Who Knew: 10 Years Ago Renaissance Man, Bruce Willis, Was Killin’ it with "Under The Boardwalk"…….aaaahhhh the 80’s
It’s been a while since we’ve dropped some 80’s on you…..ok it probably hasn’t been that long, but we’ve got a real Gem today. There was a mild debate in the office this morning, Sammy wanted the 1970’s Apache video posted, but being the final authority on the blog, I vetoed that in favor of the smooth sounds of Joe Hallenbeck (Last Boyscout)....."Touch me again and I'll kill you."
(Besides Demi Moore, is there anything Willis can't do?)
Yeah, we love the 80’s here at Randall Scott Company. It was a decade that won’t soon be forgotten – it will be the equivalent of the 60’s for my generation’s kids. It was a decade of excess, had the best run of teen movies in history, global warming was a thing of the future, and the music was amazing.
But, the eighties transitioned to the nineties, and it was around this time twenty years ago that we really started to see a culture that had, thus far, embraced the pure pop of Michael Jackson and Madonna begin to lean towards an edgier sect of artists.
Hair bands began their ascent to prominence around the mid 80’s, but really left a heavy footprint in the year 1987. Bon Jovi unveiled Slippery When Wet, G&R stunned and enthralled America with Appetite for Destruction, and Whitesnake torpedoed through the charts with the smash ballad Here I Go Again.
Being seven at the time, it was a change I welcomed, as it was time for me to shed my naive persona. The second I got my hands on Appetite my days of “pleases” and “thank yous” were over. My mom had Axel Rose to thank as I strolled through the kitchen with a leather jacket and a Marlboro 100 non-filter, dropping F bombs if she overcooked my Spaghettios. Kids on the playground came to me to score chocolate milk and candy, and knew if they didn’t pay up it meant a lunchbox to the head.
Yeah, Skid Row, Poison, and Motley Crew forced me to grow up quick, maybe too quick, but like Brett Michaels always says, “Unskinny Bop” baby. So, as an ode to the close of my age of innocence, let’s indulge in a little ditty that speaks to my post-kindergarten years, Fallen Angel
So, if you haven’t watched the original BBC version of The Office, you should. It’s the inspiration for the American version, and far superior. The creator/writer of the BBC show is Ricky Gervais, whose new show Extras, which is equally as funny, is now on HBO.
Gervais’ self deprecating and painfully awkward humor are the calling cards of these comedies. In the best episode of The Office Gervais, who plays the manager of a paper producing company, relives what he perceived to be his rock n’ roll days with an acoustic guitar in the office meeting room. The hilarity lies in how awful and contrived his songs are.
However, little did I, or most people, know: Gervais did in fact make a genuine effort at a music career in the early 80’s. Seona Dancing was a ‘romantic pop’ duo featuring Gervais and Bill Macrae. They never cracked the top 70 in the UK or US, but had a smash hit, “More to Lose” in the Philippine Islands (I’m not making this up).
Here’s Gervais cerca now vs. the 1980’s.
Here's a link to where I found Seona Dancing, if you care
And here the lyrics to their one smash single: P.S, I'm working on a link to the audio file. Enjoy
More to Lose
We used to cry About the day when one of us might fall Weak and blindly into another's arms Demands are gained from jealousies Would flow like water drowning us But leaving us with just another Lover's false alarm And now it's over Both of us free But I feel colder A thousand tortured lives have fallen Wounded dying cut down by the Questions that we've sharpened Just to save our losing days We thought we'd nothing more to lose We'd tear our hearts with jagged truths And everything we'd hung to for so long Just slipped away And now it's over Both of us free And I feel colder I was tired of thinking that Our love can shine your thoughts Of our arrangements Were really not like mine I thought it over And it was plain to see the love you said You once needed Could just not come from me And now it's over Both of us free And I feel colder And now we're moving to new beginnings But as we move we looked once behind To see what we might find out Lost loves and old thoughts of our nights of winnings That lunge, tear and grasp at lost wanting minds
I'm not going to lie, I think there were some glaring omissions - Starship, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and Whitesnake "Here I Go Again" immediately come to mind - but who am I to complain. Till manana.
Hoosiers was released in 1986, but it was re-released on this day – February 7th – in 1987. Few would argue that Hoosiers has cemented a place in the upper echelon of sports flicks. And to even call this film “a flick” is doing it a disservice, as Gene Hackman, Dennis Hopper, and Barbara Hershey inject the story with intangible characters that are painfully real and widely identifiable.
If you like basketball, you loved this movie. If you like good movies, you loved this movie. In a decade known for decadence, Hoosiers cut through the kitsch and bled onto the screen. If you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe Roger Ebert.
And aside from being a wonderful film, it put Indiana on the map. Ok, Larry Bird did that. Ok, maybe Bobby ‘S&M’ Knight did that too, but Hoosiers sure didn’t hurt
Since we're on the subject of basketball, I'd thought I include a link to the best dunk ever. Tom Chambers over Mark Jackson - I couldn't wait two years to share this one.
Well it’s in this section’s description, so we had to put it in. Madonna’s “Open Your Heart” song and video reached number one on the billboard and MTVcharts the first week in February 1987.
I was seven years old - and in hindsight I wonder why I was allowed to watch MTV – but could any young man forget the outfit the Queen of Pop sported as she slammed those little doors on all the peeping toms?
But instead of listening to me wax poetic about it, just click HERE to watch the smoldering video.
On this day 20 years ago Mannequin, starring Kim Cattrall and Andrew McCarthy debuted at number three at the box office.
For millions of boys in my generation, Kim Catrall is not famous for playing the sexually liberated Samantha Jones in Sex in the City, but for her equally arousing portrayal of Emmy the mannequin. After watching this movie I spent the next month in my basement duct taping my sister's dolls together and waiting for them to turn into a strawberry-blonde bombshell who loves motorcycles.
Also, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship was in the soundtrack for this blockbuster...I'm going to Itunes right now to buy it.
