too.
Flash forward 35 years and I’m trying to describe this to my kids. OMG, am I really telling them the stuff I used to do? They are the age that I was when I was doing the Time Warp on a regular basis so I had to suck it up and be truthful about my past.
What I realized though is that my teen behavior was not that different from my kids’ obsession over Dr. Who or My Little Pony. They have their fandoms online whereas I had it in someone’s living room.
