The 80's

[CHRIST]

Oh no, sir. The Transformers are a curse from the beast we call The Desolate One.

seriously

[Mighty-Mav]

Excellent!!! I love Max Headroom!!! Now everyone go over to AdultSwim and join me in my plea to get that show aired again.Seriously, go do it. I noticed you left out some of the classics, probably because of the recent re-commercialization of shows like Thundercats, Ninja Turtles, and He-man. Does anyone remember a show called "Small Wonder",or "Out of this world"? You know you do! I was born in 1980, and the first ten years of my life were by far the best years yet. Gotta read the rest of the thread to see what everyone else had to say...
Great topic!!!

[Zabka]

Small Wonder...about the robot girl which was essentially sort of an ALF with alittle robot girl instead? Ah...the bad syndicated sitcoms of the day. What a Country starring Yakov Smirnoff---cold war ended, his career was gone. Charles in Charge--whatever happened to Gwendolyn Pierce and the girl (Nicole Eggert) became a Baywatch girl (and then got implants). I don't remember the other show you mentioned mav. But how about when Baywatch first came on? It starred former Miss USA Shawn Weatherly and Parker Stevenson (former husband of Kirstie Alley when she was hot and on coke as well as a former Hardy Boy with Shaun Cassidy). In my area, Baywatch was on at 8:30am on Saturdays...around the same time that Transformers was on back then. Baywatch clearly became much bigger afterwards.

[Deslock]

Zabka, the Boombox Transformer was on of the coolest ones they ever had; Soundwave.

I remember getting up first thing one Saturday mornings, because that was Cartoon day. Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and all the others.

And when cereal boxes actually had toys in them, instead of coupons, or extra fiber. Bleech.

And music was more than just speed metal, or whining pathetic white boys, and cRap music. Bleech again.

I'm not going to lie. I miss those days. Everything now has just become so depressing and evil.

*Sighs* :(

[Kerry2]

Upon cleaning out some of my old stuff from my moms attic when I moved out I found a bunch of my old toys that had been packed away. Among them.

Optimus Prime
Soundwave, though I couldn't find the cassette tape that turned into the vulture.
Starscream
An ass load of Ninja Turtles
Various G.I Joe figures ( those that did not meet their doom at the end of a B.B. gun or firecracker )
He-Man
He-Man's cat ( I can't remember his name)
Buzz off
Trap-Jaw
Ram-Man
Skeletor
Castle gray Skull
Skeletor's Lair
A bunch of other figures that I cannot remember their names
Dick Tracy
Flat Top
Mumbles
Voltron
A newer generation Atari system with a bunch of games including Pit Fall, Outlaws, Yars Revenge, A couple of football games, and the one with the tanks that was similar to outlaws.

And yes I remeber waking up early on saturday mornings and eating pancakes and bacon while watching cartoons. The Super Mario power hour was also a great.

Wierd Al Yankovich in his early years.....We've got it all on UHF.
Thriller
Van Halen before Sammy Hagar
Laugh In
Eddie Murphy as Mr. Robinson
Samurai Chef
The Blues Brothers ( the original not the half assed remake )
Poor Rodney Dangerfield could never get any respect
Facts of Life
What's happening
I always wanted a talking car that I could control through my watch
Air Wolf
The A-team
Magnum P.I.

These may be early 90's I can't remember
Encino Man
Bill and Ted's excellent adventure
The original Wax Works

[CHRIST]

hahah, bill and ted's excellent adventure, george carlin, young keanu reeves, and some young guy that looks like a young sean penn

[Deslock]

It was an innocent time.

Before a time with having sex with someone you didn't know that well wouldn't KILL you.

When music was fun, and dancing was okay, regardless of how "white" you were.

The more crappy and strange your clothing was, the cooler it was.

Punk rock wasn't just music, it was a "way of life".

Schools actually had "smoking areas" instead of abolishing smoking completely, and yet, we all lived, WITHOUT "dress codes".

When you were afraid to go to school wiith a squirt gun, never the less with a "real" one. And teachers really "paddled". Yep, gave you a real ass beating.

I recently read on Yahoo that the average age for girls starting intercourse was 12. How sad is that?

at 12, I was insanely happy if a girl gave me a "peck on the cheek".

Our world has become truly evil. And depressing.

Gawd, how I fear for the future for us all.

[Zabka]

Deslock, my experience was just a little different then yours, and I am not that much younger. Funny to see.

Well, the AIDS scare started up in about 1981 when Newsweek put it on their cover and scared theliving daylights out of everybody---then more and more people staretd dying who weren't obviously gay to the public. It probably really took hold when Magic was diagnosed, but actuallya NASCAR star had already died of it--but nobody thought about NASCAR back then. So I think the sexual freedom was lost around the early 80s---at a time I was too young. But at that point, nobody wanted to get blood transfusions.

Actually, my high school was apublic highschool that was strict. Dress code (no shorts despite being in a beach town). No smoking, no going off campus for lunch, etc. But things were never dangerous other than some idiot driving drunk or high. Some bad accidents occurred and people's lives were ruined.

Nobody danced where I was from for the most part---because it wasn't cool (unless the party called for it). Slow dances were mostly it. Besides,my group of friends were into "progressive/college" rock. This is more of a post-punk era. Nobody had heard of REM or U2 and i would see bands like the Violent Femmes, Godfathers, Connells, Hoodoo Gurus, in small warehouses on a monthly basis. So music was for nodding your head to---with an occasional mosh. Heavy metal was considered dirtbag white trash music until Metallica came along.

Girls still lost their virginities back then pretty early (in high school), but odds were they only had slept with one or two people by the time they graduated.

And even back then people lamented the lack of respect for others, self-respect, etc. were tearing our society down. I think it continues to erode today....but all you can do is roll with it.

[MajinTony]

The Violent Femmes kick ass. I finally got to see them early '06.

[Zabka]

that's so funny. i saw them 20 years earlier! and the drummer puked during the set.

It makes me sad to hear "add it up" being used in a commercial now. I realized that my generation of progressive music was now almost oldie status when I heard the Cult "she sells sanctuary" for a nissan commercial or something like that.

[MajinTony]

Heh, that's funny I got upset when I heard Gnarles Barkley cover "Gone Daddy Gone"

Bad coversongs could be a whole thread in itself.

[Zabka]

But I love good cover songs.

NWA's Straight Outta Compton tribute album had Snoop Dogg doing Gangsta Gangsta, which was awesome.

I got a download of who I think is the Bare Naked Ladies doing Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice in an almost bluegrass sort of style

REM's cover of Superman is probably more popular than the original. They do a nice cover of the Velvet Undergrounds "Pale Blue Eyes."

I got a fun Stone Temple Pilots cover of Def Leppards Pour Some Sugar on Me.

And one of my favorites---I am not sure of the band doing a cover of Britney Spears' " Hit me Baby One More time"

7 Seconds cover of 99 Balloons is also pretty badass.

Frente's cover of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle.

Natalie Merchants cover of Morrissey's "Everyday is like Sunday"

Wow. I actually like good covers. Soft Cell's cover of the Supremes' "Where did our love go" made Tainted Love so much cooler back then.

[Deslock]

Really shows the difference between the north and the south during the 80's, Zabka.

No, we couldn't wear shorts while not playing sports, but otherwise, anything went. I had all my leather and chains, with a lime green mohawk, and all, and I mean ALL of my spikes. I had these awesome leather forearm bands, completely covered in spikes. And my spiked dog collar that I wore. With a huge safety pin through my cheek.

One time in history class, heh, my teacher watched in horror as I stuck it in through my cheek. Wasn't much blood, but you shoulda seen his face, lol!.

Yep, we actually had a smoking area, where you could, if you moved fast enough, to grab a smoke in between classes. We had a Micky D's down the street and a pizza place, and we all left campus to go there, as the lunchroom food was despicable at best, I woulda rather ate dawg food than that gruel.

Hell, I drank WAAAAY more when I wasn't legal, than when I was. But you could buy beer without being carded then. They just told you to be careful, and if ya got busted, you damn well better forget where you got it if the cops caught ya. Or else. 8O

I was the only guy that actually rode a Harley to school, it belonged to my late father (May he burn in Hell), so needless to say, I wasn't messed with much. My entire high school years went by in a complete drunken blur.

I NEVER bought into the entire "popularity" thing in high school. I would be buddies with anyone that wasn't an asshole. I had Jock friends, stoner friends, and I kept alot of the bullies off the nerds. One thing I have always despised was bullies.

I would always intervene if I saw them hassling someone, and the damn cowards would always back down. So out of gratitude, some of the nerds would do my homework that I never did. Worked out good though. My entire time in high school, I never once did any homework. They did it for me. No shit, true story.

I went into the Army in 84. Did my 8 years. By that time, when I came back to the States, everything was different. And not in a good way.

But that's a story for another day....lol.

[Rdaug27]

yeah the coversongs could be a whole thread in itself lol. I haven't heard 7 seconds version of 99 red balloons, but I have heard Goldfingers cover of it and it rocks lol.

[Dioxin]

He-Man
He-Man's cat ( I can't remember his name)
Buzz off
Trap-Jaw
Ram-Man
Skeletor
Castle gray Skull
Skeletor's Lair
A bunch of other figures that I cannot remember their names

I'm really bummed. I had all the castles when I lived in Texas. I guess we figured it would be too much of a pain to move those items. However, I've been matching up hemen action figures with their weapons for sale on ebay. I busted out my Stinkor (the skunk dude) from a ziplock bag and he still smells 20 years later!!!