Saturday, October 6, 2007

80s-Aholic Jurl

My name is Misti and I'm an 80s-aholic. It is a terrible addiction, afflicting....hundreds. What is an 80s-aholic? Well, in my case it's someone who physically lives in 2007, but emotionally exists between the years 1980 and 1989. I love all things 80s to the point of actually making my three year old watch Breaking 2: Electric Boogaloo. Although, I'm not a complete throw back, I have some control. I've managed to let the air out of my hair, given up electric blue eyeliner, and donated my leg warmers to needy ballerinas (even the super cool black ones with shots of silver thread running through them).

I console myself with the knowledge that I'm not the only one still daydreaming it's 1985. Matchbox 20 has just covered Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and several T.V. shows seem to be written by folks with a similar preoccupation with all things 80s. I can tell when a show's writers are about my age because of the references to Superman 2 and Gopher from Love Boat. Here's a hint to television auteurs: make a Tootie from Facts of Life joke and peeps like me will keep you in the top of the ratings.

Speaking of television, how great was T.V. in the 80s? Remember Fame? I pretended to dance around that fountain wearing my super cool black leg warmers a bajillion times. I was also a featured dancer on Solid Gold (in my mind). I was particularly fascinated by the dancer with ass-length hair- didn't it hurt when she sat on it? And I really loved it when Madame the puppet made a guest appearance on SG. Ah, there's nothing like hosts with chicklet white teeth, sequined dancers, and a drag queen puppet to say "It's Saturday Night and You're a Fat Kid!" Loved it. But the best was the Love Boat/Fantasy Island Saturday night combo. Remember the Love Boat where Kristy McNichol guest starred and found love with Scott Baio. Sigh. And wasn't Fantasy Island down right creepy? Sometimes I dreamed Tatoo was standing over me with a knife while a possessed dummy with top hat and monocle laughed manically, but I loved it anyway!

Not only did the 80s keep me entertained and dressed to kill with feather earrings, Jellies, and friendship pins, but they also introduced me to love. My interest in boys went something like this: Sean Cassidy, Andy Gibb, Scott Baio as Chachi, Ralph Macchio, Jake from Sixteen Candles, and Scott Baio from Charles in Charge. Not bad for a chubby adolescent. Late at night I'd listen to Pat Benatar's wise words of love through my Walkman and dream of how a thirteen year old girl might meet Andy Gibb and begin a relationship that would land him in jail. Good times. Now that I'm thirty-five and trying to bring this addiction to heal, I have focused my fantasy life on George Clooney. Which is sort of cheating because I first loved him on Facts of Life. Oh, well. I'm not the Greatest American Hero!

The 80s also gave us radical movies and awesome music, often both in one. Top Gun gave us Tom Cruise (pre-crazy) and Berlin's "Take My Breath Away." Goonies was one of the greatest coming of age films of all time coupled with one of the greatest anthem's of youth in Lauper's "The Goonies R Good Enough." Need I mention the prolific John Hughes and his symbiotic relationship with totally rocking soundtracks? I think not.

Despite my efforts to resist the sweet nectar of Oingo Boingo and Anthony Michael Hall I remain an addict. Why do I love The Pirate Movie and all things Olivia Newton John? Because they're damn good, that's why! The 80s were sweet, poppy, teenage angst drowning in pastels and hairspray. Nothing wrong with that.

If you too are an 80s addict then it's time to come clean. Confess your sins and share your favorite 80s secret pleasure. I have too many to ever write about here so I'm sure we have some in common.

In the immortal words of Mr. Miagi, wax on, wax off. Peace out.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

80's hair bands, ribbon barettes, "Grease 2", anything (and everything) Izod, button purses, Bono with a mullet, punk and new wave, knickers, rainbows as decoration before they meant anything, decorated shoelaces (worn either as actual shoelaces or as a headband or a bolo tie), James Spader pre-comeback, John Travolta pre-comeback, ET, Guess jeans with the zippers on the side, "Sixteen Candles", roller skating, Jane Fonda workouts, Betamax, New Coke, Judy Blume, manual roll windows and no seatbelts in the wood-paneled Country Squire station wagon, etc., etc.

Claudia said...

My name is Claudia and I too am an 80's-a-holic. You forgot to mention XANADU. That is the guiltiest of all 80's pleasures! I used to roller skate around and dream I was Olivia Newton John. =)Thanks for the memories.

Gemini said...

Don't forget parachute pants, candy cigerettes, Family Ties, Def Leopard, the braided beed necklesses, Jams, Coolots, Atari, Hanging out at the mall, and especially couples skate on school night.

Anonymous said...

OMG!! I have a Jake from Sixteen Candles t-shirt (that I just bought last year). I even introduced a whole new generation (my very own daughter) to the greatness of Molly Ringwald and the Brat Pack!

Claudia said...

I still swoon over Jake!

Ok, Jurl, I thought you'd find this interesting... I couldn't find an e-mail link for you so I decided to just leave it in a comment.

What do the books you've read say about you? What would your list look like? Check this out and see how your reading habits rank on this list.

*Bold the ones you’ve read
*Italicize the ones you want to read
*The others, are ones you either never heard of or have no interest in reading.

Copy this list and see what your reading habits say about you...

1.The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2.Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3.To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10.A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11.Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12.Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16.Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible (just the parts we had to read in HS scripture class)
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (St. Exuperie)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100.Ulysses (James Joyce)

Misti D. Mosteller said...

Love it! Not a Steinbeck or Dickens fan which hurts me. I'm clearly a literary chick geek.
This stupid thing won't show my bold and highlight, but I have a smattering of classics with nerd stuff like all the Harry Potters and Lord of the Rings, throw in a little chick lit and stuff like the Red Tent to keep me from being a total nerd.

Misti D. Mosteller said...

New Coke was so gross and along with my rainbows I collected unicorns. Jake, where are you? And, yes, Xanadu is a movie marvel. Love it. I love you 1980s. Don't ever leave us.

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