The ultimate 80s Christmas

What do you get an 80s fan who has almost everything from the 80s? More 80s stuff, of course. And this holiday season, I pulled a near sweep of 80s goodies. Here are some of the things Santa left under my tree:

-- Some Kind of Wonderful (Special Collector's Edition): The 20th anniversary edition of this John Hughes movie (directed by Howard Deutch) was overshadowed by the re-release of Pretty in Pink. Among the special features: an audio commentary by Deutch and actress Lea Thompson. Expect a podcast on this movie quite soon. Personally, I think it's a better movie than Pretty in Pink.

-- Caddyshack (20th anniversary edition DVD): It's time to officially retire my VHS copy of this movie, which was the very first movie my family rented when we bought our first VHR player (along with "Urban Cowboy.") Again, we haven't devoted a podcast to this movie, even though we named it the 10th funniest movie of the 80s. I'm not sure what we're waiting for. Perhaps an interview with Chevy Chase?

-- St. Elmo's Fire: Strangely enough, I've never owned a copy of this movie. Probably because it plays non-stop on cable TV. One unnecessary special feature: the music video of John Parr's "Man in Motion."

-- Plenty of CDs: I'm still slowing replacing my collection with the classics. This Christmas, I can add Elvis Costello's Get Happy, Paul Simon's Graceland and Tom Waits' Rain Dogs.

-- 80s games: I'm not the only one who's stuck in the 80s. The people who make board games know there's a real audience out there. I now have Trivial Pursuit's Totally 80s Edition and Name That Tune 80s Edition.

-- 80s books: Totally Awesome 80s by Matthew Rettenmund and From Abba To Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century by David Mansour are both new additions to my library (which previously was pretty much exclusively devoted to Hunter S. Thompson novels).

Which topics next for the podcast?

Now that we have a stack of new inspiration, it's time to poll the Stuck in the 80s fanbase and ask you this: What topics should we podcast about in the coming months? What movies, bands, trends and such are you waiting to hear about?

Just leave us a comment and we'll get to work on it.

Comments

[David]

Almost forgot: how about a podcast on Talking Heads? In addition to their music, you've also got your Stop Making Senseses, your True Storieses...

[David]

Re: Sci-fi in the '80s

Lest we forget!
- Blade Runner
- Flight of the Navigator
- The Terminator
- Robocop

And, of course, the immortal Max Headroom, in both British and American forms. I might even be so bold as to suggest that Max get his own podcast.

[Shelly]

Okay, I agree with whoever suggested Goonies. And, I love Some Kind of Wonderful. Get over it, Steve...just watch it, already. It really is good. Jamie Lee Curtis would be a good topic. How about doing a podcast about these new 80s games that are coming out. Tell us if they're any good. And, how could you not have had a podcast about Pee Wee Herman, yet? I know, I know...he was caught somewhere in your home state doing unspeakable things...but, at least he wasn't assaulting others.

[twinkles]

I forgot to mention, The Boy Who Could Fly, such a sweet movie.. :)

[Greg Williams]

I'd like to also see a podcast on "The Young Ones".

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Ok, got another one for you: The cold war. I know you did the politics in the 80's some time ago, but you could really do a whole half hour on the "Day After" and that ABC special debate that ran after it (with Dr Segan and other Big Brain types), on the whole atomic war thing. Yeah, kids have terrorism bundled up and marketed to them as The Thing To Be Afraid Of These Days, but it's not quite the same thing.

Oh - and if you do Fantasy, by Crom you best not overlook including Conan.

[warhawk85]

How about a podcast on WMNF 88.5 and WUSF 89.7(?). They use to have blocks dedicated to punk/new wave.

[Walter Cox]

* Get listeners to reveal their secret shame and admit the cheesy 80s tunes that they absolutely love.

* How about some gems that were big in Britain, but just never quite made it here?

* Sammy Hagar. Never seen an interview with that guy that sucked.

[Spears]

Ah, Young Sherlock Holmes. One of my favorites. Of course, if we do a fantasy show, I'd actually have to SEE Goonies. I've managed to avoid it so far in my life.

[Producer Dave]

Great ideas, folks...keep 'em coming!
dave

[twinkles]

Hey you guys, love the show. You must do a podcast on fantasy movies of the 80's - Labyrinth, The Goonies, The Neverending Story, Return to Oz, Cocoon, Young Sherlock Holmes...etc.

[Dr JOhn]

Secret of My Success,,
great movie

Producer Dave, I hear what you're saying about missing Peaches. They were the closest thing we had to a "mega store" in the area, and I used to stop in almost every week to check out the new releases and the magazine rack. I seldom left empty handed.

I missed stopping by for a week or two in late 1994 as I was out of town, and when I made my usual visit the following week they had closed. I felt personally responsible! If only I had made it in the previous week, maybe my typical $20 purchase of CD singles and magazines could have kept them in business. At least that's what I told myself.

Now that location is a Kinkos. Sigh.

[Spears]

Just picked up Beverly Hills Cop today on DVD for $5.50 at Target. Expect to see that one REAL soon.

[Dave P]

Three words: Beverly Hills Cop.

[Tony J Case, Super Genius]

Ok, here's an idea for a podcast: Science Fiction in the 80's. Let see, Star Trek came back in 1989, Doctor Who died off that same year, we got some great classic cheese like The Last Starfighter (and really, what kid didn't wish that they could get snapped up by aliens after countless hours training on arcade games?), Tron and Battle Beyond the Stars (a shameless remake of Seven Samurai, but Roger Corman knows how to turn a lens don't he?). Oh, and there were a couple of Star Wars movies too (plus those Ewok made for TV movies!).

Anyway, you see - fertile grounds for a great podcast!

[Producer Dave, aka Maestro]

Glenn, don't forget Camelot Music in all of our local malls (Florida). I really, REALLY miss Peaches, too. I was buying a ton of vinyl back then and it was weird to watch how quickly CD's overtook vinyl. Every week I'd visit one of those two stores and the record inventory would shrink almost on a weekly basis.

Also, you still have a mostly CD-only store in Carrollwood (Dale Mabry and Fletcher) called CD City (IIRC).

[GlennS.]

How about a podcast about 80's businesses that are no longer around? One that comes immediately to mind is D'Lights (not sure of the spelling), which offered "healthy" fast food.

There were a ton of music stores that no longer exist, both chain and independent. Fowler Avenue in Tampa had a couple of long-gone chain stores, Q Records and Peaches. In Carrollwood you could visit Tampa CD, which I thought was especially cool at the time as it was the first local store to sell CDs exclusively, with no vinyl cluttering up the bins.

I'm sure you guys have some personal stories you could weave in about some of the defunct stores, restaurants and malls of our past.

[Spears]

Great suggestions. Keep them coming. I'm begging we'll be doing John Candy and the Brat Pack soon. I know St. Elmo's Fire is coming soon. We're starting to compile info on Canadian bands, and we're hoping to get to Rush soon too.

Our next three shows have either been recorded or are set up: Today, our "drinking in the 80s" show goes online. Next week, our follow-up interview with Molly Ringwald (live in person this time - hopefully with online video); and the week after that is probably our one-hit wonders of 1984 show.

Here are some other ones we're working on: "Babes of the 80s" (to be recorded at the very first Hooters restaurant, which luckily is here in Tampa Bay); an interview with Huey Lewis; an interview with Kenny Loggins.

[Greg Williams]

Ideas:

Podcasts on:
- John Candy
- Stand-up comedians of the 80s
- Stephen King (books, movies, TV)
- Best/Worst cover songs made in the 80s
- Where were you when Challenger occurred?
- School life in the 80s (was it close to anything resembling a certain few John Hughes movies?)
- Sports idols of the 80s (Jordan, Bo Knows, Gretzky, etc)
- Anthony Michael Hall (minus the SNL year)
- Judd Nelson
- Ally Sheedy

[Aaron]

movies: Pink Floyd: The Wall, The last Unicorn, Rock & Rule

music: Plantinum Blonde, Honeymoon Suite, Lou Reed, Miami Sound Machine

You could also do some more one hit wonder episodes.

[Carla]

How about a Tom Hanks podcast... I mean "Bosom Buddies" "Big" "Splash" and heck even "Turner & Hooch"! Yep, I think Tom deserves his own podcast!

Also, this idea I pitched to you a while ago. But a show on Lead Singers of bands who went solo in the 80's... and if you remember me at all Steve... Steve Perry tops my list!! ;)

[Brian]

Bring on the "Rush" podcast.

and by the way, the name that tunes feature needs to actually play a little bit of the song after you reveal the answer.

[Dr John]

Movies

Making the Grade
The Wanderers

Canadian 80s bands / artists
( numerous )

Where are they now ? segment for any prominent figure in the 80s to do with anything ....

Just a few off the top of my head.

[Elle]

I agree completely about Some Kind of Wonderful being better than Pretty in Pink.

And I also got Trivial Pursuit Totally 80's Edition. Lots of fun.

[Producer Dave]

Sheesh, you didn't like MY present enough to list it here!!?? Bah humbug....your mic is dead, buddy. ;)

[YeastyKhan]

D.C. Cab!