Horrible hits of 1984: Will we ever forgive Stevie Wonder and the Jacksons?

This feels like a bad time to dump on the Jackson family and a music nice-guy like Stevie Wonder, but when it comes to the hit songs of 1984, these two acts were responsible for two of the biggest sins.

The Jacksons' State of Shock and Wonder's I Just Called To Say I Love You definitely make this week's list of the horrible hits of 1984. But where exactly do they fall on the list? You'll have to listen to this week's podcast to find out.

Our "horrible hits" shows always tread dangerous ground, because the songs we're mocking were indeed huge hits once upon a time. And I suspect many of these tunes are still on our iPods. That's okay, here at Stuck in the '80s, schadenfreude is part of the fun. And when we finished the Horrible Hits of 1983 a couple months ago, I went straight back to listening to Mr. Roboto when all the mocking was done. Domo arigato, Dennis DeYoung. Domo.

So listen to this week's podcast with your sense of humor and adventure fully engaged. And be prepared for a few of the oddest side arguments of all time: Do all women love James Spader? (Cathy Wos says yes.) And when did Sean Daly turn lunchmeat into the world's biggest catchphrase?

Click here to download. Or click here to get all our shows for free via iTunes.

'I gave her my heart ... she gave me a pen:' Listen to the saddest podcast ever

The one truly awful thing about every Cameron Crowe movie, like 1989's Say Anything featuring everybody's favorite broken heart - John Cusack as "Lloyd Dobler," is that behind the laughs, behind the tears, one thing remains constant:

This could happen to you.

Try watching his 2005 flick Elizabethtown when you know your own father has less than a year to live, like I did a while back, and try not to cry. Turn on 1992's Singles as a young person still trying to find how to suddenly balance your career and your heart, and say it's just comedy. Flip on Vanilla Sky if ... well, if you've been hopelessly disfigured in a car crash instigated by some stalking ex-lover, I guess. (Sorry, I never could relate to that one. But knock on wood, I hope that's not a bad omen.)

But look again at Lloyd Dobler's face as he confesses total and absolute love for Diane Court (Ione Skye) only to see her break up with him and hand him a pen, and you always say to yourself: "Man, I hope that never happens to me."

And then watch it happen to you.

So life isn't like the movies? The hell it isn't. 

[This week's podcast is about Breaking Up in the '80s and Beyond. It does feature a very special celebrity guest, so stick with it through the pain. Click here to listen. Or click here to hear all our shows for free on iTunes.]

Here's why Chicago is an '80s kinda town

If Ferris Bueller loves Chicago, we must all love Chicago. And so this week's Stuck in the '80s podcast salutes the music, movies and culture of the our beloved Second City.

After you listen to this week's show, you're discover several things:

• Sean Daly is the Ferris of Chicago-loving '80s goons.
• I'm more of the Cameron Frye sorta guy. Though I bet I've been to Chi-town more times than Daly. Take that!
• And who is the Sloane Peterson for this week's podcast? Well, that's this week's surprise.

Click here to download the show. Or click here to get all our shows for free via iTunes.

Believe it or not, some people never heard of the Greatest American Hero!

The Greatest American Hero ruled the television world for three years in the early '80s, but some people still claim it's just a footnote in history -- maybe even a myth. Bah!

Check out this letter from Stuck in the '80s fan Steve Schlesinger:

"Steve -- I thought I knew the 80's, but I guess I must have spent those ten years somewhere else. The Greatest American Hero, it was on for two or three seasons? Dude, we didn't have cable in the 80's so, the networks is where I lived. With that being said I've never even heard of the show. I don't remember promos or anybody talking about it, and I was in high school at the time."

Wow. It's shocking, I know. Maybe even disturbing and unsettlings. But for those who still deny the existence of the Greatest American Hero (and the laws of gravity and evolution for all I know), there is hope. Download the podcast interview with actor William Katt before it's too late!

What other actors from the '80s are on everybody's wish list for us to interview on the podcast?

The Greatest American Hero talks Star Wars, 'House' and magic jammies

Few things about the '80s are as burned into our brains as curly mop-topped William Katt in his red "magic jammies" on Greatest American Hero.

For three glorious seasons, Katt, Robert Culp and Connie Selleca were the toast of prime-time TV -- at least for young teens like me -- spinning weekly tales of crime-fighting and evil-thwarting on the ABC series. Fueled in no small part by one of the ultimate TV theme songs of all time -- Joey Scarbury's Believe It Or Not (music by the legendary Mike Post) -- Greatest American Hero is one of those shows that never seems to fade away.

With the TV series now headed for a big-screen Hollywood remake and a new version of Greatest American Hero headed for comic book treatment (read more here), Katt took time out this week to talk to Sean Daly and I for this week's Stuck in the '80s podcast. We talked about his Star Wars audition, his role in the '80s cult classic House and so much more. Here were some other highlights from our chat:

ON THE THREE-PART COMIC BOOK HE'S PRODUCING: "We answered a few questions that over the years fans have always talked about. One is whatever happened to the lost instruction book that Ralph loses in the desert right away, and who finds that book, and what other powers the suit is capable of orchestrating."

ON WHO SHOULD PLAY 'RALPH HINKLEY' IN THE MOVIE: "Years ago, they talked about Owen Wilson for the role and I think he would have been great. He's a little long in the tooth to do it right now. One of my favorite young actors, if he hadn't already done a great big action/adventure film, would have been Shia LaBeouf. I think the kid is just brilliant."

ON CO-STAR ROBERT CULP: "Originally, Bob Culp and I felt the same about each other. I know he felt I was a pain in the ass, and I felt the same. But two weeks or so into it, I knocked on his trailer door and we metaphorically duked it out and worked it out and we became honestly very good friends after that. And I can say we're even better friends now, 30 years later."

Click here to hear the full episode. Or click here to get all our shows for free via iTunes.

Horrible hits of 1983: 10 reasons you almost stopped listening to music altogether

Ever look back in time and wonder, "How did I get through that wretched year?" That's the way Sean Daly and I feel about music from the year 1983.

Oh sure, it was filled like classic tunes like Billie Jean, Let's Dance, Little Red Corvette and more. But for every Maneater (bless you Hall & Oates), there's a dozen stinkers from the likes of Christopher Cross, Phil Collins, Debarge and more.

And so, it is with heavy hearts (possibly from eating too many Lil Smokies) that we present our latest podcast: The Horrible Hits of 1983. I don't want to give away too many surprises (other than this is yet another show that required Rolaids for us just to finish the recording process, thanks to the latest batch of scary snack foods). Suffice to say that if you feel compelled to leave us some scathing feedback after listening ... then it's all Daly's fault because he picked most of the songs this time around.

Click here to download the show. Or click here to get all our shows for free via iTunes. (Hey, and don't forget to follow Stuck in the '80s on Twitter. We're old school but we love to chat in 140 characters or less.)

Vote for the horrible hits of 1983

How long has it been since you heard some '80s songs you truly hated? I mean, besides our last "horrible hits" podcast. (And I mean, besides songs by Frank Stallone.)

It's time again to vote for the "hit" songs you hated most from the otherwise phenomenal year of 1983, so that Sean Daly and I can turn it into a new podcast: the horrible hits of 1983.

If you want to see the full list of potential songs, click right here. Until we have your votes, I've asked Vegas Girlfriend to pick her 10 most-hated songs from 1983. Here they are. Click on the artist to hear the song:

She Works Hard For The Money (Donna Summer)

Up Where We Belong (Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes)

You Can't Hurry Love (Phil Collins)

We've Got Tonight (Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton)

The Girl Is Mine (Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney)

How Am I Supposed To Live Without You (Laura Branigan)

Straight From The Heart (Bryan Adams)

Pass The Dutchie (Musical Youth)

Far From Over (Frank Stallone)

Tonight I Celebrate My Love (Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack)

Again with the Klingons: 'Star Trek' in the '80s

Star Trek in the '80s means one thing to a lot of fans: "Doc Brown" as a Klingon commander! Yeah, the really nasty one who orders the death of Kirk's son, thus causing any real fan to stammer out:

"You Klingon bastard! You killed my son!"

Great, great line. In fact, maybe the only decent line for much of Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock.

This week on Stuck in the '80s, we revisit all the Trek movies of the '80s, from the brilliant Wrath of Khan to the miserably lame Final Frontier. With us to make sense of it all, the great Steve Persall, the film critic of the St. Petersburg Times. (By the way, he gives a big thumbs-up to the new Trek movie. Read his review here.) Seriously, if Persall gives a movie a great review, go see it. The dude has a hit streak better than A-Rod, without the steroids.

Click here to listen or click here to get all our shows for free on iTunes.

Somewhere between Stonehenge and a Funky Sex Farm, you'll find Michael McKean

When you think of the "nice guys" in Hollywood, names like Tom Hanks, John Travolta and Morgan Freeman are thrown about. But to paraphrase his signature role, "Here lies Michael McKean ... and why not?"

Best known to '80s fans as "David St. Hubbins" in 1984's This Is Spinal Tap, McKean seems to have a love-love relationship with die-hard fans of his iconic comedies.

"I don’t encounter any fans that are of the stalker variety, mainly because they know that Spinal Tap doesn’t really exist, the Folksmen (from A Mighty Wind) are a figment of a very old imagination and that Corky didn’t write all those songs in Waiting for Guffman," McKean told Stuck in the '80s in a recent interview. "Our fans are very smart."

But doesn't he get tons of doughy middle-aged men showering him with quotes from the movie?

"Yeah, but that doesn't bother me," he says. In fact, during the interview for our podcast, he quoted Spinal Tap more than we did. Our Stuck in the '80s interview is now online. Click here to listen or click here to get all our shows for free via iTunes. Here are some highlights:

ON THEIR UPCOMING 'UNWIGGED AND UNPLUGGED' TOUR: "I gotta say that the 'unplugged' part is kind of a lie. You gotta plug these days a little bit. But it’s not going to be in the '11' area. It’s gonna be more like 8 1/2."

ON ADJUSTING SONGS FOR THEIR ACOUSTIC SET: "We try to find a middle ground. We do an item called Funky Sex Farm, which is our Sex Farm song done as an acoustic trio of older white gentlemen with a nice element of rap as well. That’s pretty embarrassing -- in the best possible way."

HOW THEY AD-LIBBED 99 PERCENT OF SPINAL TAP: "We just hired people we knew could do that, like Howard Hesseman and Paul Benedict, and hired people brand new to us like Fran Drescher and Dana Carvey, people who went on to some success you could say. A lot of happy accidents really."

-- Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer's Unwigged and Unplugged Tour comes to St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theatre on May 8. Check for dates near you.

[Publicity photo]

Believe it or not, the Greatest American Hero wants to chat

William Katt -- a.k.a. Ralph Hinkley from Greatest American Hero -- has contacted us and would love talk old school for a podcast. Should make for an epic episode.

Also in the works for interviews: all the stars from the Regeneration Tour, including Heaven 17, Wang Chung and Berlin. ABC is the headliner, but we already did a nice interview with Martin Fry last summer. Click here to listen to that show. We've also asked to talk to Pat Benatar and the B-52s, two bands playing in post-game concerts at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field.