One thing I was reminded of was the Pepsi advertising campaign that Michael Jackson participated in. In 1984, Pepsi sponsored The Jacksons' Victory Tour. (I still have a commemorative Pepsi can from that year which I have held on to for 25 years for some reason.) In return, Michael and his brothers were to star in two commercials for the company. Jackson had reworked "Billie Jean" for the commercial and entitled it "Pepsi Generation". The song was used as the official jingle for the commercials. Here is the first commercial for you to watch...

During the filming of the second commercial a firework exploded and Jackson's hair caught fire, leaving the singer needing reconstructive surgery. I can still remember the videos of Jackson being taken from the scene on a stretcher with bandages wrapped around his head. The commercials were premiered at the Grammy Awards, with Jackson wearing a hairpiece to cover his burns as he collected a record eight awards.

I had actually been planning to cover this Pepsi commercial as part of an 80s retro commercial issue well before Michael's death, but now it seemed even more appropriate to revisit it.

In the 1984 commercial above, the boy who can dance like Michael is Alfonso Ribeiro. Later that same year, he was cast as Ricky Schroder's best friend in the television series Silver Spoons, but he is probably best known for his role as "Carlton Banks" on the 90s television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. That was one of my favorite shows at the time and Ribeiro's character was a big reason why. He played sort of a 90s version of "Alex P. Keaton" who is another of my all-time favorite TV characters.

Alfonso Ribeiro shows off his dancing skills in selected episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. My favorite is what has now become known as the "Carlton Dance" which he first performs to the Tom Jones song "It's Not Unusual" and you can see that in the video below...

Ribeiro would again show off his dance moves in another episode which would also include some Michael Jackson moves including the famous moon walk. Here is the video from that episode...

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is obviously not an 80s show, but it has a loose connection to the 80s with Ribeiro's "Carlton" character and Ribeiro himself. So even though I started the issue with Michael Jackson which still saddens me when I think about it, I ended it with "Carlton" dancing which always makes me laugh. Hope you enjoyed it, too.

That's all for another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I thought the placement of these two billboards was sort of ironic and humorous, don't you think? Preventing childhood obesity right above a fast food restaurant? I wonder if either of the placements was intentional or if this was just a coincidence.

Quote of the day: "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it." - Maya Angelou, American poet, writer, historian, educator

Today (July 1, 2009) is the 64^th birthday of Deborah Harry who is best known as the lead singer of the band Blondie. She is often incorrectly referred to as "Blondie" herself, but that is only the name of the band. The band moved into the mainstream in the late 70s and had some big hits in the early 80s.

First was the song "Call Me" which was composed for the soundtrack of the film American Gigolo. Released in February 1980, the track spent 6 weeks at #1 in the U.S., reached #1 in the U.K. and became a hit throughout the world. The song is Blondie's biggest selling single in the U.S. (well over a million copies sold) and was the #1 single of 1980. So this week's first Flashback Video is "Call Me" by Blondie...

Then in November of 1980, the band would release the album Autoamerican which would contain two more big hits. It featured the song "The Tide is High" which was a cover of the 1967 song by the Paragons. The Blondie version would hit #1 on the Billboard chart by the end of January 1981. So this week's second Flashback Video is "The Tide is High" by Blondie...

Then from the same album, the song "Rapture" was released in January of 1981 and would reach #1 on the Billboard chart by the end of March. It is considered one of the first substantial hit singles to involve rap music and the first rap-influenced single to reach number one on the US Billboard Chart. The song includes a short rap interlude in it and while it was not the first single involving rap to be successful, it was the first to top the charts and helped begin rap's slow rise into the mainstream. The video for this song included a dancing Fab Five Freddy who would later go on to host MTV's rap video show called Yo MTV Raps. I have give you the "Pop Up Video" version here which includes some interesting facts about the band and the song. So in celebration of Debbie Harry's birthday, this week's third Flashback Video is "Rapture" by Blondie...

The band broke up after the release of the 1982 album The Hunter. Blondie reformed in 1997 releasing a single which would hit #1 in the UK. The group toured and performed throughout the world over the years following and had the honor of being inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the RockWalk of Fame in 2006. Though I am not necessarily a huge fan of the band myself, that was a well deserved honor. As for the 80s, there were not many bands bigger than Blondie back in 1980 and 1981.

That will do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

I already did another Cusack favorite when I used Say Anything as my second Preview Review issue. I also published a Top 10 list of my favorite John Cusack movies back in one of my very first issues on this blog in January 2008. He made some of the most classic 80s movies, but I have continued to be a big fan of his through the 90s and to today.

Better Off Dead is more of a black comedy which was both written and directed by Savage Steve Holland. Cusack's character, "Lane Meyer" becomes suicidal after his girlfriend breaks up with him. Now this is not a subject matter that I would consider all that funny, but it all works out fine in the end. In fact, people protested the film's original tagline, "Sometimes...you're Better Off Dead," so it was changed to "Relax...you're never Better Off Dead." The film features a lot of odd scenes as well as plot points which are now considered 80s movie stereotypes. One of those stereotypes is the jerk bully character with "Roy Stalin" filling that role in this film and being included on my Top Bullies from 80s Movies list.

I liked Better Off Dead back in 1985, but I have grown to love it more and more over the years. I did not truly appreciate it back then probably because of my age at the time, but now it is one of my very favorites from that decade. Here is the original trailer for Better Off Dead...

There is a running joke throughout the film where a paperboy is trying to collect his money for delivering papers to the Meyer house. This kid is pretty relentless and here is a video which shows the multiple scenes where he is trying to chase down is $2...

Cusack's character has an old 1967 Camaro that ends up being a key plot point during the movie. There is an interesting story about a fan of the movie who tracked down the actual car used in the movie. Here is a link to the website where I encourage you to read this interesting story. Click on the circle that says FINDING THE CAMARO.

There is so much more to this movie that I have not even touched on here. I like a quote I read which summarizes it well, "The consensus is Better Off Dead is an anarchic mix of black humor and surreal comedy, anchored by John Cusack's winsome, charming performance." Happy birthday, John. Please keep those charming performances coming.

John Cusack is in the process of filming Hot Tub Time Machine which has a scheduled release in February 2010. Cusack has avoided the 80s related films for a while, but I am very happy to see that he will be venturing back to my favorite decade. The film also stars another 80s legend, Chevy Chase. The general plotline is a group of unsatisfied men are thrown back in time to their younger days in 1986 via their hot tub Jacuzzi. That's all I know right now, but with Cusack and Chase and 1986 all involved, I can't wait to see it.

That'll do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Hope you enjoy the "Preview Review" issues and please let me know if there are any 80s movies that you want to see me cover. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: As you know, I like to point out signs that amuse me by being ironic, obvious, unnecessary or just plain unintentionally hilarious. Here is a sign at a beach which falls into one of those categories. Is it really necessary to warn someone about this when you are at the beach?

Quote of the day: "I think when you get to the point where you don't need to be in love, then you could be in love. You have to just be OK with yourself- and that's a long process." -John Cusack

The world lost a true musical genius today with the death of Michael Jackson.  The news of his unexpected death saddened me very much. No matter what else he had going on in his life, I will always be a fan of his music.

Rest in peace, Michael.

To commemorate his life, please click on this link to read my issue from August celebrating his 50th birthday and listing my favorite songs of his from the 80s.  Enjoy those and always remember the music.  Peace and much love.

Quote of the day:  "We're meant to lose the people we love.  How else would we know how important they are to us?" -"Mrs. Maple" in the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button