Monday, December 31, 2012

Monday Listicles - Mullets and More

Put your hair in your banana clip, your rear in some Jordache jeans, and your calves in their leg warmers, people.  We are talking Everything 80s for our Listicles topic this week.  Let's jump right on in. 

10.  The Limited Forenza sweaters.  My sister had one in every color, because she was fashionable like that.  Here she is in 6th grade sporting one for her school photo.


Isn't she cute, with the polo turned up, the cute hair, and, of course, the sweater?

9.  I got to sport some serious 80s fashion, too.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the coveted Forenza.  I had more of the fashionable redneck look going on.  The 80s couldn't be the 80s without


the terribly not cute mullet.  How are we even related?

8.  Too bad you can't see the jeans I was sporting in that photo.  They're pegged.

7.    The 80s was also the decade of my one and only Hollywood crush.  Bestill my heart, dearest Harrison Ford.  Oh, sweet Indy, what did Marion have that I didn't?  Shoot, I would have even played the part of Chewbacca if it meant getting to be with my Harry. 




6.  Hey, did you know that video killed the radio star?  Too bad reality TV killed the video star.   Can we start a petition for MTV to go back to its roots and play nothing but music videos?  Although, I don't know if I'd want the videos that musicians would have these days.   Nothing like Michael, Madonna, Prince, Wham, U2, Bon Jovi, Milli Vanilli, The New Kids on the Block, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, The Beastie Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince...  Oh, it never ends.  I loved spending hours and hours and hours watching that channel.  Loved it.

5.  Speaking of music, our high school had sock hops after every football game.  We teens took over the gym and danced our hearts out, while the parents played cards in the cafeteria.  Don't get images of dorky kids in poodle skirts.  Even the cool kids went, and the only reason it was a sock hop is because the administration didn't want us to mess up their gym floor with shoes we wore to a football game.  Those hops will always have a place in my heart, as a sock hop is where I danced my first dance with Hubby.  One of the funniest things we remember about the sock hops was the song that got banned.  The DJ played Mony Mony by Billy Idol, and we all broke into the added unofficial lyrics (sang in a call/answer sort of way) "Hey! Hey! What? What? Get $(($*!  Get #*$*#*!"  And that was the end of that song.

4.  I did a lot of babysitting in the 80s, which meant I was up late most weekends.  Really, it's the only time in my life that I was up late and able to watch Saturday Night Live.   Which is good, because it was really funny (and popular) back then.  Between Eddie Murphy's Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood and Dana Carvey's Churchlady, there were some funny, funny skits.  Of them all, my favorite was Martin Short's Ed Grimley.  To Hubby's horror, "I must say" I was very good at mimicking that little jump Ed did. 

3.  Sure, we didn't have the Wii or XBox back in the day, but we had Pac-Man.  My siblings (and my mom, for that matter) spent hours playing that game.  The one and only time my siblings were excited about something I did was the day I flipped the score.  Everyone saw that I was getting close, so they huddled around me and my Atari joystick, watching and waiting.  When it finally happened (I don't even remember what the magic number was.  Maybe 100,000?) and the score went back to zero, cheers rang out.  I was cool.  But then we realized that all it meant was that I was back at zero again and the excitement really just petered out.  I was back to being my uncool older sister self.

2.  ABC After School Specials.  My parents had it so easy.  They didn't have to have a single difficult discussion with me.  Just flip on the after school special, and my learnin' was complete.  I learned about AIDS from transfusions, drug use, peer pressure, being kidnapped by strangers, drunk driving, and a plethora of other touchy topics.  Why did they go away?  I have to actually find natural, teachable moments to tackle these things with my own kids.  And the ones my parents didn't have to deal with on top of it.  Don't you sometimes wish there was an after school movie on the perils of sexting you could have your teenager watch?

1.  Holy cow, going through this list, it appears that I did nothing but watch TV throughout the entire decade.  But how could you not, when such good shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Family Ties and The Cosby Show were on?   Bill Cosby was huge back then.  Besides his show, I was first introduced to stand-up comedy with his Bill Cosby:Himself video.  (On VHS, not Beta.  Remember that?  You had to pick your alliance and pray that you were stocking up on the right kind of video.  Poor saps who chose Beta wasted a whole lotta cash.)  Can you imagine having to live like our children and not know that Will Smith had a huge career way before Men in Black was ever released and his daughter Willow ever started waving her hair?  I still know the theme song by heart. 

Yo homes, smell ya later!

Head over to the Listicle fun.  Be sure to visit the blog of the funny lady who came up with this idea.  I hear Kate is letting us all in on the many ways she failed at 80s fashion. 

Happy New Year!

37 comments:

  1. I think the 80's for me will always be Saved By The Bell. My god, I had such a crush on Mario Lopez.

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    1. While Mario was (and is) built to the hilt, he just wasn't mature enough for my taste. And that show had a nerd with the same last name as mine. I hated it for that reason alone.

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  2. Man...I really should have NOT read your blog before I started ruminating on mine...I might just put "ditto" and a link to yours...the only difference would be the photo of your sister, being as how I do not have a sister. Everything else: spot on.

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    1. Ah, the rookie listicles mistake. Never, ever read others' lists before writing your own. It will stop you cold every time. Sometimes I wished I didn't have a cute sister either.

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  3. AAAAAhhhhh, such memories you brought back for me!!!! Honestly, I think Harrison Ford is still hot and Bon Jovi can ROCK my world any day.

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  4. Yo homes, smell ya later! Ha! I so loved that list... banana clips, Jordache jeans, Video Killed the Radio Star- those were the days! Great job!

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    1. Why thank you. They were the best days, weren't they?

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  5. Homie, I hate you. I am battling a cold and I read this and started laughing so hard I began coughing my head off. Harrison Ford is definitely still a hotty. Video did kill the radio star. And, pegged pants. Oh my. ABC After-School Specials... I totally forgot about banana clips... and those stupid big bowed barrettes. LOL.

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    1. So sorry you are feeling under the weather. Hopefully when you laughed it was a snort and all that snot flew out and you feel much better.
      Thank heavens I never got into the big bows. Probably because my stepmom always put my little sisters' hair in them and I saw how ridiculous they were on little girls.

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  6. Guess I was too little to remember most of it...I did have a green shell suit though. My sister had the same one in pink.

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    1. The one and only reason I don't envy your youth is that you didn't get to enjoy the best decade ever. At least you had the shell suit. :)

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  7. #5 is hilarious! And I had the same experience with #4!

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    1. So grateful for all of my babysitting gigs. I got to earn some cash while being able to laugh at funny TV.

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  8. God, I miss after school specials. Wonder if they are available on Netflix? Because, seriously, best.TV.ever. This is such a great list! :)

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    1. I have no doubt that they are available somewhere. Perhaps they can make a comeback like the School House Rock songs are.
      And thank you!

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  9. Fabulous list!! The extra lyrics to Mony Mony.. I still shout them in my head whenever I hear that song! I did lots of babysitting in 80s to & you reminded me of mnay of my favorite SNL sketches.

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    1. Thank you! And once you know the lyrics, how can you not sing them?
      SNL had some funny, funny people back then.

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  10. Ah. Mony Mony. I think we had different unofficial lyrics, but still just as naughty.

    I'd mostly forgotten about the ABC After School Specials. I think they were on the way out by time I was old enough to appreciate them. All I remember is making fun of them.

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    1. What is it about that song that brought out the naughty lyrics? There were plenty of songs that could have gone that direction, but only Mony Mony did that I can remember.

      While I loved those after school specials, if I saw them now, I'm sure I'd make fun of them, too.

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  11. Laughing so hard at #5 I can hardly breathe! My sister in law and I may have broken into that potty-mouthed chorus at a retro dance party last year, so loudly that the much older ladies sitting near us were clearly horrified. 30-somethings these days! What is the world coming to?

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    1. Those old bitties don't know what good music is! There is no way on this earth that you CAN'T sing those lyrics.

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  12. SNL every Saturday night. Loved it! Sometimes, the best part For me was discussing all the skits at school on Monday. So funny! Laughed SO hard! You flipped P-Man?? You were my hero. My highest score was 72000-ish. I woke my mom up that night and had her take a pic of me pointing at my score on the screen. I would have put that pic in my blog about 80's toys on Friday if I could have found it. Loved your post and had to tweet it!

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    1. We always talked about SNL at school, too! We even did little skits of our own, based on the characters from the show.
      Oh, I wish you could find the photo. Someday, perhaps you will and can use it as a Caption That photo.
      I'm so glad you liked the list. And a tweet?! I feel so special. If only I knew how/where to tweet so I could see it.

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  13. This brought back so many memories! Good memories but ones I didn't realize existed because of the 80's. Geh! That seems sooooooo long ago. I might have to finish off the baileys in my coffee this morning. A little something to fight the depression of age realization :D

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    1. One unexpected bonus for marrying your high school boyfriend is that you can really and completely live in denial about your age. We can talk 80s and common high school memories til the cows come home.
      I'm not a fan of age realization either. Perhaps I need to finally take up drinking coffee so I can add some baileys to it. :)

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  14. Oh my goodness, I was SCREAMING through this entire post!! My husband and I are closet 80's fans. He didn't know banana clips were out of style until a couple of years ago, ha!! MTV was so fun, Atari, neon everything (which is making a come-back), SNL Hanz and Franz, and my sister and I used to scrape together our pennies to buy BOP magazine with all the heart throb teens on the cover! Thanks for such a fab post - it cheered me right up!! :)

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    1. So glad you enjoyed the post. Glad it could "pump you up". Ha! Love Hanz and Franz. How could I have forgotten about the teen magazines??? They were huge back then. Everyone I knew had posters of their heartthrobs all over their bedrooms thanks to those magazines.

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  15. Is it sad that I only recently got close to flipping Pacman?? Well, Ms Pacman. I love that game, my sister and I have had ongoing competitions for years. We just played yesterday in fact! I'm going to secretly buy an arcade Pacman and put it in the basement so I can practice everyday - I think it would make a perfect Valentine's Day gift. Great list :)

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    1. It would be a great Valentine's gift. Oh, how I would love to have a pac-man arcade game. But then I'd have two things to be addicted to (blogging being the other). nothing would ever, ever get done around here. Good luck beating your sister. I'm sure you can take her.

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  16. Yes, yes, yes! All of this! How did I forget Will Smith on my list?? "Yo homes, smell ya later!"

    And as a kid I didn't really understand, but it WAS a lot of stress to pick between Beta and VHS. Those machines were a lot of money. Maybe it's because of that burn of long ago that I am still skittish about investing in Blu-ray.

    And thank you for reminding me about the score flip on Pac-Man. I like totally forgot about that! Oh the technology. Ellen

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    1. We haven't jumped into Blu-ray either. Gotta make sure it will stick first! Actually, we still have a VCR for the kids to use. We are never the ones with the newest gadgets.

      You're welcome!

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  17. OMG, the sweaters, popped collars, pegged jeans I can see myself getting dressed and then teasing my hair as high as I could get it. Oh the memories.

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    1. I could tease with the best of them. My hair is perfect for it. Great memories, for sure.
      Thanks for stopping by!

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  18. Billy Idol's is still one of the most played high school songs these days!! Love that photo. So pretty, mullet and all!

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    1. You're sweet. It is not pretty.
      I'm glad the song has survived.

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