The Music of My Life – Decade Extras – The 1980’s Part 2

This is sort of a continuation of the Music of My Life feature. It focused on music from 1970-2025. It featured tunes that have special meaning to me, brought back a certain memory or a tune that I just really like. I found that with the first three decades, there were songs that I didn’t feature. So I sat down with my original lists and selected some songs that “bubbled under,” so to speak.

I figured a good way to present them was to focus on a decade. 10 years = 1 song per year = 10 songs. Last week I featured the 80’s. This week 10 more 80’s tunes before we move on to the 90’s. So, let’s check out a few “Decade Extras.”

1980

While I was never a truck driver, we certainly listened to Eddie Rabbitt’s Drivin’ My Life Away a lot while driving my my folks. I’m sure it was one of the songs my dad had recorded on 8-track to listen to on our drives up north.

This song was the first song that really made Eddie a crossover artist. The song went to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. I Love A Rainy Night followed and hit #1 on the Hot 100, Country and Adult Contemporary Charts. Step By Step and You and I followed in 1981 and 1982 as crossover hits.

It is one of many Eddie Rabbitt songs I love.

Driving My Life Away

1981

Originally done by Tommy James and the Shondells, Mony Mony was covered by Billy Idol. Billy first released his version as a single in 1981, his first as a solo artist after leaving the band Generation X. His live version of the song went to #1 in 1987.

It was a big song at weddings and schools dances. However, it quickly made many school’s “Do Not Play” list. Why? It became popular for kids to shout “hey, hey, what, get laid, get f–ked” during the instrumental break in the chorus. I found this out the hard way at a school prom. I had a lot of requests for the song and when I played it the kids went crazy. When they shouted out the vulgar chant, it only took seconds for a teacher to come up and tell me to turn it off. Apparently, the chant is still shouted at Billy’s concerts.

Weird Al Yankovic did a parody of Billy’s version called “Alimony” on his Even Worse album in 1988.

Mony Mony

1982

It took two releases for the next song to get noticed. I can still remember going to the record store and buying Built For Speed by the Stray Cats. Rock This Town was such a cool thing to hear on the radio for me. My dad played a lot of Rockabilly stuff for me growing up, so I had to go get this album.

When Stray Cat Strut was first released in August of 1982, it didn’t even crack the Hot 100. I think it stopped at #109. Then Rock This Town was released and the band got noticed. The record company decided to re-release Stray Cat Strut and this time it debuted at #43 and went all the way to #3.

Michigan Trivia: Detroiters may remember that WRIF’s (101 FM) JJ and the Morning Crew a parody of this called “Fat Cat Strut.”

Stray Cat Strut

1983

The Eurythmics are Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart who actually dated for a while. Lennox said in an interview that they wrote this song after the two had a huge fight. Dave came up with a beat, Annie improvised the synthesizer riff, and suddenly they realized they had a potential hit.

In an interview with songfacts.com, Stewart said “We thought we’d made something really special but we had no idea, really, the impact it would have. Neither did the record label, which didn’t even think it was a single.”

Three other songs from the album were released as singles in the UK before their label, RCA, finally issued “Sweet Dreams.” When they did, it took off, climbing to #2.

Songfacts says about the video:

The video presented Lennox with close-cropped orange hair and a tailored black suit, making it the first popular video presenting an androgynous female. The cow in the video was Dave Stewart’s idea – he was a big fan of surreal artists Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. Said Stewart: “A few people were saying, ‘Dave, why the cow? Annie is so good looking.’ Those people should go buy a copy of Purple Cow by Seth Dogin, about how to make your business remarkable. It was written 20 years after I had the purple cow in our video – which certainly did the trick and made my whole life remarkable.”

The cow, while very eye-catching, posed a logistical problem because most studios can’t accommodate them. Eurythmics found a basement studio in London with an elevator big enough to transport the animal. Lennox recalls the shoot with the bovine walking around as being one of the more surreal experiences of her life.

This song used to drive my former sister-in-law crazy. I’m not sure why, but whenever I DJ’s a family party or an event that she was at, I always played this song.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

1984

The next song got it’s title from a 1979 movie. Time After Time is the name of a 1979 science fiction movie starring Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells, whose time machine is stolen by Jack The Ripper, who uses it to travel from 1893 to 1979. Wells follows him into the future and goes on a quest to stop him from killing.

Cyndi Lauper wrote the song with Rob Hyman of The Hooters. Hyman told Songfacts: “When she saw Time After Time, something clicked. She said, ‘I think I have a title.'”

Once the title was in place, they set about writing the song. Hyman explained: “I was sitting at the piano and just started banging out what would eventually be the chorus, hook, and the way we sing it. It almost had like a reggae feel, it was a little bouncier and a little more upbeat. We started getting off on that chorus, then the verse melodies started to appear.

It’s a deceptively simple song. The verses are just a little repeating three-note motif – almost like a nursery rhyme, a very simple song. Then we started to realize we were on to something. The mood of the lyrics came from both of us. I think Cyndi came in and really started the lyric flow, then all of the sudden we realized it wasn’t such a bouncy song, but it was a little more bittersweet and a little deeper in its feeling and a little more poignant, so the music started to change. We wrote a little bridge section and I think the last thing we really wrote was the chorus. We had ‘Time After Time,’ we just had to get the words that would surround it.”

This song surprised me. Compared to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and She Bop, this song was kind of deep. This one and True Colors really made me appreciate her talent.

Time After Time

1985

My Detroit Tigers are doing very well so far this season. I hope they keep it up! From 1985, here is a song that I have written about in the past Centerfield.

Centerfield

1986

My dad always played me classics from Elvis, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Little Richard. I remember my dad coming home and saying, “Keith, you gotta hear this Little Richard song.” It was a song that was featured in the movie Down and Out in Beverly Hills with Richard Dreyfus.

Honestly, it sounded like something he could have done in the 50’s. Great Gosh A’Mighty must have been the cleaned up version for the film, because Little Richard also recorded a Great God Almighty version, too.

The song is always one I play on repeat on the iPod.

Great Gosh A’Mighty

1987

Randy Travis was one of the coolest country stars I’ve had the chance to meet. He was so down to earth and friendly. We talked about music, family and faith. It was like talking to an old friend.

I feel Forever and Ever, Amen is right up in the Top 10 best country songs of all time. It was written by two of the best songwriters in Nashville – Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. The two had already wrote Randy’s hit “On the Other Hand,” and I love the story of how this one came to be.

Overstreet told Songfacts:

“I had played about 36 holes of golf that day, and Don says, ‘I’ve got this idea we have to write.’ His new fiancée’s little boy was learning the Lord’s Prayer, and he was going around saying ‘forever and ever amen’ after everything. He would say, ‘Mommy, I love you. Forever and ever, amen.’ So Don said, ‘We’ve got to write this.’ I said, ‘How about tomorrow?’ He says, ‘No, now.'”

They got together on Overstreet’s front porch that night and composed the song by candlelight. Confident it was a hit, they recorded a demo the next day and sent it to Travis, who made it the lead single to his second album, Always & Forever. It was indeed a hit, spending three weeks at the top of the Country chart, longer than any other song in 1987.

Forever and Ever, Amen

1988

Another cover song on the list – this time, a cover of Elvis Presley. I remember hearing Cheap Trick’s version of Don’t Be Cruel and loving it! I remember really digging the spots in the song where that running bass line can be heard. The key change was something that stood out for me.

I hate to diss on the King, but I almost love the Cheap Trick version a bit more. There is so much going on that really takes the song to another level – that drum beat, the fake cold ending, the guitar solo and so much more. I played the heck out of this 45

Don’t Be Cruel

1989

The final pick comes from the movie UHF from Weird Al Yankovic. In a recent Turntable Talk feature, I talked about the David Lee Roth video for Just a Gigolo. At the end of it, I wondered if Dave borrowed from the music video for UHF’s title song.

While the video for the song is hilarious and brilliant, the song itself is one of my favorites from Al. It is not a parody, rather an original. It is a song that sounds like something you would hear on the radio in ’89. It has an alternative rock feel to it.

It’s an underrated and often forgotten Al song

UHF

What a way to wrap up the 80’s! I hope you heard some tunes you liked, too. Next week we’ll move on to the 1990’s and see what songs bubbled under my original list. See you then!

Thanks for listening and for reading.

Turntable Talk #37 – Turn It On Again

This was first posted on the A Sound Day blog hosted by Dave Ruch:

Once again, Dave from A Sound Day has invited me to participate in his month Turntable Talk feature. I truly appreciate the fact that he always comes up with great topics. Some of those topics are a bit more difficult to write (like last month), and some are quite easy. This month’s topic falls into the latter category.

Dave is calling this month’s round –Turn it on Again! His instructions are very easy: “tell us about your favorite music video, or the one which impresses you most, and why you love it.” As a child who grew up with MTV, I had many that came to mind.

At this writing, I don’t know what the other contributors have chosen to write about. Has someone picked Michael Jackson’s Thriller? What about Take on Me from A-Ha or Buddy Holly by Weezer? I also wonder about Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice, Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Each and every one of them stands out and have appeared on many “Best Music Video” lists.

I’m not sure that my pick would be considered my “favorite.” I also wouldn’t say it “impresses” me most, but I do enjoy watching the craziness of it. I suppose readers may be surprised at my choice, as I don’t really write about many “rock” songs. I suppose that this song wouldn’t fit into that category, but the singer qualifies as a rocker (at least most people think so).

“The band as you know it is over!” That is what Eddie Van Halen told Rolling Stone in mid-August 1985. This confirmed the rumors of division in the band with David Lee Roth. Eddie also made sure to add that “Dave left to be a movie star.” With that, Dave went on to explore a solo career. In late 1984, Dave released a cover of the Beach Boy’s California Girls. He followed that with another cover song (medley actually) from the great Louis Prima.

In 1956, Prima took the song Just a Gigolo and paired it up with I Ain’t Got Nobody. He used the song in his 1950’s Las Vegas act with Sam Butera and Keely Smith. The success of that act gained Prima a recording deal with Capitol Record, which hoped to capture on record the atmosphere of his shows. The first album, titled The Wildest! was released in November 1956, and opened with “Just a Gigolo”/”I Ain’t Got Nobody.” It became Prima’s signature number and helped relaunch his career.

Roth’s version is really almost a note for not copy of Prima’s record. By itself, it’s just an ok cover song. However, with an entertaining video that features celebrity look-alikes, beautiful women, and Dave being … Dave, it becomes something much much more.

The video for the song begins with Dave asleep at a news desk as his video for “California Girls” plays behind him on the monitor. The crew calls his name and he wakes up. After his talk, the freaky crew members begin to speak to him. They are right in the camera, so the viewer sees this from Dave’s perspective in this sequence. It’s actually kind of disturbing. The intro to the video is almost two minutes long before the song actually begins.

When it does, Dave is off dancing through the studio. We see him showing up at a talk show, walking through the backstage area among Vegas showgirls, astronauts, pimps, pirates, monsters, cheerleaders, hula dancers, and the police. All of this happens before you really get to the “meat and potatoes” of the video.

It is there that Dave begins parodying videos from Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Idol, Richard Simmons’s “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” videos (Davercize!), Willie Nelson, and Boy George. As he appears in each of the videos, he winds up wrecking them. It is almost like watching a cartoon. It’s utter chaos, but a fun chaos (unless you count the priest who has a heart attack because of Dave’s dancing.)

The video is like a snapshot of the 80’s. It’s funny to imagine Dave crashing into a Willie Nelson or Cyndi Lauper video. As the “Nostalgic Italian,” I appreciate the nostalgia that the video presents. It is more powerful now than it was in 1985.

Eventually, MTV edited the 2 minute intro out, and just played the song portion of the video in rotation. I think that is how I first saw the video. When I searched for it to post in this blog, I found the full video. I honestly had forgotten all about the intro, but seeing it again was a hoot. Watching Dave do his “over the top” announcer made me think of so many of those DJ’s on the radio who literally puke every thing they say.

Back in one of our first rounds of Turntable Talk, we discussed music videos and whether they hurt radio. To me, I love the fact that a music video can convey the story of a sad song or add a whole lot of fun to another. With this video, Dave pokes fun at other videos, which only makes his more enjoyable to see.

I could be wrong, but it is possible that Weird Al Yankovic looked back to this video as inspiration for his UFH video. In Al’s Video, (in between clips from the movie) he pokes fun at Guns and Roses, Prince, George Michael, Peter Gabriel, ZZ Top, Billy Idol, The Beatles, INXS and the Talking Heads!

Thanks again, Dave for asking me to take part in this feature. I know that I really look forward to your topics and enjoy writing my response to them. I am already looking forward to next month.

Thanks for reading!

Friday Photo Flashback

I wish that this picture of Baby Keith was a bit clearer. I must have moved when the picture was taken, because it looks like my hands are a bit blurry. The rest of the photo is clear enough, though.

This photo was a real treasure to find. First of all, I’m in it. Ha! My grandma had a huge light on the ceiling, and eventually a ceiling fan. Based on the year of this picture (1970-71), I don’t think the fan is there yet. Obviously, I am enthralled by something up there.

Second, it is at my grandma’s house. What surprised me about this photo is that there is tile on the floor instead of carpet. Honestly, I do not remember there being tile on the floor, but there it is. This was their living room, so I can’t even understand wanting tile instead of carpet. I suppose I do remember hearing old commercials for Johnson’s Wax on old radio shows, so maybe this was a thing?

Check out that big honking TV in the background! I don’t recall that TV in particular, so I am assuming that by the time I was 6ish, it was gone. Then again, by the time I was 6, there was carpet on the floor, too. Anyway, I love these old televisions. I remember so well those knobs – one for UHF and one for VHF channels. Those things were literally a piece of furniture.

I have no recollection of that ugly rug on the floor. But I do remember seeing that coffee table in a few other photos. I think by the time I was 5 or 6 it had been moved into the front room. I am guessing grandma didn’t want us bonking our heads on it. As I think about it, I don’t know that coffee tables are a thing anymore. Are they? I don’t know many folks who have one in the middle of their living room.

Now, end tables, yes. I think almost everyone has/had them. My grandparents had at least two in every room. Ok, maybe the ones in the bedrooms were more like night stands, but still….

That end table in the corner is one I do remember. I also remember that ugly lamp on top of it. I remember it was very heavy. I think the base of it was concrete or something “rocky.” I have to laugh because if I zoom in on the white bag sitting on the table, it looks like that might be the K-Mart logo. I could be wrong, but my grandma did a LOT of shopping there, so chances are good that it is from there.

Two other things stand out in this photo. The scratchy yellow couch can be seen at the left of the photo. That couch is a core memory. I don’t think I will ever forget that or the scratchy green chair made of the same material.

The last thing is the lone hand in the picture next to the couch. Don’t ask me how I know, but I am 99.9% positive that is my grandpa’s hand. I held his hand often as a youngster, and looked at it age as I grew up. I distinctly remember the look of it as he held a cigarette, a cup of coffee, or a pinochle hand. I also remember it from the last night of his life. I remember holding it and talking to him. Funny how a blurry photo can bring back so many clear memories, isn’t it?

Favorite Films – The 80’s

This blog is a continuation of a series I started earlier this week. Somebody had the idea to post a list was to consist of your favorite films from each year of your life. So, you start with your birth year and move ahead year by year and list all the films from each year. A post from the Avocado site came up in my “Reader” list of blogs that had the same principle, but with one exception – you can only pick one movie from each year. My last blog focused on my favorites from the 1970’s and this one will feature the 1980’s.

I have a feeling that there will be more movies per year for me to pick from in this decade.

1980 was a year for sequels. Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason returned for another adventure in Smokey and the Bandit II, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker faced off in The Empire Strikes Back, and Christopher Reeve was back as Superman in Superman II. We were first introduced to Jason in the first of many installments of the Friday the 13th franchise. Queen provided the theme song for the film Flash Gordon. A few years before he was dealing with a Delorean, Robert Zemeckis directed Kurt Russell and Jack Warden in Used Cars. Jack Nicholson yelled “Here’s Johnny!” in the Shining and Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin dreamed of knocking off their boss in Nine to Five.

I mentioned in the last blog that I had a feeling it would be more difficult to pick just one movie per year as I headed into the 80’s. That was proven to be true as I looked over the movies for 1980 and saw three of my all-time favorites were released. ANY three of these could easily be my one pick for the year for the following reasons (1) all three of them have an amazing cast (2) all three of them are funny (3) all three of them are all full of great movie lines! I want to break the rules and make this a three way tie! Alas, I have to pick just one.

The first runner up – Caddyshack. Such a funny movie that is quoted every day on golf courses all across the country! Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase all combine their talents to make this such a funny movie! Second runner up – The Blues Brothers. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd are Jake and Elwood Blues. It is a comedy of epic proportions and has one of the best soundtracks ever. Also, very quotable.

The pick for my favorite, though, has to be THE most quoted movie of the ’80s – Airplane! “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley!”

Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hayes and SO many more! The Zucker Brothers brought us this comedy, a direct rip-off of a film called Zero Hour (look for the comparison on YouTube), and it is a joke after joke laugh riot. Having serious actor say these comedy lines straight makes the line even more funny! The scenes with “Johnny” are worth the price of admission!

1981 brought us some great films. Some of my favorite action movies from ’81 include Burt Reynolds in Sharky’s Machine, and Sylvester Stalone and Billy Dee Williams in Nighthawks. Adventure films included stop-action creatures from Ray Harryhausen in Clash of the Titans and our introduction to Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford starring in Raiders of the Lost Ark (the face melting scene still creeps me out!).

1981 was full of comedies, some better than others (Remember Ringo Starr’s Caveman?!). Dudley Moore was brilliantly funny in Arthur. The Muppets return for fun in The Great Muppet Caper. Chevy Chase, Dabney Coleman, and Nell Carter appear in the underappreciated Modern Problems. George Hamilton plays dual roles in a film I recently blogged about, Zorro The Gay Blade. Not his best, but I still laugh at Jerry Lewis’ Hardly Working. And Mel Brooks offered up History of the World Part I (and left many of us longing for Part II).

Stripes starring Bill Murray, John Candy, and Harold Ramis comes in as a close second here. It could easily be THE favorite for this year. It is still funny today, and I find myself quoting it often. Just edging it out as my favorite is The Cannonball Run.

Burt Reynolds leads an all star cast in the race across the country! Silly fun and many funny lines. Dom Deluise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. Farrah Fawcett, Bert Convy, Jamie Farr, Roger Moore, Jack Elam, Adrienne Barbeau, Peter Fonda, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Tillis, and so many more star in this comedy, which will always remain one of my favorites!

In 1982, Sylvester Stallone introduced us to Rambo in First Blood while Harrison Ford starred in Blade Runner (which finally just recently got a sequel). ET phoned home, Sean Penn was stoned out of his mind in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Scott Baio had super powers in Zapped! Airplane II: The Sequel recycled some old jokes and was not as good as the original. Michael Keaton drove Henry Winkler crazy in Night Shift. Creepshow was creepy (and had a cool cameo from Stephen King). A favorite from this year is Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, which is shot in black and white and Steve interacts with old movie stars.

My top pick for 1982 has got to be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

I didn’t care for the first Star Trek film, but this one was excellent. Again, we have the original cast back on the Enterprise. This film goes back to the original series for a tie in. Ricardo Montalban played the character on the series and now, years later, he finds Kirk and plans to get his revenge. It is a great story, and the film has a powerful ending. The best of the entire series in my opinion. Montalban is just amazing in this movie!

The scene with William Shatner screaming “Khan!” – how can you not love it?

I can already sense the backlash I am going to get for my pick from this year, please remember this is MY list and not yours!

In the comedy category, 1983 had Michael Keaton stepping in for Teri Garr in Mr. Mom. Gary Busey, Marsha Warfield, and Mr. T are a riot in DC Cab while Bob and Doug McKenzie (Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis) get their first feature film in Strange Brew. Dan Aykroyd takes on “mom” in Doctor Detroit while Rodney Dangerfield takes on his mother-in-law in Easy Money. 1983 also introduced us to the Griswold family as they make their trip to Walley World in National Lampoon’s Vacation.

The Skywalker’s were back for the third part of the original trilogy in Return of the Jedi, while Christopher Walken woke from a coma with psychic powers in The Dead Zone. And who can forget Al Pacino’s thrilling performance in Scarface? My pick for favorite of this year is a holiday classic – A Christmas Story.

So why this film? Because it remains one that I faithfully watch every Christmas. Who can’t relate to the way the Parker boys feel as Christmas approaches? While it is set in the 1940’s, their excitement mirrors what every child feels during the holidays. It’s a classic! I had the chance to see the Christmas Story house this year (and blogged about it) and it was fun to walk through.

As I looked over my list from ’84, I once again see more comedies than other genres. Eddie Murphy went to Detroit to film Beverly Hills Cop, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis took on the spiritual realm in Ghostbusters. Michal Keaton and Joe Piscopo are mobsters is Johnny Dangerously. We meet the first batch of recruits in the first Police Academy movie, while Cannonball Run II fell flat, despite a great cast. Sight gags and puns galore were seen with Val Kilmer in Top Secret, and we first met Sarah Connor in the first Terminator movie.

1984 was the year the Detroit Tigers last won a World Series. I will never forget the excitement of that series or the season that led up to it. Perhaps that is why my favorite flick from 1984 is The Natural.

Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs and he is an amazing ball player. The film is based on a 1952 book by Bernard Malamud. (Spoiler, in case you haven’t seen it) In the book, Hobbs strikes out at the end. However, in the movie, there is an amazing homerun that knocks out the lights and sparks fly all over the place – one of my favorite endings!

“Knock the cover off the ball ….”

My list of favorites from this year is not too long. Not that there weren’t some great films released, because there were, but many of them didn’t make an impact on me. I enjoyed the James Bond film A View to a Kill (Roger Moore as Bond), Harrison Ford in Witness, and Chevy Chase as Fletch. The “Brat Pack” film The Breakfast Club was released with your “stereotypical high school teens”. The Goonies was one I watched once. It was ok, but I didn’t see the hype that everyone else did. As stupid as it was, Transylvania 6-5000 always made me laugh. Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr., John Byner, Geena Davis, and Michael Richards are all part of the cast, and there are some funny (and some very dumb) scenes.

Who would have thought that a board game could inspire a very funny film? Clue came out in 1985 and had three different endings (it varied on wherever you saw it). Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, Martin Mull, Madeline Khan, Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, and Lesley Ann Warren play the various people from the game and it is just a blast to watch. This easily could be my pick, but there is one film that stands out far above the rest.

As someone who always loved stories about time travel, I was hooked immediately by the trailer for Back to the Future. It remains one that I can watch over and over today.

There is just SO much to love about this film!!! Great story. Great characters (and a great cast). Comedy. Suspense. Good music and a cool car that when it hit 88 miles per hour, you saw some “pretty serious sh*t!”

1986 really doesn’t have a stand out film for me. I enjoyed Top Gun with Tom Cruise (it also has a sequel coming out). Little Shop of Horrors was an ok movie (Steve Martin as the dentist is a high light). Tough Guys had some good scenes, but with big stars like Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, I expected more. One Crazy Summer had some funny scenes, but wasn’t a laugh out loud riot. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was good. I loved the premise of this kid skipping school and doing all that he did … and still making it home before his folks found out (what kid didn’t want to do what Ferris did?!).

The only film that stands out to me from 1986 is one that you may question. It gets the my pick as favorite for sentimental reasons. The Three Amigos starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short. I don’t care how many times El Guapo yells “It’s a sweater!”, I laugh! But that is not why I picked this one. Back when my oldest son was just diagnosed with autism, we were watching this movie. There is a scene where the Amigos are sitting around a campfire and they begin to sing the song “Blue Shadows”. My son walked to the TV and just stared. He loved that song. At that time, we had no idea if he would ever really speak more than a few words. He would watch this scene over and over! I even have it on my iPod because it makes me think of him.

After the song, we used to have to wait for the turtle to say “Goodnight, Ned” before we had to rewind that scene.

1987 offered up some classics. Who wasn’t freaked out by the rabbit scene in Fatal Attraction? Even though you saw it coming, you cried when Richie Valens died in La Bamba. Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World was given new life on the radio thanks to Robin Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam. “Nobody gets outta here without singing the blues” is one of my favorite lines from Adventures in Babysitting. Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks team up for a Dragnet movie that misses the mark. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson first teamed up for Lethal Weapon and Kevin Costner played Elliot Ness in The Untouchables. We also enjoyed the fairy tale The Princess Bride and Mel Brooks parodied Star Wars and space movies with Spaceballs (“We Break for Nobody!”

If you loved Airplane, but have never seen Amazon Women on the Moon, you need to. It’s as silly as Airplane and has some very funny scenes. For years, I’ve joked that I’d like my funeral to be like a roast. I said I would want people to share funny stories about times we shared together. In this film, there is actually a funeral that is a roast – with a dias that includes Steve Allen, Slappy White, and other comedy greats!

My 1987 favorite goes to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

This is just one of the best John Hughes films. You get every emotion watching this film. There are times that are laugh out loud funny and there are times where you are wiping tears from your eyes. Steve Martin and John Candy are just great together. This film makes me miss John Candy. He was such a great actor.

In 1988 Dirty Harry returned in The Dead Pool, Tom Hanks wished he was Big, and Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall were Coming to America. Bruce Willis starred in the first Die Hard and Michael Keaton was Beetlejuice. I was impressed by the interaction between humans and cartoons in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and (as a Monty Python fan) loved John Cleese and Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda.

With my favorite movie that kicked off this decade (Airplane), it should come as no surprise that my pick from 1988 is The Naked Gun starring Leslie Nielsen.

Shortly after Airplane, the Zucker brothers created Police Squad. It was a short lived TV show starring Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin. It aired just 6 episodes. The show is the premise for the movie. George Kennedy replaced Alan North and OJ Simpson (pre-murder trial) also starred. Ricardo Montalban plays the villain in this and is just great. Not as many lines as Airplane, but just as funny!!

“It’s Enrico Palazzo!!”

As I come to the last year of this decade, I am faced with the same issue I had with the first year. I have many favorites from this year and wonder just how I can pick only one movie as a favorite!

Comedies included Eddie Murphy in Harlem Nights, Weird Al Yankovic starred in his first film UHF, John Candy was Uncle Buck in another John Hughes film, and Charlie Sheen was Wild Thing in Major League (“Just a bit outside!”). Bernie is dead, but he still has quite an adventure in Weekend at Bernie’s. Jack Palance plays a wonderful bad guy in Tango and Cash and the Griswold’s host Christmas in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. And I can’t forget to mention that Doc Brown and Marty McFly return in Back to the Future II (which some people hate because it goes back and forth from time to time – but that’s what I love about it! That, and the fact that they reshot original scenes from Part I and then had the characters interact within that scene.)

Two films that really stand out from 89 are not comedies, but adventure movies. The runner up for my favorite is Tim Burton’s Batman. As a fan of the 1966 Batman, I was excited to see how this film would be portrayed. Michael Keaton played Batman and I thought he did ok. Jack Nicholson as the Joker was amazing! I loved his interpretation of the character (though I still believe Cesar Romero is the best). It was really well done. This brings me to my favorite film of 1989 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

In the Indiana Jones series, I always felt this was the strongest of them all. Harrison Ford is again great as Indy, but his father, played by Sean Connery, steals the scenes. I can easily see my dad and I fighting with each other like these two do if we ever were off on an adventure like this. I just love their interactions with each other. They are both just perfect in this film. The final scene is also just a picture perfect ending!

So with that, let’s ride into the sunset. When we return, let’s dive into the 90’s, ok?

Thanks for reading!