Question of the Day 5.25.12

Name the music video!

Answer to yesterdays’s QOTD: Tess. Congrats to @DailyRetroVideo for guessing correctly.

The Cardiac Kids

“You can see the time… Whittenburg… oh, that’s a long ways…”

In the spring on 1983, the University of Houston was on top of the college basketball world. After making it to the Final Four the previous year, the Cougars were a lock to get back their again, especially with Phi Slamma Jama leading the way. The tandem of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were huge… demonstrating pure power and a heck of a lot of showmanship. And they arrived at the 1983 National Championship riding an incredible 27-game winning streak.

But while no one was watching, the North Carolina State Wolfpack was quietly sneaking up on them. Winners of nine straight themselves, including a pair of wins over Ralph Sampson-led UVA and another against Michael Jordan’s UNC squad, NC State somehow found themselves in Albequerque for the final, too.

And even though State held an eight point lead at halftime, head coach Jimmy Valvano’s boys had their hands full as Houston came roaring back to take the lead late. NC State tied it at 52 with almost two minutes to go. And the there was no more scoring that night–– until… Well, let’s just skip ahead to 2:00 of this clip:

Yep–– as time ran out, the Cardiac Kids pulled off the mother of all upsets. Valvano was running around looking for someone to hug, Houston players were pounding the floor in agony, and Whittenburg was jokingly telling everyone that his long-range heave was meant as a pass to Charles all along.

North Carolina State had finished their dream season as the best team in the land. It was one of the most memorable moments in sports history, so, of course, it happened in the 80s.

We ♥ the Cardiac Kids.

Question of the Day 5.24.12

Name the movie!

Answer to yesterdays’s QOTD: Alice. Congrats to @MrsSweatheifer, Taps, Carey, @buttercup081474, and @RICANROLL for guessing correctly.

Shirt Tales

“Who do you call when you’re caught in a jam? Too scared to stay, too scared to scram…”

No, not the Ghostbusters.

You would, of course, call Pammy, Rick, Bogey, Tyg, and Digger (and Kip, in Season Two)… Shirt Tales!

After watching American Greetings bring Holly Hobbie and Strawberry Shortcake into the public’s consciousness, it was only fitting that Hallmark would want to get in on the action. And so, Shirt Tales were born.

The gaggle of cuddly animals were the brainchild of greeting card designer Janet Elizabeth Manco, and they were SO huge that (duh) it didn’t take long for them to earn their own animated cartoon.

Debuting in 1982 on NBC, Shirt Tales featured the aforementioned animals, each of which sported a nifty t-shirt… shirts that (magically) would often include words or phrases that expressed the animals’ feelings at the time.

The Shirt Tales REAL reason for living, though, was to solve crimes while tooling around in their S.T.S.S.T. (that’s “Shirt Tales’ SuperSonic Transport”, for all you newbies). And let’s not forget how much fun it was to watch the Tales give ye olde park ranger Mr. Dinkle all kinds of grief.

After two seasons on NBC, Shirt Tales made the jump over to CBS, where it lasted for a couple of months before finally getting the dreaded pink slip.

…just in time for American Greetings to hop back in and reclaim their spot at the top, with 80s favs The Care Bears and The Get Along Gang.

We imagine that somewhere Tyg’s toddlin’ around in a shirt that says, “Bummer”. But it sure was fun while it lasted.

We ♥ Shirt Tales.

Question of the Day 5.23.12

Name the TV show!

Answer to yesterdays’s QOTD: Styx’s “Mr. Roboto”. Congrats to @MrsSweatheifer, Vanessa, Stormscr, and @RICANROLL for guessing correctly.

She Works Hard for the Money

“Nine a.m. on the hour hand and she’s waiting for the bell, and she’s looking real pretty just waitin’ for her clientele…”

While last week’s passing of Donna Summer was particularly devastating for kids who came of age on disco floors in the 70s, we hear at BoTE were, of course, sad to hear the news, too. Sure, she ruled the decade before ours, but there was enough awesome Donna music in the 80s that we’d be remiss in not paying her a little tribute.

Long after “On the Radio” and “Last Dance” had left the charts, Donna was back in a big way in the summer of 1983 with what would turn out to be her last Top 5 hit. “She Works Hard for the Money” debuted in May of that year, the first single off her eleventh album.

The song was inspired by an encounter Summer had with a bathroom attnendant at the old Chasen’s in West Hollywood; the woman was so exhausted from working two jobs that she had fallen asleep by the time Summer walked in. The singer went home that night and pounded out the bulk of the song in less than half an hour. (80s Trivia Alert! That same woman was featured on the back cover of the She Works Hard for the Money album!)

The synth-heavy sound of the song was a big hit with kids in the 80s, particularly the freshly-minted MTV crowd–– who helped make “She Works Hard for the Money” the first video by a black woman to be placed into heavy rotation.

It stayed on the Billboard charts throughout the summer of 1983, peaking at #3 in August. And though she never had a hit that big again, Summer never stopped making great music. Her 89th and final single was released in the summer of 2010; “To Paris with Love” went all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart–– the 16th of her songs to accomplish that feat.

We’ll miss Donna Summer.

We ♥ She Works Hard for the Money.

Question of the Day 5.22.12

Name the music video!

Answer to Fridays’s QOTD: Road House. Congrats to @buttercup081474 and @RICANROLL for guessing correctly.