Here's a very memorable '80s song, that also is very much a reminder of the history and politics of that era: "99 Luftballons" by German singer Nena. The song came out in German in 1983, followed by an English version in 1984.
The song is a protest song about the fear of nuclear war, which was often present in the midst of the Cold War. The Cold War, the sometimes tense competition between capitalist democracy and communism, was a fact of life since the late '40s, until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 (with the Soviet Union falling shortly after in 1991).
The early '80s saw an uptick in the tensions between East and West, as both superpowers (the United States and the Soviet Union) installed new nuclear missiles in Europe. According to Wikipedia:
While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin,
Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being
released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed
them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked like strange
spacecraft (referred to in the German lyrics as a "UFO"). He thought
about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to
the Soviet sector.
Both the English and German versions tell about two children who
buy 99 balloons at a toy shop and release them into the air, where
faulty East German radar equipment registers the balloons as
incoming weapons. The government immediately put their troops on
red alert and scrambles fighter jets to intercept, which ultimately
triggers anuclear war between East and West. In the apocalyptic
aftermath, the song's narrator stands in the rubble of the city and
finds a single remaining balloon. Thinking of someone, she then
lets the balloon go. The music was composed by Uwe
Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the keyboardist of Nena's band, while
Karges wrote the original German lyrics.
In the United States, the song was released in both German and English language versions, and I remember my friends and I would sometimes talk about which version sounded better. The German one always won hands down.
Google recently honored artist Keith Haring (1958-1990) with a Google Doodle to celebrate the anniversary of the late artist's birthday. Heres the doodle. If you were around during the 1980s, you may have become familiar with the works of Haring, who designed, among other things, the cover art for the multi-artist album A Very Special Christmas.
Haring became well known for his vibrant artwork often containing stylized images of people, frequently presented in the form of murals. According to his bio, he became interested in art at an early age, drawing inspiration from the works of Walt Disney and Dr. Suess. Further,
In addition to being impressed by the innovation and energy
of his contemporaries, Haring was also inspired by the work of
Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and
Robert Henri’s manifesto The Art Spirit, which asserted the
fundamental independence of the artist. With these influences
Haring was able to push his own youthful impulses toward a singular
kind of graphic expression based on the primacy of the line. Also drawn
to the public and participatory nature of Christo’s work, in
particular "Running Fence," and by Andy Warhol’s unique fusion of
art and life, Haring was determined to devote his career to
creating a truly public art.
Haring's signature was the "radiant child." In the early '80s, Haring became a fixture in the burgeoning underground New York art scene.
Here's one from the glam metal side of '80s music: "Turn Up The Radio" by Autograph. A cool sci-fi-ish video, which I remember well from back in 1984, when it came out.
I'm working hard, you're working too We do it every day For every minute I have to work I need a minute of play
Day in, day out, all week long Things go better with rock The only time I turn it down Is when I'm sleepin' it off
Turn up the radio I need the music, gimme some more Turn up the tape machine I wanna feel it and you know what I mean
Speaking of computers, here's a classic Apple computer commercial from 1984. This commercial, also named "1984" which ran during the Super Bowl that year, introduced the breakthrough Apple Macintosh computer. According to Wikipedia:
In one interpretation of the commercial, "1984" used the unnamed
heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her
white tank top with a cubist picture of Apple’sMacintosh computer on
it) as a means of saving humanity from "conformity" (Big Brother).
These images were an allusion to George Orwell's noted novel,
Nineteen Eighty-Four, which described a dystopian future ruled by
a televised "Big Brother". The rows of marching minions have direct
cinematic parallels with those in the opening scenes of the
classic dystopian film Metropolis.
The commercial was directed by acclaimed director Ridley Scott.
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).
This is a personal post, and a personal request to my readers.
Bullying is a blight on the lives of many young people. Now there appears to be some momentum to fight this type of abusive behavior, and to shine a light on its effects. Learn about bullying and the damage it causes, and do all that you can to fight this scourge.
