Awesome 80s Prom Blog Off Broadway New York Bachelorette Parties

Top 10 Talking Heads Songs of the '80s

In terms of lively eclecticism and independent pop spirit, perhaps no other American band active during the '80s comes close to matching New York's original punk/new wave pioneers Talking Heads. A sense of exploration, discovery and yearning consistently defines the group's output from its mid-'70s inception throughout its critically acclaimed and commercially potent '80s career. David Byrne's leadership and songwriting brilliance remain unmatched, just as the creative input of his three bandmates remains unsung. Here's a look at my painstakingly and painfully derived list of Talking Heads' finest '80s efforts.

1. "Life During Wartime"

2. "Memories Can't Wait"

3. "Crosseyed and Painless"

4. "Once in a Lifetime"

5. "Burning Down the House"

6. "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)"

7. "And She Was"

8. "Road to Nowhere"

9. "Love for Sale"

10. "City of Dreams"

Click Here to view the original post.

'80s-friendly 'Classic Hits' is radio rage

NEW YORK -- The music blaring from the speakers of a small pub on a recent Friday night seemed like typical oldies fare: Aretha Franklin's "Respect," the 1970s tune "Disco Lady" and the 1950s surf instrumental "Tequila." Then, "Karma Chameleon" -- the 1983 hit by Culture Club -- came on.

The music was from WCBS-FM, a New York station that used to rely on songs from the '60s and '70s, and occasionally, the '50s. Now, WCBS has deemed music from the '80s to be the new oldies. Not that the station calls them oldies; the term is "Classic Hits."

"We discovered the word 'oldies' symbolized music from the jukebox era," said Brian Thomas, the station's program director.

Station executives say the decision makes sense. Research found that the traditional oldies audience was exiting advertisers' coveted 25-to-54 demographic, and that adding '80s music would help maintain that audience.

Oldies stations across the country are evolving for similar reasons. WQRV-FM in Huntsville, Ala., changed to Classic Hits two years ago. It dropped the '60s and now plays '70s and '80s. KQLL-FM in Tulsa, Okla., converted to a Classic Hits station last year. It no longer plays early-'60s music. The format changes were ratings successes.

Bob Shannon, one of WCBS-FM's on-air personalities, said the term may be obsolete.

"It's not just about good times and good memories anymore," he said. "It's about good music. It transcends the time period."

Click Here to view the original post.

1981

• The 1st launch of a space shuttle (Columbia)
• Reagan fires the striking air traffic controllers and breaks up their union.
• Pope shot by insane Turk, May 13.
• Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first female Supreme Court Justice
• Mitterand becomes French president (and will remain pres. well into the 90s)
• Prince Charles and Diana Spencer marry on July 29
• Luke and Lauras's Wedding (General Hospital), Most watched wedding in history next to Charles and Diana.
• Dynasty premiers in primetime hours and becomes a hit.
• The US Agriculture Department trys making ketchup a school lunch vegetable
• The first IBM-PC's begin to roll of the lines.
• The first DeLorean sports cars roll off the assembly line.
• August 1, The birth of MTV, the 24 hour-a-day music television station
• Private satelite dishes are given the ok by the FCC
• Fruit fly break out in California.
• Regan starts toying with the Libyains, and deploys ships in the Gulf of Sidra, which Libya claimed rights to even though no one else recognized it as theirs.
• Pac-Man is introduced in the US and sparks a huge craze.
• Spain allows legal divorces.
• Poland government crushes the Solidarity movement.
• The first reports of homosexual men dying due to a mysterious breakdown of the bodies' immuminzation system. Later it becomes known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, aka AIDS and researches realize it can strike anyone.
• 52 American hostages released in January after 14 months in captivity in Iran
• Antigua gained its independence November 1,1981
• Assasination attempt on Ronald Regean on March 30, 1981 by John Hinkley

Click Here to view the original post.

Call Barry ... whenever you wanna grind

He may write the songs that make the whole world sing. But if Barry Manilow records the songs that makes the 80s nation sing, he should be dragged out onto "Electric Avenue," beaten "Time after Time" and then left for dead in the "Love Shack."

Manilow has already recorded best-of albums for hits from the '50s, '60s and '70s. And it seems an '80s collection is up next.

"We're beginning to put a list together of what I would try for the '80s," Manilow recently told the Cox News Service. "When I looked up the No. 1 songs, there were some really melodic songs, like (Wham!'s) 'Careless Whisper' or 'Time After Time' by Cyndi Lauper - that's a beautiful song - and I thought 'I could handle those.' "

Paul Anka recorded an album of '80s pop and rock classics in 2005, including tunes like "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor and "Jump" by Van Halen. Seemingly more tongue-in-cheek, the album surprisingly wasn't slammed by critics. I'm not sure Manilow should get the same courtesy.

FIVE 80s SINGS I'D PICK FOR MANILOW TO RECORD:

5. ROCK ME AMADEUS (Falco): He has the wig already. Just powder it up.

4. OUR LIPS ARE SEALED (The Go-Go's): It's all that botox, Barry!

3. FIGHT THE POWER (Public Enemy): Somewhere, Flavor Flav just screamed out in terror and was suddenly silenced.

2. MR. ROBOTO (Styx): "So if you see me singing strangely, don't be surprised!"

1. DARLING NIKKI (Prince): "Thank you for a funky time, Barry. Call me, whenever you wanna grind."

Click Here to view the full article.

Shogun Warriors: '80s toy-turned-Dallas art

While snooping around Inova Alternative Interiors last week, a mixed media work on display (top left) by graphic artist Kelly Pierce seemed a tad familiar.

Turns out that, yes, it is a riff on one my favorite childhood toys: Shogun Warriors, bay-bee.  In particular, the menacing-looking "Mazinga."

Ahh, memories.

Click Here to view the original post.

1980

• Who Shot JR? is talked about heavily from the TV show Dallas. On November 21, the conclusion draws more viewers than any other show in TV history up to that point.
• Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR, The US boycotts
• Post-It Notes are introduced by 3-M
• The first all news service started by Turner Cable Network begins
• John Lennon is assassinated by Mark David Chapman
• Brook Shields whispers, &quotYou know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." the ad was banned.
• Ronald Reagan is elected, defeating Jimmy Carter, and takes credit for freeing the Iranian hostages in his innaugural speech.
• Poland has massive strikes, eventually the unions become legal, censorship is lessened.
• About 125,000 Cubans leave Cuba for America, most are criminals hand picked by Castro's men, only a few are relatives of those in America.
• RU-486, the abortion pill is released in France.
• The US Supreme Court allows patents on living organisms.
• Mt. Saint Helens erupts, killing 60 people.
• CNN is launched as the first all news network
• ABSCAM, FBI agents pose as rich arabs and bribed politicians with cash for favors.
• Richard Pryor gets badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.
• Small pox is considered eradicated by the World Health Orginization.
• Sadam Hussein launches war against Iran for close to a decade over oil rights.
• Japan passes the US as the largest automaker
• Bill Gates licenses MS-DOS to IBM, makes next to nothing on the deal. The pair buys the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. The money is made later from licensing it to third party clone makers.
• SEPTEMBER 22, 1980 - Procter and Gamble Co. announces a recall of its Rely brand tampons when federal studies conclude their use increases chances of toxic shock syndrome.
• Genetic Engineering of insulin began clinical trials.
• US suspends grain sales to the Soviet Union in respond to their support of the war in Afghanistan.
• President Carter attempted a helicopter rescue of the hostages in Iran, failing miserably.
• US hockey team beat Russia for the gold in the Winter Olympics.

Click Here to view the original post

Cyndi Lauper – This Girl Still Wants To Have Fun

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York in 1953, singer, songwriter, actress, producer and director, Cyndi Lauper has continued to shine in the entertainment industry for the last 25 years.

Most of her songs are familiar – her kewpie-doll like voice is unforgettable and the way she performs can be sometimes quite quirky - yet that’s no surprise at all. Cyndi is, after all, an original. Since her arrival she has stood out from the crowd and even in the eighties, that decade of gaudy overkill, no-one dressed quite like, performed like her and above all sang like her. Like Madonna, Cyndi got her start amid the prettified punk stylings of the early ‘80s, sporting big dyed hairdos and pastel-coloured makeup. Ever since, she’s performed in all sorts of eye-catching fashions – outfits featuring everything from pinstripes to rainbow stripes. It’s this originality that has taken Cyndi on a timeless and contemporary journey with a vision and integrity that have always been her hallmark.

“Somebody did complain to me and tell me that my clothes were so loud they couldn't hear me sing.” … Cyndi Lauper.

She exploded onto the music scene in 1984, winning a Grammy for Best New Artist and selling nine million copies of 'She's So Unusual’. That album defined her in vivid, unmistakable ways - but where most overnight sensations would have taken that as their cue to begin repeating themselves, Cyndi made it her habit to chart new directions. It was the first female debut album to have four top-five singles: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop,  and All Through The Night. Cyndi received a number of Grammy nominations, winning as the Best New Artist of 1984; the American Music Awards, MTV, and Rolling Stone all agreed.

Click Here to view the full post.

The Which 80s Movie Scientist Test

There was a golden age of science... when everything was possible, when science didn't only exist in monolithic institutes and megacorps... when science was the tool of the little guy, the underdog... This golden age was the 1980s, and it was up on the big screen. Ok, so maybe it was only the golden age of sci-fi comedy/adventure. Close enough. So, which 1980s Movie Scientist are you? This quiz will use quackery and arm-waving to determine where you fit in. Oh, and we're only talking 'Good Guys' for now. It's too easy to throw in the amoral question response, and it's really no fun, since it's obvious what the 'bad guy' response is. So don't go looking for any villains here. We're keeping this light. Maybe next test.

This is now now longer a draft, so feedback isn't really welcomed! I guess it's still allowed though, but just try to make any criticism constructive right? Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean...

Click Here to take the test.

We still believe in Molly Ringwald

Molly Ringwald this week turns the big "Four-Oh my god the 80s are aging too fast."

I doubt she's spending her 40th the same way I spent mine back in July: Gambling away all the mortgage money at the craps table at the Bellagio. But she can blow on my dice anytime.

Rather than drone on and on about her importance to the very fiber of my existence, let me allow Molly the opportunity to teach us her sagely wisdom.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IN LIFE, YOU CAN LEARN FROM MOLLY RINGWALD:

• "Us loners got to stick together." (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone)
• "I loathe the bus. There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation." (Sixteen Candles)
• "When you don't have anything, you don't have anything to lose. Right?" (Sixteen Candles)
• "Academic clubs aren't the same as other kinds of clubs." (Breakfast Club)
• "If somebody doesn't believe in me, I can't believe in them." (Pretty in Pink)
• "When you're pregnant, sometimes you get hemorrhoids, okay?" (For Keeps)
• "You don't want me, I'm used, I'm worn out, I'm bad goods, you can't trust me." (Fresh Horses)

Click Here for the original post.

Molly Ringwald this week turns the big "Four-Oh my god the 80s are aging too fast."

I doubt she's spending her 40th the same way I spent mine back in July: Gambling away all the mortgage money at the craps table at the Bellagio. But she can blow on my dice anytime.

Rather than drone on and on about her importance to the very fiber of my existence, let me allow Molly the opportunity to teach us her sagely wisdom.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IN LIFE, YOU CAN LEARN FROM MOLLY RINGWALD:

• "Us loners got to stick together." (Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone)
• "I loathe the bus. There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation." (Sixteen Candles)
• "When you don't have anything, you don't have anything to lose. Right?" (Sixteen Candles)
• "Academic clubs aren't the same as other kinds of clubs." (Breakfast Club)
• "If somebody doesn't believe in me, I can't believe in them." (Pretty in Pink)
• "When you're pregnant, sometimes you get hemorrhoids, okay?" (For Keeps)
• "You don't want me, I'm used, I'm worn out, I'm bad goods, you can't trust me." (Fresh Horses)

Click Here for the original post.

First Look At The CGI Smurfs

If you grew up in the 80s, get used to the notion of your childhood being recycled and repackaged. Tonight for instance, a new version of Knight Rider premiered on NBC. It sucked. Maybe this one won’t. We have a first look at the all new, computer animated, big screen adventure of The Smurfs.

Come on, you remember the Smurfs. Smurfy little blue guys, live in mushrooms, no genitalia, one woman for an entire village, bearded leader in a red hat, accosted by a (to them) giant human named Gargamel and his asshole cat Asrael. They started out in 50s Belgian comics, but really made it big on Saturday morning cartoons in the 80s. The Smurfs were everywhere, and if you didn’t at least have one Smurf toy of some sort then you probably weren’t a kid. I for instance, had Smurf colorforms, which were these things you colored in, baked, and then they somehow turned into keepsakes. Actually pretty lame.

Yes, The Smurfs are soon to make a comeback, this time in movie theaters. There have been rumors regarding a possible computer animated Smurf project for some time now, but this is the first actual evidence anyone has smurfed from the production. CS has scored the first ever pictures of the little blue guys being smurfed right into a computer. Below is a sampling of what they have, to see the rest, give them a visit.

Click Here for the original article.