Category: The 80s

BrianWilkins.org
May 12, 2023

Kathy Troccoli, like Amy Grant, was a Christian singer who briefly crossed over to pop music. And interestingly, 42 years ago this week, on May 9, 1981, Ms. Troccoli moved from Long Island to Nashville to live with Dan Harrell, who was Amy Grant’s brother-in-law at the time.

Her Christian rock career launched with the 1982 album Stubborn Love.

She released two more albums before taking a five-year hiatus from music, beginning in 1986, and moved back to New York. Troccoli became a studio singer for Mariah Carey and Taylor Dayne in 1991. read more

BrianWilkins.org
May 6, 2023

It was part of the Saturday Night lineup: 227, Amen, Golden Girls and Empty Nest.

227 aired for five seasons, from September 1985 until the final episode on May 6, 1990.

BrianWilkins.org
October 7, 2022

My cousin and best friend Boo always used to give me shit for loving “shake your booty” music over the conscious Public Enemy, X-Clan, etc. stuff when we were kids. I’ll always wonder what he and I could have accomplished as artists and rappers if my parents didn’t separate us via divorce.

Regardless, “Bust A Move” is one of the best end of the 80s tunes – and a great “shake your booty” song. It topped out at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 14, 1989. read more

BrianWilkins.org
September 18, 2022

You can’t get much more 80s than the Commodores “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” video. The short afros (compared to the 1970s), the short shorts and, of course, the ode to a special woman.

Yes, the short shorts that both men and women wore.

“Lady (You Bring Me Up)” peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 19, 1981. Not sure why it couldn’t get any higher, considering, in my world, only Juice Newton’s “Queen of Hearts” (one of the seven songs ahead of it) has equal or more lasting memories. read more

BrianWilkins.org
April 29, 2022

The 1989 movie “Chances Are” isn’t exactly a classic. But it’s definitely weird and worth a watch if you’re bored one night. The short, spoiler version is that Louie Jeffries was a young lawyer in the 1960s. He was married to Corrine Jeffries, played by Cybill Shepherd. Louie get killed when he’s hit by a car while crossing the street. But when he goes to the “pearly gates” after death, he slipped through the cracks and was instantly reincarnated as baby Alex Finch (Robert Downey Jr.). read more

BrianWilkins.org
April 23, 2022

The year 1980 is to the oldest of Generation X, as 1990 is to the youngest of Generation X (i.e. ME). Those years transitioned from one era to the next. I talked about Disco Demolition Night in another blog post and in a 2006 podcast I created while a student at Arizona State University.

Disco (circa 1972-1980) was one of the grooviest eras in music history; and the last truly creative genre of Black American music. Synthesizers came along in the 1980s and trivialized pure music talent, meaning people who played actual instruments. The 80s, by far, is my favorite decade of music. But it was nowhere near the most talented decade for artists. read more

BrianWilkins.org
November 26, 2021So the headline isn’t 100% true. The Facts Of Life Season Two debut aired on November 19, 1980. But it was a two-part series. “The New Girl: Part 1” aired on November 19. Part Two aired on November 26, 1980.

Jo Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon) joined Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), Dorothy “Tootsie” Ramsey (Kim Fields), Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn), and housemother Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) at Eastland, a private, upscale all-girls high school in upstate New York. read more

BrianWilkins.org
October 18, 2021

I implore every child to keep calendar journals starting right now. Because I couldn’t write these stories without my own journals from childhood.

1983 was a great year for me as an 8-year-old. I was making “good” money from my paper route (about $30/week) and another $5 to $10 per week from golf ball hunting/selling during the summer months. Sure I mostly bought Star Wars action figures, Legos and comic books (the first Transformers toys didn’t come out until 1984). But one of my paper route customers held a garage sale on July 8, 1983; and I bought a used walkman and a tape recorder. At the time, walkmans were still too expensive for an 8-year-old kid to buy brand new with his paper route money. read more