Redartz: Greetings once again, friends! Time for another quick quest back to our collective youths; today focusing on the 13th. of September in that memorable year 1982. The world faces turmoil in Lebanon, and we all followed the uprising of "Solidarity" in Poland. But at home, we were still talking about "E.T. the Extraterrestrial", and eating Reese's Pieces. And many of us were tuning in the radio to hear Chicago's big comeback hit:
Tops on the US Billboard Pop Chart : Chicago, " Hard to Say I'm Sorry"
Rounding out the top five:
2. Survivor- "Eye of the Tiger"
3. Steve Miller Band- "Abracadabra"
4. John Cougar Mellencamp- "Jack and Diane"
5. Air Supply- "Even the Nights are Better"
As always, I am religiously tuning in to Casey Kasem and "AT40", but this week most of my favorites are further down the chart. Most notable is a very cool song from a new wave group :A Flock of Seagulls "I Ran", everybody at our college is dancing to it. And of course we follow the Billboard UK chart to see what new acts are upcoming, as the "New Wave" crashes over American shores.
There's also a hilarious new tune from Frank Zappa puncturing the current 'valley girl' phenomenon, appropriately called "Valley Girl". His daughter joins him on the record, and does a fabulous job! And as comeback songs are big right now (Chicago and Steve Miller in the top 5), I'm loving the new single from America : "You Can Do Magic".
A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran"
Tops in the UK: Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"
Now that we've caught up on the latest music, let's check out tonight's entertainment offerings on the tube. There's some new options, as the Fall Season is just beginning...
U.S. Television Schedules:
 |
| ABC's Monday Night Football Crew |
ABC: That's Incredible!, ABC NFL Monday Night Football
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| Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly of Cagney & Lacey |
CBS: Square Pegs, Private Benjamin, M*A*S*H, Newhart, Cagney & Lacey
Square Pegs Opening
NBC: Little House: A New Beginning, NBC Monday Night at the Movies
BBC1: Angels, The Wonderful World of Disney, Panorama, The Monday Film: Lady Sings the Blues
BBC2: Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery, One Hundred Great Paintings, The Forest of Dean, The Two Ronnies, Kevin Turvey- The Man Behind the Green Door, Hypnosis, Cartoon Two
Not much of a football fan at this point, so I generally miss Howard Cosell and Don Meredith on ABC. It seems like just about everyone else in the US watches MNF regularly, though. Meanwhile, on CBS, Square Pegs is a new show I never want to miss. It casts a group of kids uncomfortably similar to me and my friends, and has a knockout theme song by the Waitresses. Newhart is also good viewing; Bob's perfectly deadpan delivery never disappoints.
Now here at college, tv viewing still takes a backseat to comics reading, so what say we see the goodies awaiting on the spinner racks (or on the shelf at our local comic shop):
I have to grab that "Smurfs" comic, it's one of the few Saturday morning shows I still get up for. The Teen Titans are still knocking it out of the park under the team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Also, that Marvel Graphic Novel introducing the "New Mutants" appears to be a solid pick. Plus another incredible John Byrne effort on "Fantastic Four" and a couple of Annuals make this a rewarding trip to the stands.
And now, before we turn from the 80's and toward the 20teens, take a moment to remember where you were, what you did, and what you enjoyed about the era. Take a turn at the wheel of the Retro Metro and tell us about your 1982...
14 comments:
Funny, but this was the last month I ever bought a comic book, which was that X-Men issue. The X-Men art quality absolutely collapsed with Cockrum replacing Byrne, the stupid Alien-ripoff Brood couldn't have been more generic, and that dragon pet thing was kiddie-pandering nonsense. And since I had just turned 16, I was completely done with the direction of Marvel.
The music, however, was terrific, though I remember hearing Flock of Seagulls a year earlier?
Yoyo
Hmm, I had a bunch of those comics, and at that point I thought Marvel was still going pretty strong; I was still very much loving Byrne's FF (including that What IF? issue), and I actually liked that issue of X-men. I agree with Yoyo that the art and story quality on X-men had dropped somewhat after Byrne's departure, but it started to pick up toward the end of the Brood saga. Also, Paul Smith took over the very next issue, and that gave the title a shot in the arm. (Personally, I didn't check out until a few years later, when Romita Jr. had already taken over the art chores). And DC was producing some good stuff: you mentioned Teen Titans, and there was also All Star Squadron and Levitz/Giffen's Legion of Super-heroes. I also had that issue of Justice Machine, by the way. Cool stuff.
As for music, out of the stuff you mentioned, I absolutely hated the Chicago comeback, with all of those schmaltzy ballads belted out by Peter Cetera. Give me the jazzy, brass band stuff they did in the '70s over that anytime.
Also, interesting that you mentioned the whole Valley Girl phenomenon. I know Frank, and Moon Unit, Zappa were making fun of it, but I recall that that song actually propelled to a full-on fad. I especially remember a lot of the girls in my small-town Oregon high school suddenly using phrases like "Oh m'gawd!" or "gag me with a Ginsu!"
Picked up that Avengers annual (the two most powerful Marvel teams at the time going at it, couldn't resist!) and of course my regular X-Men fix (loved Cockrum and the Brood at the time...I was an anomaly that stuck with X-Men DESPITE the Paul Smith art, not because of it...too skinny, cartoony and it seemed no one had a nose...I grew to like it eventually, esp. in the "Golden Age" miniseries).
And, best of all, that New Mutants graphic novel. Very excited about a spin-off X-Men title! Such an innocent time...
-david p.
As someone who didn't collect DC at the time but has picked up not a few back issues since, it's always interesting to see the offerings of the two side by side. I didn't know that Crisis on Earth Prime issue came out with all those others. :)
Like others I hated the post-Byrne Cockrum era, but strangely I did like the Brood saga, despite its Alien ripoffs. As a side note, it's kinda interesting that even as the buzz for a Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel movie is heating up the market for her old issues, her Binary phase still draws very little attention.
I remember being underwhelmed by that What If and confused by that Gladiator FF issue. (His powers aren't physical, but mental?) It seemed too clever by half, unless I'm missing something. I think that even as my love for Byrne the artist was still strong, I was beginning to have my doubts about him as a writer.
I also had mixed feelings about the New Mutants, but that didn't stop me from buying their books until Sienkiewicz took over. And I dug the format of the graphic novel as something rather new to me.
Cheers!
High School Senior Year... remember it like it was yesterday.
I had asked a girl to Homecoming but our original date was a rain out so it got moved two weeks back. She had a Volleyball tournament that weekend so we had to cancel... she was a great girl. Really special. We had met at band camp, she was from Canada but her father got transferred for work...
Oh, and I was still reading comics. Mostly Marvel. Okay, all Marvel.
(Know it sounds funny
But I just can't stand the pain
Girl I'm leaving you tomorrow
Seems to me girl
You know I've done all I can
You see I begged, stole
And I borrowed
Ooh, that's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
That's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
Why in the world
Would anybody put chains on me?
I've paid my dues to make it
Everybody wants me to be
What they want me to be
I'm not happy when I try to fake it!
No!
Ooh,that's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
That's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
I wanna be high, so high
I wanna be free to know
The things I do are right
I wanna be free
Just me, babe!
That's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
That's why I'm easy
I'm easy like Sunday morning
Because I'm easy
Easy like Sunday morning
Because I'm easy
Easy like Sunday morning).
I'd say the only thing on TV that day that would have interested me was BBC 2's Kevin Turvey - The Man Behind the Green Door, which was a vehicle for the late great comedy genius Rik Mayall, a man who never encountered a scene he couldn't steal, regardless of the company he was keeping.
As far as the UK singles chart goes, the tracks I most approve of are:
3. Save A Prayer - Duran Duran.
5. The Bitterest Pill I Ever Had to Swallow - The Jam.
6. All of My Heart - ABC.
9. Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners.
15. What - Soft Cell.
41. Wot - Captain Sensible.
70. House of the Rising Sun - The Animals. I don't have a clue why that was back on the charts. Presumably, it must have featured in an advert.
75. Stool Pigeon - Kid Creole and the Coconuts. The determinedly tropical Kid Creole famously lives in Sheffield. One of the most incongruous facts in music history. Where his coconuts live, I have no idea.
Definite lowlight of the chart this week is:
26. John Wayne is Big Leggy - Haysi Fantayzee. Easily the most visually and musically repellent act ever to bother the 1980s. Their chart career was an act of genuine skin-crawling horror from start to finish.
@Steve: I always liked that Captain Sensible song too.
Some cool comics there: NTT, JLA (final chapter of a five-part crossover with All-Star Squadron, which I reviewed over at BAB), and the first appearance of Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel in that Spidey Annual.
As for TV, I was a big fan of Newhart, MASH, and Square Pegs. Whatever happened to Amy Linker? Sarah Jessica Parker and Jami Gertz are still around, but I always liked Amy as Lauren.
Love the topic!
Steve DC - Kudos for Mentioning Captain Sensible! "I say Captain, you say wot...!" Awesome song! Right up there with "Stop the World!!!"
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Yoyo- you may be right about Flock of Seagulls, they may have been heard on progressive radio earlier than the US Billboard chart might indicate. I respectfully disagree, though, regarding Kitty's dragon- I absolutely loved Lockheed...
Edo- good call on Chicago's 80's direction. The last listenable Chicago ballad, in my opinion, was "Wishing You Were Here" from '76. Their 80's output was, frankly, boring.
Selenarch- You make a good observation about the Marvel Graphic Novel series. Those (and DC's as well) were an effective way to tell stories outside the normal continuity. It was a great format, wish it was attempted more often today (instead of simply using 6 issue reprints of the monthly books).
Steve D.C.- thanks for the info about "The Man Behind the Green Door"; we can always count on you (and the Colin's) to fill us Yanks in about the BBC offerings. And you named some fantastic tunes; it just goes to show why some of us here looked to your UK charts for musical prognostication. That ABC album was incredible.
Oh, Steve D.C.- your comments about Haysi Fantayzee made me curious. Had to check it out. My impression: they would be perfectly at home today on stage with the likes of Miley Cyrus. Sigh...
I am with Edo and Redartz on the re-emergence of rock bands like Chicago - and Genesis in the era as well. Much different feel from the 70s to the 80s. I have to say I liked the British charts better -especially with the Jam in fine form.
I liked the comics of the era though and had many shown including more DC than I would have realized including the JLA crossover battling Per Degaton. FF was a very good issue and at the time I didn't have the same reservations as Selenarch, but he brings up some good points today. And even Captain Victory was doing alright. I too was losing interest in X-Men and that Ms. Marvel conversion to Binary was unnecessary (did they ever use her in that guise for any memorable reason or story arc? It seemed a waste). I too jumped onto the New Mutants, but as much as I wanted to like it I was never drawn in; the characters never struck me as anything special and the overuse of accents and some stereotypical behavior really soured me after a relatively short time. New Teen Titans was still going strong here.
I'm amazed that some of the TV shows listed were from that long ago - some seem more recent. A weird phenomenon as I age that some things seem decades ago and others seem like just yesterday.
Just back looking at this selection of comics again and it occurs to me there were a lot of series I was into around this time. Hulk had just acquired Banner's intelligence, Mike Zeck's Cap was cool, Byrne's FF had just had back-to-back Galactus and Doc Doom story arcs, and over at DC I believe we were halfway through the Great Darkness Saga at this point.
Best of all, if I'm not mistaken, I think this was the month Daredevil #189 came out...the Frank Miller/Klaus Janson/Stick's order vs. the Hand/all-battle issue! It wasn't totally silent like that famous G.I. Joe story, but pretty close. A whole lot of mayhem. I remember trying to read the whole issue holding my breath, it was that quick (I was a bit of a weird kid like that).
Thanks for refreshing my memory, '82 was cool.
-david p.
Martinex, re: Captain Victory. I think I've mentioned here before that I really liked that series probably more than most of Kirby's '70s output, but I always qualify it by noting that that assessment only applies to roughly the first half. The issue pictured in the post, #7 was when the quality really dropped for me, and the series eventually fizzled out after another six, largely forgettable issues. The story in the first six issues, though, with the Captain and the Rangers saving Earth from an invasion, is really fun. I wish someone would turn it into a movie.
Not collecting at this time, I did get a lot of the NTT back issues. I do agree with Martinex1 that they were going strong under Marv Wolfman and George Perez, but it was about this time they delved more into topical teen issues and perhaps a slight-bit preachy, losing some of the initial spark that really rocked the mag in the first couple dozen issues. It was nice to have Speedy, Aqualad and Tula back, but these would be the last of the really fun issues.
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