Looking at these old videos and other 80’s related stuff, I’m reminded just how colorful the middle of the 80’s were. Maybe it was just the change of moving back to the city but it seemed like it happened very fast. It seemed to start in the fall of 1983 and last until some time in late 1986 or early 1987. It was this mashup of studs, lace, second hand accessories, briliant colors and big hair. Big hair makes it sound worse than it was. It was styled in a big way not big as in Big Government or Big Tobacco. Sometimes it got to be a little over the top but for the most part I loved the look.
I wish I had a digital camera back then so i could have thousands of photographs to document it all. As it was I had some crappy little camera and I couldn’t afford to get the film processed anyway. A shame really.
In November of 1983 I met Brian at the University. Brian was a year older than me and like me had started to drift into the Heavy Metal scene. He had a little head start on me and over the course of the next couple of years, he’d share some of his metal finds with me.
On the day we met, it wasn’t about metal. We had met by chance in the bowels of Kettler Hall. I was waiting for my afternoon class to begin as was he. Brian is a really funny guy and it wasn’t long before we were laughing about who knows what. After the 2:00 class, he was meeting a girl. A few of them were going back to her house for a little afternoon party. He asked me to join. It sounded fun so after class we reassembled and convoyed to her place in a reasonably scary neghborhood on the southeast side of town.
There were about 5 of us and it was a good time like I hadn’t had in a while. During the afternoon, this song came across the radio and I thought it sounded cartoonish but cool . Of course, Prince’s battle with YouTube means we have to approximate
Prince – Delerious
Golden Earring -Twilight Zone
Stevie Nicks – Stand Back
Duran Duran – Is There Something I Should Know
Lionel Richie – Hello