Deconstructing the Eighties

There's a convenient little tab on this website that tells me how many people have opened each blog. It makes me feel a little like Big Brother, but that's kind of empowering, so I like it. Anyway, it showed that last week's column had more people open it than at any time since I first began writing these.

I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I do know that I got more feedback on my Awful '80's discussion than any other blog entry. As I expected.

If you missed it, I simply made the statement that a majority of entertainment produced during the 1980's was weak and had no sustaining power. I didn't get into this area at all, but as a lifelong collector, I didn't even like the comic books that came out in that decade. Prices went up, quality went down and all the books tried to 'modernize' by updating their mastheads, which only made them all look worse. I actually stopped collecting for a few years and didn't return until the '90's when the hobby boomed with all new comic companies and heroes (hello Deadpool!)

But enough from me--here's a few of your comments on the subject along with my replies...let's start with John from California via Texas:

'Really? You can't tell me "Caddyshack", "The Blues Brothers", or "This Is Spinal Tap" (some don't get this one). are not classics. My favorite of the bunch would have to be Raising Arizona, just brilliant. Pretty sure they were all 1980's."

John brings up some very relevant examples. Relevant because I was actually going to use some of these as proof of what I was talking about!

"Caddyshack" is a bit of an outlier. Yes, it was definitely a funny movie (came out in '80, so it was probably shot in '79, but we'll count it.) However, without the addition of old-timer Rodney Dangerfield would it have been as good? And without Bill Murray's inspired performance, would you watch it multiple times? (A character by the way, which Murray basically played over and over again for most of his career...) It's just a bunch of silly situations and has no real story, but it is funnier than most '80's fare, so I'll buy that.

But the "Blues Brothers"? I guess this might be my personal issue, as I never got the whole Blues Brothers bit in the first place, even when it began on SNL. Were they supposed to be imitating bands like Sam and Dave, or were they just doing a send-up of those early rock groups? Was the joke that they had bad voices, or were we supposed to be impressed with the fact that Aykroyd and Belushi could kinda, sorta sing? And why the Mafia get-up? Was this supposed to be early Gangsta music? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Guess I'm just clueless on this one, but I never got the joke. Truth is, I just never think that mixing music and comedy is a funny idea. Which brings me to..."Spinal Tap":

Trust me here, I am a HUGE fan of the 'Christopher Guest Movies'. They are brilliant, droll, subtle and side-splitting all at the same time. Guest, Eugene Levy, Jane Lynch, Mike McKean, et al, are all ridiculously talented and creative actor/ comedians. I count "Best in Show" and "For Your Consideration" as two of the funniest films ever.

With this in mind, I went back and watched "This is Spinal Tap" again a couple years ago, based on the fact that everyone still mentions it as a classic and I hadn't seen it in 40 years. But I mostly just sat there with my mouth open; I don't think I laughed twice. Outdated? Not up to par with this comedy group's later work? Another example of me not getting the music/ comedy hybrid? Maybe all true. But Mercedes watched it with me and she didn't enjoy it either. And, John from California, she was your cousin!

As far as "Raising Arizona", I have long contended that the Coen Brothers are only funny when they're not trying to be. Some of their best humor is in their most serious movies: "Barton Fink" and of course "Fargo" come to mind. Their supposed comedies: "Hudsucker Proxy", "Burn After Reading", "Intolerable Cruelty", to me, are all painfully unfunny.

I remember watching "Raising Arizona" in the theater and laughing once: I think it was when the biker blew the rabbit to bits with his shotgun. I don't know why I found that funny. I only know I never had the desire to watch the movie again.

I will mention a couple of later movies of the decade that I hadn't thought of last week but are definitely favorites: "Fatal Attraction" and "Wall Street". Two Michael Douglas films that I stop to watch whenever they come on--- especially the latter which has some great scenes with Charlie Sheen and his dad.

I often think of these movies together by the way, because I actually saw them as a double feature in a second-run theatre in Hartford. Well, not a TRUE double feature, as they charged for each movie. But still....

So there's two flicks the '80's got going for 'em!

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Sorry I got so film-intense in that last reply. Didn't mean to be so pretentious.

Let's move on to Rich from Queens, who I knew would balk at my dissing of "Golden Girls":

'I'll give you a great movie from the 80s, "Terms of Endearment". Oscars all around! Also loved "The Color Purple". I do Love the "Golden Girls"! Great writing and cast. All won Emmys.... Culture Club-- a great 80s band with many hits....

As I said last week, whenever I happen to stop at "Golden Girls" on one of the many networks that air it, I am immediately bombarded with overly-loud dialogue and a screamingly enthralled live audience. And if I stay to actually hear any of that dialogue it always seems to revolve around older women talking about getting laid. I just don't find this funny (and didn't, even before I was old!)

Is there an episode that doesn't lean on repetitive sexual situations? If so, please let me know which one, and I will check it out.

Boy George and The Culture Club: Catchy and fun for the time. But I was talking about

bands that have sustained over the decades. In other words, is there anyone that didn't grow up in the '80's that even remembers who they were?

Let's get to "Terms of Endearment" quickly. It really is amazing how you guys instinctively keep finding films that I organically hated! I remember sitting in the theatre during that one, totally dumbfounded. 'Contrived tear-jerker' was the Term of Endearment I think I used at the time. Add in the fact that except for Nicholson I was not a fan of anybody else in the cast and you know I was squirming halfway through.

And let's not bring Oscars into the conversation. We know how political Hollywood can be. Let me put this way: "Everything Everywhere All at Once" and "Birdman" both won the Academy Award for Best Picture. If you really liked either of these movies, puh-lease email me or leave a comment, and I will immediately apologize!

I never saw "The Color Purple". And with Whoopie Goldberg in it, I probably never shall.

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Tom from Atlantic City defends a different genre of the '80's:

"Ok, while I will generally agree with your music assessments of the decades and the lack of good acts that ORIGINATED in the 80’s, here are a few that I believe have held up through decades: Beastie Boys (now defunct, RIP MCA), Public Enemy (ok I can probably name a half dozen hip hops acts from the 80’s)...now that I’m listing these out, probably the only good thing to come out of the 1980’s in music were the hip hop acts.  All the rest was really bad."

My personal reply to Tom in my email: "Okay, that's hip hop and rap ... I was talking about real music!"

Yes, that's the sarcastic reply of an old white guy, but I'm comfortable with it.

But Tom did mention someone else in his comments that I will grudgingly give him credit for: Madonna. No matter what we might think of her, Madonna was a mega-star in the '80's, reinvented herself in music and movies in the '90's (I thought her performance in "A League of Their Own" was perfect!) and is still making her presence known to this day. Yes, she's annoying, vapid, and slowly going insane (more insane?) But she took the entertainment world by storm over 40 years ago and is still a major star.

Good call, Tom!

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We'll end with some insight from Meg from Buffalo, who always seems to put a logical cap on any issues we discuss:

"I liked the 80s because I was in my 30s then, my parents were alive, etc., and I had a great social life. When I hear the music of that decade that you hate so much, it makes me think of a good time in my life."

Which of course is the correct answer! It's all subjective. Do you remember being in a club, or at a concert, or at home, and hearing Culture Club, or Dire Stratis, or Metallica sometime in the '80's, and now when you recall those times, it brings back only happy memories? Then it was a great decade for you and no wiseass blogger has the right to tell you otherwise!

Which of course leads me to the depressing question: why was I so MISERABLE in the '80's that I hated everything it produced?

Note to self: possible future blog on what I may have been repressing for the past forty years...

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Oh, almost forgot: Bernadette from New Haven, along with a couple other readers, tried to identify the person who originally came up with the joke about waking up in the morning and not seeing his name in the obituaries. Most of the replies guessed that it was George Burns, and although George did use it many times, he did not originate it.

Jacob from NYC even believed it may have even been an 'Old World' Yiddish joke.

Nope. It's even older than that. To wit:

Shoulda known.

Talk Thursday.

IG