1984 in music: Reckless is Bryan Adams' breakthrough (and Michael Jackson is still Thrilling)

 

I remember thinking that Cuts Like a Knife, Adams' first real attention-getting hit, was decidedly fine but it wasn't exactly my thing. Each hit that came off of his following record, the eventual Juno Album of the Year Reckless, had a very different feel to them. In short: they all felt like big, important hit songs.

I just read now that It's Only Love, my personal favourite, was the last track released as a single, so I wonder if I was a little late to the party and backtracked my way through appreciating the rest. Actually, I do also remember still being somewhat indifferent to the first single Run to You, so I definitely was slow to totally buy in. 

I would have felt bad saying back in 1984 that Adams had reached his peak with this album but, with the gift of many extra years' worth of perspective (and still some more really good songs to come), yeah, this was the top of the mountain for him. 

Now, what to say about Thriller?

Well, it seems that the impetus for releasing the title track as a single and accompanying it with its legendary video was that the album's sales had finally started slowing down. It's a little cosmically crazy so think that, arguably, the album's most famous feature was not part of the plan the whole time. 

We're actually talking about November of 1983 right now, but the massive spike in popularity led to the album taking one more victory lap as the top-seller of 1984.

It looks like the video's Canadian premiere date was a little behind the U.S., but I do remember staying up to watch it on The New Music on Citytv. In my mind it was a midnight premiere, but surely I can't have stayed up until midnight and toddled off to class in Grade 4 the next morning? Maybe it was at 9:00 pm and that felt like midnight. 

1984's box-office champ Ghostbusters never fails

Hey! I found the DVD for Ghostbusters!  Now, where's that Cars disc...

To be very honest, I was mowing my lawn when it struck me that I wasn't totally pumped up to watch Ghostbusters, which is what I'd be doing as soon as I finished.

It's not that I don't love the movie; it's just that, for the first time during this project, I felt like I had to get inside to do my homework, check the Ghostbusters box, and move on.

Well: I loved it, of course. There's something about the music right off the top and that opening scene that sets the mood, the following scene that sets the tone, and the rest of the movie that plays them both perfectly.

I didn't feel that way when I was 10, mind you. I was freaked out in the theatre and didn't make it until the end. I remember my brothers chiding me later on at home for missing the best part (Stay-Puft), but whatever. I'd told my dad I wanted to leave and off we went. 

I didn't watch the whole thing until it was on video, and I then proceeded to watch it over and over. It became my most-watched movie for a couple of years until the 1986 Transformers spectacular took over.

This time, and I can't say why exactly, I was most amused by the Archbishop's reaction to Venkmen suggesting to the mayor that he'd be saving the lives of millions of registered voters: a wry, knowing smile, either to suggest that he recognized Peter's good play, or the fact that he knew it would work on his friend, or that he agreed - or all of it.

1984's best-seller The Talisman a solid tag-team effort

Well, here goes my second Stephen King book (the only other being 11/22/63); and I don't know anything by or about Peter Straub (other than what I've now read on the back cover). It's an interesting thing to read a story co-written by two authors whose styles are not familiar to me. I couldn't even guess if they were taking turns or combining their two voices into one throughout.

It was a fun read; a little meandering at time, although a more apt description would be that I found it bogged down in episodic adventures at the expense of gunning for the end of Jack's ultimate mission. Again, I don't know if this a normal thing for either King or Straub in their writing (I definitely didn't feel it in 11/22/63) or if this was the result of two writers taking different approaches to the story.

One thing to be said for King's books is that he has a proven track record of coming up with pitchable hooks for series and movies, and The Talisman has that as much as his other stuff. So - where's the movie, or more likely the show?

1984's top show Dynasty makes for fun actor-spotting

 

Following on the heels of my enjoyment of Dallas, I was expecting (and got) much the same vibe from the other prime-time soap of the era - another show I'd never watched but was always vaguely aware of because one couldn't help but be in those days.

Jumping into the finale of season four and the first episode of season five, I appreciated the same vigor for ridiculousness, but Dynasty seemed to play much more on the personal side of scheming and betrayal with a little business thrown in, whereas Dallas (from the few episodes I watched) was more 50/50. I was immediately invested in Fallon's headache (what was the accident?) and her disappearance, but I found the season five starter a little tame and didn't set much in motion (apart from the final two minutes).

But most importantly, here's the first of two appearances that made me really happy: 

Dude, I didn't know anything about Jack Coleman before he was in Heroes. He was my favourite character from that show and I'd only ever seen him in The Office after that, so I always figured that he just appeared out of thin air for the superhero series. 

I also wouldn't have ever guessed that he could have passed for Sam J. Jones in his youth.

Then, to top it off, there was this appearance:

I'd seen his name in the opening credits so it was missing part of the surprise, but he was so smooth standing outside the door that it really didn't matter.

It might be worth my while to come back to this season later on after all.

I would've thought this cereal was more '94 than '84.

I don't think I ate this much (or at all) as a kid, and it only became a favourite once I was paying rent and buying my own groceries. That's probably why I don't associate it with the 80s.

I also don't remember this commercial; seems like the ad agency had a beach-themed shoot all set up for a different product when the Cinnamon Toast Crunch job fell into their hands, so they just went with it: https://youtu.be/wRIB0EaI-oo

1983's Oscar-winning Terms of Endearment's sucker punch gets me good

This is another in a long line of Oscar winners that I've never seen, but I expect that's going to change as I get into the late 80s and 90s. As soon as this one gets rolling I find the feel of it familiar (As Good As It Gets and Spanglish make a lot more sense in the context of James L Brooks' career), and I can see why this was so exciting at the time. 

It's wild to see Jack Nicholson segueing into the time that I first knew him as an actor - this is more Prizzi's Honor Jack than Cuckoo's Nest Jack. In fact, there's an awful lot of his Joker performance in this movie. 

And I can't put my finger on why but I've never bought into Shirley MacLaine, except for her part in Walter Mitty but that's because I'm a sucker for everything in that one. But she was great here, too, and so was Winger, and Lithgow, and Daniels, and just the whole thing. I was really very impressed by it.

And then it goes for the jugular in a way that should have felt ham-fisted and cheap, but it somehow pulled it off for me by keeping clear of melodrama. There was something about the pacing of it that refused to linger on the most sentimental parts but just dropped emotional bombs and then moved on because there was more stuff to get to. And then, when it's done, it just ends - again, without lingering to make sure that you're feeling the weight of it, but just finishing up because it's done. 

Very glad to have seen this one.

1983's Pulitzer Prize winning Ironweed is a merciless read

Following along in my previously posted observation that the year's top-grossing movies are all about having fun at the theatre, while the critically acclaimed movies are undoubtedly more of a bummer, Ironweed fits right into that formula. The best-selling book of the year was an adaptation of the top-grossing movie of the year (Return of the Jedi), yet Ironweed is a rough book in which death follows the main character Francis along every step of his life. 

The thing is, of course, that it's such a good read. It comes off as poetry rather than prose much of the time, and once I'd given up any pretense of expecting (or even wanting) a quick turnaround to a happy ending, I was content to follow Francis to as close a state of peace as he was going to get.

I hate giving spoilers in any context, so suffice it to say that the deaths that haunt Francis are both from his own hands and seemingly just by association with him, and early on the book introduces a motif that has him communing with the dead as casually as he does with the living, and it's written by Kennedy casually, too, so as to not bring about questions of supernatural activity - this is just something that Francis does. It allows for him to bare his soul to the reader and not the characters around him, almost like it was a stage play where he turns to the audience and delivers an aside to let us know what's really happening. It all makes for a unique read.

Not that the world needs my voice to recommend a book like this - here it is anyway.

1983's music: Bryan Adams arrives in Canada, and where's my Thriller?

One thing is for certain: now that I'm listening to 1983 playlists and top albums, it's clear that this is when I started watching videos on MuchMusic regularly. Pretty well every song that I know and like from this time is also accompanied in my mind by its music video.

I'll admit, though, that I wasn't all that into the Cuts Like a Knife single back when it was on the air - it wasn't until Reckless that I really bought into Adams - and we'll be getting to that album soon enough. For now, "Knife" is a solid record and it was a big winner at the '84 Junos: record of the year and other production awards, too.

Now: where's my copy of Thriller??

I've been looking forward to opening up my album to this insert and playing this very important record in my life. But I couldn't find it.

To go back to the beginning, this was the first record that I bought for myself (and really, one of the very few as I was soon to get into cassettes), for $12 at the Trio Mart in Oakville (later, a great place to buy Transformers). I know that it hasn't been lost to time or moves because I've played it in recent years but it's just ... slipped away for the time being.

Ah well, it will turn up. In the meantime, there's no shortage of videos with people playing their own records, so I was able to jump right into the great opening track of Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' and through the untouchable run of Thriller, Beat It, and Billie Jean that spans the two sides. 

I've always felt that Jackson was more about the hits than about the record quality on the whole, but this is the exception, and it ran the music business for two whole years.

Maybe I'll find my record in time for its repeat performance as top seller for 1984.

1983's video games: Pole Position and Donkey Kong lands at home (in Japan)

"Prepare to qualify". I'd forgotten how those words instantaneously brought sweat to the palms in this, the number-one arcade game of the year.

I played a few rounds here: https://www.retrogames.cc/arcade-games/pole-position-world.html, and it took me a few tries to get the feel for it again (it's only been thirty-something years). I felt like the curves were going to need more steering than they did, so I kept on exploding against a billboard (we've all been there) until I loosened up a bit and at least made it to the checkpoint on the third try. 

It was never a favourite game of mine, to be honest, but a few rounds made for a nice re-visit. 

https://www.retrogames.cc/nes-games/donkey-kong-japan.html

Then, staying on the same site, it was time for a game that I have re-visited many, many times over the years - a little bit on the NES Classic, a bit more often on the Wii, and every now and then in an arcade. This was supposedly the version for the Famicom in 1983, which was the Japan-only version of the NES. At this time, and even when I got the NES, I never had Donkey Kong so it was always an arcade game for me until the Wii. 

I was dying in embarrassing fashion until I figured out the controls - getting bonked on the head by that first barrel dropped while I tried to find jump. Of course, it was "z". Why did I naturally want to use "a"? 

Anyway, I was off and running, and doing pretty well for three rounds - making double barrel jumps like I was the King of Kong and speeding through the elevator level as always because it freaks me out.

I think if I ever talk to young 'uns in mythological terms about a video game, it will be this one. I'll simply tell them this: the game was hard, kids. It really is merciless right off the start.

By the time I hit the third go-around I wasn't quite ready for the game upping the ante and spent my lives in a storm of barrels.

1983: Chicken McNuggets don't hold up, Nerds rock on

I forgot to take a picture before they were gone. 

It has been a long time since I've eaten Chicken McNuggets - even longer than since I've had a McChicken - and they were ... terrifically average. I used to love these things; I thought they were so tasty! As I downed a 10-pack with my fam as a late night snack, though, I found them bland.

Maybe they've changed. 

Maybe I've changed.

Maybe we've both changed

. 

Nerds, however, will live forever. I wish I'd been able to find the orange flavour, because that was the tippity-top of flavour experience.

I've never stopped enjoying these in all their variations - the big box of Nerds, the Jumbo Nerds, the Big Chewy Nerds, and the Nerd Rope which was the forerunner to the greatest candy invention in my lifetime: Nerds Gummy Clusters.

1983's top earning movie: Return of the Jedi (no fooling around with Special Editions this time)

While I don't own an original version of the movie, what I've got is pretty close: a Laserdisc with a THX upgrade but no augmented affects, no Jedi Rocks, and, most importantly to me, it still has the "Yub-Nub" Ewok celebration song to close out the trilogy.

The tone of this film is a marked, whimsical change from not only Empire but from A New Hope, and as time went on and more Star Wars movies arrived, it became easy to see how this film laid the foundation for The Phantom Menace and its low-stakes storytelling. The tying up of loose ends borders on lazy - most notably, of course, in the "You'll never convince me that it was always part of the plan" pairing of Luke and Leia as siblings. 

Honestly, if I'd been nine years old watching Episode I instead of Episode VI, I'd probably like Phantom a lot better than this. Most of my love for Jedi is nostalgia. 

Seeing this movie in the theatre is my earliest specific, I-can-date-it memory of seeing any movie. I was in Toronto with my dad and a friend to see this on the third day of release, and we waited outside in a line as theatres filled and emptied until it was our turn. I don't remember how long we waited, but I don't think it was anything crazy.

Shout out to the Rebel Alliance for having the confidence to pack fireworks into the X-Wings for the victory celebration.

1983: Dallas part three brings my Ewing journey to a close

Seriously - if the TV show you're watching doesn't end a season with a fistfight in a storied homestead, with a thrown candle setting the house ablaze while sleeping family members are unaware of the danger, and the episode ends before you know if everyone will be okay ... you need to reconsider what kind of show you're watching.

https://youtu.be/y4P9jiSK7xg

I'm going to miss watching this!

1982's Oscar-winning Gandhi as great as advertised (and curiously inspiring)

I know that I saw at least the opening scene when I was pretty young, but I have no memory of the rest of the movie. Maybe it was on TV and either I wasn't interested or I wasn't allowed to watch it - whatever the story, I know the beginning. 

The rest of the movie was excellent, which isn't always a given when talking about a Best Picture winner. Kingsley really was terrific in the role, and the surrounding cast supported him wonderfully (including a young Daniel Day-Lewis, who I wouldn't have recognized without seeing his name in the credits). Seeing John Gielgud and Ian Charleson pop up after having just watched them in Chariots of Fire was fun.

It is a stoic, station-to-station kind of biography storytelling, which is befitting of a man with such patience and resolve. 

And what did I feel like doing right after watching?

Well, that would be playing a game of Civilization Revolution on the Xbox 360 as Gandhi, naturally. I played it in as non-violent a manner as possible - no attacking (not even barbarians), just defending as needed. I panicked a bit towards the end because the Japanese were approaching an Economic Victory so I beat them to it, but I had time and I should have won a Cultural Victory. Seems more fitting.

At least the English were in on this game so I managed to outplay them, too.

1982 in music: Men at Work bolstered by hits and Loverboy still rules in Canada

Listening to this record was a fascinating experience, one that had me looking back on how success was defined in the good ol' days of the offline music business. 

After finishing this album, the worldwide best-selling album of 1982, I found it remarkable how ... okay it was. It dawned on me that an album like this, hardly what I'd consider to be a smash hit album, spent all those weeks at #1 based on two big hits - and they really were big hits. Who Can It Be Now and Down Under propelled this album, and as obvious as that is, I find it really interesting to think back to a time when two big hits were enough to drive album sales because, apart from buying singles on vinyl, where else were you going to hear those songs on demand? In today's market, you might expect that those two songs would showcase huge streaming numbers while the rest of the songs would be barely touched, but back then, to get the hit songs you bought the album. 

Also - they were lucky that Thriller wasn't released until November because nothing and nobody stood a chance against that record for the next two years. We'll get back to that soon.

Meanwhile, up in Canada:

I'm not going to pretend that I'm listening to every song of every year in chronological order, but as I make my way through the hit records I'd say that the declaration of Loverboy's Working for the Weekend is that the quintessential 80s sound has arrived. 

https://youtu.be/dsgBpsNPQ50

1982 in video games: Pac-Man, Pac-Man, and ... Ms. Pac-Man

Pac-Man was still big on home console and computer, but Ms. Pac-Man took the top prize in the arcade. The online version that I played above was from here: https://www.mspacman1.com/

It's simply a great sequel with nothing but good quality upgrades: the variations in maps and warp tunnels, the travelling bonus foods, and even the little in-game vignettes that show the Pac-Mens defeating the ghosts and conquering all with their love is a nice touch.

In doing a little reading I found that indeed they did once consider calling it Pac-Woman, but veered towards Mrs. Pac-Man before settling on "Ms." because it rolled off the tongue better.

1982's Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Color Purple engrossing, surprising

 

Here's yet another famous property that I know very little about; I hadn't read the book nor have I seen the movie. I'd like to think that even if I went into this book without knowing of its accolades and the high esteem in which it's held that I would still have been as taken by it was I was. 

Technically, I enjoyed the letter-writing as a device and was fascinated by the revealing of deeper knowledge through hidden letters. But the framework was just a hook, and the deeper I got the more it gave.

I always carry something a writing teacher once said: that a story should either reveal to you a world you don't know, or something new about a world you do know, and in that way it will connect you to the tale. Well, I know nothing of the world of The Color Purple, but I found myself wishing for the best for characters; there was something about the tone of the book that made it feel like even the least likeable of people in the story were not hated by the author, or Celie by extension. There was evil, but they received something other than hate ... disregard, maybe. It was an uplifting book despite spending time in some awful situations.

I'll be swinging back around for the movie when I have the time. 

1982's top TV show: dipping back into 60 Minutes

I found a clip of 60 Minutes from 2003 on the passing of Johnny Cash, and within that video is footage from 1982 as Harry Reasoner interviews Johnny and June, with a little musical interlude thrown in for good measure.

As with the episode that featured Baryshnikov, it's a classic 60 Minutes profile: direct and patient, fair and balanced.

And, as a bonus, this video cuts from 60 Minutes to reach further back and show Cash and James Brown on an episode of The Mike Douglas show from '71. 

https://youtu.be/epY-vhoFduk

 

1982: Watching E.T. on Hallowe'en is the way to go

 

Unfortunately, either our VHS copy of E.T., the cords, or the player were acting up (there was sound but no video), and I was on a time crunch so I couldn't fiddle around with it too much. So, Netflix it was on this Hallowe'en night (that's my two dogs watching).

I have strong memories of being terrified by the corn field scene. I also remember watching it at school in grade 4 or 5 and a well-meaning teacher who was standing guard by the volume button only managed to quick-mute the "breath" part of Elliott's "penis breath" line. I was always disturbed by pasty-white E.T. in the ravine.

All of that is still there for me, now coupled with the appreciation of a film well-made.

1981: Welcome, microwave popcorn!

Here's what I've learned: there was, in fact, an Act I microwave popcorn released in 1981, but it had real butter so it had to be stored in the fridge. Act II, which can survive in presumably any environment, didn't come around until 1984, and nobody knows what Act III will be. 

However, I couldn't get my hands on Act I, so I settled for the closest thing. It left a sort of chalky texture in my mouth towards the end, but it was nonetheless fun to re-visit the fuel for movie nights when I was younger and untrained in the art of popcorn making. 

1981's Chariots of Fire: Oscar winner has substantive style

There are a lot of things that I liked about Chariots of Fire, but there was only one thing that I knew: the opening theme. I can't be alone in that regard.

I was quite taken by how the opening scene, running on the beach and giving each main character a moment at center stage, was then re-used as the closing credits with the actors names now appearing in their moment. Really clever, and I don't think I've ever seen anything done like that before.

The actual running takes second place to political and religious debate, which explains why the DVD cover is unopposed to presenting a spoiler as the main image. It's all rather perfunctory as we make it to the Olympic victories because each character has already beaten some other more fearsome foe to get there.

I found out later than Kenneth Branagh made his film debut somewhere in here, but I certainly don't remember seeing him. I did, however, mark these two: 

Just Sarek from Star Trek (2009) and the Borg Queen from First Contact spending a romantic evening together, nothing to worry about. 

1981 in music: when Phil Collins was cool and Canada turned Loverboy loose

I'll stand up for Phil Collins and Genesis all the live-long day. I know that a ton of people turned on both entities for releasing less-than-progressive music towards the tail-ends of their shared careers, but I figure they'd earned whatever kind of soft-rock they wanted to peddle by that point. 

Before that, after all, Collins ruled the world with In the Air Tonight, which I don't think can ever be overplayed. Even if someone thinks "Man, this song is overplayed" when they hear it start, you know they're just waiting to air drum along with everyone else listening.

And if they're still grumpy, then play this for them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aMCzRj3Syg

My other favourite from the album: https://youtu.be/_KBvgKdFtQI

Meanwhile, the Junos are at it again.

Staying just a little bit behind the times, 1982 the Canadian Album of the Year award, typically awarded to an record from the previous calendar year goes to ... 1980's self-titled Loverboy debut. 

I've got no problem with the album, riding The Kid is Hot Tonite and Turn Me Loose to victory, it's just another time when the Canadian awards don't really follow any set rules, and it's why I find them so endearing. 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz6cAheObZcgzl9Rv3W81Cm1BsN7TdmQ-&si=kJ-dKzLgt-pmbpzB

1981's top grossing movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark (and the lost DVD)

 

The classic pre-streaming conundrum. If the Raiders of the Lost Ark disc isn't in its case, how long would it take for me to find it? Not too terribly long, actually, but it only presented a new problem: where is the Ghostbusters disc, because it's not in the Raiders case...

Oh well, that's a problem for 1984. 

In the midst of a ridiculous run by Lucas and Spielberg, this movie is cool. Harrison Ford is cool. Karen Allen is cool. Nazis are so not cool. 

The setting of this movie combined with the 80s effects makes for a magical mix that helps this movie avoid feeling terribly outdated, to me anyway. That magical mix is aided by John Williams, who is on his own ridiculous run. 

Perfect pacing, seriousness, silliness, and scares. 

1981 in arcade, console, and computer games: Pac-Man, Pac-Man, and Pac-Man

Hearkening back to the heady days of Pong and its omnipresence in gaming, 1981 was a dominant time for Pac-Man. I played two versions: the Atari 2600 home version pictured above, and the more familiar (to me) Namco arcade layout below. 

The quality of at-home gaming still had a long ways to go, as the Atari port is clunky and not visually appealing at all. It was harder right off the bat, too, but that might actually be a positive when you consider that you could replay and replay without quarters (or a line-up), so you could afford the challenge. Or maybe there's no difference in difficulty and I was just off my game. 

The arcade version always feels so immediately familiar and easy to get into. If you haven't played it for a while, try it here and you'll remember (or just understand) why it was so easy to play and so addictive. 

https://freepacman.org

 

Putting 1981's Pulitzer Prize winning Rabbit is Rich on hold

 

An update for those who deeply care.

Knowing nothing about this book going in, I wasn't aware until I picked it up from the library that it is the third in a series of four. I dove in nonetheless and, while I was enjoying the first couple of chapters, there were definitely references to the earlier books that I wished I was fully understanding. 

Then I happened to browse ahead in my reading list, and saw that in several weeks' time I'll be reading part four of the tetralogy - so that settled it. I stopped reading Rabbit is Rich and will start over with Rabbit, Run so I can be ready for Rabbit at Rest in 1990.

1981: Dallas Part Two (checking in on the fam)

 

After the resolution of J.R.'s shooting storyline, I kept going for several episodes, not quite getting to the end of the third season but hanging in long enough for the show to continue making its mark on me. 

In fact, as my wife was recounting a series on Netflix and lamenting that it wasn't all that worthwhile, I asked "Well, was anyone revealed to be someone's son after having worked on their ranch for years? Any oil tankers sink? Any oil drills explode?" I mean, what are you watching a show for if there's nothing like that going on?