This Is One Lame-Ass List

It’s still Monday and I haven’t had time to post all day. So I’ll be killing two birds with one stone – a Monday list post and a duty meme. We all get tagged with these at least once a day. I can’t do them all, nor do I want to, but a dear old friend says he’s on “pins and needles,” waiting to see my answers. (Which, Tim, is ridiculous. YOU WERE THERE. You can fill out my list and I could do yours!) So, for those too young to remember, I give you: The ’80s …

1. Who is your favorite ’80s band overall?
U2 (I would not say that now, however. Bono’s conspicuous do-gooding and the band’s bombastic stylings have ruined it for me.)

2. Besides your overall favorite, who is your favorite ’80s pop group?
INXS

3. Besides your overall favorite, who is your favorite ’80s hard rock/metal group?
In the early ’80s I formed my still-enduring love of Led Zeppelin. I was also quite an AC/DC fan for some time. I fancied myself quite the bad girl.

4. Besides your overall favorite, who is your favorite ’80s new wave/punk group?
New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Clash. Hard to come by in my sheltered suburb, but that made them all the cooler.

5. Who is your favorite solo artist in the ’80s?
Oh, that would be one Miss Madonna, though I was unhealthily obsessed with Michael Jackson previous to that.

6. What was your first concert in the ’80s?
My first concert was the Rolling Stones in 1982, but that wasn’t of my choosing. I went with my father. (I enjoyed the opening acts – Journey and George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers – much better than I did the Stones. I shudder now.) The Jackson family “Victory” tour would have been my first concert. 

7. What was your first concert in the ’80s you went to without adult supervision?
Jacko et. al.

8. What is your favorite movie from the ’80s?
The trinity of “Sixteen Candles” followed by “The Breakfast Club” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.” Though the absolute No. 1 would be “Monty Python and The Holy Grail.”

9. What was the brand of your favorite piece of clothing from the ’80s?
I had several pairs of ankle-length Esprit pants that I adored. They of course came in an array of vibrant colors. I had them in turquoise, hot pink and black. I’d wear them with huge white shirts and LLBean mocs. These pants were $34, a scandalous price at that time, yet I still managed to talk my mother into buying multiple pairs. 

10. What is the major political/cultural event you remember most distinctly from the ’80s?
God, how much of a self-absorbed suburban brat would I be if I said nothing stands out? I suppose Reagan getting shot or the US boycott of the Olympics in whatever year that was.

11. What was your favorite pop culture thingy (e.g., Rubik’s, Pop Rocks, etc.) in the ’80s?
I’d have to say catalog shopping. I know it still exists today, many years beyond the ’80s, but it became a bona fide pop culture phenomenon back then. I’d pore over the LLBean, Land’s End and Esprit catalogs for hours, planning outfits and trying to strategize what to spend my babysitting money on first. I also remember the Victoria’s Secret catalog from that time, and it was a far cry from the cheap, mass-produced stuff you find in the stores now. It had a very exotic “$1000 call girl” elegance to it then.

Other ’80s loves: Estee Lauder’s “Beautiful” perfume (I’d wear LOTS of it, too), lime- and lemon-flavored Perrier (it’s hard to imagine a time when sparkling water had no flavors, but the world was a much different place before the ’80s), Tretorn sneakers and my plum-colored LLBean backpack. 

12. What is your favorite non-clothing fad from the ’80s?
I don’t think there was much about the ’80s for me that didn’t involve clothing. I was a tween and a teen during those years. Nothing else, other than music, resonated.
OH! I’ve got one. The 20-Minute Workout. I even had tapes of the background music. (The tapes didn’t have audio instruction – it was just the music, strangely.) I would do this every afternoon after school. It was like soft-core porn, but I loved it.

13. What was your favorite clothing fad from the ’80s?
Sweater vests with T-shirts. I also rocked the pearls-with-polo/rugby shirt look. I like to think that uptown/downtown juxtaposition was a precursor to the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen-led look of carrying $4000 bags while dressed like bag ladies.

14. If you graduated in the ’80s, what was your senior class song?
I have to defer to my friend Tim on this one – “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” by Glen Madieras. I wouldn’t have remembered that. (For good reason, it would seem.)

15. As you know, many ’80s tunes have been sucked into advertising campaigns recently, which song are you most disgusted about being hijacked for a corporation? 
Um, some candy commercial using “Melt With You.” Though, to be honest, it doesn’t break my heart the way it would have 20 years ago. (Sweet Jesus. 20 years ago.)

16. What slang term did you use most in the ’80s?
I would say “awesome,” but perhaps friends of mine would remember better. I’m sure I drove them crazy with some utterance. Probably a very shrieky “Oh ma Gaaa-aaawd!”

17. What video game did you play most in the ’80s?
I took a very unfeminist stance on video games. I liked to drape myself over the Asteroids (or whatever) machine while a boy played it. I cheered him on, pretending to be mightily impressed.

18. What was your favorite music video in the ’80s?
Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer.” I loved the song, but I thought the cutting-edge animation – including the dancing chicken – was the coolest thing ever conceived. Peter Gabriel even has a Talking Heads-esque “big suit” on at the end.

19. What was your favorite ’80s TV show?
“Square Pegs,” “Moonlighting,” “LA Law” and one called “Double Trouble” that few people remember, twin teenage girls havin’ fun in the big city. I also plead guilty to “Dallas” and “The Love Boat.”

20. What did you do most often on Friday nights in the ’80s?
Trolling the neighborhood like preppy hooligans, being very loud and self-impressed.

Read the day’s other lists over at Anna’s:

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tagged as: '80s, Facebook, fashion, feminism, music, social media, teenagers, TV