1981...a good year?

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1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 2:55pm

So what were YOU doing, enjoying, and listening to?

Holy crap. "Radio Free Europe" by REM was released in '81???
Who knew?
Music from 1981...deep funk and post-punk

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 3:35pm

I saw The Clash at Bond's in Times Square that spring. The Slits opened. I saw Black Flag that year for the first time, which was before Henry Rollins joined. I saw U2 twice that year on tiny stages in New Haven and West Hartford. These were the second and third times I saw them.

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1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 3:44pm

Wellllll....I was 3. I vaguely remember hearing Kenny Nolan and Juice Newton on the radio a lot. :)

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 4:03pm

Well, I was just entering the 5th grade and had a K-Tel LP that had Juice Newton, Greg Kihn ("The Break Up Song"), and Blondie's "Dreaming" on it. "Bette Davis Eyes" was a favorite...I couldn't wait to get cable in our neighborhood because I wanted to watch "You Can't Do That On Televison" and of course MTV (The video for "Shock The Monkey" freaked. Me. Out.).

It was also the year of OP short-sleeve shirts, TIME BANDITS, CLASH OF THE TITANS, and the underrated DRAGONSLAYER.

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 4:25pm

I was in the 11th grade getting all into Adam Ant, Oingo Boingo, and The Split Enz...I thought I was very cool.

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 5:13pm

I had my first job. I went to school until noon and then went to the job from 1-5. Almost every day as I was driving to my job, I heard both "For Your Eyes Only" and "Playing With The Queen of Hearts"

Whenever I hear these two songs, I'm taken right back to 1981, driving my Pinto down the road, smelling of Grey Flannel

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 5:24pm

And waiting for someone to rear end you so you could blow up.

My sophmore year in high school...

So young.

"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>> “I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>> -whatever2

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 5:35pm

Oldest so far (I guess) ... it's the year I graduated high school.

Yep, my 30th reunion is this summer. (gulp)

What I remember most in pop culture ... FAME the movie. Such an impact on my senior year. Chariots of Friggin' Fire beating out both Reds and On Golden Pond for Best Pic. Seeing Katharine Hepburn on the big screen in her FOURTH Oscar-winning performance.

I remember "Celebration" by Kook & the Gang exploding on the charts. Linda Ronstadt releasing her Greatest Hits. And Kiss on My List by Hall & Oats.

Evita was going strong on Broadway, and 42nd Street was the new monster hit.

Starting college with both a voice and a viola scholarship. Being cast in "Brigadoon" at the university. The thrill of conducting an 80-piece orchestra for the first time with my own arrangement.

Thinking the entire world was ahead of me.

So, yeah, it was a good year.

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

Updated On: 3/23/11 at 05:35 PM

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 5:53pm

I am with you besty, I also graduated in '81. I actually liked the theme from The Greatest American Hero" (Believe It Or Not") Last highschool productions were Camelot (I was Guinevere)and "Take Me Along" (Still my all time favorite!) Loved "Chariots of Fire" (Still do) Did "Anything Goes" my 1st year in college. It was a fun year.

"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen." Conan O'Brien

#10

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 5:58pm

Mom! I didn't realize we were kindred classmates. Love that.

And I definitely remember how big "Greatest American Hero" was!

"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."

blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22

#11

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 6:03pm

I was a junior in high school...and I remember wearing a hideous hot pink taffeta dress to my prom. I was also in the one and only play I've ever been in. The Bald Soprano at The Hill School. I didn't know WHAT the f*ck was going on in that show.

"This show had the WORST magnets on Broadway!"

#12

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 6:15pm

I'm older than Best12 and mominater, looks like I'm the oldest (yay?). Oddly enough, I also saw The Clash @Bond's several times. I was in the music business at the time and had been comped in. They were originally supposed to play only one week, but they oversold, so The Clash added another week. I think it was the 1st time they played the US. Fantastic shows, but my God! was it hot in there! I loved the night they had a Sandanista ranting onstge while propaganda cascaded down from above. Grace Jones at the old Peppermint lounge. Danceteria. Good times.

#13

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 6:57pm

It wasn't the first time, I had seen the Clash in 1980 on the London Calling tour. Actually, it was called The 16 Tons Tour. But they had already played in the late-'70s, with their first US show ever being at what is now the Harvard Square Cinemas in Cambridge, MA.

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#14

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 7:18pm

I was born in September of that year, so I can't really report on the year itself, though I'm sure it was lovely!

upon checking, the #1 song on my birthweek was "Endless Love"

"I'm an American, Damnit!!! And if it's three things I don't believe in, it's quitting and math."

#15

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 9:52pm

Everything started a really bad downhill slide in July of that year.

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#16

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 9:56pm

Well Goddamnit!!!

"I'm an American, Damnit!!! And if it's three things I don't believe in, it's quitting and math."

#17

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 10:15pm

Sorry, those of us who were compulsive worriers and felt the Reagan election portended bad things noticed the first "gay cancer" reports the minute they were published in July of that year and knew the world was irreparably changed.

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#18

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/23/11 at 11:29pm

Danmag- I did The Bald Soprano in College. What a trip...

"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert

#19

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:12am

I think one of those posts here.

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#20

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 1:25am

Wow....Well I was a year or so into my first relationship. I had an apartment with my first partner.

Was listening to:

Quincy Jones-The Dude, Sandinista!-The Clash, Peter gabriel's 1st 2 albums, Genesis-And Then There Were 3, Patti LaBelle-The Spirit's in It, Chaka Khan-Naughty & Whatcha Gonna do FoMe, Still Pink Floyd-The Wall, EWF-Raise!, Patti Austin-Every Home Should Have One, Pat Benatar-Precious Time, Pat Metheny-American Garage, Stevie Wonder-Hotter Than July (1980)

Movies I saw (Not all):

An American Werewolf in London, Arthur, Blowout, Excalibur, The Fan, Friday the 13th-Pt. 2, Mommie Dearest, Scanners, Taps, Time Bandits.

I was meeting new friends and becoming very comfortable with my sexuality. I came out to my family on the phone. Drank a lot of Pina Coladas. Was working in an Italian Restaurant. Partied a lot at my place with friends.

It was a very good year.

Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

#21

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 11:05am

I'm with mom and besty...it was my graduating year. That spring I starred in "Shenandoah" at my high school, worked at 7/11...and moved into Philadelphia to go to Temple to study voice. I came out and slept around.

But, I agree with namo, Reagan's election and the dawn of AIDS made it a scary time.

"Double Fantasy" came out "Bella Donna" AND "Tusk" by Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, and Queen's greatest hits.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."

"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS

Updated On: 3/24/11 at 11:05 AM

#22

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 11:47am

besty, at the 1981 Oscars 'twas ORDINARY PEOPLE that won Best Picture (over RAGING BULL et al.). CHARIOTS OF FIRE, REDS, and ON GOLDEN POND were released that year, but they didn't battle it out 'til spring 1982.

Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiae
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia

#23

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:17pm

That was the year I started junior high. I remember Kiss on My List and Get Down on It. Physical was the song that truly burst on the scene in a most influential way. It may sound silly, but that song probably bears the most responsibility for defining the sound of 80s pop. The effect was massive.

And I will never forget seeing 9 to 5 in the movie theatre. The movie still holds up as a classic, but when it was released, it was sensational. And Raiders of the Lost Ark was epic. To me, it was probably the last of the classic epic adventure films. It was old and new at the same time and didn't rely on technological gimmicktry to sell tickets. Titanic and Avatar don't even come close. Raiders simply was a model of adventure flick perfection.

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#24

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:22pm

I was 24 in 1981 and it was one of my favorite years. I lived in DC and I left my first, out of college job as a researcher at National Geographic and became a jewelry buyer for a large department store chain in Baltimore. I had a fabulous boyfriend who was getting his Masters in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown and he tutured Miss Pearl Bailey in French. She had just enrolled to get her BS in Theology and would cook fabulous dinners for classmates, family and friends on Friday nights at her Georgetown home. I learned more about the world and living life to it's fullest at those dinners than any 24 year old could imagine. I still make her Cinnamon Chicken and her Macaroni and Cheese. If you want a delicious read, get her 1973 cookbook, Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook. It's as much autobiography as cookbook. As for music, I was obsessed with Melissa Manchester (still am) and chased her all over the country on her For the Working Girl tour. It was the next year that I lost my first friend to AIDS, and then a dozen after him in the next few years.

Updated On: 3/24/11 at 12:22 PM

#25

1981...a good year?

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:26pm

How fantastic is the image of you being the Melissa Manchester fan equivalent of a Deadhead?! Maybe you were a Manchion?

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