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 major American music festival in April.

Julia Connolly, a spokeswoman for Finn’s office, told the Dominion Post newspaper that further auditions were planned in Auckland and Los Angeles. “At the moment, they’re just working at getting the band together,” she said. “Something’s formally coming out once the band is in place.”

And, for your great pleasure, the video to Something So Strong. This is really NOT going to help to get it out of my head. But, as long as it helps to combat the Charles thing, it’ll work for me. :) Enjoy!

ht: Duncan Riley

Ms. Kidman is one of my favorite actresses of all time. I don’t remember her being in the movies until Days of Thunder (1990), but apparently she was quite busy during the 80s making films and tv movies (more than fifteen of them). Most likely I wasn’t aware of her work simply because much of it wasn’t a big hit in the U.S.

What is Nicole up to these days? In addition to recently completing three films, filming a fourth, and having three more lined up; the BBC posted this announcement:

Actress Nicole Kidman has confirmed she will marry country singer Keith Urban in Australia following the couple’s arrival in Sydney on Monday.

“We are very happy to be back in Australia,” the couple, both 38, said in a joint statement.

“We have come home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends.” Reports suggest the couple will marry in a church in the city on Sunday.

If you like bare-chested, whip-cracking, virile handsome men with an attitude, chances are you liked Crocodile Dundee. Played by Paul Hogan, Dundee ends up in the Big City. This Aussie is a fish out of water, but that doesn’t stop him from keeping his cool and staying on top of his game. If you’d prefer to see Hogan as an Australian outlaw in the Wild West, check out Lightning Jack.

The generation before mine was accustomed to practice drills in school for what to do if “the enemy” were to drop The Bomb. If you talk to anyone who was a kid in the 1950s and 60s, they will likely be able to tell stories of everyone learning how to hide underneath their schooldesks, and the somewhat paranoid neighbor who built an underground fallout shelter.

Blithely ignorant mainly of such grownup issues during the 70s, I can’t really say what the prevailing worry of that decade was. But during the 80s it was a toss-up between a fear of the U.S.S.R. gaining control over the world, and a nuclear war. This fear was pervasive, and the art, music, movies and literature of the times reflects that.

Jonathan Schell writes, in his article ‘The New Nuclear Danger‘:

On June 12, 1982, 1 million people assembled in Central Park in New York City to protest the reckless nuclear policies of the Reagan Administration and to call for a nuclear freeze. They never assembled in such numbers again–in part because Reagan reversed course and opened nuclear arms talks with the Soviet Union, and in part because, after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power, the cold war began to wind down. The day remains in memory as a reminder of how quickly public concern over nuclear annihilation can arise and how quickly it can evaporate. When the cold war finally did end, nuclear weapons pretty much dropped out of the conscious thoughts of most Americans.

Frank Farkas in his article on the new nuclear threat, says:

I was there on June 12, 1982 with my wife and my 2-year old, now a college graduate. So I was more than routinely interested to learn that a coalition headed by New York State Peace Action had decided to commemorate June 12th on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. What makes the commemoration truly meaningful for me and my generation of peaceniks, and for that matter, for any peace-minded individual, is that it’s much more than just nostalgia.

Most of these things only touched my personal world in peripheral ways. I was involved in activities and organizations that promoted inter-cultural understanding, supported the environment, and were in favor of peace; but it was not a cause nor a passion. In my 20s I paid more attention to the ‘grown up world’, to politics, to impending doom and disasters. I also encountered great music with a political bent, among the artists I’d say my favorite is Midnight Oil:

Midnight Oil has at various times been synonymous with suburban beerbarn angst, green political activism, indigenous advocacy, and musical non-conformism, yet at the same time the band has been a mainstay of commercial radio and an icon of contemporary Australian culture.

Many of the political concerns we faced in the 80s are still of concern today. Looking back 25 years and realizing that however far we’ve come, we still have a long way to go, could be daunting- or we could turn up the volume, and find motivation to make a change in our world.

As a kid in the 80’s I aspired to be like Christopher Skase. The man had it all. He owned a TV network, had a glamorous wife, owned resorts, owned the Brisbane Bears and flew around Australia in his private jet. He even tried to buy MGM studios. Along with Alan Bond, Skase was the penultimate 80’s business man, lots a loans to fund a lavish lifestyle with lots of media attention. But as history shows like many highfliers of the 80’s, he was nothing more than a crook. But still looking back, he was part of a golden age of white suits and celebrities. Will we ever see the likes again?

Wikipedia has a good spread for those looking for a bit of Skase trivia.