Tag Archives: 80s

20 Album Challenge, Artists, General, Music

20 Album Challenge – Day 14

Leave a comment

The 20 Day Album challenge continues. Today’s pick is Invisible Touch by Genesis.

InvisibleTouch86

Invisible Touch was one of my favorite albums of the 80s. It came out in a good time of my life and it brings back great memories. It came out in my junior year of high school. I was actually doing pretty decent in school at this point, and my social life was starting to pick up. I remember listening to this album on the bus going to and from our indoor track meets that winter. Every song is awesome and puts me in a good mood. The title track is so much fun. “Land of Confusion” had a great video, and it is as relevant today as it was back then. “In Too Deep” is such a beautiful ballad. Phil Collins pretty much owned the 80s. He was on the radio and on MTV at least once every hour – whether it was his solo work, or with Genesis. I feel like this was the peak of Genesis and also the peak of the ’80s.

Here is the album on Spotify:

And if you’d like to get the album from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

Movies, Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day: Sixteen Candles

Leave a comment

Samantha: I can’t believe this. They fucking forgot my birthday.

20140315-113352-am

Well Return to the ’80s didn’t forget! Happy 52nd birthday to Molly Ringwald!!!

Today also would have been the 70th birthday of John Hughes (February 18, 1950 – August 6, 2009)

molly_john.jpg__800x500_q85_crop_subject_location-195,83_subsampling-2_upscale

If you’d like to get this movie from Amazon, click on the movie poster below:

Artists, Music, Remember That Song?

Remember That Song – 2/18/20

Leave a comment

Can you name the artist and song:

Thinkin’ back in time
When love was only in the mind
I realize, ain’t no second chance

Last Song: “Ah! Leah!” by Donnie Iris from the album Back on The Streets (1981)

Great job Adora (@Adora2000), Teen Movie Classics (@TeenClassics), and Lori (@ThreezkyMusic)!!!

It ain’t no use
We’re headed for disaster
Our minds said no
But our hearts were talking faster

If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

20 Album Challenge, Artists, Music

20 Album Challenge – Day 13

Leave a comment

The 20 Day Album challenge continues. Today’s pick is the Rocky IV Soundtrack

220px-Rocky4

Rocky IV epitomized over-the-top 80s cheesiness (as did all mid-80s Sly Stallone movies). The movie was fun. But, perhaps my favorite part of the movie was the soundtrack. I had never run to music before this soundtrack. While running during the summer, I would throw this tape in my Walkman and run and have a great workout. From Survivor’s “Burning Heart” and once again “Eye of the Tiger“, to Rhode Island’s own John Cafferty belting out “Heart’s on Fire“, to Robert Tepper’s “No Easy Way Out” and “The Sweetest Victory“, there was no stopping me! If it was good enough for Rocky, it was good enough for me! And if that wasn’t enough, the James Brown classic “Living in America” is featured as well as the duet “Double or Nothing” by legends Kenny Loggins and Gladys Knight. Even the instrumentals by Vince DiCola were great. One was called “War“, and the other is literally called “Training Montage“. If you can’t train to that song, what’s the point?

Here is the album on Spotify:

And if you’d like to get the album from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

20 Album Challenge, Artists, Music

20 Album Challenge – Day 12

Leave a comment

The 20 Day Album challenge continues. My pick for Day 12 is Contact by The Pointer Sisters.

PointersContact

While “Jump (For My Love)” and “I’m So Excited” got all the attention for The Pointer Sisters, my favorite song by them was “Dare Me” from this album. It really pumped me up before Cross Country meets, and it always put me in a good mood when I needed it. This is another album that is very solid. I love every song on it. In addition to “Dare Me“, I fell in love with “Back In My Arms.”

The Pointer Sisters will forever hold a place in my heart. While serving on a Naval hospital during the Gulf War (Desert Shield/Desert Storm), the Pointers came on our ship at Christmas time, and headlined a show as part of the Bob Hope tour. All the female performers from that year’s special put on the show. Ann Jillian was the host, and other performers included Marie Osmond and Khrystyne Haje (Head of the Class). All of those performers will always have my love and respect. And it may be nos surprise, but the Pointer Sisters’ playlist included “Jump (For My Love”), “Dare Me”, and “I’m So Excited.” I will never forget it.

I cannot recommend this Contact album enough. You can check it out on Spotify:

And if you’d like to get the album from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

20 Album Challenge, Artists, Music

20 Album Challenge – Day 11

Leave a comment

The 20 Day Album challenge continues. Today’s pick is Shout At the Devil by Mötley Crüe.

MC_SATD_CD_v2_grande

Thanks to MTV, Shout at the Devil was my introduction to Mötley Crüe. The music rocked, and was different from anything else that was out there. Unlike the Theatre of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls albums that followed, every song on Shout at the Devil was great.

After this album came out, my mom was buying me a new tape. She asked if I wanted this one or Van Halen’s 1984. “Jump” was all the rage at the time, so I think she was hoping I would go for that one. But, I went with Shout at the Devil. I loved the way “In the Beginning” started off the album and went into “Shout At the Devil”. At the time I got this album, the only songs I knew were the title track and “Looks That Kill”. I ended up loving every song on here. This was also my introduction to “Helter Skelter,” which I fell in love with. My parents didn’t own any Beatles album post Rubber Soul, and the only Beatles songs that played on rock radio were “Come Together” and “Get Back.” I also loved “Red Hot” and “Too Young to Fall in Love.” And just as “Love’s a Bitch” made me feel baddass that I had an album with a swear in the title with Quiet Riot, I felt the same with “Bastard” on this one. I still love this album, and would be in the running for a desert island pick.

Here is the album on Spotify:

And if you’d like to get the album from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

20 Album Challenge, Artists, Music

20 Album Challenge – Day 10

Leave a comment

The 20 Day Album challenge continues. Today’s pick is Queen’s Greatest Hits.

Queen-Greatest-Hits-I-180-Gram-Vinyl-2LP-2231437_1024x1024

After Star Wars came out in 1977, and changed my life, sci-fi and fantasy movies became all the rage, capitalizing on the Star Wars success. One of these movies was 1980s Flash Gordon. One of the greatest things about that movie was the theme song. It was my introduction to Queen, and I was obsessed with that song. Not long after that, “Another One Bites the Dust” was released, and I became a Queen fan for life. At the time, the only songs I knew other than those two were “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You“. Those songs alone were worth getting the Greatest Hits album. The first song on the first side was “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It was my first time hearing that song since the radio stations in the U.S. never played it. Within one second of hearing the song, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”, I was blown away, and my music world was turned upside down! And then we get to the opera portion of the song, which was insane! And then Brian May’s guitar blowing off the roof! There didn’t need to be another song on there! But, man am I glad there was! I loved “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Bicycle Race.” And I was once again blown away. This time it was by “Now I’m Here“. If you listen to the song on headphones, you hear Freddie sing “Now I’m here” in one headphone, then you hear him sing “Now I’m there” in the other headphone. You can do that?! Queen was now my favorite band. And move over Steve Perry (but not too far over), Freddie was, and still is, my all-time favorite singer. And this was the first full album that started it all for me.

Here is the album on Spotify:

And if you’d like to get the album from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

Artists, Music, Remember That Song?

Remember That Song – 2/14/20

Leave a comment

Can you name the artist and song:

It ain’t no use
We’re headed for disaster
Our minds said no
But our hearts were talking faster

Last Song: “The Way You Love Me” by Karyn White from the album Karyn White (1989)

Great job Shaun (@ShaunHaynes22)!!!

‘Cause when I think about your lovin’ and how good it can be
I get excited from the feeling that is given to me,
so won’t you keep me comin’ baby
‘Cause I love the joy you bring

If you’d like to get this song from Amazon, you can click on the album cover below:

20 Album Challenge, Artists, Music

20 Album Challenge – Day 9

Leave a comment

The 20 Day Album challenge continues. Today’s pick is ZZ Top’s Eliminator.

220px-ZZ_Top_-_Eliminator

There were several artists who had been around since the 1970s who I did not discover until the early to mid ’80s (Thank you MTV!). Along with David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top is one of those bands to me. Of course most of us remember the iconic trilogy of videos – “Gimme All Your Lovin’“, “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs“. However, the entire album is awesome. “Got Me Under Pressure” is a solid track. And while the “trilogy” gets all the music video attention, I absolutely loved the video for “TV Dinners,” which is also a great song. And my favorite underrated track on the album is “Thug“.

While I love the follow-up album, Afterburner, the Eliminator album helped shape my taste in rock music, and kept me glued to MTV. And while I was bored in class in high school, I loved drawing the ZZ Top logo on my book covers and notebooks.

Here is Eliminator on Spotify:

And if you’d like to get this album on Amazon, you can click on the album cover below: