[mr_falljackets]

Am I the only one who remembers Night Flight, that after hours show on USA Network that would air all the cool-ass Andy Warhol movies, unedited Duran Duran lesbian videos and underground reggae flicks? I miss that show so much.

[snafooey]

Speaking of freaky versions of Alice in Wonderland, does anyone remember the video for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Dont Come Around Here No More"? That video - especially the part at the end where they are eating cake and it turns out to be Alice's stomach - scared the living shit out of me as a child. I would start off oddly fascinated and just end up running from the room.

Also freaky was - and only Canucks will remember this one - (Larry/Lawrence) Gowan's "Criminal Mind." That one is especially embarrassing, it looks so corny now.

I was a huge, huge, huge WHAM! fan as a young child - and then well into the time when someone my age should have been into NKOTB (of course, Faith was already out by then and I knew where my allegiances were). Still am.

ETA: No shame in having Dire Straits on your Ipod, Bunnyb.

[bunnyb]

I still want that car couch (although not as much as the leather chair in Will's apartment in Will & Grace)! Please maude do not let the mullet return.

Who posted the funny story recently about the guy in Wham who isn't George Michael?

Jitterbug and Karma Chameleon and Like a Prayer are my 80s tracks. Oh and I had the time of my Life from Dirty Dancing and Up where we Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman. Sighs.

eta: and I have Dire Straits on my ipod and not too scared to admit it.

[falljackets]

oh, cod! bunny!

check his jeans! hahaha. those will be back next year. as will paul's wacky sweater.

(oh, and i used to want that car-couch)

[bunnyb]

falljackets, it was greg evigan (the other dad was paul reiser). Trip down memory lane

[falljackets]

thanks sybarite, for clarifying the toni basil hey mickey thing. i knew it wasn't PB, but couldn't remember her name. you saved me from a google search.

i love this thread. pepper, you rocked me with moonlighting. and whoever said my two dads, priceless! i had the biggest crush on the dad with a beard, whoever he was.


so, adding more to the what was old is new again pile: i got the new victoria's secret catalog yesterday. um, socks with pumps. back.

not in my closet!

[anna k]

annak, was that the Alice in Wonderland with a huge (and famous) cast including Patrick Duffy? That scared me shitless but I still tracked it down on dvd earlier this year but haven't worked up courage to watch it yet.

Yeah, with all the celebrity cameos. I was really young when I saw it, so I didn't recognize anyone except my uncle, who played a playing card painting a tree or a fence.

didn't the sister commit suicide?

Yeah, by an intentional drug overdose.

[wombat]

god yeah, syb, I used to love Express. They had nice, flatterng, sophisticated shapes and decent fabrics and earrings that were fakes, but nice looking. Remember Cacique underwear. *sigh* Now I'll stop by occasionally and it is awful.

I don't know if you're such a horrible materialist or whether there have been fewer introductions of products that are really new and fun.

People make fun of 80s clothes, but those were just some of them -- 80s also made it easier to get: Glass beaded necklaces, decorated sweaters, larger "on ear" earrings, black clothing, black stovepipe jeans, pants, or leggings, cool boots, big "ethnic" -- hate that word, it's vaguely racist and northern-western-european-snob -- jewelry and boots and stuff, the beginnings of tattooing and piercing, tolerance for a lot of different hairstyles and being able to do candy colors without it falling right out of your head .... and an appreciation for "vintage" lace, leather, and all was so much more acceptable. Better access to all kinds of crazy stockings -- sneakers that didn't just look like ASS -- I loved the bright colored, ankle high reeboks! You can GET those again on their web site!

The rebirth of heavy metal, that look with big feet and a small top -- and in the early 80s, so much creative music coming out, esp. in UK, that people are copying today -- kudos to chacha for remebering Nina Hagen's New York New York! That was excellent.

In the 80s I would go shopping frantically to get wild makeup and shoes and things in small hipster stores, and now, well, it's either mainstreamed and more expensive (20 dollar "Urban Decay" lipstick) or it just isn't there

[chachaheels]

Speaking of Bennetton, does anyone remember those Bennetton rugby shirts that featured their logo embroidered smack dab in the centre, in pretty big red or green (on white, natch) letters? And then someone snarky started making "replicas" that featured the word "simpleton" where "bennetton" should be?

[sybarite]

Doug E Fresh you say?

La-dee, da-dee, we like to party...

We also used to sing Paul Revere from Licensed to Ill all the time.

Pendant's corner: Mickey was sung by Toni Basil; Pat Benatar sung some mighty tracks including Hit Me With Your Best Shot and, of course, Love is a Battlefield.

Clothes: anyone remember those long Forenza sweaters from the Limited? And when Express used to be cool? I was a shallow little materialist and got all excited when Benetton opened a store in our town.

I got my first Sony walkman in the later 80s; it was one of those yellow Sports ones and I loved it to bits.

[chachaheels]

Yup: Moonlighting. That was definitely a show that changed everything on TV for a while, though I have to shudder whenever I remember vaugely that the show made Bruce Willis so popular he could release an album titled "the Return of Bruno" ...which no one needed, really.

[bunnyb]

annak, was that the Alice in Wonderland with a huge (and famous) cast including Patrick Duffy? That scared me shitless but I still tracked it down on dvd earlier this year but haven't worked up courage to watch it yet.

MJF and Back to the Future are the 80s for me, love them so much. Was so excited when I could buy the trilogy on dvd and Indiana Jones too and Three Men and a Baby/Little Lady.

Loved The Cosby Show and My Two Dads.

[freckleface2727]

treehuhugger,
I graduated in '89 and if jump hadn't been playing on the car radio the short ride from my parents home to the wedding chapel where I married ( in'92) the mr, it's kinda iffy I'da gone thru w/ it.
I remember vascilating on the way, hearing that song, thinking it was a *sign* and thinking 'oh what the hell.' then was it after (?) they had the song Panama, which is where frecklette was concieved and born, so tho I was never a big VH fan, I still think they are our own sort of cover-band.

I just saw a commerical for a re-make of Different Strokes last night.
had gary coleman and that todd/willis guy, talking about ' stop saying that STUPID 'whatyoutalkin'bout' line or something. didn't the sister commit suicide?

and talking about gary, michael jackson is from there, the town that bordered the town I lived in, and cruised at (also the murder capitol of the good ole' USA back then as well, what a claim to fame) and lemme tell you, even to the locals back then, he was already a well-established Freak, hits or not.
I honestly can't remember many or any people who were bonafide fans of his, even in his thriller heyday.

you are so right about the '80's charm musicfit.
though AIDS was coming, it hadn't fully & completely arrived yet in the full comprehension of the enormity of it, and there was a certain last-gasp party like it's 1999 innocence like I don't believe we've known sinse.

sad.

[musicfit]

I LOVED the Wonder Years. I also loved The Cosby Show, A Different World and Family Ties. When I was like, 8 I had a crush on Micheal J. Fox. The Back To the Future movies still rock my world. Even though I was just a kid in the 80's, it's still my favorite decade. And I'm mainly a 90's person. I was in high school and college in the 90's. However, nothing really impressed me about the 90's. The 80s had a charm that you simply can't reproduce.

In the late 80's though, things kind of started to get 90's corny.

Does anyone remember in about 1988 or 89 when there were these pants that had 2 flaps and they buttoned to the front of cotton pants? I still to this day can't believe I wore those. They kind of looked like those MC Hammer pants, except on the women's version, they would have wings that would button onto the front.

[anna k]

Anyone remember Zoobilee Zoo? It was a children's show that Ben Vereen starred on where everyone was dressed as a cat or a lion. Ben wore a cat nose and others wore lion headdresses and cat faces. It freaked me out a lot.

I was naive enough to think The Wonder Years took place in the present. I watched 1960s reruns, my grandma had a black and white TV, and I didn't know of past history much, so I assumed it was a present-day show.

[pepper]

two words. Moon. Lighting.

[chachaheels]

Yay Chrissie Hind and the Pretenders...and early Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and Nina Hagen's "New York New York"....
there's just too much to list.

More old is new again: high waisted pants and skirts; pants with pleats; the return of the "menswear look"; the insidious horsey look with riding boots (already back in style and everywhere as of last year) slyly followed by jodhpurs (you watch, it will happen)....and I'm starting to see Perfecto leather jackets around again.

[sixelacat]

Oh, '80s TV!!!! I was all about Silver Spoons. Had the biggest crush on Erin Gray. Let's see, what else...Scarecrow and Mrs. King (big crush on Kate Jackson, I thought her voice was so hot, I wanted to sound just like her). Facts of Life, Bosom Buddies, Greatest American Hero, Perfect Strangers, WKRP..... Damn I watched a lot of TV.

Mr FJ, I still get carded too. By people at least a decade younger than me. Must have been something in the water back then!

[anna k]

I was born in '83, so I don't remember the 1980s much. Just toys and TV shows and music that my older sister liked. I called my sister Zsa Zsa when I was two, and I never knew where it came from. My sister guessed that my dad played reggae around the house, I heard "Jah" repeated, and called my sister that.

I watched TV sitcoms, but never followed anything. I liked 227 and A Different World even though I was too young to get the jokes, but I'd sing the theme songs to myself. I saw the same episode of Punky Brewster three times. I couldn't tell Gary Coleman and Emmanuel Lewis apart. Anytime I saw The Cosby Show I got confused by who were the Cosby kids and who were the cousins/friends. I liked Nickelodean shows and learned much later that they were all Canadian imports.

Madonna and Michael Jackson were like cartoon characters to me, so I never paid any attention to them. Michael scared me before I knew of the child molestation trials. I liked Debbie Gibson and Paula Abdul and house-dance music.

I hadn't seen The Goonies, but The Monster Squad was my favorite.

I got scared when my mom rented The 'Burbs because I thought it was The Birds.

I watched a TV version of Alice in Wonderland that my uncle had a small part in, and it was dark and disturbing and gave me nightmares.

I watched Entertainment Tonight, and they did a bit on Child's Play. The doll beating the mom in the head scared the hell out of me, and I got nervous when I was left alone in a room with a My Buddy doll. I also hated It, Creepshow, and Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

My dad's friend worked at NBC and gave him a Miami Vice-logoed jacket and cap. I knew of the show and knew my dad liked it, but didn't know exactly what it was about. I remember my dad's booming laughs while he watched reruns of All in the Family during the weekend afternoons.

[pepper]

i turned 8 on the 8th of a month in 1980. i remember it very, very clearly. my favourite number is 8.