Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

We will always love you . . .

Limahl's Neverending Story (& New Single)

Heres a wonderful blast from the '80s past....

Limahl originally invaded the American pop charts as the lead singer of the British new wave group Kajagoogoo, who were part of the enormous Second British Invasion of music groups in 1983. Their big hit was "Too Shy." Limahl later had a solo hit with the enchanting theme to the movie, The Neverending Story.  

Turn around
Look at what you see...
In her face
The mirror of your dreams...


Make believe I'm everywhere
Given in the light
Written on the pages 
Is the answer to a never ending story...
Ah...


Reach the stars
Fly a fantasy...
Dream a dream
And what you see will be...

Thanks to my fellow '80s retro blogger Rediscover the '80s I've discovered that Limahl is putting out a great new '80s style single celebrating the year of the Second British music invasion, 1983. The song is also called "1983", and starts by declaring that the singer want 'to go back in time." Back in time to the '80s. 


Rediscover the '80s has a good deal of material on it, including an audio clip of an excellent interview with the artist himself with a full clip of the song. In the interview, Limahl does a great job of expressing how much he loves the era of the '80s, and how exciting it was to be a part of the music scene back then.


Here's Kajagoogoo... back in their heyday of the '80s!

Update:


I have had the pleasure of receiving a post from Kai Lofthus, a professional and guru in the area of media, music and marketing, one of whose recent projects is the new Limahl single "1983" reported above. I checked out his site, which includes the much material on the new Limahl single and its inspiration.


He also left me a link to the great interview with Limahl, originally on XM Sirius radios "the Morning Jolt" with Larry Flick. Here's the link:


http://soundcloud.com/digmusic/limahl-on-sirius-xms-the

Another Update:


WOW!! Limahl himself has mentioned this blog on Twitter. 


http://twitter.com/limahl1


Thank you, Limahl !!  And we're with you 100% on bringing back that great era, the '80s!!

Doug and Wendy Whiner

Saturday Night Live has been a staple of late night television since its premier in 1975, with its classic first case which included John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, and Jane Curtain.  Over the years, the show went through some big highs and lows, but by 1983 it was on the upswing again, with the likes of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and others. It was at this time that I started to delve into late night television, and with that discovering the offbeat, sometimes outrageous comedy of SNL. 


I remember that among the features which appeared at this time was The Whiners, a recurring set of skits featuring Joe Piscopo, and fellow SNL star Robin Duke, as the highly irritating duo Doug and Wendy Whiner. According to Wikipedia the two characters "spoke all their lines in a whining, nasal tone, hence, a double meaning of their name." The skits appeared on SNL from 1982 to 1984. I remember them well.

We Belong

I've been a bit occupied lately, first, about a week ago, with some sort of heavy cold, and then more recently with a bunch of matters I had to attend to. So, I've been regrettably away from the blog lately. So, I've been thinking of what would be a good return. .

How about this great 1984 song from Pat Benatar.

I remember listening to this song when I was a teen, and watching the video, and finding it so wonderfully hopeful.  As a high school student at the time, at at time in my life when I was going through many of the doubts and questions and concerns that adolescents often face, this song brought hope. Of course, the lyrics are those of a love song, but the message could just as easily be interpreted in a more general way: that we all are part of the same life and the same world, and we should all belong.  

We belong to the light

We belong to the thunder

We belong to the sound of the words

We've both fallen under

Whatever we deny or embrace

For worse or for better

We belong, we belong

We belong together

Pride In the Name of Love

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."
-Martin Luther King.


In 1984, U2 released the song, "Pride (In the Name of Love)" in honor of civil rights leader, Rev. Martin Luther King. It was their first single to chart on the U.S. charts, and I bought myself a copy. The above quote was on the record sleeve. I thought it was quite appropriate.


Happy Martin Luther King day, to my readers of every race, ethnicity, background, and beliefs.

Early 80s Hersheys Commercial

Here's a memorable early '80s commercial for Hershey's chocolate bars. I remember this commercial fondly. Just watching it makes me feel good . .  and hungry. 


Speaking of memorable '80s commercials, here's a previous post about a fondly remembered McDonald's commercial.


They just don't make them like they used to.

New Years in the '80s

During the 1980s, specifically during the years 1981 to 1988, the traditional new years eve Times Square Ball, which drops during the countdown to a new year, was decorated in the form of an apple, with red bulbs and a green stem, to commemorate the city of New York, aka, "the Big Apple."


Here's a video, courtesy of Youtube, of New Years Eve 1985, as the new year 1986 was rung in, showing the "Big apple" drop.


In 1989, the ball returned to its traditional appearance, a plain white ball with white lightbulbs. 


Happy New Year to everyone!!