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.

Starriors

“Starriors are robot warriors…”

They had the coolest name of any early 80s action figure toys (certainly better than ‘Go-Bots’), and the names of the characters were pretty slick, too–– Hotshot, Deadeye, Stinger… but apparently cool names weren’t enough.

Tomy had big plans for the Starriors line of toys (including a cartoon that never materialized), but shortly after their 1984 debut, the robot warriors disappeared.

Those of us lucky to enjoy our time with the Protectors, Destructors, and Guardians, though, had a plenty-good time while they lasted.

Made in conjunction with Marvel Comics, Starriors came with a backstory about the destruction of Earth and a mini-comic that told each character’s story.

There were good guys, sure, and they battled the bad guys, led by (remember?) Slaughter Steelgrave. There was also a playset fortress and a tank, too–– so why the Starrior toys crashed and burned is beyond us. But they did. And they exist now only in our memories… and on eBay.

We ♥ Starriors.

Question of the Day 5.21.12

Name the movie!

Answer to Fridays’s QOTD: The Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane”. Congrats to Todd and @RICANROLL for guessing correctly.

Broadcast News

“I say it here, it comes out there…”

The business of television news has always been the frequent butt of jokes, but it’s never been given a treatment quite like the 1987 masterpiece Broadcast News.

Starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks, Broadcast News tells the story of a group of people working at a network news bureau in Washington, D.C. From the highs (that spot-on, impromptu coverage of the downed Libyan jet) to the lows (flop sweat, anyone?) of the TV news industry, director James L. Brooks (who also wrote the script) gives us a brilliant, honest story.

But it isn’t just about the business, he also gives equal time to the people themselves. From Hunter’s Jane Craig falling for pretty boy Tom Grunick (Hurt), to Brooks’ Aaron Altman realizing that he’s losing Craig to ‘the Devil’, Broadcast News is sweet, hilarious, and sad… all wrapped up into one.

Plus we get the always-kooky Joan Cusack, her brother John in a perfect cameo, and Jack Nicholson as the deadpan anchor behind the madness.

It may have gone 0-for-7 at the Oscars (The Last Emperor? Really?), but we remember Broadcast News as one of the best, most re-watchable, and downright funniest movies from our favorite decade.

“You really blew the lid off of nookie.”

We ♥ Broadcast News.

Question of the Day 5.18.12

Name the music video!

Answer to yesterdays’s QOTD: Herbie Goes Bananas. Congrats to MrsSweatheifer for guessing correctly. Half credit to Todd and bababooey.

Keith Haring

Perhaps more than any other artist, the 80s belonged to Keith Haring.

From Swatches to album covers to the wall of an Italian convent, Haring’s work was everywhere in our favorite decade.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1958, Haring caught the ‘art bug’ early, and before he even turned 20 he had moved to New York City to perfect his craft.

Within a few short years, his trademark designs featuring bold lines, bright colors, and amorphous people were all over the place. The more popular he got, the more he used his power for good–– creating AIDS awareness images, perhaps the most famous anti-Apartheid design ever, and the famous ‘Crack is Wack’ mural along New York City’s FDR Drive.

He also made a huge splash in the music world, designing stuff for Madonna, U2, and Grace Jones (among others), and he designed the logo for the A Very Special Christmas series.

Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, and less than a year later he passed away, at the age of 31. He left behind a legacy of social awareness along with a staggering body of work.

Fortunately, his work has not been forgotten. Just two weeks ago he was celebrated with a Google Doodle commemorating what would have been his 54th birthday.

We ♥ Keith Haring.

Question of the Day 5.17.12

Name the movie!

Answer to yesterdays’s QOTD: Erasure’s “A Little Respect”. Congrats to Emma and @RICANROLL for guessing correctly.

You Again?

After a couple years steaming up the small screen as General Hospital‘s Blackie Parrish, John Stamos knew it was time to move on–– much to the dismay of young ladies everywhere.

His next stop was the blink-and-you-missed-it CBS sitcom Dreams, but then in February 1986, he was cast in a new NBC sitcom called You Again?. Stamos was back on TV for real, following Gimme a Break! on Wednesday nights.

While not a part of the comedy stratosphere occupied by The Cosby Show or Cheers, You Again? did have it’s good points. Stamos played Matt Willow, a rock-n-roll dude linking back up with his estranged father (Jack Klugman) after almost a decade apart.

Dad, meanwhile, was a stodgy ol’-timer who had been living happily with his housekeeper Enid (played by Elizabeth Bennett, who was also playing the same role on the British sitcom Home to Roost–– that You Again? was based on).

Overall You Again? was pretty forgettable as laugh track-laden sitcoms go… until part-way through the second season, when the show collided with Stamos’ real-life side gig as the drummer for The Beach Boys:

After just two seasons, You Again? was put out to pasture… but not Stamos. Within just a few months of the show’s demise he was back on TV, having landed a role on a new ABC show called Full House.

…so even though we lost You Again?, we did manage to hold on to Blackie (er… Jesse) for a little while longer.

We ♥ You Again?