Redartz: Hello, Retro Riders! You're just in time for the latest trip 'Back in the Bronze Age', to the heady days of the very early 80's. The Seventies are now behind us, and the new decade holds a lot of promise. Disco is on the way out, New Wave is on the way in, and that's a good excuse to check out the top of the Pop charts:
Top hit on the US Billboard Chart: Pink Floyd, "Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2"
Rounding out the top five:
2. Dan Fogelberg- "Longer"
3. Queen- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
4. Andy Gibb- "Desire"
5. The Spinners- "Working My Way Back to You/ Forgive Me, Girl"
I love that Pink Floyd song, and the album "The Wall" is on everyone's shelf at college this Spring. By the way, Micheal Jackson is showing some strength with two songs in the top forty: "Rock With You" and "Off the Wall". He's come a long way from "Ben"; I'd say the future looks bright for Mr. Jackson.
Tops in the UK: The Jam- "Going Underground". A lot of exciting, intriguing sounds coming from across the Atlantic these days.
And now we turn from audio to video. Unless you're among the fortunate few with one of those new videocassette recorders, you'll be joining me tonight to catch the latest broadcast tv offerings. On tonight's agenda:
US TV Schedule:
ABC: That's Incredible, Family, Stone
CBS: The White Shadow, M*A*S*H, House Calls, Lou Grant
Lou Grant opening
NBC: Little House on the Prairie, NBC Monday Night at the Movies
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| Cast of "Little House on the Prairie" |
BBC1: Blake's Seven, Panorama: The Heart Changers, The Monday Film: Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol
BBC2: James Burke's Connections, Marti Caine, Yes Minister, Horizon
"That's Incredible" is something they call a 'reality show'. I've seen it a few times, but it's not exactly a must-see. My parents and sister all watch "Little House" faithfully, but it's not on my viewing list. On the other hand, "Lou Grant" is one of the best shows on tv. Ed Asner was excellent in the role on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show", and it's a cool twist to see him in a dramatic role on his own.
It wouldn't be a Retro Metro without a check in at the local spinner racks, now would it? So let's pull the Bitba bus over and see what's out today...
I'm glad to see the Black Cat return in Amazing Spider-Man; a bit derivative of Catwoman but still a good addition to the web-slinger's cast. And speaking of Catwoman, there she is on that sharp Batman cover. I'm taking both. And X-Men, of course, That goes without saying; Claremont and Byrne are doing miracles with the book. Aaand, I'll also take Marvel Two-in-One: another sharp cover. And Stingray has such a distinctive costume, very well designed.
Okay, my wallet's empty, and the gas tank's low. Time to call it a day and head back forward (somehow that doesn't sound right). Thanks everyone for coming along today, and hope to see you next time on the Retro Metro!
7 comments:
Redartz, I hate to nitpick but you've got the UK #1 wrong by one day. On March 17th 1980 it was still "Together We Are Beautiful" by Fern Kinney - if you've never heard of Fern Kinney, she was an American singer enjoying her one and only British hit, a #1 hit at that. In those days the UK Top 40 came out on a Tuesday (revealed at lunchtime on BBC Radio 1) and The Jam entered the chart at #1 the next day, March 18th - it was a bit of a sensation at the time because "Going Underground" was the first single to go straight to #1 since 1973. And The Spinners (called the Detroit Spinners over here) also made #1 three weeks later on April 8th, the day after Easter. On TV the standout for me is James Burke's Connections which was a 13-part series about history, society and science and how everything affects everything else (hence the title Connections). One line from the series has always stuck in my mind: "If you know somebody called Draper - boy, were their ancestors rich !"...I've always wanted to meet somebody called Draper and tell them that ! As for comics, of those pictured I had Uncanny X-Men and Marvel Two-In-One but in the UK they weren't on sale till June, the actual date on the cover.
Hi Colin, Colin, Steve, quick aside... Have you ever read the U.K. Comic Commando which just released its 5000th issue? Wow!!!
Charlie Horse, I've never read Commando but I've seen it on sale. War comics were once very popular in the UK but they've all vanished now except Commando. The stories in Commando are mainly set in World War I and II but in recent years they've included stories from other periods in history too. I didn't realize it had reached #5000 but I knew it first came out in 1961.
Hello, Charlie. I read one or two issues of, "Commando," when I was a mere youth. I can't say I remember much about its contents, me never having been into war comics. From what I do recall, its most striking feature is its size. It's a tiny little digest-size comic but with a lot of pages and squarebound. Back in the old days, it used original material but I think that, nowadays, it only features reprints, in order to keep production costs down, due to the decline in comic sales.
Speaking of longevity, if my maths are right, "The Beano," needs to last just two more years in order to reach its 4,000th issue.
Looking at the UK singles chart that week, my favourites on it were:
#3, "Take That Look off Your Face" - Marti Webb.
#4, "Games Without Frontiers" - Peter Gabriel.
#11, "Carrie" - Cliff Richard.
#27, "Another Nail in My Heat" - Squeeze.
#35, "Turn it On" -Genesis.
#36, "Happy House" - Siouxsie and the Banshees.
As for TV, I remember that edition of, "Horizon." It was about the dangers of Dioxin and was the living epitome of the word, "Disturbing."
Starlin did some cool JLA covers at this time. Would've been great to see him take over the title, writing and drawing.
I loved The White Shadow. I was in grade 7 on this day, wishing I could be playing basketball in high school like the guys on the show. Great writing and cast. I watched season 2 again recently, and it was excellent, really holds up well. And I did make the team in high school. : )
I took a peek at the Top 100 for Billboard that week-- George Burns was in at #91! Blondie's my favorite with Call Me at #11.
Colin Jones- in the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "D'oh!!!". Thanks for the correct information. And I'm not familiar with Fern Kinney, will have to look her up on YouTube. Also, thanks for filling us in about "Connections". It does sound interesting...
Steve Does Comics- and a 'thank you' to you for a few words about "Horizon ". Many of these BBC programs are sadly unknown to me. That's a big side benefit to doing this blog- there's always something new to learn!
I was 8 at the time, so I remember some of this stuff. I watched That's Incredible, MASH and House Calls (with Wayne Rogers, Lynn Redgrave, and David Wayne if I remember right). I wasn't into the Jam back then, but I love them now; Going Underground is a great song, though I also love Saturday's Kids and Down in the Tube Station at Midnight.
I had (or still have) some of those comics. Firestorm joining the JLA, Spidey and Black Cat, Batman and Catwoman ... great stuff. I also liked the Serpent Crown story in MTIO, and Taskmaster in Avengers (wasn't the Scott Lang Ant Man in that one too?)
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