“Party All the Time”: A 30-Year Retrospective
Music-wise, the year 1985 had that “best of times, worst of times” thing going on. Unquestionably, some of the most memorable songs of the decade — Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me,” Madonna’s “Material Girl,” to name but a few — came out in 1985. But *80s Haters (and they’re out there) need look no further than December 1985 when preparing their “80s = Lame” arguments. Klymaxx’s “I...
15 on 45: Fifteen Questions about My Forgotten 45 Collection
My brother Matt recently sent me a text: “Found the old records!” And accompanying this joyous announcement was a picture of my old 45 record of Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight.” A little context: Matt had purchased a record player, but he had no actual records to play on it. So he Indiana-Jones-ed our parents’ basement, looking for the collection of 45s I had back in high school. The search seemed fruitless, until my dad...
Stairway to Heaven and the Last Dance Desperation
Donna Summers may have sung about the “last dance, the last chance for love,” but personally, the soundtrack to all of my “last chances” in the 1980s involved not the Queen of Disco but the moody strings of Led Zeppelin. For me, Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” was an essential song of the 80s — which may seem weird, since “Stairway” is definitely not an 80s song, and in fact, is barely even a 70s song. (It was released in 1971.)...
Q&A with with Susannah Gora, Author of “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation”
If you love the 1980s — and if you found your way to this website, you probably do — you MUST read Susannah Gora’s 2010 book, You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation. Gora was first inspired to write the book when she was a sophomore at Duke University. She says she was sitting in her dorm room with her friends, watching one of the John Hughes films...
Vocab from 80s Songs!
With the school-year fast approaching, perhaps we should use this time to reflect on the educational value of 80s pop songs. Consider: Men at Work taught us about Australian cuisine (the Vegemite sandwich of “Down Under”); Styx taught us Japanese pleasantries (“Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto”); and Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” taught us… well, everything. Moreover, the lyrics to 80s songs provided us with some truly S.A.T.-worthy...
