I've developed an interest in Vaporwave, a 2010's music and cultural genre which is inspired by the styles of the 1980s and a sense of retro nostalgia.
I recently put together a Vaporwave inspired blog entitled Oblivion Foodcourt, and invite my readers to check it out. Here are a few samples of the new blog's content:
This is a re-post of a post which originally appeared September 29, 2011.
When I was a teen, growing up in the '80s, one of my most comforting memories was of the opening credits to the popular TV show Cheers. Although I sometimes watched the show, and enjoyed it, I was never as big a Cheers fanatic as so many other people.
But the opening credits were always a must see for me. The theme song itself was part of the attraction. It begins by noting the taxing nature of modern life (in the '80s), which "takes everything you've got," and then segues into the catchy refrain about wanting to be "where everybody knows your name."
But just as appealing were the montage of images which appeared along with the song, a series of pictures of people seemingly enjoying the pleasures of being at a pub, with its drinks and social life. The pictures all have a historical quality to them, lending the sense that such activity has occurred through time, and continues to the time of the program . . . the '80s and early '90s.
There is one photo, for example, which has people in a bar with drinks, with one man holding up a newspaper which reads "WE WIN" in all captal letters. Growing up, I had thought that the headline referred to the end of World war II, but it in fact refers to the end of Prohibition. In restrospect, this seems all the more appropriate given that the show takes place in a drinking establishment.
Another photo shows a group of young males of another era, perhaps college kids, all trying to look dapper and sophisticated.
I always thought that the combination of words and music put forth the idea that time passes, but certain things remain the same. That so many things have come and gone through time and history, and that here we were, in the '80s, taking our place in time. Yet, some things were constant, through it all. Through it all, don't we all really want to sometimes go to a place "where everybody knows your name."
Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows Your name.
One of my most enjoyable movies from the '80s is St. Elmo's Fire, the 1984 brat-pack ensemble account of relationships among disparate friends. The movie has sometimes been criticized as being indulgent, and highly unrealistic. . . and truthfully, at times it is. However, I still get a lot of '80s retro pleasure out of watching this movie. Its one of those films I can put on and just let it run, knowing exactly what the next scene is, and what most of the dialogue will be.
I guess two things that I find so appealing about it are: First, that it is so very '80s, and '80s in a rather appealing way. The cinematography is actually quite beautiful at times, making use of the natural colors and beauty of the scenery of the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. And secondly, the positive and hopeful way that it presents post-college age youth.
Of course, there are some highly unrealistic aspects of the movie. For example, just how did the Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy characters, supposedly recent college grads, afford such a spacious apartment? But at its best, St. Elmo's Fire resembled a hazy '80s dream of friendship, inhabited by quirky '80s personalities, soundtracked by catchy '80s music, and colored with vivid '80s colors.
The '90s had its own version of the "group of cool friends" scenario, in the '90s TV show Friends. I've enjoyed watching Friends in part because it seemed to so resemble St. Elmo's Fire, and because Friends came along at just the exact time that I myself was going through the experience of being in my post-undergrad college years. It was good to see (again, however unrealistically) my own generation being portrayed as cool and hip.
I must admit that, being the loner that I have often been, the notion of having such a close knit group of cool friends has been more of an ideal for me than reality. (I mean, don't get me wrong... I've had friends, but not many as close as these characters are portrayed to be.) But I still found it enjoyable to buy into the concept of being young, and hip, and able to come up with witty one liners during animated conversations at a college coffee shop.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love. In 1967, there was an explosion of the hippie counterculture which spread across the the world, most particularly the Western countries, and brought a blossoming of art, music, idealism, and experimentalism.
Although I grew up in the 1980s, I was greatly inspired by the '60s and by the Summer of Love. I remember watching documentaries about that era, and I listened heavily to the music of that time. The events which happened in the '60s were imperfect, as is usually the case when one speaks about anything human. The Summer of Love itself was imperfect, and one can point at many mistakes made by the young people behind all the happenings. But at its best the Summer of Love represented an earnest and hopeful attempt to live out ideals of beauty and love.
As I grew up in the '80s, I often looked back to the '60s for inspiration, taking the best of it while acknowledging where they fell short. So how does an '80s guy with an '80s blog celebrate the anniversary of the Summer of Love and the larger era it represented? How does one celebrate the '60s when youre focused on the MTV era?
How about with '80s era MTV-style videos of classic '60s songs? Back in the '80s, a show came on TV called Deja View. Aimed at the thirtysomething baby boomers of the '80s, who at the time were very nostalgic for the Sixties, Deja View featured '80s style videos for '60s songs. A 1985 Chicago Tribune article talked about Joel Gallen, Deja View's producer:
A character in the movie``The Big Chill`` spoke for countless baby boomers when he grumbled that there hadn`t been a good record made since 1967. And as for rock videos, you won`t hear many veterans of the Age of Aquarius wistfully singing, ``I want my, I want my, I want my MTV.``
Joel Gallen couldn`t understand why videos couldn`t accommodate people whose interest in rock music peaked about the time the Beatles split. An avid fan of 1960s music, Gallen was ``intrigued and excited by the technique and the form of music video. But I didn`t really relate to Twisted Sister, Judas Priest and a lot of the other MTV-type bands.`` So Gallen, 28, came up with the idea of ``marrying`` `60s hits to the new video technology in a show he now calls ``Deja View.``
I remember, as an '80s teen, tuning into Deja View and enjoying it. In celebration of the Summer of Love, and of those who appreciated the '60s from the vantage point of the '80s, here are some '80s videos of '60s songs from the '80s show Deja View:
The Hollies, "Bus Stop." After seeing this video, every time thereafter that I heard the song it brought to mind this very scene, with the same bus stop and bench, and the couple at the beginning with their umbrella. 1966 song, just before the '67 Summer of Love. (Acknowledgement and thanks to hinken24 for the video.)
Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale." This one is a true Summer of Love classic, reaching the peak of the pop charts in the midst of that psychedelic summer of 1967. Its mysterious lyrics caused much speculation, often under alternative states of consciousness(Acknowledgement and thanks to hinken24 for the video.)
The Zombies, "She's Not There." Spooky song from 1964, foreshadowing much psychedelia to come. (Acknowledgement and thanks to hinken24 for the video.)
In continuing celebration of the 35th anniversary of the classic 1982 movie E.T., the Extra Terrestrial, here are a bunch of E.T.-themed '80s era commercials. As you can see, E.T. was just about everywhere in the '80s.
In previous years, I celebrated Mother's Day by celebrating my mom's love of cop and action shows. She also enjoyed comedy, especially the mild, non-edgy, well-meaning kind. She loved the '80s and '90s sitcom "The Golden Girls," which featured the catchy opening song "Thank You For Being A Friend." The song was actually a top 40 pop hit for Andrew Gold in 1978, which was re-purposed for the show.
I think the song is appropriate, not only because my mom loved that show so much, but because the lyrics are also so appropriate. My mom passed away in 2003, and this post is in tribute to her. Here's to you mom. Thank you for being
a friend Traveled down the
road and back again Your heart is true,
you're a pal and a confidant And if you threw a
party Invited everyone you
knew You would see the
biggest gift would be from me And the card
attached would say Thank you for being
a friend
Music Video at its most '80s!! This song was on the radio a lot in 1983, at least in the United States. The hairstyle is famous! And the video: classic '80s at its campy weird best (and yes thats a compliment). So very new wave. (Also a compliment. . . this was my youth!!) Is that all aluminum foil? Who knew aluminum foil was such a medium for art!
I remember well the opening sequence from Friday Night Videos, a music video program broadcast on NBC round about midnight on Fridays. The show was often a substitute for MTV, giving access to the then cutting edge medium of music videos to homes without cable. For the teen I was at the time, the flashy graphics were the epitome of '80s cool.
Bud Light put out a Super Bowl commercial featuring the ghost of Spuds MacKenzie.
Does anyone remember Spuds MacKenzie? Although he seems to have been forgotten nowadays, he was a popular advertising character during the late 1980s. Portrayed as "the original party animal," Spuds was the mascot, of sorts, for Bud Light beer during that decade.
Spuds was always portrayed as a fun-loving good times party goer, and always the center of attention, especially from the ladies.
In the '80s, comedy was often quirky and offbeat . . . just like the '80s themselves. One of my favorite comedians who became popular at that time was Steven Wright, whose routine was to give unusual, and often bizarre, observations in a dry, deadpan manner. His comedy is one of those authentically '80s things that gave that decade its distinctive style, and which made that time so much fun. And he's still at it. Here are some of his best lines from his '80s routine:
"For my birthday I
got a humidifier and a dehumidifier...I put them in
the same room and let them fight it out."
"Sponges grow in
the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper
the ocean would be if that didn't happen."
"Winny and I lived in a house that ran on static electricity...If you wanted to run the blender, you had to rub balloons on your head. If you wanted to cook, you had to pull off a sweater real quick."
"My house is made
out of balsa wood, so when I want to scare the
neighborhood kids I lift it over my head and tell them to get
out of my yard or I'll throw it at them."
"I went to the
hardware store and bought some used paint. It was in the
shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they
weren't included. So I had to buy them again."
"The judge asked,
"What do you plead?" I said, "Insanity, your honour,
who in their right mind would park in the passing lane?""
"All of the people
in my building are insane. The guy above me designs
synthetic hairballs for ceramic cats. The lady across the
hall tried to rob a department store...with a pricing gun.
She said, "Give me all of the money in the vault, or I'm
marking down everything in the store.""
"In my house
there's this light switch that doesn't do anything. Every so
often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday,
I got a call from a woman in Germany. She said, "Cut it out.""
There's a fine line
between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot.
In April 2012, this blog had a post titled "When Computers Became Cool," about the growing status of computer geeks in the '80s. (That post is re-posted in its entirety below this post.) I found an old 1984 article which serves as a good follow up to this theme. On May 8, 1984, the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled "Knowing a Computer
Can Be Fastest Way To a Woman's Heart: The New Big Men on Campus Find
Technical Wizardry Is Quicker Than Liquor."
Click to enlarge.
Here's an excerpt:
Knowing a Computer
Can Be Fastest Way To a Woman's Heart: The New Big Men on Campus Find
Technical Wizardry Is Quicker Than Liquor
The Wall Street
Journal
Friday, May 8, 1984
As a gangly
highschool student, Michael Sattler had just five dates in four
years. Then he discovered computers. Now girls have discovered him.
It is exam time at
Boston University, and glassyeyed students work all night in a
stuffy basement finishing up their computer projects. But in one
corner, Mr.Sattler, now a
20yearold junior, is having the time of his life.
It is also a sign of
the times. Formerly disdained computer nerds are now big men on
campus. Their mastery of inscrutable machines seems to be winning
themthe hearts of
hithero unapproachable young ladies. "There are even a few
recorded instances of girls going after hackers instead of football
players, says Mr.Sattler. To turn the
odds in his favor, he says, he spends 65 hours a week in the computer
room and not just doing his homework.
It didnt quite turn out as the article predicts, but it shows what an emerging force computers were back then. Now theyre everywhere, and everyone is at least a little bit computer geek.
When Computers Became Cool
(Originally posted April 27, 2012)
With the advent of the first personal computers during the late '70s and early '80s, there dawned a new era of coolness for computers and those who used them. Suddenly, those quirky, savvy "computer geeks" were the epitome of chic. There was even a certain shadowy sense of power that was perceived to derive from being hip to all the secrets and esoteric knowledge of computers.
One of the best examples of this was the sci-fi flick Wargames (1983).
Wargames was the story of a young computer hacker, played by Matthew Broderick, who succeeded in hacking into a powerful defense department computer which was enabled with the ability to launch nuclear missiles. Although the character played by Broderick originally thought that his interaction with the defense computer (dubbed the "WOPR") was just a game, things quickly escalated to the point of nearly causing a nuclear war. The movie's portrayal of the race to prevent nuclear catastrophe, and the climactic ending, served as a moral lesson in the midst of the Cold War.
Wargames became a popular and well remembered '80s movie classic, and also an example of the emergence of the computer geek.
A less easily remembered TV show that came along around the same time was Whiz Kids. Whiz Kids aired on CBS during 1983-84, a featured a story line about a group of computer savvy young teens who use their computer skills to fight crime.
Here is the opening credits to the short-lived Whiz Kids.
Afterward, computers, and those who kept the knowledge of computers, began to appear in many of the movies of the '80s. This included many of the nerd oriented flicks that appeared during the mid '80s, such as Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Weird Science (1985).
Does anybody remember The Great Space Coaster? It was a syndicated kid's show that ran from 1981 to 1986. I used to watch it all the time before school when I was in middle school. Although I think the show was really aimed at kids younger than I was at the time, I found it so enjoyable that I couldn't resist. There were other kids my age who also indulged in the Coaster.
The show had the most wonderfully memorable opening. (Above, courtesy of Retrojunk.com.) I just love it.
The show focused on three young people (Francine, Danny, and Roy), who took a spceship to this funky asteroid populated by a bunch of fantastic characters. Probably the most prominent of these characters is a shy clown named Baxter, who also had the ability to become invisible. See Baxter, above. (Frankly, at the time, I wasn't exactly sure what Baxter was. He was just Baxter.)
The Wikipedia article describes the show further:
The asteroid is
populated by strange-looking, wise-cracking puppet characters such as
Goriddle Gorilla, Knock-Knock the Woodpecker, Edison the Elephant,
and Gary Gnu (host of newscast The Gary Gnu Show). Baxter is forever
on the run from M.T. Promises, a nefarious ringmaster who plans to
re-capture Baxter and return him to the circus he worked at before he
escaped. Each episode ends with a different life lesson, and various
celebrity guest stars (such as Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame and
composer Marvin Hamlisch) occasionally dropped by.
Above is a clip featuring Gary Gnu (the gnewscaster with the only gnews show guaranteed to contain no gnews whatsoever!) interviewing another character, Goriddle Gorilla. (Thanks to TGSCoaster on Youtube.)
Heres the Great Space Coaster fan site: Click Here.
OK, brace yourselves, were gonna venture into high campy '80s with this post.
Back in the '80s, before the Backstreet Boys, before One Direction, before the plethora of boy bands that hit the charts in the late '90s, and even before that late '80s phenomenon known as New Kids On The Block, there was . . . Menudo. Menudo was a Puerto Rican singing group put together in 1977 by their producer Edgardo Diaz, especially made to take Latin America by storm. The members were all teen boys and could only be under a certain age, with members being replaced once the age limit was reached. Success came quickly in the early 1980s, and the group's intense popularity spread accross Latin America, where their arrival often sparked a feverish reaction from the group's primarily teen female fans. The phenomenon was such that it was compared to Beatlemania, and dubbed Menudomania, although it can be said that the latter group's mania had more to do with commercial success than with musical exceptionalism.
Although Menudo's popularity sweeped accross Latin America, it took longer to penetrate the English speaking market, and its success there was more limited. One short lived example of the group's presence in the United States was Menudo On ABC, brief 4-minute segments which appeared on that network's 1983 Saturday morning TV schedule. Above is one such segment, with the group visiting the historic section of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
They subsequently released an English language album, appeared on shows like Silver Spoons, did commercial appearances and even had a song featured on the soundtrack of the movie "Cannonball Run 2." However, 1983-1984 appeared to be the peak of the moment in fame in the U.S.. They never scored a hit on American radio, and soon faded from view as their novelty wore off.
Here's one last clip, if you can stand it . . . their performances are, admittedly, a unique taste. This one is full frontal Menudo here, in all their campy glory. Its from the 1984 MDA telethon, with Tony Orlando introducing the group, and a brief glimpse of Menudomania American style. You've been warned, click if you feel up to it.
An '80s New Years memory: Dick Clark rings in 1982 during his long-running New Years Rockin Eve program.
Happy New Year to all my readers, and may 2016 be blessed for us all. And here's the countdown to 1989. As you can see, the New York ball drop featured a "big apple" for a number of years in the '80s, before reverting back to the classic ball in the late '80s.
Here's a 1987 Macy's commercial featuring Snoopy. It includes a portion where it shows the shadow of the Snoopy ballon in the yearly Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, an event that was always a treasured part of thanksgiving when I was growing up, and which remains such today.
And here's a 1988 Metlife Thanksgiving commercial also feautring the Peanuts characters. This is a re-post of this clip, which was featured on this blog a few prior Thanksgivings . . . and it's still warm reminder of the point of this holiday.
In 1986, a sitcom premiered about a class of gifted, high IQ students, and their inquisitive teacher: Head of the Class. The show lasted from '86 to 1991.
Here's the peppy, hopeful opening theme... very '80s in every way.
I've heard this show referred to as Welcome Back Kotter with nerds, making reference and comparison to a similar '70s era show about students and teachers. Kotter, by contrast, was about under-performing students.
Howard Hessman played the teacher Charlie Moore at the beginning of the series, and through most of the show's run.
To be honest, I have a bit of a selective memory about the students. There were so many of them that I seem to recall only the ones that made the strongest impression on me. I do remember how each student was a unique personality, creating a class where each one's quirks and oddness was brought out. I recall there was a sensitive, an artsy girl, and a leather jacket wearing rebel guy.
Dennis Blunden, played by Dan Schneider, was probably most memorable to me. He was a heavyset and somewhat sloppy kid, kind of like myself at that age. He was also a computer whiz, which I was not. It turns out that in the years after Head of the Class, Schneider has become quite successful as a producer of family oriented shows on Nickelodeon.
Arvid Engen, played by Dan Frischman, was also memorable as the stereo-typically skinny and bespectacled science nerd of the group.
I've had friends who resembled Arvid (who, I suppose, would play nerdy teen versions of Laurel in contrast to my Hardy).
Robin Givens played the rich girl Darlene Merriman.
Tony O'Dell portrayed Alan Pinkard, a politically conservative student who dressed in yuppie attire.
I remember an episode where the class visited the Moscow, which back in the '80s was still in the Soviet Union during the waning days of the Cold War. I recall that they had a scene where the staunchly pro-American Alan got into a debate with an equally adamant pro-Commie Soviet student. I remember thinking it was a pretty unfair comparison, as if the less conservative students wouldn't have reason to oppose Soviet totalitarianism. In any case, just a few years later Communism would fall, which I guess showed you who really won that debate.
In 1990, toward the end of the show's run, Billy Connolly replaced Hessman, playing teacher Billy MacGregor.
A comment to one of my recent posts referenced The Greatest American Hero, so I was inspired to re-post this, which originally appeared August 11, 2013. Enjoy.
One of my well remembered TV series from the early '80s was Greatest American Hero (1981-1983), a quirky super hero series which featured an unlikely and fumbling everyday guy as its protagonist. I think what made the series so likable was the sense that the "hero" was someone who never even sought the role, a well meaning person who had hero status thrust upon him and tried to deal with it as best as he could. Neither the hero nor the show took themselves too seriously.
William Katt starred as the unlikely hero, Ralph Hinkley, a schoolteacher assigned to a special education class. Connie Selleca stars as Pam Davidson, an attorney who handled Hinkleys divorce, but soon becomes his love interest in the show. Ralph's last name was changed to "Hanley" after an assassin whose last name was Hinkley attempted to kill President Reagan in March of 1981.
The great Robert Culp played FBI agent Bill Maxwell, who somehow linked up with Ralph and Pam, and often provided the more hard-edged strategic mindset which the others lacked.
Together, the disparate trio repeatedly found themselves batting bad guys after an unexpected encounter gave Ralph his super powers.
During an trek in the desert, Ralph and Bill had a close encounter with space aliens. (I always thought the spaceship was cool.)
The aliens beamed down a special suit which only Ralph could use, and which was the source of his powers, which included such typical super hero abilities as flight, invisibility, strength and remote viewing.
But the mild mannered Ralph proved to be an uneasy superhero, which made him all the more likable in the role. More problematic was the fact that they lost the manual provided with the suit which showed how to properly use it. So, Ralph, with the help of Bill and Pam, had to learn how to use it by trial and error, with often funny results. Ralph's haphazard effort at flying was a frequent feature of the show..
Heres the intro, courtesy of RetroJunk.com.
The theme song, written by Mike Post and Stephen Geyer and sung by Joey Scarbury, became a hit in 1981. I remember hearing it frequently on the radio back then.
I was 11 years old that year, when the show premiered. Now, looking back, I see both the song and the TV show as reflective of that era. When the show premiered in 1981, the United States was just recovering from a rough period where hostages were held for over a year in Iran, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and the economy was in a bad state. Although the country was not yet out of the woods, by any means, there was the uneasy glimmer of hope and optimism. I think the portrayal of Ralph's uneasy hero status, and the song about being surprised at unexpected success, seemed to echo this mood.
David Letterman, the host who revolutionized late night talk shows back in the '80s, retired this past week. For a long time, he has been a fairly mainstream celebrity, that it is often hard to remember how truly novel his comedy was during the '80s. During that decade (more specifically between 1980 and 1993) Letterman was the host, on NBC, of Late Night with David Letterman. His show during that era was a free wheeling, loosely structured, oddball affair, full of the quirky and sometimes strange humor that seemed to pervade the decade.
I mean, speaking from personal experience, back then I often found myself laughing uproariously at the off the wall humor that came at you from odd angles and which seemed to be everywhere: in comics like Bloom County and The Far Side, in stand up comedians like Stephen Wright and Gallagher (and you should have seen the early stand up Whoopi Goldberg), and in shows like Eddie Murphy/Joe Piscopo era Saturday Night Live. There was a viewpoint that was just fresh, so quirky and so very funny, that has not been seen for quite a bit. (In the '90s, quite frankly, comedy seemed to take on a more hard edged quality, more "in your face" and less oddball, which was quite different.)
David Letterman's Late Night show was a prime example of the off the wall '80s humor, as exemplified by his experimentation with suits made out of different materials. Here's several clips over the years.
Since its Mother's Day, I'm going to dedicate today's post to my mom.
My mother used to be a major fan of cop and action type shows back during the '80s. So, my tribute to her comes in the form of memories from those shows she loved so much way back then.
Magnum P.I. was one of them. She used to avidly watch this show whenever it was on. The theme song and visuals bring back quite a lot of memories from the early '80s.
Here's another one of my Mom's favorites... Simon and Simon. I didn't watch this one so much, but I remember that catchy theme song.
And Hart to Hart. My mom used to get so much pleasure out of the action and the good guys vs. bad guys plots of these.
She was in her own life a much more down-to-earth woman, a schoolteacher at the local high school, devoted to her faith in God, and to her family. I am blessed to have had so many memories of my mom . . . family memories when we were out doing things together. There were also moments of misunderstanding and disagreement, as there always are among people who love one another. In the end, I focus on the positive, the good memories.
My mom passed away back in 2003, after a long struggle with cancer. I dedicate this post to her, and take hope in my belief that we will be ultimately reunited. Here's to you, mom.
In my two most recent posts, I described my '80s-era love of the comic strips Bloom County and The Far Side. As I noted, they were a part of my daily routine, and brought to my day some quirky, oddball humor that was distinctly '80s.
There was also one more comic that I read daily, except it was less cutting edge in its style. The strip was the relatively mild, "down to earth" Garfield, which featured a lazy, fat lasagna-loving feline. I found the strip's light humor enjoyable, however, especially since my own family actually had a cat (a Garfieldish yellow-orange striped cat, no less) which had a personality very much like the strip's protagonist. My mother, in particular, would comment that the strip so accurately captured the feline personality.
Back in the '80s, Garfield was very popular, and you saw the character everywhere. Here, for example, he's featured in a hotel commercial from 1987.
I
