The 80s Club

While linking to Duncan’s blog for his “best of the worst” picks, I noticed his enthusiastic mention of the reforming of the band Crowded House. And, since reading that post, I haven’t been able to get away for more than a few minutes without, “Something So Strong” running through my head. At least it’s no longer the theme to Charles in Charge though, aye? That really was annoying.
Anyway, here are the sites that Duncan links to: liveDaily and tvnz. And here’s the scoop from another page at tvnz:
A reformed Crowded House is expected to perform at a …read more

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Alright, I really thought I’d posted the Kids Incorporated Theme last Thursday. Not sure where my mind is. Have you seen it lying around? Kind of a gray, mushy, slimy lump of summthin’. No? Okay.
Anyway, lucky you, you get two, yes two, themes in one! In one day, at least.
Scott Baio has been in my head for awhile (oh…’bout 20 years, I’d guess.. ). He was most adorable as Chachi on Happy Days, but lost a little appeal when he married Joanie Cunningham (‘cuz they were real people, you know?). …read more

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I am definitely the demographic that the advertisers are trying to hit in the evening drama/sitcom time slot. In addition to the Back to the Future bit, I’m hearing more and more 80’s songs being used in commercials. Apparently, those marketing geniuses think that there are many middle-aged (am I middle aged, yet?) lazy bums sitting around basking in the glow of the boob tube, just waiting to be enticed to a bag of cookies by the sweet sounds of The Human League. Little morsels of chocolatey goodness are just calling out to me from the TV …read more

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With the Chicago Bears in the home stretch to the Super Bowl, every child from the 80’s should be walking around with the sweet sounds of The Super Bowl Shuffle streaming through their brains, or is that just for those of us who were living in the Land of Lincoln at the time and couldn’t have gotten away from the song if we’d tried?
It was up at YouTube for a while, but has been pulled down. I’m guessing it has something to do with those pesky copyright laws, but it was fun to see it while it was up, …read more

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There’s speculation that Morrissey (of The Smiths) may be asked to contribute to Eurovision on behalf of the UK.
What’s Eurovision, you ask? From Wikipedia:

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held between active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in which participating countries each submit a song to be performed on live television; then proceed to cast votes for the other countries’ songs, in order to find the most popular song in the competition.

So, there you go. It’s like an American Idol, but European, and you only get one song, and the participants …read more

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The 80’s brought out some weird videos, this one by The Cars most definitely among them. But I do have to watch it all the way through, anyway. It’s a fun one!
Gotta love the Ray Ban-style glasses. And, is it just me, or does the lead singer (Ric Ocasek) look a lot like Richard Belzer in this video? Him, or Dana Carvey with a dye job? Or I’m just losing it, and that’s a good guess, too.
Enjoy.

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So, what happened to all those girls who played the adorable orphans, or Annie herself, all those years ago? Well, apparently a few of them appeared in a movie on Showtime called Life After Tomorrow.
From a LiveJournal article:
“Life After Tomorrow,” a documentary by original Annie cast member Julie Stevens — about how the musical forever changed the lives of the show’s orphans — debuts on Showtime Dec. 24. Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse appear in the film.
Stevens — who closed the original Broadway run as orphan Pepper — co-directs the film with Gil Cates, …read more

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We were visiting at my mom’s tonight and Annie (1982) came on the TV. I remember seeing it in the movie theater with my mom, my friend, and her mom. I loved it and sang, “Tomorrow” probably for a week straight. Man, that must’ve been annoying to everyone else in the house. Hmmm…
Anyway, my oldest is just slightly younger now than I was when I first saw it, and I think she’s seen it at grandma’s before, so I thought it would be fun to sit and watch a bit of it with her. …read more

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Although the first two Rocky movies were released in the 1970’s, a few in the middle there were released in our beloved 80’s.
Did I even know there was a Rocky V?
Well, the film whose working title was Rocky VI, Rocky Balboa, is now in theatres. It has an interesting high-tech angle on it, I think. Here’s the teaser from IMDB:
In Rocky Balboa, a computer simulation pits the legendary Italian Stallion (Sylvester Stallone) against the devastating current heavyweight champion Mason “The Line” Dixon (Antonio Tarver), with Rocky the predicted winner. The results rekindle the aging fighter’s spirit, …read more

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Generations of poets and composers have created some of the most beautiful songs of all time. Included among these are the traditional Christmas carols of Away in a Manger, What Child is This?, Silent Night, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. And what did the great decade of the 1980’s contribute to this list of fine aural pleasures? That’s right, you guessed it (or you just looked at the picture, cheater), Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.
Yep, that’s right, the song about, “the blue and silver candles that would just have matched the hair in grandma’s …read more

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