Redartz: Come one, come all; it's time again for a quick quest back to the Bronze Age, courtesy of the Retro Metro! On the docket today is that epochal year 1984, a true high point in 80's pop culture. In the news, everyone's talking about the US presidential campaign, specifically Democrat Walter Mondale's choice of Geraldine Ferraro as his Vice-Presidential running mate: the first woman on a major party ticket. And there's the Los Angeles Olympic Games, opening despite the boycott by the Soviets.
There's big news on the music front, as well. The number one song on the US Billboard Chart: Prince, "When Doves Cry"
Rounding out the top five:
2. Bruce Springsteen, "Dancing in the Dark"
3. The Pointer Sisters, "Jump (For My Love)"
4. Billy Idol, "Eyes Without a Face"
5. Duran Duran, "The Reflex"
This is one of those rare occasions when the top five all score high on my personal favorite list. Springsteen's hit is danceable, and infectiously melodic. Billy Idol's "Eyes" is a moody,masterpiece. And Duran Duran score another very catchy hit.
Some other current hits of note: Laura Branagan, "Self Control"; just a great song. Ray Parker Jr., "Ghostbusters"; impossible to get out of your head; the theme (obviously) to the current smash hit summer blockbuster film . Eddy Grant, "Romancing the Stone", another excellent movie song; from the man who took us to "Electric Avenue". Thompson Twins, "Doctor! Doctor!"- perfect pop from a fine new group (containing no twins, incidentally).
Tops in the UK: Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Two Tribes"
Ah, before we forget: being Saturday, there may be some benefit to checking out the Saturday morning cartoon highlights:
Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Bill Melendez brings Charles Shultz' characters to Saturday mornings. It's one of the highlights, well worth a look.
Dungeons and Dragons, based upon the immensely popular role playing game. Our D&D group enjoys catching this show.
Bugs Bunny, Smurfs, Thundarr the Barbarian, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man- all veteran shows by now, but still worth watching. Especially Bugs; you can never go wrong with Warner Bros. cartoons!
As far as prime time is concerned, for tonight's televised offerings, let's check out the TV Guide...
US Television Schedule:
 |
| William Shatner |
ABC: T.J. Hooker, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island
These days I'm usually busy on Saturday nights. I've missed seeing William Shatner as T.J. Hooker , but I still catch Fantasy Island from time to time. Tattoo never gets old...
CBS: Whiz Kids, Airwolf, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
NBC: Diff'rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, Mama's Family, People are Funny, The Rousters
NBC relies pretty obviously on it's comedy schedule on Saturday nights. I do have to give a nod to "Mama's Family": Vicki Lawrence is a hoot. Loved that whole shtick since it originated on the incomparable "Carol Burnett Show". A fine comic cast, as well...
BBC1: The Saturday Film: Rio Bravo, Dynasty, Bird of Prey
BBC2: Primal, Countdown to the Moon, Mick Burke Award 1984, Saturday Review, Cricket: Third Test, Newsnight International: Iran
You know, Saturdays are a perfect time to hit the comic shop (if you're fortunate enough to have one nearby) or the newsstand . Therefore, let's see what's new on the spinner racks:
There's still plenty of excellent reading in comics today! John Byrne continues his epic run on the Fantastic Four, and his Alpha Flight displays some of his finest writing (the terrific artwork needs no explanation). Walt Simonson's Thor is quickly becoming the subject of much attention. Beta Ray Bill is a new character with loads of potential..
There are a couple big anniversary issues out this month, Hulk 300 and Superman 400 (one of those spectaculars with a veritable "Who's Who" of creators involved; buy it for the pinups if for no other reason).
Then there's "Secret Wars"; Marvel's big company wide project from Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck. Some love it, some hate it; I find it fairly entertaining.
Away from the Big Two, the indies have loads to offer. Bill Messner-Loebs' "Journey" is one of the most unique, most engaging epics in comics. And "Love and Rockets", by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, is truly wonderful. Graphically beautiful; not really for kids but perfect for a college art student!
So perfect, in fact, I'm off to read an issue. Thus, we say goodbye to 1984, and return to whenever/wherever we find ourselves now. Hope we triggered a few fond memories; if so, be sure to share!
11 comments:
This post evokes some bittersweet memories for me in terms of comics. I had just turned 16 that summer, and a few months before I had really cut down on my comics consumption for a number of reasons - few of which had to do with the general quality of what was being published at the time. I missed out on a lot of this stuff, although I did, thankfully, end up reading Superman 400. As the year went on, and I began my junior year of HS, I almost completely dropped out of comics reading.
I was getting into music much more, on the other hand, and Prince's Purple Rain juggernaut (both the brilliant extended music video disguised as a movie and its soundtrack) wowed pretty much everyone I knew. I also really liked, and still do like, Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Welcome to the Pleasuredome album. And yes, I well remember those "Frankie say" T-shirts; my favorite slogans on them were "Frankie Say ARM the Unemployed," and one spawned by the inevitable backlash, "Who Cares WHAT Frankie Say."
The TV listings remind me how little I was watching back then, at least as far as network offerings were concerned. I had watched a lot of those shows in preceding seasons (although I'm a bit proud of the fact that to this day I've never watched a single episode of T.J. Hooker - c'mon, Capt. Kirk playing a police sergeant? As if), but at that point I think I mostly watched syndicated reruns, i.e., Star Trek, Gilligan's Island, Flintstones, etc. - when I watched TV at all.
Tragically, I had none of those comics.
When it comes to TV, there's nothing at all on the BBC that would interest me. When it comes to the US shows you listed, I have to admit to having a strange affection for TJ Hooker.
My favourite song on the American Top 5 is Dancing in the Dark. When it comes to what's on the UK singles chart, I approve of the following:
1. Two Tribes. Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
2. Relax. Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
3. Time After Time. Cyndi Lauper.
9. White Lines. Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel.
12. Smalltown Boy. Bronski Beat.
13. Love Resurrection. Alison Moyet.
14. Young at Heart. The Bluebells.
15. Talking Loud and Clear. OMD.
21. Life on Your Own. The Human League.
32. Perfect Skin. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. I'm sure I remember him once claiming he was going to be seen as a creative force on a par with the Beatles. I think he was being a little over-optimistic in that analysis but he did manage a couple of hits before disappearing without trace.
42. Closest Thing to Heaven. The Kane Gang. I was never into White Soul - or really any kind of Soul but you'd need a heart of stone not to love this.
46. Eyes Without a Face. Billy Idol. To this day, I still don't have a clue what he's singing about.
62. Self Control. Laura Branigan.
74. One Better Day. Madness.
Ah, the summer of 84! Great summer. I had just finished my junior year of college and celebrated my first wedding anniversary. Still, comics were a huge part of my life (had tons of buddies into them, and a bunch of us were even trying to create/self publish our own. We never did, but we had a blast). I bought a whopping 54 titles that month! Can you say "disposable income?" Never would have it that good again--comic-book allowance-wise.
Standouts to me were (naturally) Superman #400, Uncanny X-Men #186 ("Lifedeath" with Barry Windsor-Smith art), Machine Man #2 (Windsor-Smith inking Herb Trimpe=gorgeous!), Thor, Jon Sable, Grimjack (#4--the John Lennon tribute), Pathways to Fantasy, Archie's Blue Ribbon #12 (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), the Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes mags, Infinity Inc., Bill Sienkiewicz on New Mutants, Wein and Gibbons on Green Lantern, and the lovely Bill Willingham fill-in art on Batman and the Outsiders #14.
What a magical time to be a comicbook fan!
I graduated high school in 1984, so personal nostalgia notwithstanding, I believe I can say this with all dispassionate objectivity:
It was perhaps the finest year in pop music history.
Prince hitting his apex
MJ still cooking from Thriller
Springsteen has his biggest album
Madonna becomes an all time superstar
Huey Lewis slays the charts
Cyndi Lauper is straight up killing it
Tina Turner has a most triumphant return
Van Halen 1.0 bows out with their biggest hit album and song
So does the Ploice with Synchronicity
70s dinosaurs Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Billy Joel still cranking out quality tunes
So there you have it...new legendary stars being born, some that had been bubbling under finally explode, and some long time hit makers staying relevant. A perfect storm of music. Sadly, with the state of the industry completely revolutionized by technology, there will never be a year as good as this again.
Yoyo
What's should be said, has been said!
I would just simply merge Yoyo's and Steve DC's remarks adding Steve's "new wave" UK mentions (plus other English new wavers) to YoYo's primarily US listing.
A quick google shows that this month The Jacksons teamed up with Mick Jagger and did "State of Shock!"
Truly, does it get any better, and any more unexpected, than that? Jagger and MJ? Yowza, yowza, yowza...
Comic wise, I only had the Superman 400... for investment purposes!!! Major LOL!!!
Movie wise "Breakin" was released. This thing, along with MJ's Moon Walk, really was a cultural phenom. I was in the Army at flight school and I recall the base commander trying and putting "break dancing" off limits b/c it was "unprofessional." Lord... how many times we were trying to moonwalk, pop, etc. at the parties.
I watched Breakin with my kids a few years ago... well... they thought it was fun and... quaint... LOL. (Oddly enough my then 14-year-old son and his buddies, about 6 years ago, were hustling money at the Yorktown shopping mall by break dancing and folks giving them money. The mall cops put a polite end to it, LOL, but not before they had made like $30 - $40. The young chicks were digging it.)
OK - time to see if UK or Belgium take 3rd place! Cheers! (Good luck Steve DC!)
So-- I graduated from college in Dec of '83.
Started grad school in late August of '84.
In those uncertain months in-between (ESPECIALLY before I was accepted into grad school!), I was back home w/ my Mom, working full-time at an RV cabinet factory, heavy part-time at McDonald's, and long weekend shifts at a local ice cream parlor. I don't think I ever saw a television at all in those months. . .
But my comic-book buying habits definitely had a resurgence-- especially thanks to a tiny little local comic convention that summer that I managed to attend-- Mishawakacon, I believe? A very bitter Mike Vosburg seemed to be the only notable artist in attendance-- mostly 'cause kids were asking him to do copies of Frank Miller Wolverine covers. BUT-- it was exactly the right time to be pickin' up many of those really solid early 4-issue limited series outings for a song-! As well as most of the early run of New Mutants and other fare that was on the cusp of having a jump in popularity. My ONLY entertainment for several months was the bit of time I had to read comics before crashing off to sleep, or over breakfast, or in the car if I had a half-hour between jobs. It was a tough stretch, but comics were an incredible bright spot, especially as we got into the summer months.
Secret Wars was working okay for me, although it OBVIOUSLY suffered from being its own big spoiler, y'know? It just never had the gravitas it was aiming for (a tough assignment, since it was a toy-sales driven mandate in the first place), because it was never anything more than a 12-month flashback story. Every fan knew the results already, after all.
And being about 5 years older or so than a lot of us here, I'm afraid this period of Pop Music never fully clicked for me, never "patterned". Kinda just the opposite-- I really don't care much for any of these offerings. You kids just don't know what good music is, HMPH! (Ribbing, I'm ribbing--!)
HB
I had finished my third year of college and had returned home, working in the local grocery store during the summer. By this time, there were no stores in my hometown that carried comics and that was after living in probably the only college town that didn't have a store either, so yeah, I was a little out of the loop....so much so that when I did get to go to a store that carried them, I picked up two of the titles you showed, the JLA annual and the Superman anniversary special. I think I picked up just annuals and specials that summer because I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with any ongoing arcs in the regular series. Still, it was some pretty good reading involved.
1984 was a huge year for music. Purple Rain and Born in the U.S.A. dominated the summer, also the Police, Huey Lewis and VH. I remembered Lewis' "Heart and Soul" from a couple of years previously because the Bus Boys had recorded it. I also dug Eddy Grant's album and continued to follow his career and recordings for several years after. I also got deep into Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff after listening to Grant.
I don't think I watched any TV during this time, but did go to a lot of movies.
I remember this era quite well, as I was 12 at the time. I was probably still listening to stuff like the Police, Styx, Men at Work ... but I was right on the edge of my Heavy Metal years, which lasted through high school.
Of the shows mentioned, the only ones I remember watching are Diff'rent Strokes and Silver Spoons, though I may have caught the occasional Mike Hammer episode.
The comics, on the other hand, look very familiar. I had (or still have, in some cases) Alpha Flight, All-Star Squadron (I loved it when Amazing Man got the spotlight), DD, Secret Wars (which I loved at the time, and still holds up better than a lot of people say), and Spectacular Spidey (which was part of a great trilogy with Cloak & Dagger, Silvermane, Kingpin, and Black Cat). I think I might've had that JLA annual too (first Detroit League appearance), but I'm not sure.
Very fond memories of these comics! I remember getting that Daredevil issue, that Secret Wars issue, and West Coast Avengers (the original miniseries) all at the same time. Also liked Alpha Flight, and would get that Hulk as a back-issue a couple of months later (it was sold out on the racks).
Also very fond memories of the Dungeon and Dragons cartoon (it was even cooler than Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends!).
-david p.
'Thanks for the memories', everyone!
Edo- yes, the tv networks seemed a bit thin during the 80's, especially in comparison to the richness of the music, film and comics industries during the decade. Was it a result of the encroachment of cable? Was it a low period of creativity for television professionals? Or was it simply that much of the programming at the time didn't appeal to some of us; I for one was so busy with college (first half of the decade) and new married life (later 80's) that tv interest waned considerably. Hmmmm, perhaps the seed of another discussion...
Groove- it was indeed a magical summer. And you win the prize for comics acquisition for the month; 54 titles? That must be some kind of record!
Yoyo and Charlie- well said. Yoyo, your list really sums up much of what made 80's music so fine. And Charlie, I totally agree about the critical impact of the New Wave.
HB- once again, we were in similar circumstances; between semesters and working busily (you much busier than I, apparently). I was delivering film and photos for a processing company, driving between Indianapolis and Cincinnati each day. One benefit: I found a fantastic comic book shop in Cincy that became the go-to spot for comics each week. Wish I could recall it's name.
Graham- Thanks loads for mentioning Huey Lewis' "Heart and Soul". Excellent song, and it perfectly evokes memories of that summer of '84. I heard it many times on my van radio, wafting over the Cincinnati airwaves,while delivering film. And I had no idea the Bus Boys (a terrific, too-often overlooked 80's band) recorded it. Wow...
Boy, that Hulk #300 issue was a hard one on us loooooong-time Hulksters. . .
In retrospect, it wasn't unlike watching a loved-one slip into the abyss of dementia over the course of the year leading up to it. And clearly no happy end was in sight. "Simple" Hulk had been replaced by a Banner-controlled Hulk quite a bit earlier in the book, but then this long arc finally resulted in the suicide/erasure of Banner as well--- leaving just this truly raging, non-reasoning, animal-brained thing in a Hulk body. A non-character--- nothing interesting or compelling at all. A huge rabid dog. Which is what we began that noted Crossroads of Reality (or Time or Something) arc with. Boy was I not loving my favorite book at that point. Although even then I was recognizing that Sal B (in the early chapters) was cranking out some of the best pencils of his career-- it was still great to see such a dependable guy-next-door artist like Sal really push his artistic boundaries like that.
HB-- on the Hulkish Side of Life, July 1984
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