Here's two video clips which I've shown on this blog before. In fact I was considering whether I should re-post it yet again. But I opted to bring them out again, like worn but beloved Christmas ornaments, because of at least two reasons. First, they both bring back strong memories from my Christmases past. Second, because they both represent that spirit of love, peace, and compassion we need today.
Above is the classic commercial which Coke ran during the late '70s of young people creating a Christmas tree, and singing "I'd Love To Teach The World To Sing." I remember this 1977 commercial so vividly from my childhood. It has a very special place in my memories, and represents an innocent ideal of what Christmas is supposed to be about. I feel like just jumping in and joining this wonderful bunch of young people and sing along with them.
And here is another 1977 item: the duet between Bing Crosby and David Bowie of "Little Drummer Boy/ Peace on Earth." I think this video is particularly poignant this year, as we lost David Bowie. The lyrics speak for themselves.
I wanted to take some time to remember Alan Thicke, who passed away recently. He is most remembered by people who grew up in the '80s as the father in the popular TV show Growing Pains. He was a familiar figure of '80s TV sitcom family life, and a comforting symbol of Baby Boomer parenthood as that generation settled down and had '80s-era children.
His involvement in entertainment is much broader, as a song-writer, a talk show host, and an actor in many other shows. He will be missed.
Its become almost a tradition at this blog to have a holiday season post (or posts!) with some retro '80s era Christmas songs. Some of the songs have been posted yearly, not unlike the yearly ritual of trotting out the same old beloved ornaments. Here's '80s Christmas songroll for 2016.
First up is a new one for this blog: the Pointer Sisters' version of the old classic "Santa Clause Is Coming to Town."
Here's another first appearance for this blog, Annie Lennox (and Eurythmics') doing a lovely rendition of "Winter Wonderland." Is the holiday spirit being felt?
This one's a classic: U2's very '80s version of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)."
John (Cougar) Mellencamp's rockin version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."
All of the above were from 1987's wonderful charity album, A Very Special Christmas, which benefited the Special Olympics.
Here's a few '80s Christmas classics coming back to take their place under this year's tree:
Wham's very, very '80s holiday song, "This Christmas," from 1985.
And, rounding it all off, Billy Squire's 1981 "Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You."
The charitable spirit that followed Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," and all of the musical efforts to give relief to famine victims in Africa, culminating in the mamoth Live Aid concerts, continued onto other causes. In September of 1985, right after Live Aid, a group of American musicians put together the very first Farm Aid concert to aid American farmers. The event featured Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, the Beach Boys, John Denver, Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, and many others. It would later go on to being a yearly event.
Then in late 1985, a small group of musicians got together to reord a record to help fund AIDS research. The one-off group was called Dionne Warwick and Friends, and included Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight. The song they released was penned by the classic songrwriting duo of Burt Bacharach and Carol Bayer Sager, and was called "Thats What Friends Are For." It became Billboard magazine's number one sing of 1986. The video is above.
Its Thanksgiving, and the holiday seaon is upon us. Since charity, music, and fun are important parts of this time of year, its a good time to remember when all three of those elements combined for a series of wonderful charity records back in the '80s. This starts around Christmas time, with a beautiful effort by a bunch of musicians.
In 1984, a group of primarily British and Irish musicians united to collect fund for famine relief in Africa. A project initiated by musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, they called themselves Band Aid, and they released a memorable Christmas single called "Do They Know Its Christmas." Band Aid was literally a "whos who" of the '80s British music scene, and included, among others, such names as Boy George, Sting, George Michael, Phil Collins, David Bowie and members of Bananarama, Duran Duran, and U2.
"Do They Know Its Christmas" went on to become a major holiday song in 1984, and a wonderful memory of that year. The Band Aid effort ultimately led to additional efforts at famine relief. In January of 1985 there was USA for Africa, a similar effort by American musicians. This group put out "We Are The World," a song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and featuring, in addition to those two musicians, also Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Paul Simon and many others.
The charitable spirit was catching. Shortly after, in February of 1985, a group of Canadian musicians got together as Northern Lights, and put out the song "Tears Are Not Enough." This single also collected money for African famine relief, and included Anne Murray, Geddy Lee (of Rush), Mike Reno (of Loverboy), Joni Mitchel, Corey Hart, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, and Burton Cummings (of the Guess Who), among many others.
Not to be left out, heavy metal musicians also put out their own effort to help famine relief. It was called Hear n' Aid, and they put out their charitable single "Stars," a song written by Ronnie James Dio, and which included contributions by members of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, and many others. These collective efforts culminated in the enormous Live Aid concert in 1985. Happy Thanksgiving, and a blessed holiday season to us all.
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.
