Billy Ocean - "Loverboy"

Here's a fantastic example from the era of music videos, Billy Ocean's very sci-fi video for "Loverboy." The '80s were the MTV era (when MTV really was "Music Television"), but it was also the era of E.T. and Steven Spielberg and many sci-fi/fantasy movies. This video clearly draws inspiration from them. Good fun '80s stuff!

Simple Minds - "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

Here's an absolute '80s classic: Simple Minds' "Dont You (Forget About Me)," which was featured in the seminal 1985 John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club.  The song always seemed to me to have a somewhat anthemic quality to it, and a sentiment symbolic of '80s teens who took many of those teen movies to heart. I was one of them.  The video also reminds you of how fresh, lively and even cutting edge the art of music video was at the time.

Mall Memories

Some of the best memories of my '70s childhood and '80s adolescence took place in shopping malls. Nowadays there is talk that the age of the shopping mall is passing (although you couldn't tell it from some of the malls where I live, where there are several thriving), but in the '70s and '80s the mall was at its height as a center of commerce and popular meeting place.

I have so many good memories of being in these climate-controlled, air conditioned shopping centers, and here are some.

The Style. Malls in the '70s and '80s had such a different style than today. Back then the typical mall aimed for a futuristic style that resembled the city in Logan's Run. Modern sculpture, water features, and lighting were common. 

Fountains. Most Malls of the '70s and '80s featured fountains, usually with the same modern style. Lots of them too, often in different locations of the same mall.  I loved those, and the fun ambiance they created. 

The Stores. I remember the specialty stores that you sometimes found only in malls, where you found them in abundance. Food vendors like Fanny Farmer Candies and Hickory Farms. Bookstores like Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Books. Record stores like Camelot records. Big department stores, some no longer in existence, like Burdines, Robinsons, Maas Brothers, and Jordan Marsh. There always seemed to be a store selling electric organs, featuring someone hired to play it and attract customers. Chick Fil-A was, at that time, found almost always in malls. Some of those names and experiences are now forgotten, others continue as much cherished establishments.

Growing up, my family used to eat at York Steak House, a family restaurant commonly found in malls. The decor at York often had the dark wood style so often found during that era, with a certain "Olde English" decor. We would then walk over to Doctor Pet Center, a typical mall pet shop where we would look at the various animals they had on display. And then we would go through the mall to enjoy the various sights and sounds of the mall. As a teen, this would involve bookstores and record stores, where I would indulge my musical and reading tastes as a nerdy teen.

Now, it is said that internet shopping and outdoor shopping centers are eclipsing the old malls. But I will always remember fondly the ways malls used to be. They were a safe place where you could stroll, get the latest record, and get something to eat. Here's to malls of the '70s and '80s.

Happy New Year from Space

I'm a major fan of the space exploration. It always gives me hope in the human ability to advance, and even the most mundane space missions seem exciting because . . . its space!  So occasionally, I feature some space-related posts, regardless of whether they are retro or not. What a better way to celebrate New Years Day than from space? So here's a space-age Happy New Year from the International Space Center. 

Band Aid at Top of The Pops, 1984 (and Happy New Year!!)

If you can handle one more bit of belated holiday spirit before the new year, here's a wonderfully '80s performance by Band Aid, the '80s super-group of primarily British musicians, of their hit charity single "Do They Know Its Christmas" on Britain's Top of the Pops program. 

This 1984 performance seems to have most of the Band Aid musicians present, and everything looks and feels very '80s.  

I figure the sentiment is just as applicable to New Years as to Christmas, so, with that, I wish you all a Happy New Year!! 

Sia - Candy Cane Lane

This is such a catchy, happy song. Just makes you want to jump into the holidays!!

Holiday Songroll 2017

Its become almost a tradition on this blog that every December, I do a post with a bunch of Christmas songs. Its that time of year again, and what a better song to start with than the truly beautiful '80s Christmas song from the Pretenders, "2000 Miles."

Here's one from the late '70s from former Beatle Paul McCartney, and his band Wings, who are having a "Wonderful Christmas Time."

Heres another incredible voice from the '80s, that of Annie Lennox.  Here, she's with her early '80s synth duo Eurythmics, with their rendition of "Winter Wonderland."

U2 rocks Christmas in a very '80s style, with "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

Another '80s rocker, John Mellencamp, does his version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

And, lastly on this post, the truly memorable Christmas song with a message, Band Aid's "Do They Know Its Christmas," from 1984.

To all my readers:

Merry Christmas
Happy Hannukah
Happy Holidays
Feliz Navidad