Dear Brent: Thanks for the great post! My car radio is permanently set to FM 103.7 here in the SF Bay Area. Those are the call numbers for the I Heart 80s station here. It even has Marsha Quinn, one of the original MTV VJs hosting the midday show. I watch music videos on YouTube almost every night. Some of my favorites are "Gypsy", "Seven Wonders" and "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac, off the "Mirage" album in 1982 and the "Tango in the Night" in 1987. Being a teacher lo these many years, I like anything by John Hughes. If I had the chance to teach an introductory course in education to college students, I would have viewing of the movie, "Teachers", a requirement. It came out the first year I was starting a 6-year stint at Austin High School in Houston, TX, which was 1984. I would've thought the activities which went on at Kennedy High in Cincinnati were so out-of-bounds if I hadn't been experiencing similar shenanigans at AHS. So, whenever you come to the Bay Area, please remember to tune in to 103.7 and remember, "We Built this City" on Rock and Roll! Take care.
What an interesting topic! The prevalence of 80s music as we’ve moved around the world has not gone unnoticed by us either. Maybe that’s because my ear so easily picks up those sounds drifting from various cafes and shops. As many times as I’ve commented about how much <insert country> really likes their 80s music, I haven’t ever put much thought into why that particular era of music seems to have such staying power.
I’ll admit that my New Wave playlist is a favorite. There’s something about that distinct synthy sound with subtle layers of 80s Cold War politics that is such a mood. Or maybe I just superimpose that because it was my perspective at that age. Even my recent musical tastes tend to gravitate to artists paying homage to that style of music. In fact, as I’ve been trying to ramp up the amount of Spanish media I consume, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of contemporary Spanish-language music that integrates some of those synth/new wave elements in interesting ways.
You really hit on something about the films of that era. Of course, as a little nerd, I re-watched movies like The Last Starfighter, Krull, Beastmaster, and Clash of the Titans more times than should be legally allowed. Nostalgia is a funny thing because many of those movies really don’t hold up, but they seemed like such adventures at the time. And whenever some studio gets the idea to remake them as a summer CGI blockbuster, it’s always such a letdown that all the magic is gone. Is it because the Movie-Making Machine only sees the story as a vehicle to deliver increasingly impressive CGI monsters? Or is it just because my little nerd brain added something that was never there? After all, a lot of people from my generation were quite let down by the Star Wars prequels, but the people that were kids when they were released are vocal enthusiast adults today.
I also don’t have much of a soft spot for 80s TV. In general, I find the variety and serialized storytelling of modern TV much more appealing, though Star Trek: Strange New Worlds retro return to episodic stories has been surprisingly welcome. I still have a hard time getting into the somber character studies without a sympathetic character in sight. I just need someone to root for, and when everyone is a dick, I just can’t.
Anyway, sorry about this rambling comment 🤓. Really liked the read! Cheers!
I was JUST talking about something similar to a friend of mine! I really miss the 80s horror movie vibe; the original Fright Night. Come ON! Does it get any better than Chris Sarandon and his big 'ol shoulder padded trench coat?! And Near Dark, fabulous. Like you, I don't really want to re-live the 80s, but I do miss the sincerity of 80s movies (REAL GENIUS, looking at you). And I hear you about 80s TV, but even so, I miss Magnum P.I., Murder She Wrote, and Knightrider. Again, the sincerity (and lack of pharmaceutical ads) was a real treat now that I think back on that time in life.
Dear Brent: Thanks for the great post! My car radio is permanently set to FM 103.7 here in the SF Bay Area. Those are the call numbers for the I Heart 80s station here. It even has Marsha Quinn, one of the original MTV VJs hosting the midday show. I watch music videos on YouTube almost every night. Some of my favorites are "Gypsy", "Seven Wonders" and "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac, off the "Mirage" album in 1982 and the "Tango in the Night" in 1987. Being a teacher lo these many years, I like anything by John Hughes. If I had the chance to teach an introductory course in education to college students, I would have viewing of the movie, "Teachers", a requirement. It came out the first year I was starting a 6-year stint at Austin High School in Houston, TX, which was 1984. I would've thought the activities which went on at Kennedy High in Cincinnati were so out-of-bounds if I hadn't been experiencing similar shenanigans at AHS. So, whenever you come to the Bay Area, please remember to tune in to 103.7 and remember, "We Built this City" on Rock and Roll! Take care.
What an interesting topic! The prevalence of 80s music as we’ve moved around the world has not gone unnoticed by us either. Maybe that’s because my ear so easily picks up those sounds drifting from various cafes and shops. As many times as I’ve commented about how much <insert country> really likes their 80s music, I haven’t ever put much thought into why that particular era of music seems to have such staying power.
I’ll admit that my New Wave playlist is a favorite. There’s something about that distinct synthy sound with subtle layers of 80s Cold War politics that is such a mood. Or maybe I just superimpose that because it was my perspective at that age. Even my recent musical tastes tend to gravitate to artists paying homage to that style of music. In fact, as I’ve been trying to ramp up the amount of Spanish media I consume, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of contemporary Spanish-language music that integrates some of those synth/new wave elements in interesting ways.
You really hit on something about the films of that era. Of course, as a little nerd, I re-watched movies like The Last Starfighter, Krull, Beastmaster, and Clash of the Titans more times than should be legally allowed. Nostalgia is a funny thing because many of those movies really don’t hold up, but they seemed like such adventures at the time. And whenever some studio gets the idea to remake them as a summer CGI blockbuster, it’s always such a letdown that all the magic is gone. Is it because the Movie-Making Machine only sees the story as a vehicle to deliver increasingly impressive CGI monsters? Or is it just because my little nerd brain added something that was never there? After all, a lot of people from my generation were quite let down by the Star Wars prequels, but the people that were kids when they were released are vocal enthusiast adults today.
I also don’t have much of a soft spot for 80s TV. In general, I find the variety and serialized storytelling of modern TV much more appealing, though Star Trek: Strange New Worlds retro return to episodic stories has been surprisingly welcome. I still have a hard time getting into the somber character studies without a sympathetic character in sight. I just need someone to root for, and when everyone is a dick, I just can’t.
Anyway, sorry about this rambling comment 🤓. Really liked the read! Cheers!
I was JUST talking about something similar to a friend of mine! I really miss the 80s horror movie vibe; the original Fright Night. Come ON! Does it get any better than Chris Sarandon and his big 'ol shoulder padded trench coat?! And Near Dark, fabulous. Like you, I don't really want to re-live the 80s, but I do miss the sincerity of 80s movies (REAL GENIUS, looking at you). And I hear you about 80s TV, but even so, I miss Magnum P.I., Murder She Wrote, and Knightrider. Again, the sincerity (and lack of pharmaceutical ads) was a real treat now that I think back on that time in life.
Thanks for a great post! :)
You’re fucking brilliant. Just subscribed.
And then there’s…. Abba! Dancing Queen and more! ❤️