It is all about the cheese....

[Viva La Grinch]

It is after six in the morning. I just stayed up to watch Dirty Dancing. I am a sucker for musicals, and no soundtrack of the 80's left a bigger impression then this album. Yes, there is terrible acting, but why still do I still root for the ending like I have never seen it before? I saw this on the dish and turned out the lights, like I would get busted by friends for viewing this.

 

Even worse, after the movie, I flipped to VH1classics and turned on Huey Lewis and soon was playing along with the drums. That was one of my first cassettes that I bought, and played that as loud as I could in my boom box. Does anybody else have some guilty pleasures from the 80's to admit to?

[JoeHova]

UHF (the Weird Al movie). The Scorpions. That's all I can think of, unless Major League counts. Pop culture was crap during that decade, I don't think there was one watchable TV show (besides Sledge Hammer!, of course) and obviously most of the top musicians were terrible as well. There were tons of great bands, don't get me wrong, but most of the hits were practically novelty records.

[GAME05]

awesome, Joe! Sledge Hammer was my absolute favourite show when i was a kid! i loved that show. i was a big Weird Al fan and remember going to the theater when that movie came out, sitting with my brother and all of four other people.

 

"What's wrong, George?"

"You don't want to know."

"Then why'd I ask?"

 

Huey Lewis is nothing to feel guilty about. there was a short period where they were selling better than Springsteen.

[hawing]

For me, the 1980s covered my second semester of 8th grade to my next to last semester of grad school - but despite my being smack in the prime age bracket for absorbing pop culture, I didn't spend that much time immersing myself in current pop culture.

 

In Monroe the only cool radio stations that came in reliably were Z-104 (top 40 crap) and WIBA-FM (classic rock), and I hated Z-104, so by default I started listening to classic rock and oldies. Monroe also didn't get cable TV until about a month before I left for college - so I missed out by just a bit on really getting into videos and the like. Then in college I didn't have a TV that got in more than one station until I was in grad school. I remember watching Kirk Gibson's World Series home run in my dorm room.

 

I do, however, still like the Go-Gos. So there you go (or go-go). http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif And if VH-1 has an "I Love the 80s" (or 70s or 90s) marathon, I'll pretty much stop what I'm doing and watch for as long as I can. I love those shows.

 

[homer]

I still have a fondness for monster ballads and hair metal.

[hammytime]

One of my all-time favorite movies is from the 80s--Sixteen Candles. I've seen it countless times, and still watch it like I've never seen it before (much like Dirty Dancing, which I re-watched for an entire week in college, on the campus tv station). My husband says I should mention Duran Duran, too, but I don't know if they're considered cheesy.

[GAME05]

Dukes of Hazzard.

[Patrick425]

I was 14 when the 80's started and 24 when it ended (so about the same age range as Hawing). So, because of my age at the time, I remember the 80's fondly.

 

Things I miss from the 80's:

 

-MTV - when the "M" actually meant something. My 12 year old son has no concept of Music Videos.

-Atari Game system

-County Stadium. Taking the city bus from West Allis to the VA Center and walking down to the park. Purchasing bleacher tickets for $5 (or somewhere around that price).

-"Brat Pack" movies.."Breakfast Club", "St. Elmo's Fire", "Sixteen Candles", "Pretty in Pink", "Better off Dead", "The Sure Thing", etc.

-Albums - If you liked a band, you purchased their newest albumn and could not wait for the next one (instead of just downloading select MP3's)

-Albums (continued) - Columbia and BMG record clubs. 13 albums for a penny!...and then never follow through on the membership agreement (hey I was 16..what were they going to do?..sue me?)

- No Cell phones (unless you were Gordon Gecko)

- Power Ties

- The Police, Van Halen (the original "original" Van Halen - you know..Eddie with the long rock hair on the library table with the screaming guitar licks in the "Hot for Teacher" video)

- Commodore64

- Night clubs such as Park Avenue, Papagaio (spl?), Attic West, Tropicana, Blue Suede Shoes (not On The Border).

- Miller Maritime Days on the lakefront

- Duffs smorgasbord on 76th and Coldspring (Spring Mall shopping Center)

- Aladin's Castle arcades in the malls

- being able to eat anything and not gain a pound (that metabolism left me about 15-20 years ago).

- my hair

 

I'm sure there is a ton more that I am forgetting.

 

 

[thebruce44]

Though I was 8 when the 80s ended, I recently went on a month long music kick that consisted mostly of Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, ect. Pandora helps a lot with that kind of stuff.

 

I can also back up the previous posters that UHF is one of the greatest movies ever made.

[bork]

I was a child of the 80's. I was 6-16.

 

80's cartoons rocked! Voltron, Transformers, Thundercats, He-Man, MASK, Smurfs, Snorks, and many more. Cartoons today stink.

There were a bunch of TV shows that were good, too. Some of my favorites: A-Team, CHiPs, Head of the Class, Incredible Hulk, Knight Rider, Airwolf.

But I'm not a big fan of 80's music. I didn't really get into music until the 90's. And now I prefer older stuff.

[Invader3K]

One of my all-time favorite movies is from the 80s--Sixteen Candles. I've seen it countless times, and still watch it like I've never seen it before (much like Dirty Dancing, which I re-watched for an entire week in college, on the campus tv station). My husband says I should mention Duran Duran, too, but I don't know if they're considered cheesy.

Sixteen Candles is a classic.

"If you were here, I could deceive you...If you were here, you would believe..."

 

[GAME05]

Cartoons today stink.

 

uh, cartoons in the 80s were probably worse.

 

although i miss the Saturday morning cartoon marathons. it was like Sunday football but for little kids. now you can watch cartoons any time and that stinks.

[homer]

although i miss the Saturday morning cartoon marathons. it was like Sunday football but for little kids. now you can watch cartoons any time and that stinks.

I think that goes for a lot of things. No DVR, no shows you wanted to see on networks other than CBS, NBC, or ABC (unless it was The Simpsons. X Files came later). No internet, no music downloads....you waited for an album to be released and then you stood in line and bought it. Same went for tickets to big shows. I kind of miss all of that. It made the event/TV show more special when you had to make an effort to see it. I remember saving up money so I could burn it at the Record Riot at State Fair on CDs.

 

Maybe after I watch Rubicon on my DVR, I'll download a Simpsons season directly to my TV, create a Monster Ballads playlist on my iPod, and wax nostalgic about the good ole days.

[burniebrewer]

I still have a fondness for monster ballads and hair metal.

I can do without the ballads, but I still love the hair metal.

 

Homer, once upon a time you had the hair band avatar, right? Crazy that I seem to remember this.

[JimH5]

I graduated from high school in 1980, and by the end of the decade I had graduated from college, had my first real job, and had gotten married. So the 1980s are right in my wheelhouse.

 

And while there was plenty of cheese, I look back on that time with great fondness.

 

Still, the pinacle of cheesyness for me is "We Built This City" by Starship. It was so blatant a sellout by a band which at least had some significance 15 years earlier. It was crap then, and it remains crap today. In 2nd place, the theme from Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr.

 

In the world of television, I'll choose Murder She Wrote. There's a heinous crime, so who best to solve the case? A 60 year old mystery writer who just happens to be around. The killer is still on the loose? Ehh, she'll figure it out. . .she's a writer! Runner up in the world of tv: Alf.

 

At the movies, Revenge of the Nerds takes my award. The perfect mix of over-the-top stereotypes, Ted McGinley and the crosseyed jock. My runner up: Breakin'. . .the way white people were supposed to think black people handled conflict.

 

In commercials, the worst of the lot were the California Raisins and the way that people were genuinely happy to see those stupid claymation singing raisins. The Noid, another claymation guy was a villan who wanted to make Dominos pizza cold, but of course he was foiled time and again.

 

Goofiest hair: So many to pick from. . .Alannah Myles of the Thompson Twins; Cyndi Lauper; Dee Snider; Nina Blackwood; Jermaine Jackson; Aimee Mann; Mike Score from A Flock of Seagulls. . .my choice. . .Macho Man Randy Savage. His wasn't so much hair as it was brown cotton candy.

 

Not sure if this fits the theme of the original post, but I had fun reminiscing. . .

[lovehate]

JimH5, you absolutely nailed the cheese of the 80's.

 

"Where's the Beef?"

 

"What you talkin' bout Willis?"

 

"Who shot J.R.?"

 

The J.R. Ewing cliffhanger had to be the biggest in TV history, it was a topic on the national news!