Film, Music, TV

1989

by generationxrewind

As we welcome in 2020, we say goodbye to 2019, the last year of the 2010s. Since this was the last year of the decade, all this month on our social media sites, we looked back at the last year of the eighties, 1989.

1989 looked much different than 1980 did in regards to TV. Most of Generation X can probably remember their family or others they knew who still had antennas on top of their TV or their roofs in the early eighties. Only 17 million homes in America had cable TV in 1980, by 1989, that number was at 50 million.

Another significant change was the fact that if we missed a show on TV, we no longer had to wait for the summer reruns in order to watch it. Video Cassette Recorders were the norm in households by the end of the decade. Not only could you record your favorite show, but you also could rent a movie at the local video store, or at your neighborhood grocery store. The video revolution also included making your own videos. By 1989, some younger Gen Xers had much of their early childhood recorded on the family VHS camcorder.

When it came to recorded music, audio cassettes were at their peak in the mid and late 80s. This was due in part to the popularity of The Walkman and boom boxes. Although Compact Disc came out in 1983, they did not outsell cassettes until the early 90s.

For broadcast TV, sitcoms ruled the small screen. The Cosby Show and Roseanne tied for the #1 show of the year. 8 of the top ten shows for the year were sitcoms.

When it came to movies in 1989, The most anticipated film of the year was Batman. The summer blockbuster earned over $411 million and became the highest-grossing movie in North America for the year. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was the worldwide #1 film of the year and Batman was #2.

Bobby Brown’s Don’t Be Cruel was the #1 albums of the year. Look Away by Chicago was Billboards #1 song of 1989. This is despite the fact that it never hit #1 in 89 but did top the charts in Dec of 88. The debut album of Garth Brooks was released in 1989 and Country Music was never the same again.

What were your fave TV shows, movie or music of 89?

Music

The Producers

by generationxrewind

It’s been New Wave November on our blog and social media sites this month and since today is the last day of the month, we want to go out on a high note. We will do just that by introducing you, or re-introducing some of you to a great New Wave/Power Pop band out of Atlanta, GA called The Producers.

The band released two albums on Portrait Records in the early eighties. The debut album was self-titled and was released in 1981. The follow-up, You Make the Heat came out in 82. She Sheila from that album went to #48 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

Although the band never hit the top 40, they did have success on an upstart cable channel that also premiered in 1981. Music videos for She Sheila, What’s He Got and a few other songs got airtime on MTV in the very early days of that station. They also appeared on MTV’s New Year’s Rockin Eve in 1982.

The band was dropped from Portrait Records after the second album. They released a third album on an indie label but was back to the major leagues with MCA for their fourth album, Coelacanth. Before that album was released, the band was let go from MCA as part of a label purge in 1989.

The Producers “retired” in 1991, but they still get back together for shows every once in a while. If they come to your town, check them out for sure. They were a band that created great music and every New Wave and Power Pop fan should know who they are and know their music. Take a few minutes and watch the videos below and we think you will agree with us!

Music, TV

New Wave Theater

by generationxrewind

In June of 1981, a few months before the premiere of MTV, The USA Network started airing a late-night weekend variety show called Night Flight. The show featured music videos, cult and B movies, music-themed documentaries, animation, stand up comedy and a program that is now somewhat legendary among the early shows of cable, New Wave Theater.

Originally airing on KSCI in Los Angeles, the show featured LA-based New Wave, Punk and underground bands and artists. Well known acts such as X, The Blasters, Fear, The Circle Jerks, 45 Grave, and The Dead Kennedys appeared on the show. It was hosted by musician and songwriter Peter Ivers.

New Wave Theater usually aired during the last hour block of Night Flight. With that late time slot, Iver’s offbeat monologues, and the public access look about the program, you truly did get a feeling that this was underground television being piped into homes all across the nation via this new thing called cable tv. It truly brought the LA alternative scene to folks who previously could only read about it in music magazines.

Sadly the show came to an end with the death of Peter Ivers. He was found bludgeoned to death in his apartment on March 3, 1983. The case remains unsolved to this day.

New Wave Theater lives on at the Night Flight plus website: https://www.nightflightplus.com/

Music

THE CARS (1978)

by generationxrewind

When music historians and writers talk about the history of New Wave, the mid-seventies scene at CBGB’s night club in New York will always come up. Bands like Talking Heads, Television and Blondie will always be mentioned, and rightfully so. Some will even go back further and bring up names like The Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, and The New York Dolls. Anytime you talk about the history of New Wave it should be mandatory that you also have to talk about the first album from The Cars which was released on June 6, 1978.

The band and legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker created a masterpiece that fused rock, pop and synthesizers that perhaps more so than any other record set the tone for the early 80’s new wave heyday. The self-titled debut featured three singles, two of which hit the top forty. All three songs, while never going any higher than #27 on the singles charts in America all became classics. Just what I needed, My Best Friend’s Girl and Good Times Roll have never left the airwaves becoming staples of album-oriented and classic rock radio.

Three other songs, You’re All I Got Tonight, Moving in Stereo, and Bye Bye Love, while never being released as singles also became mainstays on rock radio. The eighties classic film Fast Times at Ridgemont High featured Moving in Stereo in a memorable scene featuring Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhardt. The album went on to become six times platinum.

The Cars should be in the mix of every true New Wave fans music collection. The album was ahead of its time then and still sounds fresh forty-one years later.

Music, TV

Jeopardy

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

For the month of October, all of our Flashback Friday Music Videos will be horror-themed. Today’s video is a true MTV classic, it’s Jeopardy by The Greg Kihn Band from 1983

Jeopardy went as high as #2 on the singles chart and was kept from the top spot by Michael Jackson’s Beat it. Along with Jackson’s Thriller, which also featured Zombies, it’s one of the best know music videos of the 80’s that had a horror theme. It was the band’s only top 10 hit on the singles chat. 

The following year, Weird Al Yankovic released a paraody of the song called I lost on Jeopardy, which featured a cameo by Greg Kihn. 

Film, Music

Dream Warriors

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

For the month of October, all of our Flashback Friday Music Videos will be horror-themed. Today’s video is Dream Warriors by Dokken.

The song appears on the band’s fourth album, Back for the Attack. It is also featured in the film, A Nightmare on Elm Street #3: Dream Warriors. The song hit # 22 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. The video features a young Patrica Arquette as well as Robert Englund portraying Freddie Kruger.

Music

Joan Crawford by Blue Oyster Cult.

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

For the month of October, all of our Flashback Friday Music Videos will be horror-themed. Today’s video is Joan Crawford by Blue Oyster Cult.

The song appeared on the band’s 1981 gold album, Fire of Unknown Origin. That album also featured Burning For You, the band’s last top 40 hit. Joan Crawford went to #49 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. The video was banned by MTV because of a “suggestive” scene.

Music

Think I’m In Love

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video.

For the month of October, all of our Flashback Friday Music Videos will be horror-themed. In honor of Eddie Money who recently passed away, our first horror music video will be Think I’m in Love.

The song appeared on Money’s platinum 1982 album, No Control. It went to #16 on the singles chart and was Money’s first Top 40 hit since 1979. It also went to #1 on Billboard’s Top Rocks Tracks.

The music video was a favorite on MTV during its very early years and featured Money as a Count Dracula type character.

Music

LOVE IS by Alannah Myles

by generationxrewind

Flashback Friday Music Video

Last month, every Flashback Friday Music Video was from the late seventies or early eighties, so this month we will focus on the late eighties and early nineties. The video this week is Love is by Alannah Myles.

The song is from Myles’ 6x platinum self-titled debut album which was released in December of 1989. In her native Canada, it was the lead single, but everywhere else it was the follow up to her huge worldwide hit, Black Velvet. In America, the song peaked at #36 in 1990. It was a top twenty hit in Canada and Australia.

Love Is was the 2nd and last top forty hit for Myles in America. In Canada, she had ten songs hit the top forty on the pop and adult contemporary charts including two #1 hits. Her signature song, Black Velvet, only went to #10 in Canada.

Music

Ric Ocasek

by generationxrewind

Our pick for the Flashback Friday music video today is a tribute to Ric Ocasek, vocalist, guitarist, and co-founder of The Cars, who passed away this week. The video is Emotion in Motion.

The song is from Ocasek’s second solo album, This Side of Paradise which was released in 1986. Emotion in Motion was his only solo top forty hit and it peaked at #15. It also hit #1 on the Top Rock Tracks charts and #8 on the Hot Adult Contemporary charts.

The music that Ocasek and The Cars created in the late seventies helped set the stage for the New Wave scene which was so prominent in the early eighties and during the first few years of MTV. With his distinctive look and lead vocals, along with the classic songs and music videos from his band, he truly was an icon of the Gen X era.

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