I love 'I LOVE THE 80's'! (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

So, you say you wanna re-live your glory days of the 80's eh? Well, here's your chance to do that in one hour increments courtesy of VH1's I LOVE THE 80's.

Indeed, i'm typing this during commercial breaks for the show, yep, it's on right now! They're on 1989 now. I love seeing what was once cool, who was once hot and isn't anymore and what we were wearing, all set to often funny commentary by a random group of singers and actors both from the past, and today. And being a child of the 80's myself, I remember all this stuff, so it's fun going "Oh yeah! I remember that!" or "Oh shit, I wish I could forget that!" Great stuff.

I can't get enough of the show!

 

[Dave Miller]

I think I've now seen each year and they are hilarious shows. Brings back lots of memories for me. So many things absurd things I'd forgotten about.

Peace,

DM

 

[John Torrez]

I wish they'd release the thing on dvd. That would be so awesome.

 

[Dominik Droscher]

They are doing that in the US now? We had a huge 80s revival show last year in Germany. For once we came first. Wheeeee. I am not an 80s fan though.

I am still dreading the next wave of reality shows that you'll send in our direction. :frowning:

 

[Jeremiah]

They are doing that in the US now? We had a huge 80s revival show last year in Germany. For once we came first. Wheeeee. I am not an 80s fan though.

Sadly though, you did a show about the 80's first.

 

[Hunter P]

Those shows covered a lot of stuff. I loved every minute of it. I even learned a lot of stuff that I didn't know before. For instance, I never knew that the song "Turning Japanese" was about masturbation.

 

[RobertW]

i watched this when it was first broadcast, and while parts of it had some appeal, i really hated it for the same reasons i hated most things during the 80's.

don't get me wrong, the eighties are my absolute favorite decade for music and other stuff. but not the music and stuff that these programs looked back on so nostalgically. being a bit older than probably most of those who look back fondly on that decade(i turned 20 in 1980), i had already rejected outright most of the things that achieved popularity during that decade, while delving deep into other areas.

so for every mention of something reall worthwhile from the 80's, like prince, or maybe the rise of REM, you had to wade through tons of pop kitsch like culture club, strawberry shortcake, parachute pants and the like. much like the majority of eighties themselves, these shows were all surface fluff, and no substance and depth. all the really good stuff was hiding there under the surface, unseen by most people.

 

[Bill Catherall]

Yeah!!! I love the 80s and I love watching "I Love the 80s." The music, the hair, the clothing, the toys, everything. It's all so stupid and cool. Embarrasing but fun. I dig 80s chicks. And there has never been any better music. Totally rad!

 

[Hunter P]

Somebody made fun of your mullet didn't they? It's OK, man. Let it out. Let the tears wash away the pain.

 

[RobertW]

Somebody made fun of your mullet didn't they? It's OK, man. Let it out. Let the tears wash away the pain.

not really.

but how can you seriously be into flock of seagulls, wham!, and mc hammer when you got public enemy, the pixies, rem, new order and countless other bands out there making really excellent music? why goes nuts over the springsteen born in the usa hype when the river, darkness, or born to run were all better albums?

 

[ChuckDeLa]

why goes nuts over the springsteen born in the usa hype when the river, darkness, or born to run were all better albums

Born in the USA is his best album IMO (though Born to Run is a close 2nd)

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> you had to wade through tons of pop kitsch

I think that's the point. This is VH1, not PBS or A&E.

 

[Hunter P]

Well you're welcome to your opinion but thankfully I am perfectly cable of appreciating both Wham! and New Order. I like U2 before and after they sold out. I can listen to Public Enemy and Hammer all day.

I never get the argument that entertainment has to "mean" something. Why does everything have to have substance, especially entertainment? Give me empty entertainment any day of the week. Entertainment is escapism and fantasy afterall, no matter what kind of "message" you want to add onto it.

Do not underestimate the value of stupid fun.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Ive watched a few of these recently too. I am really enjoying them too.

I love the commentaries that people say about the 80s. Like what ever happend to Tom Hanks from Bosom Buddies when it is clearly Peter Scolari they are talking about.

 

[John Torrez]

I had them add "I Love the 80's" to www.tvshowsondvd.com go over there and vote for it please.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Like what ever happend to Tom Hanks from Bosom Buddies

He is still trying to recover from Mazes and Monsters

 

[Win Joy Jr]

Well, in the '80's, Bruce released 5 albums:

The River - 1980
Nebraska - 1982
Born in the USA - 1984
Live '75-85 - 1986
Tunnel of Love - 1987

You can't count "Darkness" or "BTR" since they were released in the 70's...

"Born in the USA" was not supposed to be that "BIG"... It just hit a chord at the time. Add in a throw-away song that was written in one night at the behest of his manager (Dancing in the Dark), the title track being an angry song totally misunderstood to this day (my town STILL plays "Born in the USA" during the fireworks every 4th of July), a song about his best friend leaving the band (Bobby Jean was written about Miami Steve's departure from the E Street Band), a song about the deterioration of a persons hometown (My Hometown), it was not supposed to be an album that stayed on the carts for over a year and spawned 7 singles...

While other albums may be better than "Born in the USA" (and I happen to think that "The Rising" is some of his best work), there is no argument that it was the reason that Bruce entered the mainstream american perspective. But the reason that he is still there (unlike most of the others) is that it was not a calculated attempt to thrust himself into the public light. Bruce's attitude when he releases a record is "I put it out there. If they like it, great. If they don't, great". "Born in the USA" allowed Bruce to cast off all of the trappings that can bring down a "Pop Idol". He releases records when HE wants to, not when the label wants him to. And Sony is quite happy with that arrangement. They wanted "Born in the USA II". Bruce gave them "Tunnel of Love".

Now, move forward 18 - 19 years to his tour that started last summer, and is still ongoing. "Born in the USA" re-emerged in a full band rendition during the encores, then evolved into the Blues version that he adopted in the 90's. And now, Dancing in the Dark, the HIT SINGLE that his manager wanted, has returned in a full band rock-and-roll version. Unlike a lot of groups from that era playing tiny lounges and halls doing a "greatest hits" tour and wishing to grab the flame of success again, Bruce can do a "Reunion Tour" with the E Street Band and still show off some fresh perspective and connect with his audience.

 

[DeathStar1]

I didn't care for some of the Segments. The He-Man segment was handled better on the British version, as was the Ninja Turtles segment. Both shows, IIRC, ignored Thundercats completly, however.

Can't remember if they spent much time on Alf or Knight Rider..

 

[DeathStar1]

I didn't care for some of the Segments. The He-Man segment was handled better on the British version, as was the Ninja Turtles segment. Both shows, IIRC, ignored Thundercats completly, however.

Can't remember if they spent much time on Alf or Knight Rider..

Also, anyone know if the British version payed homage to one of the greatest things to come out of the 80's, Mr.Bean?

 

[Glenn_Jn]

how can you seriously be into flock of seagulls, wham!, and mc hammer when you got public enemy, the pixies, rem, new order and countless other bands out there making really excellent music?

I never had any problem finding music to listen to during the 80's. I quite happily enjoyed listening to Flock Of Seagulls , Wham, New Order, Howard Jones, Pale Fountains, Nik Kershaw, Talk Talk, Tears For Fears, Human League, Heaven 17, ABC, Alphaville, Style Council, Ultravox, UB40, Men At Work, Big Country, XTC, OMD, Icicle Works, Paul Hardcastle, Spandau Ballet, The Police, U2, Cocteau Twins, Billy Idol, Pet Shop Boys, Simply Red, The Christians, China Crisis, U2, Dream Academy, Thompson Twins, Dead Can Dance, Orange Juice, Simple Minds, Lotus Eaters, Yazoo, Paul Young, Xymox, Blancmange, Culture Club, Stray Cats, The Colourfield, Kajagoogoo, The Church, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Fixx, Modern English, Duran Duran, Icehouse, The Cure, Kane Gang, The Eurythmics, This Mortal Coil, Sade, Everything But The Girl, The Stranglers, The Hooters, Depeche Mode, Undertones, Thomas Dolby, Housemartins, Amazulu, The Smiths, REM, Split Enz, Haircut 100, Prefab Sprout, Aha, Altered Images, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Level 42, etc,etc,etc. Plus all those wonderful one off singles.

Others who I think produced some pretty good music during the 80's include Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Steve Winwood, Genesis, Phil Collins, Heart, ZZ Top, Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Def Leppard, Fleetwood Mac, Don Henley, Pretenders, Journey, John Cougar, Foreigner, Hall & Oates, Dire Straits, Toto, Queen, The Cars, Sting, Cyndi Lauper, Peter Gabriel and many more.

Public Enemy and the like you can keep. I hate rap music (and I use the term music very loosely) and I always will.

As for these "I Love The 80's" shows, I like to watch them even though I wasn't really "into" most of the stuff they talk about, they still bring back some good memories. I think they just did a marathon showing and played all 10 episodes back to back. It's also interesting to see how different the US version is to the UK version which I watched a couple of years ago.