Reel Dealz Movies and Music thru the Decades Podcast
Reel Dealz Movies and Music thru the Decades Podcast
SPECIAL EDITION- TOUCHSTONE MOMENTS OF THE 1980s: CULTURE, MUSIC, AND FILM
On this episode, Tom and Bert explore the vibrant culture of the 1980s, from iconic movies and unforgettable music to fascinating trivia that defined the decade. This episode dives deep into nostalgic moments and the cultural phenomena that shaped the 1980's.
• Overview of the 80s impact on pop culture
• The introduction of VHS and rise of home entertainment
• Exploring popular video games of the decade
• Iconic fashion trends, particularly mullets
• Historical events like the Chernobyl disaster and the Berlin Wall
• Musical legends like Michael Jackson and Madonna
• The significance of MTV and music videos
• Fun facts and trivia that brought the decade to life
So many fun facts and trivia.
Enjoy the show!
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Welcome to Real Deals movies and music for the decade. Today's podcast is about some fun facts of the 80s, which will include trivia, movies, general trivia and music. What I'd like to do is start off with a quick intro and then we get on to the list sounds good all right, some fun facts of the 80s.
Speaker 1:From mullets to music, there are plenty of things that make the 80s iconic period in our history. Whether you remember the 80s or are just a fan of the unique movies, fashions, music and games that came out during that period, get ready for a blast from the past as we explore some of the most iconic pop culture moments of the 80s. So, bert, if you'd like to, why don't you start off with the general 80s trivia?
Speaker 2:Yeah, some of this stuff well, I know by looking at it, but some of it surprised me as well, and that's what we're going to talk about a little bit. Okay, just for everybody out there. You don't have to answer. What does VHS stand for? Vhs is a video home system.
Speaker 1:VHS and it made Blockbuster what it was.
Speaker 2:Yes, it did. And then it begat the DVD, digital video disc and of course we had the CD back in the day for the music side of business, compact disc, et cetera, all right. Next, the most popular video game of the 1980s was I give up Mario Brothers. And I'm not a gamer. In the 80s I was already a little old, I guess, working my way into my 30s, but I do remember a couple, just like Pac-Man I think I was in the 80s somewhere and Ms Pac-Man obviously.
Speaker 1:And that's about it. For me, part of the interesting thing was is that I thought, because we played all the games because our kids were growing up at the time, that was a time period so I thought I knew a lot about the games. But some of this is that I want to go through the. Mario Brothers was number one, as they said. Number two was Tetris in 1989. This is that I want to go through. The. Mario Brothers was number one, as they said. Number two was Tetris in 1989. Okay, think about that. We're talking about one year. In one year, it sold 35 million units. Now, mario Brothers was released in 1985, and it sold 40.24 million units and it sold 40.24 million units. Next up I never even heard of number three was Duck Hunt. It was released in 1984, and it did 28.31 million units.
Speaker 1:Number four was a version of Super Mario Bros, which was Super Mario Land. It was released in 1989, and that did 18.14 million units sold. Number five was super mario brothers. Three was released in 1988 and did 17.28 million units sold. Number six was donkey kong, which I was surprised it wasn't higher as far as that and that was 15.05 million units sold, and that was released in 1982. Pac-man was number seven 1982, 11.15 million units.
Speaker 1:Tetris was 1989, that was 8 million units. Number nine was Super Mario Brothers 2, 1988, 7.46 million units. And number 10 was Legend of Zelda, released in 1986, 6.5 million units. Now you notice the one that is missing from here that I thought would have been in the top 10. What is that? And that's Ms Pac-Man. Pac-man it didn't even crack the top 20 of units sold. In the decade of the 80s has grown and if you adjust to 2023 inflation, it is technically the number one gross revenue sold item of all the video games. They estimated as 3.5 billion dollars. So in theory, what happened was from the 80s on, in different, different variations, that game has become the most popular.
Speaker 2:That's interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't realize that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wasn't Like I said, I went out into games. My younger brother youngest brother probably was more into it than me, but he still was in his 20s at that point, so he didn't really play around much with it. So be it, that's it All right. What ancient Chinese toy was repopularized in the 1980s? Chopsticks? Yeah, no good. No, it's the hacky sack, which I never was into. I know exactly what it is. It kicked the thing around. Oh, I remember that. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that, that's more of. I know. Stephanie was in the 80s, I mean as far as uh, growing up and guys playing the morning, girls, it seemed, but she was, um, in tune with that game as well correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to remember wasn't like a small uh thing with like the sand or whatever it was in the packet it almost reminded me of like a cornhole bag.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say exactly a rosin bag, a rosin bag a pitcher would use, right, if I remember correctly. Yep, that's what I remember about it, but again, I was way too old at that point to be playing around with that game. We played other things when I was younger, like bottle caps and crazy shit like that.
Speaker 1:Continuing with the trivia part of it, what year was the Nike slogan Just Do it launched? And of course that was 1988. Now the interesting thing is how that slogan came about. It came from a convicted killer, gary Gilmore, and it was his final words before his execution. For his execution, and that agency adapted the phrase to create Nike's powerful and motivational tagline, which helped skyrocket the brand's success. That's kind of interesting. I didn't realize. A convicted killer begot the phrase.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I didn't know that. And there's no. Michael Jordan took it to another level, him, with the. Spike Lee commercials and they pushed that whole Nike thing and they had that whole movie that was out a few years ago Matt Damon and Ben Affleck was in it Jordan and getting him signed with Phil Knight through Nike, which was a huge get and still to this day it is a big deal.
Speaker 1:It's an excellent movie, like you said, with all the A-listed actors, but also behind the scenes.
Speaker 2:It's called Air was the name of the movie yeah, or Air Jordan yeah.
Speaker 1:Exactly, but again it was fascinating the behind the scenes as far as how it all came to be, and just a joy to watch.
Speaker 2:If you're interested in a whole how Michael Jordan became the celebrity he did, that's the movie to watch. Signing with them was a big deal. The sneaker deals and, as we know today, they're ridiculous. They're still going on, but Air Jordans are still a big thing and you're talking almost 40 years later. Yeah, it doesn't go away when you have that kind of clout.
Speaker 1:You're right. I know you're not big into it, but as far as soccer goes, the 1986 World Cup was held in Mexico City, mexico, in which Argentina won the game led by superstar Diego Maradona. What year was the wreckage of the Titanic located? And that was 1985. It was found 400 miles off of Newfoundland, canada. The photos that came from that wreckage were incredible to see and it was a worldwide event when they showed it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they found it 73 years after the sinking, so it took that long to find this. But all the equipment they came up with over the years and led the movie to Titanic back in 1999, using some of that footage and all that kind of stuff in order to you know, they did it as a sidebar story more or less, but yeah, that was always intriguing to me, the whole Titanic situation for sure. Okay, in 1983, which country was the first to build a Disneyland outside the US? The answer is Japan. I know California and I know Florida. That's the two I know.
Speaker 1:Well, I think the amazing thing you just mentioned was it took the. I wonder if it was all because of copyrights and everything else, you know the money, but it took the 1983. That's kind of interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, who knows why. I guess they wanted to keep it internally in the US.
Speaker 1:Well, disneyland and Disney World were huge moneymakers prior to that, so you would think someone would want to catch on to it. You know what I mean as far as country-wise, so that's interesting. Japan I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:In 1983, how much did the first mobile phone to come out on the market weigh? And we know currently now they're probably ounces small. Oh sure, at that point it was two pounds, so decent size. And there were mobile phones as we know them and cars. They had the car phones and all that in some of these older movies you got to see.
Speaker 1:And for those that don't remember, back in 1983, if you want to look at pictures of the mobile phone, feel free to do that with its antenna, and you weren't putting that in your pocket. It wasn't a chance of the world, right.
Speaker 2:Well, it was for the rich, Like anything else. The pricing probably back then was very high because few people bought it and the supply was limited in a lot of ways and the demand was only for rich people kind of truth. Now they made it. You need to be rich to buy the ones now too. They're not cheap and, like everything else is made today, they break down after about two to three years and then you're forced to go out and buy a new one and spend more money on the damn thing. That's how you make the money. That's right. Show me the money. More money on the damn thing.
Speaker 1:That's how you make the money. That's right, show me the money.
Speaker 2:That's right. That's it. Yeah, the year was 1981 where Prince Charles married Lady Di at Westminster Abbey in London, and now Prince Charles is King. Charles Took him long enough. The queen decided to live to 90-something years old and he didn't become king until a couple years back when she passed away. And of course, diana passed away way too young, tragically yeah, in a car accident in France.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was an estimated 750 million people watched the ceremony worldwide. Probably one of them. Yeah, wasn't that like a million people watched the ceremony worldwide? Probably one of them. Yeah, wasn't that like a 6 o'clock in the morning or a 5 o'clock in the morning?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a five-hour difference depending on the time of year. So it's either four or five hours, and I think it was a five-hour difference at that point.
Speaker 1:I didn't get up, but that's beside the point. I saw the highlights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they had those too. Yeah, well, that's beside the point. I saw the highlights.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they had those too. Yeah, what was the name of the shuttle involved in the first fatal accident of a spacecraft in flight in 1986? And that was the Challenger. On January 28th it broke apart 73 seconds when launched and killed all seven crew members. Yes, that was tragic, horrific to watch and still to this day, it's not something to say, that's all just you know moments in history that you don't forget.
Speaker 1:Well, I think what it did at least in my case, I thought NASA was, I won't say invincible, but I couldn't see this happening. But it's amazing. As we grow older and find out about how NASA worked and how things were done and everything else, it's kind of incredible that something like this hadn't happened earlier. I mean, we're talking about just. Technology has advanced so much recently, but back then we're talking about the pioneers and it was a wake-up call for me as far as that to realize that people could die because of this.
Speaker 2:Well, they had plenty of aborted flights, I'll call it that. And then get off the ground and John Glenn circled the Earth back in 1961, and then after that, of course, we hit the moon in 1969. So now it looks like that's going to be coming back more, which is a good thing more space exploration and kind of figuring out maybe how to get to Mars one day. So we'll see.
Speaker 1:I think that's what the goal is right now. That would be interesting to see if we do go to Mars, so that would be good. All right, I didn't know this, don't care about it, but it's something I'm going to mention anyway for all you, uh, public collectors, the 1981 poetry collection a light in the attic was written by shell Silverstein.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he's, he's pretty famous. Well, I know he is, but I've never read it, so that's fine, whatever no, I was more of a kid sting too, you know, at some point I remember that for those who remember, in 1980 the us volcano that erupted was mount st helens and, again, 57 people were killed by the eruption. Yeah, scary, for sure, yeah what was the 1981 video that was the first to tell a story during a game? And that answer is Donkey Kong, of the many we just discussed earlier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was better than a pong when that first came.
Speaker 2:What was the story of?
Speaker 1:that.
Speaker 2:That wasn't challenging at all, to say the least. All right, and what year did the Berlin Wall fall? The Berlin Wall fell in 1989.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hugely. That was an international television event which was incredible to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which NFL team won the most Super Bowls in the 1980s? And it was the San Francisco 49. There's the answer to that. I know they won in. They won four in the 80s with joe montana as the quarterback five, which is what they have right now.
Speaker 1:Steve young won in the 90s okay, airheads was the fruit candy with a balloon on the wrapper that came out in 1985. What US president served the most years in the 1980s? And of course that is Ronald Reagan from 1981 through 1989. Just for the audience that don't know it, he started out as being an actor very well-known actor before he got into politics.
Speaker 2:Yes, he was head of the Actors Union or Actors Guild back in the day as well. An actor, very well-known actor, before he got into politics yes, he was head of the Actors Union or Actors Guild back in the day as well, and that to me is like that's a dumbass question. I mean, how many chances do you have? He served basically the whole decade. What US president served the most years in the 80s? It could only be one. He served eight years. Jimmy Carter ended up coming out of office because Reagan took over in 81. In 89, george Bush Sr kind of took over for a few years before Clinton stepped in, and then the rest is history moving along. But yeah, eight years was his term. Two four-year terms and that's it, ronald.
Speaker 1:Reagan. What was Hanoi Jane Fonda most famous for in the 80s? And of course that was her workout videos. Sold 17 million units total. The first three years of release sold 850,000 VHS copies, more than Alien or Jaws sold in the first three years after their VHS release.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was very popular then, and she's still in great shape considering her age.
Speaker 1:And I said Hanoi Jane, and for those who don't know, they can look up why she was referred to that.
Speaker 2:Well, go back to the Vietnam War days protester. She was always very active as an activist, even to today. So that's who she is. Yeah, but yeah, the workout videos gave her the most popularity, even all the movies she did over the years and everything else. That was it. What popular 80s hairstyle is? Shorter in the front and sides but longer in the back, and one I never fucking wore, for damn sure. But it's the old mullet, the mullet look, and I don't know who the perfect mullet head would be. There's a few of them out there, actor-wise and all that. And Billy Ray Cyrus is one that I remember kind of as a big deal back in the 80s as well, I think.
Speaker 1:I believe, if I remember correctly, up to last year or the year before, canada had a yearly mullet contest which was televised. So who had the best mullet contest which was televised, so who had the best mullet? So, in other words, they would have you know like, instead of Miss America it would be, I guess, mr Mullet, or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mr Mullet head.
Speaker 1:But if you ever get a chance I saw highlights of that it was like, oh my God, what they did. I'm talking about the guys, and they also brought the girls in to do it too.
Speaker 2:So I mean, there's some incredible, horrible or beautiful mullets, however you want to look at it, yeah, yeah it was a style of many that were back in that day and you had to be able to pull it off and some people almost had to have like a skinny, long face. You know what I'm saying. To kind of make it look good. Certain features won't work If your face is more round and all that. It just didn't fit Even though people wore them. They look good on people that just had that facial features that they can handle that. I don't even know how you cut the damn thing, but whatever People liked it, I didn't. All right, what happened in Ukraine in 1986? And no, it wasn't Russia invading Ukraine at that point in time, even though that happened. It was a Chernobyl disaster. Nuclear facility leaked and then ended up killing countless people. Become more of a cleaner version than even some of the bullshit electric stuff they're doing now.
Speaker 1:You know kind of trying to get better and better with windmills and all that. But nuclear is good. They've refined it where again the fusion part of it was basically taken out and again, like you said, cleaner, and the technology, thankfully, has made that a better option. But the Chernobyl disaster was again a worldwide event that, if you remember, was televised sporadically because of the information that came out of Russia. It was a well-kept secret, so to speak, and just basically it was never explained until years later how disastrous it was and how dangerous it was to the world not just to them, but what could have happened to the world. And again, hbo did a series on it called Chernobyl, I believe it was. That is fascinating to watch. You get all the inside and outside information, which is a great series to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's something about that side of the world that doesn't like to tell you about things too much, and that was one of them. And the winds blow across the continents and the seas and everything else, and that's where the concern with that was. Was that, which way is that wind blowing, where's it going to go and how will it affect other countries and land masses, etc. Just like it happened with covid from china china virus, as we'll call it. You're right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the type of thing you know, it kind of came over from overseas, and then we're finding it out two to three months later. And then that disaster hit, for it seemed like two and a half we had to deal with that whole thing and it screwed up the economy, screwed up people's lives, killed numerous people.
Speaker 1:Well, the world, the world, the world took a beating Everybody.
Speaker 2:It shut down a lot of travel, et cetera, et cetera. So this was kind of a precursor to that, but a huge disaster. All right, we'll just talk about this, Okay. What does CD stand for?
Speaker 1:Compact disc. Nice and easy, let's move on792 million worldwide gross that's pretty darn good. Followed by number two Empire Strikes, back in 1980. Number three was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989. Batman was number four at 1989. And the last was Back to the Future in 1985, came in as number five.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Steven Spielberg, great job on that movie.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, absolutely. What 80s film featured a group of high schoolers spending detention together? Of course, that is Breakfast Club in 1985. Brat Pack included Emilia Estevez, ali Shee, anthony Michael Hall, judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald.
Speaker 2:So good stuff, though Breakfast Club was great.
Speaker 1:Okay, and doing the research. This next trivia question. As far as that, this is something I learned new here, which is great. What sort of car is used as a time machine in Back to the Future? Of course that answer is DeLorean. Now remember time travel was 88 miles per hour. People forget. Jimmy Carter in 1979 limited speedometers to 85 miles per hour to reduce speeding. So of course, as a joke within a joke, 88 miles was the speed of sound or the speed of time travel. Forgot about that being done. I do remember that now because, again going back to my days when we were younger, I remember my first car I got. It had up to 120. I'm not going to say whether I went 120 or not, but it had 120. And then I remember when the speedometers came out later, it had 85 as being the top you could ride. You know which I don't know. Again, to this day I still don't know why they thought that would be a better safety feature. I don't know what the idea. I'm assuming that's what it was.
Speaker 2:Well, now they're going up to 160. In some cases they don't really care too much about the safety, I guess, but high speeds aren't the problem a lot of the time? That's what we all know.
Speaker 1:Think about the Autobahn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't hear a lot of major crashes on the Autobahn.
Speaker 1:Well, they do have them, but they're nowhere near what you do on the American highways.
Speaker 2:People know how to drive and you can drive at high speeds. You just got to be careful and you got to have great reflexes and know what the fuck you're doing. In America it's a little bit different.
Speaker 1:But the nice thing about this movie which I didn't realize, that that's why they came up with that 88 miles per hour. They always say that they thought because it looked cool on the dashboard looking at 88 and it was the reason they did it. But here this is the reason behind it.
Speaker 2:Good point, freddy Krueger, who's he? Ooh, he's the name of the villain from Nightmare on Elm Street, and that's a trivia question, but everybody knows it. And he was the man in your dreams. And they were nightmares, for goddamn sure. Robert Englund starred as Freddy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for those who don't remember, is that the first movie. I really believe they were just trying to come up with the character and the special effects. I think it was at his creepiest then. Oh yeah, Two, three, four and five were more refined, so to speak, but I think the first one was the scariest.
Speaker 2:All right. What 1988 movie featured Matt Damon's first film role along with Julia Roberts? And that answer is Mystic Pizza. Yeah, it's an okay movie.
Speaker 1:Not bad.
Speaker 2:What movie took home seven Academy Awards in 1985? Not the English Patient, not the mental patient, but out of Africa, the Meryl Streep and Robert.
Speaker 1:Reffernet.
Speaker 2:I'm not a fan of it that much.
Speaker 1:That's on my list of top 10 ass burners. As far as that, yeah.
Speaker 2:The academies haven't changed over the years, it just seems they got worse. But they always were famous for throwing these, like I said, the English patient out of Africa Long boring horseshit movies in my opinion. But artistically they were great, you know, and the acting was fucking tremendous. And it's no different today. Actually, it's about a thousand times worse today because you don't have the volume of movies anymore. The ones that you nominate now for Academy Awards are a little out of bounds in a lot of ways, like nobody gives a rat's ass, nobody sees them. There are more of these. There are too many rules now. Back then you fucking made a movie and you did what you wanted to do, and hopefully that era is coming back pretty soon here. Because out of africa, yeah, you know, I don't know what happened in 85, but I'm sure as fucking hell that I saw plenty of other movies I enjoy more than that okay, what was the name, or is the name of the van that scooby-doo and his friends shaggy, velma, fred and daphne drove?
Speaker 1:and of course that's the mystery machine. What scooby-doo? Okay? What was the name of the boxer that robert de niro won an academy award for best actor playing in raging bull? And of course that is Jake LaMotta.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jake was a 1940s 1950s middleweight champion in that era. He's more known for losing five of the six fights he had with Sugar Ray Robinson, who was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, boxer of all time. I ran the greatest of all time, not Sugar Ray Leonard, sugar Ray Robinson.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I think he went 75-0 before he lost the fight and then he became. When he was washed up he was beating the shit out of most guys but him and Jake. It was depicted well in the movie, but they had that rivalry and I don't know how you call a rivalry when Sugar Ray won five out of six, you know, but the fact is LaMotta did beat him the one time and that was one of Ray's first losses, if not his first loss when LaMotta beat him. Great movie though, if you ever saw. You want to see a really well-done black and white, just strong movie with great acting. That's the movie you want to watch, one of the best ever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. How many Oscars did Raiders of the Lost Ark take home? And the answer is five For art and set direction, sound visual effects, film editing and sound effects editing.
Speaker 2:This is almost like a joke. It was nominated for 9, won 5. It didn't win any of the major awards, right, but the ones I look at. It's like I didn't say what Raging Bull won, okay, but De Niro won the actor role right, we know that. And it may have won the movie I can't remember, but that was Scorsese. He didn't get the director because he didn't win one until way later in life, right, right. But, um, yeah, that was great raiders of lost ark, great movie five, academy war winner, sound editing, okay, just throwing best song and, uh, you know, best disguises or whatever I want to put down, or the best rolling rock. That to me is not impressive. It's a good trivia question. I guess I would have never guessed it.
Speaker 1:I would have said zero because they didn't write anything I knew about well, as we well know, until recently any movie that is a mega hit for the most part very rarely gets any academy awards. I mean, it's even nominations, let alone academy awards right it's just the way it is, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately right, and nowadays they should because they're the best movies that are out right now. How many great movies are there compared to what they used to be? And I can tell you in my mind, there's not much. You can see them on streaming networks now, which is good. A lot of them are going right to TV or right to streaming. I'll just stay in the theater for a little bit. It's like well, I'm going to waste money on the theater Now, unless it was like a real, like Wicked. It's a good example of that. Right, the preference I would have wanted on that is to see that in the theater. Sure, because it's a spectacular version of that the Wizard of Oz and all this other stuff, plus. My wife loved the Broadway play which you saw, right right, and my daughter Stacey went with her as well. But yeah, I just think the movies aren't the same as what they were then and winning five Academy Awards that are really all artsy shit, nothing to do with the acting or the actual picture itself.
Speaker 1:And I can't argue about Indiana Jones either way you look at it Right, we're not disparaging the movie. No, no, no. You look at it Right, we're not disparaging the movie.
Speaker 2:No, the movie's great, but it wasn't like impressive winning five Academy Awards for what they won for. That's all I'm saying. What news network first launched in 1980, and unfortunately, is still around? Cnn out of Atlanta, georgia. This is probably Ted Turner days. I'm going back to that point, right, old Ted TNT, yeah, oh, ted, no, tnt, ted, tbs, tnt and CNN.
Speaker 1:Well, he was the again. Give him credit as far as that. He's the first person running with ESPN 24-hour wall-to-wall of nothing but news. Same as ESPN was sports 24-7 and nothing but sports. They were the innovators of that genre.
Speaker 2:I agree, and Ted actually.
Speaker 1:Didn't he own Atlanta Braves at the time? I believe yeah, he had the.
Speaker 2:Braves, and I think that he just turned the South into that whole. Like I said, tbs, tnt, cnn, cnn's still headquartered in Atlanta. Nothing's changed Except the ratings, which fucking suck. But other than that, great yeah, just tune in on New Year's Eve. You want to watch CNN? When you see the Drunken boys Doing their fucking New Year's Eve Ball drop ceremonies, that's about the best Show on there now by far. When you get right down to it, there's not much there anymore. Okay, who played Johnny Castle in the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing? Well, one of the best movies out there for the women. For sure they loved it. The answer is Patrick Swayze, and acting is good. I liked a lot of his movies actually.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He was great in Ghost with Demi Moore. Oh yeah, roadhouse, one of my favorites, okay, oh yeah, it was a classic. And a lot of other good movies. Well, point Break, point Break, absolutely Probably his best movie. Yeah, that was another great one as as well. And what is the name of the skyscraper that Die Hard is set in? And that was Nakatomi Plaza.
Speaker 1:You're talking about the Christmas classic right, the Christmas classic right. I won't say that.
Speaker 2:But it was held on Christmas Eve, I guess, yeah, die Hard. Bruce Willis, alan Rickman great movie.
Speaker 1:Yippee-ki-yay, that's all I got to say. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:I did watch it again. Me and Gay watched it, and it's been a while Before I was in the Yippee-ki-yay line. That scene I guess I didn't really associate that comment with that scene he was in. When it came up I was like, oh, that's where he said it. I thought it was a different time in the movie, so to speak, but that's when he was kind of like playing hide and seek with them. Yes, they couldn't get him and he was like going floor to floor and avoid them and get around it and the whole elevator shaft thing and all that was going on. But it was great though. It's just a great, great line and great movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of quotable lines in that movie also, but it began Christmas classic, true, I guess. Okay, speaking of the movies 1980, the Shining, who was the director? Stanley Kubrick.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Well again, my favorite part of that movie was the infamous scene where he's putting the axe through the door and Jack Nicholson breaks through and says here's Johnny. And Stanley Kubrick was of British fame, wasn't used to the US, as far as that, and didn't realize that Nicholson was referring to Johnny Carson. Everybody knew from America what that was. Kubrick wanted to cut the scene out because he says what's this got to do with the movie? Thankfully he was told that what was going on and he kept it in so you know it's pop culture here, number one.
Speaker 2:But number two here's johnny. Uh, his name was jack torrence in a movie. Yeah, he's jack nicholson. Jack, could, john? You know a lot of people I knew in life that were Johns, were Jacks or Jonathan or whatever. Yeah, and John Kennedy being the most famous Jack, probably, sure, other than Jack Shit. He was a famous guy too, if you remember him. But as far as Kubrick goes, that to me was one of his better movies that I enjoyed.
Speaker 1:Full Metal Jack.
Speaker 2:it's is his best, Not a great one but he had like hit and miss with me. He had the 2001 Space Odyssey Ass.
Speaker 1:Burner yeah Well.
Speaker 2:I call it Space Oddity, kind of throw it in there like a David Bowie reference. There you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But anyway, yeah, the Shining a great movie.
Speaker 1:Okay, which film featured creatures that shouldn't be fed after midnight? And that would be 1984's Gremlins. By the way, the town of Kingston Falls is the same that was used for the Back to the Future films. Both movies were filmed on Universal Studios' backlot.
Speaker 2:Good to know that's a good one. I like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, how many Star War films were released in the 80s? The answer is two the Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983.
Speaker 2:And now they're not even called that anymore, are they?
Speaker 1:They came out with the original.
Speaker 2:Episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, horseshit, I mean, they changed that up, didn't already? They came out with the original episode one. Episode two, episode three horseshit, I mean they changed that up, didn't they?
Speaker 1:yeah, chronological they I was. I don't know why they did that, but I guess for claire.
Speaker 2:I don't know why, but there's so many of them over the years, I guess they want to line them up properly.
Speaker 1:I don't know well, I think what they did was is that when they re-released them, they came with the new titles. So I don't know if people were gullible enough to believe oh look, there's a new Star Wars app.
Speaker 2:Some people. Who knows, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean maybe that's why they did it. I don't know. But I mean, to this day I don't know why it was done.
Speaker 2:What animated Disney film was released in 1989? And that answer is the Little Mermaid, ariel. I like it, yeah. What is the name of the protagonist in the Terminator? And that would be Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, and I remember that movie. One thing great movie Arnold Schwarzenegger and all that, obviously, but the thing with her she got Buff actually Bustle Up to play in that movie opposite Mr Muscles, mr Universe, arnold Schwarzenegger, and she was in great shape and played that role tremendously.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think her twin sister was her double.
Speaker 2:She did something in one of those films too. I thought it was a different character.
Speaker 1:Like a cameo yeah.
Speaker 2:She did something like that. But Sarah sarah connor, famous name, infamous name for the terminator. Oh yeah, what 1987 sci-fi film includes the line get the choppa or I ain't got time to bleed. That's the line I remember. Oh yeah, and that's. And that's the predator, arnold Schwarzenegger again. Jesse Ventura had the greatest line in movie history. Potentially that was a classic line. He's sitting there like spitting tobacco out of his mouth.
Speaker 1:In a helicopter, in a helicopter you put.
Speaker 2:I ain't got time to bleed. Classic lines.
Speaker 1:Classic movie, yeah, yes. Okay, speaking of Arnold, what 1982 film gave Arnold Schwarzenegger his first big break? And of course that was Conan the Barbarian.
Speaker 2:Had a lot of speaking lines in that, didn't he?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Some interesting backstory on this. As far as that, Arnold modeled his performance as Conan after Steve Reeves. Steve Reeves was the one that bodybuilder of all time and was the inspiration for Arnold, Stallone and Ferrigno to get into bodybuilding. For those that don't recognize, do yourself a favor and check him out, Do a Google search or whatever. But his physique is considered by many, especially in the bodybuilding industry, as being the absolute best of all time. And he only entered nine contests and I think he won like six or seven of them and anything else. But again, immensely well-built, good-looking guy was, I think, in those late 50s, early 60s. For three years he was the top-earning international star in the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you look at him his bodybuilding and all that you look at him, he looks like a normal guy with a good muscle tone. Compared to some of these people now, it looks like, you know, they're just more roided up, so to speak. I think this is when Steve was doing that. It was all pretty natural.
Speaker 1:What 1984 film did John Hughes take just two days to write and I didn't know this? And that's 16 Candles. Yeah, Molly.
Speaker 2:Revolve yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as a reminder, people have to realize that as popular as today, back when it was released it was only what they would call a modest hit. Back when it was released, it was only what they would call a modest hit Came a huge hit when released on VHS Naturally, aka a blockbuster favorite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, John Hughes was just tremendous Writer, director, filmmaker. He's just amazing talent.
Speaker 1:Okay, and the last one I'm going to do is as far as the movies, but it has nothing to do with movies, so we're going to switch it over to a quick One TV trivia question how many kids did Carla have by the end of Cheers? And the answer was eight All right.
Speaker 2:Next up is the music trivia of the 80s. One Billy Joel song featured over 100 different headlines from 1949 to 1989? Most people go what? What the hell are you talking about? That's a crazy song, but it's. We Didn't Start the Fire. You got to listen to that. That's really an amazing song when you really get down to it. I don't know how you did it. You got to hold your breath a lot for that song to get through those lines. There's not a lot of stopping and starting there.
Speaker 1:Well, you've seen it in concert, right? I haven't had the pleasure of doing that. You saw, did he? Did you ever hear him sing that song?
Speaker 2:No, I saw him two times and then no, okay, I don't remember singing either one. I don't remember. Put it that way, right, he may have, he sings so many damn hits. I just don't remember that one happening. Who was the first female artist to have over 5 million album sales? No, it's not Taylor Swift.
Speaker 1:Back in the day, 80s, Madonna was the queen of pop at that point in time. A perennial MTV superstar. Yeah, definitely A perennial MTV superstar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. What musician played the guitar solo in the Michael Jackson song Beat it? I don't think I remember this, but it's Eddie Van Halen was the guitarist.
Speaker 1:Cool that's kind of nice to know what famous reggae singer passed away in 1981? Of course that was Bob Marley. A legend on his own. Legendary singer. Yeah, oh yeah. What is the name of Rick Astley's iconic 1987 song Never gonna give you up? As of 2010, believe it or not, astley has received only $12 in singer royalties from YouTube, even though it's been played 39 million times. Think about that. He's received $12 in singing royalties.
Speaker 2:I would call him a lousy salesperson, I guess.
Speaker 1:Well, no, the reason is well the reason he didn't write it. If he had written it, then naturally it'd be a heck of a lot more, maybe $14. I don't know. You know how corrupt that business is. As far as the music business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he's not in the Hall of Fame either. Right, rightfully so. He's not in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1:The reason he got so low is they called that, I don't know YouTube, and the way they set it up is that it's only a performance share of the sound recording. Copyright is the way they say it, so that's what it falls under. So he's got a whopping $12 out of 39 million hits. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:Worthless to say the least. We're back to say the least.
Speaker 1:We're back to your favorite lady. What musical artist divorced Sean Penn in 1987? Yeah, swift, and of course we're talking about Madonna. She was 27, and he was 25 when they met, and they were married from 1985 through 1989.
Speaker 2:I just said they divorced in 87. If they were married from 85 to 89?
Speaker 1:Maybe they got remarried. We'll have our fact checkers check that out.
Speaker 2:We'll get back to you. Something's not right there. Okay, I Want to Dance with Somebody. That was Whitney Houston's first platinum single and a great song and obviously an iconic singer, whitney Houston.
Speaker 1:One of the best of all times.
Speaker 2:Yep, what is the name of the band who wrote 1981? Don't stop believing. And this is a song that ended the Sopranos run on HBO. By the way, the last episode had this song and it's a journey. There's the group what artist had a 1983 tour called Serious Moonlight Tour? And that would be David Bowie. I don't know if this wasn't really the height of his career, but he still was in the midst of it for sure. You know, in the 70s and 80s.
Speaker 1:Well, as you all know, he's had more incarnations as far as different phases, documented and all very, very well received and money-making. Yeah, he was one of the first artists also to come up with the stage act with the huge props and everything else, and then that would be the theme for that year or maybe two years right then. Later on, when another show came out like the thin white duke, it'll be a different show, different atmosphere, different sets. I guess staging is the way I would put it. He's the the first one that brought Broadway stages and stuff to the tour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, john was a little bit like that too. Yeah, he always had themes. I would call it, yeah, the Elbert Road Tour.
Speaker 1:Sure, that's what he did back then Again, we're going to fact-check this bad boy, because we've done this in the past with this song. But who wrote the 1983 song Girls Just Want to have Fun? Now, the 1983 song Girls Just Want to have Fun? Now, of course most people think it's Cyndi Lauper, but they'd be wrong. Fact-checked it would be Robert Hazzard of the 80s group Hooters who wrote and originally recorded it. Now, cyndi Lauper's part of this was that she went to see the concert of the Hooters and the song was performed and she decided she wanted to record a version of it. And the rest is history.
Speaker 2:Yep, Not the writer, but the singer, and she made it famous. Obviously yes.
Speaker 1:Who was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? And of course, that's the incomparable Aretha Franklin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the queen of soul and well-deserved, obviously incomparable. Aretha franklin, you had a queen of soul and well deserved, obviously. Oh yeah, yeah, she's um first ballot hall of famer for that oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:What artist won the 1981 best album of the year? And that was christopher cross. First artist in grammy history to win all of the major categories in a single ceremony. Record of the Year for sailing Album of the Year, which was Christopher Cross, and Song of the Year, sailing and Best New Artist Pretty good, that's amazing. I mean, that's yeah.
Speaker 2:He had a nice voice. I always liked the way he sang. Arthur's theme is another thing he did for the movie Arthur. That's amazing, I mean that's. Yeah, he had a nice voice. I always liked the way he sang. Arthur's theme is another thing he did for the movie Arthur. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2:Best he Could Do. I think it is, or whatever the hell the name of the song was. I don't think he ended up being a star beyond what he did here. I mean he probably had as a highlight of his career obviously what he did there to be that great that early on. But he had a decent career. I categorize him as a. Is he a Hall of Famer? I don't think he is.
Speaker 1:No, but he had, like you said, an incredible first year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. What was the name of George Michael's debut album? And that answer would be Faith. George Michael from Wham, great artist, great voice. What launched in 1981 that changed the way people discovered music?
Speaker 1:And we've had a conversation on this before the impact of MTV we talked about for the music industry. Thank God it was life-changing for the industry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it opened up a lot of it, kept sales going for a while. Put it that way.
Speaker 1:It introduced all the new artists. It basically became not only a fad, well beyond that, as far as that, it became an institution. I mean, that's basically what MTV is and we always talk about. The Buells Video Killed the Radio Star.
Speaker 2:Yep first one. Who is the lead singer of Duran Duran? Roberta Duran.
Speaker 1:No, Simon Le Bon is the lead singer of Duran Duran. Yeah, they've had an incredible career also.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they did pretty well for themselves.
Speaker 1:Yes, what is the name of the 1981 song featuring Queen and David Bowie singing together? That's Under Pressure. Now, for those who remember that, vanilla Ice sampled it on his single hit, ice Ice Baby, who was then sued by Queen and David Bowie and were settled out of court as far as copyright issues. What was the name of Bruce Springsteen's 1984 album? Of course that's Born in the USA. It's his best-selling album of his career. It has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but since the song is not what you think it is, it's one of those. It makes it sound like I'm born in the USA. Oh, isn't're very patriotic. Don't classify it that way. I didn't at least.
Speaker 1:Well, again you got to listen to the lyrics and not the catchphrase. Everybody knows what you know, born in the USA. That's the only thing they're listening to and not the lyrics to the whole song. Okay, we talked about George Michael earlier, but Wham was first top 10 hit was the song Wake Me Up Before you Go-Go.
Speaker 2:Yep good song. What was the best single release from Michael Jackson's Thriller album? It's a hard one, Thriller, I would think so. Talk about MTV when that was released 1983. That was like an event, to say the least when that came out.
Speaker 1:Well, like you said, we talk about a major. John Landis was a director. We're talking about where just I don't want to say MTV, but it took him to another plateau.
Speaker 2:Sure, no doubt about it. That changed everything, like you said. What movie was Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor, the theme song for? And that's Rocky III. Yeah, rocky. What are you going to say about rock Stallone? Great run with Rocky movies. Six Rockies, two or three creeds. That franchise has been playing since 1976, baby Yep. What band is known for living on a prayer and you give love a bad name? That's Jon Bon Jovi. To Bon Jovi, new Jersey, john as we'll call him.
Speaker 1:That group's had a hell of a run. I mean they've done fantastic and the songs are always good to listen to and just enjoyable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's interesting, if you're like you talk about Jersey bands, you throw him in there in the springsteen, right? I mean those two just in particular. Then, of course, the four seasons from the older days and yeah, so many others over the years, but these guys are big name.
Speaker 1:Bon jovi, great artist yeah, you talked about stature.
Speaker 2:As far as that, he's a short dude also yeah, well, you know a lot of shorties in jersey guys and girls.
Speaker 1:Bert, that was fun doing this and I enjoyed it. So many information was new for me which I was glad to find out about doing the research. I had a lot of fun doing this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was good, I enjoyed it, and some you learn things about others you already knew.
Speaker 1:Oh it was great to revisit. Yeah, it was good stuff. Yeah, the 80s was a hell of a decade. Yes, it was great to revisit. Yeah, it's good stuff. Yeah, the 80s was a hell of a decade. Yes, it was All right. So I see by the old 80s clock on the wall there, by Pepsi-Cola clock, that I'm the end of podcast, officially, you've been listening to Real Deals, movies and music through the decades and we'll see you soon.
Speaker 2:See ya, see ya.