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Listening to: Ray Parker Jr's - "Ghostbusters" From the Ghostbusters Original Soundtrack
Weather: Stinkin' hot (peaked at 79 degrees!) and it's January for goodness sake!

There is something about cartoons that just sums up the 80's for me.  Though there are some stellar cartoons today (Spongebob is a great one) that instill the same silly somewhat innocent spirit, there just really is no substitute for the great tv that is the 80's cartoons...so here are ten of my favorite, and my ultimate favorite cartoon of all time...

 
He-Man: Masters of the Universe (1983-1987) and She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985-1986)
Spirit Unicorn, Cringer Tiger...the two coolest animals ever.  Twin siblings Adam and Adora (aka He-Man and She-Ra) spend their existence trying to maintain peace on their respected planets against their respected bad dudes...I went to Universal Studios when I was oh maybe about 6?  And there was this buff dude dressed as He-Man and he let me try to hold up his Sword of Power...I think I might have passed out that I was standing next to the immortal hero of all time.  That was the coolest moment ever...second was when I got to talk to KIT the car from Knightrider on the same trip.  Though, why is He-man look like he had one of those fake Hollywood spray tans?

 
Beverly Hills Teens (1986-1987)
Okay so technically this show was wack...spoiled rich Beverly Hills teenagers who for the most part are pretty nice ride around in a crazy stretched limo that has a hot tub in the back...led by Lark and her boy toy Troy, (I hated Lark by the way I liked Blaze the horse riding one) they went through life and as usual faced schemes by raven-haired Bianca, the usual vixen/bad guy of each episode and her bumbling dutiful servant Winston.  I don't know why they thought a story about rich spoiled teenagers would EVER make good money...what a dumb concept!  Ahem, cough cough...

 
The World of David the Gnome...only twenty-six episodes! 1988
 The voice of David The Gnome was none other than Mr. Cunningham, Tom Bosley, from Happy Days didn't know that...also didn't know that Christopher Plummer narrated it!  What a classy show!  And it only lasted one year?  The world wasn't and in my opinion never will be ready for a show like this...a show that promotes environmentalism, animals, etc...oh that's right kids today prefer blowing up stuff or animals that pop out of a ball to fight with...

  
The Real Ghostbusters 1986-1991
 With the popularity of the movies, of course the next logical thing is to make a cartoon right?  And don't forget the cereals and me and my sister's favorite, the Ecto Cooler flavored Hi-C.  You were considered one cool dude if you went to school with this in your lunch box/bag.

 
Rainbow Brite 1984-1986 but only 13 episodes: Twink

lunch box/bag.  My grandmother still has our Rainbow Brite doll...unfortunately we lost our Indigo doll, and our Twinks dolls (you know those cute furry things) but at least the Rainbow one has survived and will be a memento of remembering that a world with color is always better than a world without one.

 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987-1996
Talk about a successful franchise...cereals, fruit snacks, and of course the standard action figures...and I just found out that the voice of Shredder the evil guy with the weird metal dentist mask over his face was voiced by none other than James Avery, aka Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  I don't know about you guys but the cool meter of this show just rose that much higher...

  
Smurfs 1981-1990
Ah the Smurfs...my older cousin who lived with us for awhile once took these three crab apples, piled them up on each other and said, hey this is how tall a Smurf is!  I freaked out imagining a hundred of those living in a mushroom village and have never been able to look at them the same since...and a CGI movie coming out later this year?  We'll see how that works out.

 
Garfield and Friends 1988-1994 Heathcliff 1984-1988
These two cartoons focused mainly on cats...which I actually don't really love...like the amiable ones are cute but my allergy to most cats tends to put me off...but what's weird is the Catillac Cats on the Heathcliff cartoon...a curvy sexy cat named Cleo, the others kinda acting like pimps...it's weird that in hindsight they were such adultish characters...but it was entertaining and Heathcliff walking with that plate of fish always made me laugh...though today, I prefer the Garfield comics over Heathcliff...
 
Care Bears 1985-1988
I love the Care Bears...was shocked to find out that they and Strawberry Shortcake were American Greetings characters and that Rainbow Brite was a Hallmark character...I also found out that Tenderheart Bear, the lead brown one, and the Raccoon were voiced by the same woman who voiced Rudolph in those claymation movies!  The trivia I'm learning is so enriching!

 
Jem and the Holograms 1985-1988
Jem is the precursor to any Hannah Montana type of show we ever dreamed of...and infinitely cooler than anything else ever brought to television...no exaggeration...that pink hair, the weird pink eyeshadowblush thing...and what was with the boyfriend thing?  It was weird...

AND FOR THE GREATEST 80'S CARTOON EVER!
EVER!!!!!!


 
Voltron: Defenders Of The Universe: 1984-1985
 Somehow by some unbelievably remarkably dumb luck and probably some dumb people, this show only lasted a year...there have been many times where they tried bringing it back, even in CGI form but it just didn't seem to have staying power...so tell me this: how the HECK did a show like Power Rangers become the biggest thing to hit since oh I don't know, The Beatles, when it was a way less cooler premise of Voltron?  Seriously beats me...and don't think I'm a freak but I had a major crush on the blue one...I still do...and apparently there are talks of a real-live movie in the works...Transformers has turned out pretty well, I hope this one does too, it deserves so much more attention and hype than it's been given...

So please...don't go out Thundercat oh-ohing to the horror of your neighbors, and please don't throw self-destructing notes at your boss because you are a weird trench coat wearing klutz with a hand coming out of your hat...but anyone who says that the Ipad or any other Tablet is cooler than Penny's computer book is seriously and sincerely delusional...

Tomorrow, the last 80's January blog...topic?

MOVIES!

WORD UP! Or Listen up on your radio!

Listening to: Cameo - Word Up! (Ok I'm not actually really listening to this song at this moment but I like this album cover and song so much I had to post it)
Weather: WARM and Incredibly WINDY

Today's list...Best 80's SONGS...

So far we've covered best tv, pop bands, big hair acts...now to one of the hardest topics out there: Best SONGS.  How do you try and narrow down thousands of amazing 80's songs into 10?  I sure can't.  So I'm going to cheat on a few and also do a Top 25 list...don't judge me!  :)

*Some of these songs were covered in other blog entries but I can't help it, some bands/singers were too great!*

*In no specific order unless otherwise indicated*

 1981
[David Bowie/Freddie Mercury: Under Pressure=A Single]
Great song and of course now famous for the Vanilla Ice did he or didn't he sample it for his "Ice Ice Baby" Song...he claims he switched enough of one beat for it not to be...I say give respect to where its due, and Queen and David Bowie wrote a fantastic song...

 1980
[Gary Numan: Cars=Pleasure Principle Album]
Okay so technically the song was released in 1979 but it hit big in America in the 1980's so I added it...plus how could you not with this great electronic melody?  Plus a guy in a three piece with eyeshadow screams this decade so there...

1981
[Journey: Don't Stop Believin'=Escape Album]
It was hard choosing one Journey song, there was of course: Faithfully, Open Arms...but something about this song stirs me!

 1985
[Whitney Houston: How Will I Know=Whitney Houston Album]
Another difficult choice...I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Greatest Love Of All, Didn't We Almost Have It All...all amazingly sung by one of the greatest voices ever to hit radio...still sad for her, still hoping for her!

 1980
[Hall & Oates: You Make My Dreams=Voices Album]
Another band that had numerous hits throughout the early 80's, this song makes me bounce in my chair whenever I hear it, or go dancing across the kitchen floor...!

 1982
[Toto: Rosanna=IV Album]
Although rumored to be about actress Rosanna Arquette, this song's "Rosanna Rosanna" gets stuck in my head all day!  With a headbop to go with it...the key change is a tricky one when singing along though har har!

 1982
[Duran Duran: Hungry Like The Wolf=Rio Album]
"Doo doo doo doo...x100" that's a good chunk of the song and it's really fun to sing...they also had a bunch of hits such as Rio, Save a Prayer etc...

 1982
[Depeche Mode: Just Can't Get Enough=Speak & Spell Album]
This song came back to life with the movie, The Wedding Singer and also the famous GAP commercials...whatever happened to those commercials?  They were hilariously spoofed!

 1986
[Bon Jovi: Livin' On A Prayer=Slippery When Wet Album]
My current ringtone for my brother, this song is probably Bon Jovi's best known song...I remember dying laughing when I realized it was Richie Sambora making that synthesized sound in the beginning with his mouth with that little talk box instrument...great singalong song...

  1984
[New Edition: Cool It Now=New Edition Album]
Though I don't know why the lead voice sounds like a Chipmunk, this song is adorable and poppy...it spawned Bobby Brown and of course Bel Biv Devoe!

 1986
[Run DMC/Aerosmith: Walk This Way=Raising Hell Album]
I remember watching this video when the two groups are listening to one another through the walls, and they get together to produce this great track...their rapping with Joe Perry's guitar licks, Steven Tyler's scratchy vocals=perfect!  And apparently it revived Aerosmith's career as well.

 1988
[New Kids On The Block: Please Don't Go Girl=Hangin' Tough Album]
Although I was a huge NKOTB fan and liked almost all of their songs growing up, I have to give them this song because it's the one that made them hit bigtime...funny thing was, I remember watching either Nickelodeon or Disney Channel and they came on singing this song and Joey McIntyre at the time in his early teens made my heart drop to the floor...I was in love!  And their hits made them huge successes for awhile into the 90's: I'll Be Loving You Forever, Hangin' Tough, The Right Stuff, Cover Girl...etc.

  1984
[Wham!: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go: Make It Big Album]
I've talked about this song before because that's how much I love this song...it wakes me up and makes me happy the rest of the day...this album has a lot of great hit songs worth listening to.

 1985
[USA For Africa: We Are The World=Single]
I'm sorry but this song was just too amazing for me as a kid...I remember seeing all these famous people singing this unifying song trying to help poor people...it was one of the first charity-related things I had seen and it impacted me.

 1980
[Pat Benatar: Hit Me With Your Best Shot=Crimes of Passion Album]
She also had a bevy of hits that I love singing and dancing with: We Belong, Heartbreaker, Love is a Battlefield...she was fierce and sang like it!

Too difficult to pick just one song so I'll just say Prince and you can choose what song you think should go here! :)

 1981
[Rick Springfield: Jessie's Girl=Working Class Dog Album]
Loved this song, still love this song, and will keep on lovin' this song!

1983
[Blonde: Tide Is High=AutoAmerican Album]
Such an usual song with some kind of reggae sound to it, this with Heart of Glass showed the crass and style of Deborah Harry, whose country/folkish duets album is excellent btw

 1988
[UB40: Red Red Wine=Labour of Love Album]
Though they tend to do covers of other people's songs, they do great covers of other people's songs and I LOVE them with their reggae tone to it...

 1983
[Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Want To Have Fun=She's So Unusual Album]
I've talked about Ms. Lauper quite a bit in my 80's blogs but that's because she was just so unique and outrageous which often if done right will lead to iconic status which she was able to achieve for herself with such hits as this one, True Colors, and of course Time After Time.

 1985
[A-Ha: Take On Me=Hunting High and Low Album]
Another song I've covered before, I just have to say their music video for this amazing song was so groundbreaking and traumatizing (a bloody cartoon guy coming out of the cartoon, did he make it, is he okay??) for me that it's something I'll always remember...

 1983
[Van-Halen: Jump=1984 Album]
I'm pretty sure the main reason I like this song is because it reminds me of going to NBA games...I'm a huge fan, and hearing this song brings it all back...har har.

1985
[OMD: If You Leave=Pretty In Pink Original Soundtrack Album]
I actually have yet to watch this movie, thoroughly enjoyed Sixteen Candles and didn't know this song was from this movie...duh!  Their song Walking On The Milkway is fantastic too.

 1985
[Tears For Fears: Everybody Wants To Rule=Songs From The Big Chair Album]
Another repeat contender, how could I not put them here with a song like this?  I also believe its remake by Adam Lambert was considered by Simon Cowell's as his favorite American Idol performance ever.  Is that significant?  I'm not sure but I like this song regardless.

 1987
[Beastie Boys: Brass Monkey=Licensed to Ill Album]
Whoever said three Jewish boys from Brooklyn could rap?  The Beastie Boys did.  Odd to call it 80's music, yet their sound personified the growing hip-hop movement and their childish playfulness captured the hearts of rebellious youths everywhere...in college I promise you, I'd turn on their music as I took naps because I listened to it THAT much and it had become a part of me...go figure.

 
[Michael Jackson]
Okay here I am again putting Michael Jackson down as winner of anything related to 80's music...heck I'd even be tempted to put him as greatest artist of all-time...I believe Rolling Stones put him number 2 after The Beatles...that's a hard call...but again, he basically ruled all things related to media during this era...and like I've said a further blog of just MJ is comin' up shortly, there's just no way to make one entry about him!

*Disclaimer: I did not include Madonna or Janet Jackson on here because I was more in love with their 90's sound than their 80's sound so we'll be hearing about them in a few...and trust me, this list is not conclusive, it was hard doing this and by number 10 I was going crazy...so enjoy, and hopefully you'll agree on some of my entries!*

So get out there, turn on your radio, get into some whip it action and roam if you want to...don't have a manic Monday and remember that it's never a good idea to get too physical in a shiny leotard and leg warmers even if you are as big of a babe as Olivia Newton John.