The Decadent 80’s

Who Knew: 10 Years Ago Renaissance Man, Bruce Willis, Was Killin’ it with "Under The Boardwalk"…….aaaahhhh the 80’s

2007-06-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

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?)

My Fall From Grace

2007-03-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

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

Little Known Fact ~ Seona Dancing

2007-02-23T12:22:00.000-08:00

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

Who Won Grammies Before Clay Aiken and the Dixie Chicks Took Over American Music?

2007-02-15T14:13:00.000-08:00

It's Grammy time........in 1987. Let's take a look at who reeled in the rock and pop awards in the decade of our savior - Michael J. Fox.

Rock:
Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female: Tina Turner for "Back Where You Started"

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male:Robert Palmer for "Addicted to Love"

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: Eurythmics for "Missionary Man"

Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group or Soloist:) Art of Noise & Duane Eddy for "Peter Gunn"

Pop:

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female: Barbra Streisand for The Broadway Album

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male: Steve Winwood for "Higher Love"

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder for "That's What Friends Are For"

Best Pop Instrumental Performance, (Orchestra, Group or Soloist): Harold Faltermeyer & Steve Stevens for "Top Gun Anthem"

I know, I know, why is there no link to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love"?

There is, right HERE.

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.

Indiana Comes into its Own

2007-02-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

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.

Queen of Pop Takes the Throne Once Again

2007-02-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

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.

Mannequin comes in third in box office debut.

2007-01-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

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.