Remember this guy? The kids today have bin Ladin. When I was a kid, this was the face we associated with turbaned evil.

I think I was pretty ambiguous about Uncle Ron during the actual decade of the 1980’s. I don’t think I really appreciated him until we elected Slick in ’92.

A friend of mine told me about the Challenger between classes. I was getting a book out of my locker and my buddy Shaun walked up and told me what had happened. I spent the rest of the day thinking “What? What?”

Oh, yes… the singular beauty of the 1972 Dodge Coronet. It was the first car I ever owned, bought with $200 grass-mowing money. This is not a picture of the one I owned. This picture is just some Coronet. The one I owned was the Coronet. If I ever win the lottery, I won’t buy a Lexus or a Porsche or whatever. I’ll buy a ’72 Coronet and restore it to brand new condition.

I didn’t play. I had friends who played. I didn’t have the patience to learn.

My buddies and I thought that anything they did was funny.

My grandmother and I thought that anything he did was funny.

Enough said.

This was more my taste in music. Maiden was my favorite band when I was a teen. Enough said about that, too.

The first R rated movie I ever saw in the theater was Purple Rain. Me and a kid from school snuck in, swearing to the girl at the ticket booth that we were both 18. She probably knew we were lying, but let us in. We were both 15.

I really wasn’t a TV junkie when I was young, but at some point I did get addicted to St Elsewhere. I still don’t think there’s been a medical drama that could touch it.

Remember the last episode of St Elsewhere? If you, like me, were a fan, then this image is probably still stuck in your brain. What a series finale. One of the best ever.

Oh, yeah… Hall and Oates. They could have recorded themselves belching into a mason jar and it would have been a hit.

Of course, these days, it’s the other one’s turn to wear the facial hair.

Hey, it could be worse. Remember when they looked like this? What music industry marketing genius came up with this look? "You know, boys, your blue-eyed soul sound is nice... but what's really selling these days is overtly gay, hair-gelled, metalic vampire music."

That’s Toby Keith. If you don’t know, he’s the big dumb country music star of the moment. His music really, really, really sucks… and his image, as the blue-collar working guy who happens to be a musician is a total marketing ploy.

Especially once you remember what he looked like in the 80’s. This guy will package himself in any way that might sell. Ain't he cute? He'll make somebody a pretty little wife someday.

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 12:10