When Party Was a Verb

One of the interesting things to occur in the 1980s is that the word "party," began to be used more frequently as a verb. Perhaps it all began with the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High during the early '80s, with the character of Jeff Spicoli, who became known for the quote: "Hey Bud, Let's Party."

Then it became a common theme in popular songs, such as Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time."

And Prince's "1999"

I remember once being out with a few friends, and having the distinction impressed upon me as to the difference between "going to a party," and "partying." Apparently, "going to a party" meant going to a specific get together (something which I, as a teenage misfit and loner, didn't do too much), but "partying" was something which one could do wherever one was.

Some friends, some good rock n roll on the radio, and there you were, "partying."

Such were the '80s. I miss 'em.

Spuds McKenzie: The Original Party Animal

Does anyone remember Spuds McKenzie?  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, especialy from the ladies.

According to Wikipedia the very first Spuds McKenzie commercial aired as a Super Bowl ad in 1987. Also, interestingly, Spuds, a Bull Terrier, "who was portrayed as male in the commercials, was actually female."

Alas, Spuds, whose real name was Honey Tree Evil Eye, succumbed in 1993 to kidney failure.

Here's to you Spuds . . . may you always be in that never-ending '80s party in the sky.

MTV: Video Made The Radio Star

A belated tribute to MTV on their 30th annivaersary.

I was reminded by posts at Retrospace and Go Retro! blogs that MTV was celebrating its 30th anniversary.

Indeed, MTV was launched on August 1, 1981. According to Wikipedia :

 MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,"

spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the

first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia

(which took place earlier that year) and of the launch

of Apollo 11. Those words were immediately followed by the original

MTV theme song, a crunching classical tune composed by Jonathan

Elias and John Petersen, playing over photos of the Apollo 11

moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo changing

various colors, textures, and designs.

The innovative music channel would become a central part of life in the '80s, especially if you were young and into the vibrant music of that era.

I remember these colorful "I Want My MTV" commercials well.

According to Wikipedia the first music videos played on MTV were:

1. "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles
2. "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar
3. "She Won't Dance with Me" by Rod Stewart
4. "You Better You Bet" by The Who
5. "Little Suzi's on the Up" by Ph.D.
6. "We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard
7. "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders
8. "Time Heals" by Todd Rundgren
9. "Take It on the Run" by REO Speedwagon (the video begins but ends after a few seconds due to technical difficulties.)
10. "Rockin' the Paradise" by Styx

Ironically, notwithstanding the name of the song, MTV probably brought more vibrancy and life to early and mid '80s radio, as it opened up the media to newer music groups

Not Those '80s Hair Bands. . .

The phrase "'80s hair band" has usually been applied to glam metal, but heres examples of two bands whose unique hair styles mark them as products of the '80s . . . fun, bizarre, wild products of a fun, bizarre, wild era.

The band A Flock of Seagulls have become memorable in part due to the quirky hair of their lead singer, Mike Score. His "waterfall" hair style is today remembered as one of the more garish examples of '80s new wavish fashion.



But just as equally memorable (once you've seen it, you can't quite forget it) was the band's video for the 1983 hit "I Ran (So Far Away)." Another '80s new wave video artifact made apparently with garbage bags, makeup, and a lot of mirrors, watching the video remains a frolic through '80s quirkiness . . . the thing that made the '80s such a fun time to have grown up in.

I always thought this video resembled the kind of odd dream that occurs after youve eaten too much pizza.

But not to be outdone in quirky, wild '80s new wave stylings is the band Dead or Alive, whose lead singer, Pete Burns, is no slouch to pushing the boundaries of fashion, hair and otherwise. Burns was androgynous, colorfully clothed, and armed with a hard-to-miss hairstyle as well as an eyepatch. Alas, he has been more recently in the news due to personal problems.

I remember seeing for the first time their video to "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)," and hearing the utterly catchy song that went with it.

SpaceCamp (the '80s Movie)

Heres a movie that was truly a product of its time . . . that time being the 1980s. Spacecamp . . . the 1986 movie by that name, that is . . . represented a hybrid of two '80s phenomena. Spacecamp came out as the Shuttle era was ascendant. It also came out at a time when spacey sci-fi movies were big at the box office, an effect of the popularity of such movies that perhaps really started way back in 1977 with Star Wars, but which was revived with the 1982 Spielberg classic, E.T.. 

Spacecamp is about a group of kids at, yes, space camp, who get the opportunity to get on board an actual space shuttle. An accidental launch puts them in space, where they have to link up with a space station to survive, and somehow make it back to earth. An unlikely tale, to be sure, but one which represented many a young geeky kid's dreams of going into space, and showed the penchant for flights of fancy that were common in '80s movies.

The movie featured a robot named Jinx, aptly so named because it was responsible for the "accident" that put the space campers into orbit.

The movie was intended to be released in 1985, but was delayed to early 1986. It was then delayed even further when the Challenger tragedy occurred on January 28, 1986. After finally being released, it had mixed reviewed and was not a favorite of the box office. But I remember it as being representative of some of the particularly spacey trends of the '80s, both in terms of real life events, and of sci-fi. 

Father and Son See Shuttle Era Begin and End

Heres a wonderful set of pictures that has been circulating on the web.
Back in 1981, young Chris Bray and his father watched the first Space Shuttle take off from Capa Canaveral, and a picture was taken of the event. All these years later, they were at the same spot to see the last Shuttle mission go up. Another pic was taken. Bray posted both side by side on Flickr, and its gone viral.

I think this is a wonderful capture of a memory . . . two memories really. Theres the memory of a young man watching the shuttle go up with his father. The shuttle then just first going up, a memory many of us have from back in the '80s, when we too were younger. And now the memory, as it soon will be, of the Shuttle era drawing to a close.

And to add another shuttle connection: the elder Mr. Bray was then present to watch the shuttle because he had been commissioned to create a series of pins for the first shuttle mission.

Thank you, both, Mr. Bray, junior and senior, for the beautiful memory.

Ground Control To Major Tom

"Standing there alone, the ship is waiting
All systems are go, "Are you sure?"
Control is not convinced but the computer
Has the evidence, no need to abort
The countdown starts
Watching in a trance, the crew is certain
Nothing left to chance, all is working
Trying to relax up in the capsule
"Send me up a drink", jokes Major Tom
The count goes on
Four, three, two, one
Earth below us drifting, falling
Floating weightless, calling, calling home
Second stage is cut, we're now in orbit
Stabilizers up, running perfect
Starting to collect, requested data
"What will it affect when all is done?""

-"Major Tom" by Peter Schilling (1983)

Returning back to our regularly scheduled decade, the '80s, and continuing my efforts to provide tributes to the closing of the space shuttle era, heres another space-related toast to the last shuttle . . .

"Major Tom" was a 1983 hit by German musicial Peter Schilling. It was a song in the synth-pop New Wave style so popular in that year, and it became an international hit.  There is also, according to Wikipedia, a connection to the space shuttle:

        Its release, coincidentally, occurred in the same year that West

       Germany sent its first astronaut, Ulf Merbold, into space on

        American NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-9, as part of the

        European Space Agency's Spacelab program.

As a nerdy, space-loving early teen in 1983, I immediately loved the song upon hearing it. I was then, as still am, an afficionado of all things related to the space program, and exploration of space. (Yeah, I love sci-fi too.)

The character of Major Tom, however dates back to 1969, with its first appearance in the song "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. The title of the song, of course, is a play on the title of the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie classic "2001: A Space Odyssey." The Bowie song was released the same year as the first moon landing by the crew of Appollo 11, in July 11, 1969. It became the first big hit for Bowie on a long and creative career.

Bowie, as usual, was an innovator, and produced a video-clip for the song. Heres the original 1969 clip, actually part of a promotional short film called "Love You Till Tuesday":

"This is ground control to major Tom, you've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

This is major Tom to ground control, I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
Here am I floatin' 'round my tin can far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do"

"Space Oddity" by David Bowie (1969)