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Friday, February 10, 2012

I'll Tumble 4 Ya! BlogFest

Aloha,

Ah, the ubiquitous ‘80s.
Oh, it’s so totally cool, rad even to be doing this hop :)
I honestly can’t remember who I had crushes on – per the theme - but I'll try as I'm writing... and I do remember some other like things like:

·         Punkalicious was totally a cool word. Totally.

·         Recreation consisted of meeting the mates at the snooker hall and video games were playing some hi-tech stuff like Galaga and Asteroid at the video arcade.

Howard Jones - The Man, The Hair!
·         I used to have hair, lots of it… there is even a picture of me wearing a mullet (only I didn’t know what a mullet was :) Howard Jones was one of favorite musicians and I loved trying to copy his sweet-looking hair-do!

·         Boy George and Culture Club made sense to me. (Scary note: George will be SIXTY in June… time for a name change to Senior George?)


·         No surprise that I was an angry teen, but I found comfort in the music of Depeche Mode (they remain my fav. group, like.) And, it still blows me away to see DM’s lead singer, Dave Gahan, make 70,000 fans at the Rose Bowl wave their hands in the air (like they just don’t care.) If you’re interested, it happens at 3:50 – 5:00 in the vid.



· I heard of a “Valley Girl” but I thought they were hot babes who lived at the bottom of some mountain range (serious.)

· Where’s the Beef was a cool commercial, but we didn’t have “a Wendy” in Dublin, and only two McDonalds in the whole country (it seemed like!)

Wham! (What did that even mean?)
     Frankie said Relax and we all bought T-shirts to remind our friends how cool we were...only to have all the coolness dashed on the rocks when the mates walked around the corner wearing their latest WHAM! T-shirt… (Gosh, I’m nearly peeing myself… oh, we were so young:)











·         Cyndi Lauper told me that Girls just wanted to have fun… but when I went to the clubs, I was too shy to ask many of them… and when I did, all we’d do was wear out a little patch on the beer (and puke-stained) “dance floor” by going around and around in mini, I mean tiny circles.

·         Pretty in Pink was the Best Movie evah… I knew I’d remember, OK, so I had the biggest (sigh) crush on Molly Ringwald (who is now 43 and an author amongst other things :)

·         Yuppies were so cool and they acted like they were the dog’s bollix. We all wanted to be one… and yes I DID own a shiny, polyester grey and black suit worn with the obligatory skinny black tie.



·         Duh! I do remember another crush! Anne Fennell, she of the FIRST KISS. We were both fifteen, and had arranged to meet “under Cleary’s clock” (any Dubliner reading this will be smiling) and I knew she was coming from her place in the “country.” (Anything five miles outside the city center was “the country” as in the farms and villages.) Anyway, so we were supposed to meet at 1 p.m. and she didn’t show up… so I waited…. and waited…. and waited… for TWO and a HALF hours…. and guess what… she showed up... aahhh :)

·         I remember seeing my first computer (a Commodore 64) and wondered if they’d ever catch on… it seemed like you couldn’t do much with them and the green flashing dot was annoying, like.


·         And, finally, I started the ‘80s as an 11-year-old boy in an all-male Christian Brothers “school,” and finished the coolest decade as a 21-year-old in Amsterdam, Holland. Like I said, it was a fabulous decade and I’m so glad to have been forever young in the decade that will never die. Long live the ‘80s :)

How about you?

How did the Eighties handle your heart?

31 comments:

Miranda Hardy said...

What an exciting era that was. I still listen to a lot of the music, but I did burn my parachute pants. Lol

Theresa Milstein said...

Mark, none of us knew about mullets then. Only when we came to our senses, was the tragedy named.

(At least I never owned parachute pants like Miranda, but I may have had an acid washed pair or two.)

You have so many of my favorite things here: Depeche Mode, Pretty in Pink...

Annalisa Crawford said...

When I think of the 80s, I still think of it being only a few years ago... and then you go and tell me Boy George is going to be 60! Molly Ringwald was cool. I wanted to be her!

Rek Sesh said...

Seems like you had a lot of fun...For me fun began in the nineties as I was still in my early teens in the 80's...I loved Wham songs, I still do.

DL Hammons said...

So basically you "crushed" the whole eighties?! It was some great times indeed!! :)

Trisha said...

I was born in 1980 and so I was too young to see all those Molly Ringwald movies - but in recent times I've got around to watching some, and have yet to watch more (but fully intend to). I am having a ball figuring out what I missed out on back then! Molly was definitely gorgeous and I love that she was 'different' looking. If only there was more of that nowadays!

Trisha said...

P.S. I had a mullet at one point too... ;)

Luanne G. Smith said...

I saw Howard Jones in concert back in the day. Ha! Forgot I had a little crush on him too. :))

Julie Flanders said...

Wish we could see a pic of your Howard Jones hair! LOVED Depeche Mode and still do, Never Let Me Down is an awesome song. The 80s were such a fun decade, love your post. :)

Tara Tyler said...

totally sa-WEET post!
love the details!
80s rocked like no other decade! those were awesome days!

have a hearts & flowers weekend!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Laughed out loud at your Valley Girl comment! never 'fluffed' my hair like that, but I did at one point sport a mullet. And I should've been old enough to know better!

Sarah Tokeley said...

It sounds as though we are about the same age. I remember my Relax t-shirt, flourescent mismatched socks, and plastic jewellery. Also there was that brief time in about 1984 when I tried to dress like Madonna. Not a good look for a thirteen year old ...

Emily R. King said...

I was just a young kid in the eighties, but I remember watching Madonna and The New Kids on the Block on MTV one night.
Classic!

Nicki Elson said...

That was a totally fun walk down 80s memory lane! :) Thanks for playing along on the fest.

I'm so mad at myself for not saving my 80s concert T's - I had a Wham one, but The Fixx stands out most in my memory, probably because one morning I woke up to find I had a perfect shoe print on the back of it (made up of the beer muck from the dance floor) and didn't have the faintest recollection of how it got there. The stain never washed out either (cuz of being made up of muck, I'm sure). Dammit, why didn't I keep that shirt?

Susan Fields said...

Good point - yes, I think Senior George is much more appropriate now! And I'm so glad Anne showed up. :)

Linda King said...

What great memories! Took me right back! (Even most of us girls tried for the Howard Jones look but luckily it passed as a Cyndi Lauper. Backcombed spikes, bleach and hairspray. It's a wonder we've got any hair left...)

Linda King said...

What great memories! Took me right back! (Even most of us girls tried for the Howard Jones look but luckily it passed as a Cyndi Lauper. Backcombed spikes, bleach and hairspray. It's a wonder we've got any hair left...)

Timothy S. Brannan said...

It was pretty awesome to grow up in the 80s!

Suze said...

I am so glad Anne showed up! Fills my heart for the rest of the day.

M Pax said...

Your post brought back so many memories. I loved Howard Jones. Still love Boy and Depeche Mode.

Texted my friend the other day from the grocery store. They were playing Wham. She lurved Wham.

Morgan said...

Duuuuude... this post is so rad! I keep the 80's alive every day. One of my emails has "804ever" in it... LOL! Seriously rockin' post... oh to go back to the 80's... although, I have to admit the music did kind of stink. Not a fan of the synthesized keyboard :P

Christine Rains said...

Nice choices! I was a Coreys fan. They broke my heart.

Lara Schiffbauer said...

Howard Jones!! I totally forgot about Howard Jones! He was one of my favorites and I still love his music. I did like Depeche Mode, too - I just didn't crush on 'em. :) Thanks for reminding me of so much

Susan Oloier said...

I loved reading this post. It had me reliving the 80s. Depeche Mode. I didn't get into them until the late 80s when I was a college student who was too cool to have crushes :-) But their music was great!

Kelly Polark said...

I grew up in the eighties. What an fabulous time. My husband loves Depeche Mode. I was into Duran Duran and then the hair bands!

Jennifer Lane said...

I'm so glad Depeche Mode got a shout-out! My friends and I used to sing their songs together at swim practice, like "Fly on the Windscreen" and "Black Celebration". She was total punk and I was along for the ride. Did you see them in concert? It was fun dressing in black for their shows. I also loved Howard Jones. What are some of the artists you like now? I like Colbie Callait, John Mayer, U2, and The Fray.

fallen monkey said...

Ah, makes me wonder whatever I did with my T-shirt with the great big, all-caps, hot pink "GO GO." I used to wear it and dance with my glitter baton to Wham.

VERY cool nod to Depeche Mode (I still love 'em, too, as much now as I ever did), and would be remiss not to mention my '80s crush for this blogfest dated your '80s crush (their fictional characters did, anyway...). :)

The Armchair Squid said...

Ms. Ringwald - nice choice. The John Hughes opus is well-represented today.

Bernadette Davies said...

Oh you hit it all right on the head. I was an 80's teenager and still believe to this day that it was the best era ever! My daughter who is a teenager now, actually agrees with me. I remember neon colours being fashionable and me wearing the most hideous yellow blouse you will ever see and thinking I was totally cool. Best of all, the music.
Loved your posting and am glad I clicked on the mention of it in twitter.

Heather Davis said...

What a great walk down my high school halls! :) Looking forward to knowing you better through the writer's campaign!!

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