80s Literal Music Video: "Just A Friend"

Rapper Biz Markie's one and only hit "Just A Friend" reached #9 on the US charts back in 1989. Now, parody rapper Seanie Mic will give us his hilarious literal interpretation of the video.

Visit Parodyrapper.com for more stuff from Seanie Mic

80s Exam: Name That Movie Line

If you are an 80s fan, you should be able to name the movies from the following scenes. But can you also name the famous movie lines that are spoken in each scene? Post your answers in the comment section below!

#1

#2

#3

#4

80s Art By Christopher Tupa

I recently came across some great 80s artwork by Christopher Tupa. He has taken some great TV shows, cartoons, and toys from the 80s and really made them his own. I really enjoy his work and appreciate him allowing me to post a few here. If you want to see more, visit Ctupa.Com. You can also find a store for his artwork, a blog, and a podcast. You can also find hundreds more originals on his Flickr page. Enjoy!

80s icons in the jungle

G.I. Joe carwash

M.U.S.C.L.E. Skating Party

Calvin & Hobbes as He-Man & Cringer

"Total Eclipse Of The Heart" Flowchart

Things We Learned In 1987...

...our worst Thanksgiving imaginable, will never measure up to Neal and Del's.

80s Metal Version TV Themes

We all know the great television show themes of the 80s. You can pretty much tell me the name of an 80s TV show and theme will pop in my head.
The A-Team.........
Knight Rider.........
Magnum P.I.........
Recently I found Sylvian Cloux's channel on Youtube. Cloux has taken many of these 80s TV themes and reformatted them into metal versions. As a fan of rock music and the 80s, I gotta say these are outstanding. Cloux plays all guitars and drums on these cover versions and if that wasn't enough, he has also combined his new sound with the original opening video footage on many of these videos to give us the following 80s greatness....

Ultimate 80s Girl Names Playlist

Ultimate 80s Girl Names Playlist

T-shirt layers, leg warmers, spandex shorts, stone-washed denim, high top sneakers...those '80s girls really knew how to turn heads and steal hearts. So much so, that some songwriters felt the need to express their affection for their gal pals through their music. With many to choose from, I've found my "sweet sixteen" 80s songs that feature names of girls. Slide your sunglasses down your nose and take a long look at these totally awesome girl tunes....

Starship "Sara" (1985)

Fresh off legal proceedings and a name change, Starship had back-to-back #1 hits in the US with "We Built This City" and "Sara" in 1985-86. It was sung by Mickey Thomas and named for his wife at the time.

Toto "Rosanna" (1982)
Although "Rosanna" never reached #1 in the US (peaked at #2 for 5 consecutive weeks,) Toto received a Grammy award for Record of the Year in 1983.

Steve Perry "Oh Sherrie" (1984)
Written for his then girlfriend Sherrie Swafford, it was Perry's biggest hit as a solo artist reaching #3 in the US. It's been mistaken labeled as a Journey song because its sound and that it was released while Perry was still with the band. Co-writer Bill Cuomo, who performed the keyboard melody, is also know for riff performed on Kim Carnes' hit "Bette Davis Eyes."

Ready For The World "Oh Sheila" (1985)
The first of 2 top ten hits in the US, the song features spoken words at the beginning in what sounds like an Australian accent. A "sheila" in Australian slang is a woman or girl.

Aerosmith "Janie's Got A Gun" (1989)
Originally titled "Danny's Got A Gun" after a friend of Steven Tyler, the song did not perform well on the charts reaching only #61 in the US. However, the music video was very popular and earned the band its first 2 MTV VMAs and also its first Grammy in 1991. the video is highly regarded at one of the top 100 ever made.

Europe "Carrie" (1987)
After reaching the top ten with "The Final Countdown" in 1986, this power ballad made it all the way to #3 in the US. (Man, I sound like Casey Kasem) Early versions consisted only of keyboards and vocals.

Michael Jackson "Billie Jean" (1983)
#1 on the US charts for seven weeks, it was a large contributing factor for making the album Thriller the best selling album of all time. It also produced two of Jackson's record of eight Grammy awards in 1983. Jackson explained on numerous occasions that he based the song on "groupies" he encountered while he was with the Jackson 5.

80s Car Art

I love the 80s, but these people really know how to show it!!

Rubix Cube

Pacman

Voltron

Thundercats

Atari 2600 Humor

I was surfing the net recently and stumbled across a fun site, Atari 2600 Label Maker. On the site, you can customize (and print) your own Atari 2600 game labels. For guys like me, this is hours of fun. It also made me think that I'm probably not the only one who sees the fun here and there must be others who have already used this site....and I was right. Here are some of the best fake Atari 2600 labels that I've found. Enjoy!!

G.I. Joe Casual Fridays

Courtesy Wizard of X on Flickr

The 80s Arcade: Double Dragon

Billy & Jimmy Lee's quest against The Black Warriors

The 80s arcade would not be complete unless we include one of the classic "beat 'em up" or brawler arcade games. Probably the most popular and widely known in this gaming genre is Double Dragon. With fists flying and legs kicking, our quarters would lead us into streets and back alleys on a quest to rescue a buxom girl in a red dress. In my teenage mind, it quickly became THE popular game to play with a friend and it would continue build on that gaming experience for nearly a decade. Although not the first of its kind, Double Dragon brought fresh new features to 2D arcade gameplay in 1987. In fact, at the peak of its popularity, the crime fighting martial arts franchise would extend into cameo appearances in other arcade games, crossover games, and even beyond the gaming world to the big screen. 

In 1984,  Kung Fu Master became the first widely popular brawler arcade game. I remember playing it at a local ice cream shop, trying to fight my way through a dojo full of karate kids to save the girl. That same year, Hollywood would also feed our martial arts side with the film the Karate Kid. Then in 1986, game producer Taito would build on the popular martial arts culture and release the game Renegade. Its format and gameplay would turn out to be the direct precursor to Double Dragon, which was released by Technos Japan a year later in 1987. Double Dragon would use elements from both of its predecessors, such as a scrolling screen and backdrops of streets and alleys. It would also add some firsts like two player coop play and the ability to use enemy weapons, such as baseball bats, whips, oil drums, and dynamite sticks. One other unique feature for two player games was after the final boss had been laid to rest, a showdown for kidnapped Marion's affection was held between Billy & Jimmy Lee to determine the true winner of the game.

Although the plot was relatively the same as previous brawler games, Double Dragon was the first of its genre to have that "initials quality" in my opinion. I believe it was mainly because of the variety of maneuvers you could perform during game play and not just the ability to punch, kick, and jump. Headbutts, elbows and throws from the headlock position, and the ability to grab an enemy from behind to let your partner unleash hell were the elements that really made the game unique as you progressed through each stage. Double Dragon was produced for the NES in 1988. It wasn't really comparable to the arcade version, mainly based on the capabilities of the console system itself. The main missing ingredients were the two player coop gameplay, being able to keep enemy weapons into upcoming stages, and not having a full arsenal of maneuvers at the beginning of the game. Sega would produce its own version for the Master System that same year with better graphics and some improved gameplay that would compare more to the arcade version. Also that year, Double Dragon II: The Revenge would be released to arcades. This time, the brothers would be avenging Marion's death at the hand of the Black Warriors. The sequel would provide a new button setup providing directional attacks (as in Renegade) and also new stages, weapons, and maneuvers like the "hurricane kick."

I remember the sequel translating well to the NES in 1989, which was a favorite of mine for many years. It had the coop play and also added many stages to the four used in the arcade version. By this time the Double Dragon brothers were very well known and showing up in other games like Super Spike V'Ball  for NES and as crowd spectators for the arcade hit WWF Superstars. The third and final arcade sequel Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone was released in 1990. It reverted back to the 3 button attack of the original release and used many new maneuvers, without keeping familiar moves from the previous two games. The plot sent the brothers and new character Sonny around the world to collect three sacred stones and defeat a new mysterious enemy in Egypt. DD3 was also released on NES in 1991 and Gameboy and Sega Genesis in 1992. Marvel Comics also got in on the popularity of the franchise in 1991 and released a series of six Double Dragon comic books from July to December.

Although no more arcade games were released after DD3, the franchise still released games for home consoles. Super Double Dragon was produced exclusive for SNES system in 1992 and the crossover game Battletoads & Double Dragon in 1993. Also jumping on the bandwagon that year was animation producer DiC Entertainment which released the first 13 episodes of Double Dragon the animated series. It would last 26 episodes in all over the course of 1993-94. The show was mainly associated with the arcade games by name and characters only. However, a few episodes did loosely follow the NES game plot.  The main premise of the show was that the brothers, who were raised by opposing ninja masters, join forces and use their magical swords to combat the evil Shadow Master. 

1994 was the last year that Double Dragon really made an impact on the gaming world and pop culture. On the heels of the cartoon, Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls was produced. It went away from the traditional style of the games before it and was developed as a head-to-head fighting game like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter II, which were very popular at the time. Also released that same year was the Double Dragon feature film starring Scott Wolf and Mark Dacascos as the Lee brothers, a blonde-haired Alyssa Milano as Marian, and Robert Patrick as the villain Kugo Shuko. It was truly a flop at the box office, grossing only about $2.5 million total over the course of its release. It holds a 0% Tomatometer rating on RottenTomatoes.Com  and just a 3.3/10 rating on IMDB. One final Double Dragon game for the Neo-Geo console would be released in 1995 based on the feature film. That would turn out to be the final game before Technos Japan went out of business. The Double Dragon franchise had a great run over the course of the late '80s and early '90s. For me, it definitely deserves a spot at the 80s Arcade.

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This RD80s post sponsored by

Things We Learned in 1989...

...it's okay to use your dead boss to have a party or impress a girl.

80s Exam: Name This TV Theme!

HINT: This was the original theme for the TV show's pilot and first 9 episodes.

It was then changed to the theme widely known today.

80s Literal Music Video: "You Spin Me 'Round"

Here we go again! Here is another hilarious literal music video, this time from Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me 'Round (Like A Record)." It reached #11 in the US in 1985. The song is also widely known for Adam's Sandler's performance during the opening credits of the Wedding Singer. Although they did chart one other song in the top 15, Dead or Alive is widely considered as a one-hit wonder of the 80s.

Rediscover Dead or Alive's Greatest Hits (or Hit) by clicking here

Things We Learned In 1985...

...The best DID NOT get better.

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Thank you friends and followers!! You have outdone yourself with this cake!! I don't think I could even touch it with a knife, it's too...(tear rolls down cheek)...beautiful. I will be forever grateful....wait, what? You have presents for me?

A VHS player? Wow! Can any of you help me set it up? Will it play my Beta tapes?

Nice! A BMX bike! I can show those skateboarding punks who's the boss now!

This I can put to good use!...I've been needing an outlet for my Contra & Double Dragon fix.

Now wait a sec....are you guys saying I need to sharpen my blogging skills???

...and my motor skills???? C'mon, how bout just one more over-the-top cool birthday gift....

AN OMNIBOT!!! YES!!! 

Now I can play my cassettes while sharing frosty beverages 

with my buddies during football games!

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR A GREAT '80S BIRTHDAY!!