Hatin' on the '80s

Kansas City Star ^ | 3/3/05 | Jeff Leeds

[Strategerist]

I'm always suspicious of "good ol' days" nostalgia, especially when it's my own, but I think they key thing was that crappy 80s pop is much better than crappy 00's pop.

You'd see creativity, whimsy, unusual, fun stuff Much more variety. . Top 40 now is nothing but vapid "R & B" ballads. Back then Thomas Dolby could crack the top 40 with "She Blinded Me With Science" etc.

[cake_crumb]

I was an adult in the '80s but things were ok and I loved the music. JMO, radio stations are worried about losing their rap-oriented audiences.

[ShadowDancer]

Thomas Dolby could crack the top 40 with "She Blinded Me With Science"

Never one of my favorites and yet, thanks to you, it's now spinning round and round in my head. Poetry in motion and all that. Thanks.

[Viking2002]

I loved the 80's - I was into anything with loud guitars and long hair, no how badly they might've sucked - Van Halen (NOT Van Hagar), WASP, Scorpions, Ratt, Whitesnake, Poison, Motley Crue, you name 'em. To this day, Ratt's 'Lay It Down' will turn me into a menace while I'm driving down the highway.......: : : : :

[Viking2002]

'Hyperactive' was a better Dolby tune.

[Billthedrill]

I've had one foot in the grave since first I heard "Stairway To Heaven" over an elevator speaker...

[ShadowDancer]

Van Halen (NOT Van Hagar)

Amen to that.

And I loved Whitesnake. I still have a cassette which I just might now have to play just to screw with my kids' heads.

[cake_crumb]

"I'm Hillsdale High Class of 1987. I can't recall a single school shooting in my youth. Or an assault on a teacher."

It's pathetic that these morons are basically blaming President Reagan for a lack of reunion CD sales.

[Betis70]

I graduated high school the same year she was born. That is a little scary (for me) ...

http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/Top55-Plus/1988.html

Here are the top hits that year:
1. What A Wonderful World* - Louis Armstrong
*didn't even make it in the top 100 when released in 1967!
2. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
3. Da Butt - EU
4. It Takes Two - Rob Base & E-Z Rock
5. I'll Always Love You - Taylor Dayne
6. Pump Up The Volume - M/A/R/R/S
7. Sweet Child Of Mine - Guns N Roses
8. Red Red Wine - UB40
9. Just Got Paid - Johnny Kemp
10. Pink Cadillac - Natalie Cole
11. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
12. Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
13. Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N Roses
14. Don't Be Cruel - Bobby Brown
15. The Flame - Cheap Trick
16. Wild Wild West - The Escape Club
17. KoKoMo - Beach Boys
18. So Emotional - Whitney Houston
19. Need You Tonight - INXS
20. Candle In The Wind - Elton John

[Clemenza]

Ahh, Skinny Ties, Bartles & James (really Ernest & Julio), Kuitars (guitar keyboards), Pac Man, suspenders on Wall Street, "car phones," John Delorean snorting coke...

My fave memory: REAGAN KICKING MONDALE'S A-S!

[xsmommy]

i like your tagline, my 13 yo son plays right wing on his travel ice hockey team : )

my daughter recently bought dvds for Saved by the Bell, Full House, Fresh Prince tv shows, and she loves the Brat Pack movies. i find it so odd, but less so now that i saw this article and see that it's being pushed commercially, and so she didn't really come up with it on her own. She is re-living her PRE-youth i suppose!

[mowowie]

I Graduated HS in 85, Best year of my life.
86 - 2nd best
87 - 3rd best
88 - 4th best
So on and so on.
Man I wish I could go back!!

[xsmommy]

My fave memory: REAGAN KICKING MONDALE'S A-S

can i confess the most horrible thing to you? i was in law school when Reagan beat Mondale and i was depressed for days. i was the most horrid leftwinger in those days! my SIL saved the letters i wrote her back then moaning about it, and gets them out to taunt me with now! misguided youth!

[Betis70]

>>my 13 yo son plays right wing on his travel ice hockey team

Cool! He is probably a much better player than I am. I just started last year but am really having a great time.

Despite my tagline, I haven't played left wing since last season. Well and in practice.

I've seen a few of those Brat Pack movies and they really have not stood the test of time (IMO). I still like the music though.

[Strategerist]

God, I HATED "Red Red Wine." Might be my most hated song of all time.



You know, I could have been wrong. The key to all bogus nostalgia is that all the bad songs (or bad baseball players, etc) are forgotten and only the good ones are remembered. There are some GREAT songs on that list (INXS, etc.) but a lot of crap.

[silent_jonny]

16. Wild Wild West - The Escape Club

Oh man, I just had a pep rally flashback.

[LowOiL]

(Although The Cure is good).

Every hear of "The Essence"... Sounded just like the "The Cure" only better IMHO... Just they had an underground lable that went bankrupt (midnight music), so nobody heard of them.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~essence/mainpage.htm

[xsmommy]

hockey is so fun to watch and i imagine very fun to play. he loves it.

i bought Animal House last weekend, which i hadn't seen in eons and while it is still hilarious it looks so TAME for an R-rated movie! for one thing the girl's underwear is HORRIBLE looking, but i guess that was all they had back in the day! sheesh!

[brooklin]

The 80's music was pretty darn mediocre, but compared to what is out there today it was ok.