This week (August 25, 2009) the legendary Smokey Robinson released the album Time Flies When You're Having Fun which is a self-produced and written CD of mostly new material & collaborations with other artists. This is the 69-year-old Robinson's 23rd album released since he went solo from the Miracles back in 1972. As a member of the The Miracles and as a solo artist, Robinson has delivered 37 Top 40 hits for Motown between 1960 and 1987. He also served as the company's Vice President from 1961 to 1988. Robinson is one of my all-time favorites and he even had some bigtime hits in the 80s including "Being With You" (1981), "Just To See Her" (1987) and "One Heartbeat" (1987).

The band ABC recorded a tribute song called "When Smokey Sings" that referenced Robinson's influence on the music industry. The single peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In an interesting occurrence, for the week of October 3, 1987, the song dropped to #8 as Smokey Robinson's own single "One Heartbeat" was peaking at #10. That instance of having a tributor and tributee in the Billboard Top 10 at the same time was a rarity if not a unique event. With Smokey's new album release, I decided to make this week's Flashback Video "When Smokey Sings" by ABC...

ABC is a British new wave band led by singer Martin Fry. They had two other hits during the 80s that I quite like as well, "The Look of Love" from 1982's The Lexicon of Love and "Be Near Me" from 1984's How to Be a Zillionaire. "When Smokey Sings" was on the 1987 album Alphabet City and was the band's last single to chart in the U.S. Currently, ABC is touring the U.S. as the headliner of the 2009 "Regeneration Tour," which also features Terri Nunn of Berlin, Wang Chung, and The Cutting Crew. I have always liked the band's sound and the fact that they paid tribute to one of my all-time favorites in Smokey Robinson just makes them that much better.

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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Guttenberg starred as "Eddie Simmons" in Diner (1982), "Jack Bonner" in Cocoon (1985), "Newton Crosby" in Short Circuit (1986) and "Michael Kellam" in Three Men & a Baby, but it is role as "Officer Carey Mahoney" in the Police Academy movies that is my favorite. He played that role in the first four installments of the franchise which is scheduled to release #8 next year.

The Police Academy movies were cheesy to say the least, but I always especially enjoyed the original one which was released back in 1984. So, here is the original trailer for Police Academy...

There is lots of bad comedy, but there is also some very funny stuff mixed in there. Roger Ebert actually gave it zero stars out of a possible four, though I personally feel it has some redeeming qualities. It grossed over $146 million worldwide and enjoyed six sequels (with a seventh on the way), so I would say that there had to be some appeal to the films. I enjoy the first one and the second one is not too bad, but after that they start getting pretty bad. I am interested to see what the newest sequel will bring because Guttenberg will be reprising his "Mahoney" role for it.

Guttenberg once did a video for FunnyOrDie.com which is a little amusing, so I included here for you if you wanted to watch it...

Guttenberg has been included in some of my other issues including my Top Singing Scenes from 80s Movies which features a scene from Three Men & a Baby. Though many of these films are not critically acclaimed, they were loved by audiences and a lot of that had to do with the likability and charm of Guttenberg. Maybe someday, I will do a Top 10 list just for him. So with that, I want to wish Steve a happy birthday and thank him for the 80s memories.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Hope you enjoy the "Preview Review" issues and please let me know if there are any particular 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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Today (August 21, 2009) would have been the 57^th birthday of John Graham Mellor. He is better known by his stage name Joe Strummer and as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for The Clash. This British punk band, which Strummer co-founded with Mick Jones, is held in high regard by many and their 1979 album London Calling is widely considered one of the best and most influential albums of all time. At the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, the Clash was said to be "considered one of the most overtly political, explosive and exciting bands in rock and roll history."

In 1982, The Clash would release the album Combat Rock which would eventually go multi-platinum. It included the hit single "Rock the Casbah" which I have to admit is the first song I personally remember from The Clash. Later on, I would go back to enjoy London Calling, but at the time all I knew of the band was that song as well as "Should I Stay or Should I Go." The song reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the band's highest charting single worldwide. So in celebration of Joe Strummer's birthday, this week's Flashback Video is "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash...

Though not from the 80s, one of the song's more humorous pop culture references is when the title is used as a euphemism for sex in The Simpsons 1998 episode "Natural Born Kissers". Marge says "It is our anniversary night, I suppose we should... Rock the Casbah"; later on in the episode; Bart says "So did you guys... Rock the Casbah?" The song also plays over the credits.

Mick Jones would leave the band in 1983 and The Clash would release one more album in 1985 before disbanding. In November of 2002, Jones and Strummer shared the stage for the first time in nearly 20 years, performing three Clash songs during a London benefit show. This raised hopes for a Clash reunion, which were dashed when Strummer unfortunately died suddenly in December of 2002 at just the age of 50 due to an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. The music world has mourned him since, but his contributions will live on forever.

Strummer was instrumental in setting up Future Forests, recently renamed The Carbon Neutral Company, an organization dedicated to planting trees in various parts of the world in order to combat global warming. Strummer was the first artist to make the recording, pressing and distribution of his records carbon neutral through the planting of trees. Many other artists such as Foo Fighters, Coldplay and Pink Floyd have followed suit and fans can visit the Carbon Neutral Company website to buy trees to be planted in their favourite artist's forest (Strummer's being christened "Rebel's Wood", a specially selected section in Orbost, on the Isle of Skye). In his remembrance, Strummer's friends and family have established the Strummerville Foundation for the promotion of new music.

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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Much of my feelings were summed up in these sentences which I wrote near the end of that issue:
"I would have to say that it is very likely that my 80s obsession and thus this very blog would not exist if it were not for the incredible inspiring films of John Hughes. I obviously did not have the honor of knowing him personally, but I feel like he knew me."

His most meaningful work to me was done about 20 years ago, but there is something about his death that adds finality and causes me to feel a greater absence of something or a greater longing for something that once was and that I hoped could be again. I am still coming to terms with the situation and how it relates to me personally.

There have been some great things published regarding the great John Hughes and much of it since that somewhat tragic day earlier this month when the news of his untimely passing spread. I thought I would share with you some of my favorites that I have come across. There is even more out there that I found very touching, but these are some of the ones that I felt touched by the most. Hope you enjoy them, too...

First, I have seen this link recommended several times, but it is worth reading if you have not already done so. It is a blog posting from a girl who was pen pals with John Hughes. It is well written and very touching. Here is the link: http://wellknowwhenwegett here.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-joh n-hughes.html" title="http://wellknowwhenwegett here.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-joh n-hughes.html" target="_blank"http://wellknowwhenwegett here...

Next, I have a couple video tributes that I enjoy very much. They celebrate some of John Hughes' work in a fitting way. First is one titled "Directed by John Hughes" which is almost 9 minutes long, but thoroughly enjoyable all the way through...

Then there is another titled "Through the Eyes of John Hughes" which is about 5 and a half minutes and set to the amazing song "Don't You (Forget About Me)." Great stuff...

Then there were a couple of the eulogy postings similar to the one I did, but written in a way that I felt summarized some of my own feelings. The first is from one of the best 80s blogs out there, Stuck in the 80s, where Steve Spears posted "The lesson of John Hughes: Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." You can click on that link to read that short one.

There is a website dedicated to John Hughes called The John Hughes Files that I have always thought was very well done. The editor of that site, Scott Collins, wrote a piece called "My Hero: A Tribute to John Hughes 1950-2009" and I found that to be very touching as well. You can click on that link to read that longer one and you can also visit other sections of that website for more John Hughes information while you are there.

Lastly, I will give you an interview conducted on the Fox Business Network of all places with Ben Stein of all people. Stein expressed his feelings about John Hughes in such an impressive way and in a way that I totally related to. I could not possibly express some of those thoughts better than Stein does in this short interview, so I thought it would be great to share it with you as the conclusion for this issue...

I read this quote from Hughes in an interview he did back in the 80s, "Most of my material is about life getting changed or realizing something. Ferris says, Life moves pretty fast - if you don't stop and look around, you could miss it. That's the thing I most fear - missing my life." Hopefully by taking a step back out of the public eye over the past years, he was able to avoid that fear. Leaving us at just 59 years old does not seem fair to him or to us.

Once again, Rest in Peace John Hughes. Thank you for all you gave us and left us with. He brilliantly chose the Simple Minds song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" for The Breakfast Club. I don't think I will ever forget about John Hughes and the impression his films made on me.

That's what I have for this 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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: Here is a photo which is titled "AWARENESS" and it makes me chuckle every time I look at it. Notice in the background that something is watching him and I am thinking it is not all that happy about the situation. Part two of this picture likely includes some hoof marks on the back of this guy's head or possibly some antlers shoved where the sun don't shine...

Quote of the day: "I think he made a better connection with young people than anyone in Hollywood had ever done before or since." -Ben Stein talking about John Hughes (in the video above)

"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... and an athlete... and a basket case... a princess... and a criminal. Does that answer your question?... Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club."

This particular blog post was titled "Surviving the Hits" and as I said it was written by Suzanne Vega herself. It is a little long, but I found it to be an incredibly interesting read. You can click on that link to take you to the original posting, but I have included it below for your convenience:

Surviving the Hits
By Suzanne Vega, posted June 18, 2008

A couple of weekends ago I began what I call my "bread-and-butter" touring season. I had two shows, one in Long Island and one in Saratoga, N.Y. I had a raging head cold, but made it through and came home to check on a few days worth of e-mails.

At first I couldn't tell what was going on. As I went to access my account, I kept seeing my own face flashing at me on my computer, in between photos of a fire at the Universal Studios and some other news item. But not a current version of my face - one from before 1990.

I wondered if my AOL shoebox of photos had burst open and was somehow leaking online in a public way. Then I read the text, which said something like, "Her first hit, "Luka," brought the subject of child abuse to the Top 40. But what was her other one? Hint: It's catchy!"

I looked at the screen for a few minutes as it changed from my face to the fire at Universal to the other photo every few seconds. My husband, Paul, came up behind me.
"Click on it!" he said. I did, and read what followed: "This New Yorker's poignant tale of an abused child brought a dose of social awareness to the upper reaches of the pop charts. Vega made her second and final chart visit thanks to an initially unauthorized remix of a three-year-old song about her favorite Manhattan greasy-spoon eatery, a place soon to be even better known from being featured in Seinfeld episodes."

"They shouldn't say things like that about you," said Paul.
"What?" I said. "I thought it was kind of nice." I had missed the headline, which read: "Two-Hit Wonders!"
Oh, that.

It's a list I have shown up on fairly often recently, so I had almost gotten used to it. Of course, he's right, and it's demeaning - it makes me look as though somehow I managed to squeak out those two songs and then shuffle back to being a receptionist, which isn't true.

The way I prefer to see it is that I have had a 20-plus-year career, with a big back catalog of songs that a lot of people know, and want to hear, and yes, two of those songs were big Top 40 hits. What's to complain about? They are like the cherries on top of the sundae. Why would I not want that? They have been my passport out of a life in an office, to a life on the road where I can go to Korea and the guy who stamps the passport says, "Are you Vega, Suzanne? Everybody knows you here." And his eyes change with emotion when he reads my name.

So I refuse to be embarrassed by those hits. It doesn't take away from the rest of the songs. But I have often wondered, "Why those two? Why not the others?" There were other songs just as sparkly and shiny and major key and radio friendly like "Book of Dreams" or "No Cheap Thrill" or "Frank & Ava" and so forth. But nothing has had the longevity of those two. So far, anyway.

Why is that? I have heard both songs described as "flukes," but I really don't think that is the case. A lot of hard work went into their production, especially in the arrangements. Let's look at "Luka," for example. I had been listening to Lou Reed's "Berlin" album - on that record he plays acoustic guitar, and a fair amount of the album is about abuse of all kinds including domestic abuse.

"Luka" was not a popular song when I would perform it back then. I would watch people from the stage. You could see their faces change as they thought about the lyrics; a frown would appear, then a general look of unhappiness, followed by a scowl directed at the floor and, at the conclusion, a smattering of reluctant applause. Then a request for something else, usually "Gypsy" or something in a major key with a chorus.

It was my manager at the time, Ron Fierstein, who plucked "Luka" out. "Is that song about what I think it's about?" he asked one day in the back of Folk City. My memory of that conversation goes something like this:
"I don't know," I said. "What do you think it's about?"
"Unless I am mistaken it seems to be from the point of view of a child who is abused."
"That's right. A 9-year-old boy named Luka."
"Where did you get the name from?"
"A 9-year-old boy who lives in my building. Who is not abused, by the way. I like the name Luka, it's universal. It could be a girl or boy and it could be any nationality."
"Well, I think that song could be a hit." he said. Here I hooted at him.
"What are you talking about? Nobody wants to hear about child abuse. Nobody asks for that song. They want ‘Gypsy' or ‘The Queen and the Soldier.'"
"It's a song about a social issue. Songs about social issues are important. We don't have enough of them now. This generation needs to have more." This was in 1985.
"I didn't write it to be about a social issue - I wrote it as a little portrait. I hate songs about social issues. Everybody knows they don't work."
"Well, it is still a song about a social issue. It's the issue of child abuse, you said it yourself. And how can you say they don't work? We stopped the Vietnam War with the music we made in the 70's!" he began to shout, his cheeks flushing pink.

We had a half-hour argument after that about whether songs with a social message worked or not - me taking the more cynical view that if they really worked then Bob Dylan and Joan Baez would have been able to end all wars. Was there a better anti-war song than "Masters of War"? And yet we had been at war since. Ron shouted that music was part of the dialogue of American culture, along with the marches and the protests that helped to shape the decisions of a nation.

To say I was skeptical is to completely understate it, but I agreed to start on the pre-production for "Luka." We even decided not to put it on the first album, which I was working on at the time, but to delay it for the second one.

One of the things that happened right away is that the producer Steve Addabbo ran into a keyboard player named Peter Wood in the street. Steve played him the song and he had some ideas immediately about how it should be arranged.

My ideas are usually simple, melodically. What Mr. Wood did was to create a space for the guitar solo and changed the melody line of the fourth verse. This, I have come to realize after years of singing the song, is the emotional climax of the song, because it goes up there - "You don't ask WHY!" - and is at the top of my range and the top of the melody.

Verse 1
My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you've seen me before
If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was

Verse 2
I think it's because I'm clumsy
I try not to talk too loud
Maybe it's because I'm crazy
I try not to act too proud
They only hit until you cry
And after that you don't ask why
You just don't argue anymore
You just don't argue anymore
You just don't argue anymore
Guitar solo

Verse 3
Yes I think I'm okay
I walked into the door again
Well, if you ask that's what I'll say
And it's not your business anyway
I guess I'd like to be alone
With nothing broken, nothing thrown
Just don't ask me how I am [X3]

Verse 1 repeated
My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you've seen me before
If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble some kind of fight
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was

Verse 4
They only hit until you cry
And after that you don't ask why
You just don't argue any more
You just don't argue any more
You just don't argue any more.

So, when you hear the song, it's not just one melodic idea presented the same way three times - that fourth verse tells a story, makes an arc the same way a good narrative does, and when the song concludes you feel as though you have been somewhere emotionally. This is the purpose of an arranger - to take what's there musically and arrange the music like a puzzle - to tease out the emotions of the song and present it to the public in a way that they are "hit" emotionally. More on that later.

We did a lot of other work as well. We kept it in a major key. I had written it that way deliberately, because the stereotype of a sad little boy on a doorstep suffering in a minor key made me furious. It seemed to me that most children who are abused regularly are sad and scared in the beginning but also eventually accept it as a fact of life, as something you might even expect. There is a matter-of-factness that develops. So I chose a major key, which we kept.

Weirdly, when the song was done, that casual major-key quality sounded cheerful, upbeat and even triumphant, which wasn't my intention. Some of it was Jon Gordon's ringing guitar solo, somewhat influenced by U2's the Edge. We were huge U2 fans at the time and they came to our show in Dublin in 1986. Some of it was the pop synth sound and part that Anton Sanko played me at his audition to be in the band. Those first four notes ascending sounded almost architectural in how he approached the song, and I was deeply impressed.

It took at least a year before the song was arranged, produced and burnished to the sheen that it came out with. I redid my vocal over and over again with Steve Addabbo at the controls. "Why do I have to do it again? I need to go finish my other lyrics. I don't want to do it again." (At that point, Lenny Kaye was helping me to finish some lyrics, especially to "Ironbound," which I was really having trouble with.)

I was thinking of asking Lucy Kaplansky to do the background vocals - I liked staying in touch with the folk scene I had been steeped in during the early ‘80s - but I had already asked her to sing on "Left of Center" the year before. So I asked Shawn Colvin, who sounded great. My management liked her so much they ended up signing her and handled her career for years.

I was hugely distracted by trying to finish the other songs by the deadline to feel any nervousness about "Luka." I felt that I was hanging from a cliff by my nails - a feeling I have had many times in my career. How funny that journalists sometimes write about my "relaxed recording schedule"! If your idea of relaxing is hanging by your nails from a cliff, I guess that's correct.

I sat in on the mixes with Shelley Yackus, a top-notch engineer of that era - it was a big deal that we got him and he contributed a lot to the overall sound of the record. I encouraged him to bring out the sound of the drums. Everyone always tiptoed around the acoustic guitars and wanted the drums to sound (seem) accidental so they didn't overshadow the guitar, but this time the guitar sound was nice and fat, so there was no reason to be so polite.

We had barely finished the album when it was scheduled for release six or seven weeks later, as I remember it. We were on the road when it came out and things changed overnight. Literally. One night we were playing the usual half-filled theaters and clubs. The next day, and every day after that, each venue was full. This continued for the rest of the year and included two shows at Carnegie Hall and one at Radio City. "Luka" had been delivered to radio and accepted almost immediately.

Why? Why the huge response? Some of it was the topic - so many people wrote me of their experiences. This has continued right up until this past weekend, when a teenaged girl told me she had been a victim of child abuse and that she really identified with the character. This was astonishing to me - that so many people from so many cultures from all over the world, including here in America, identified with the character. I had believed it was about a small personal issue, but Ron had been correct: it was about a huge social one.

A lot of it was the sound of the song, the chemistry of it, since many people had no idea what the song was about. It sounded good on the radio, sounded good before and after certain songs, all the different qualities of the production gelled in a certain way that people remembered and wanted to hear again. There was a magic about certain things - I have been told that "Luka" means "wounded" in Indonesian, for example, which I certainly didn't know when I wrote the song.

Along with acclaim, success and hard work also came criticisms, parodies and complaints. "I don't want to hear about child abuse when I am drinking coffee in the morning," one guy wrote in. The worst letters were from child abuse agencies. "How dare you suggest that the child is responsible for his own abuse!" began a typical one. I threw those letters away, eventually, along with a bag of parodies, which tended to start, "My name is Loofah, I live on the bathroom floor..." Ha ha. Very funny. Next, please.
"Hit" is a good name for it - a feeling of intense communication with a huge amount of people at the same time. As with a baseball and a bat, a cracking, quick connection. As with drugs, a sudden alteration of reality. You could get used to it.

That particular intensity lasted about eight months, I'd say until Tracy Chapman appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone. "Tom's Diner" was a hit too, after that, but proved to be a very different experience than "Luka." It has gone on to have its own weird history of which I am very proud. More on that later. As for being a two-hit wonder - well, I think it's better than being a one-hit wonder, thank you very much.

I have to certainly agree with that last sentiment. Most artists would be ecstatic to have one hit and to have two is just that much better. She did post a follow up to this blog a few months later that talked more about her second hit and here is a link to that one titled "Tom's Essay" if you want to read more from Vega. I find both posts fascinating for some reason.

Today (August 11, 2009) is the 55^th birthday of British singer-songwriter Joe Jackson. He is known for his 1979 hit "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" from the album Look Sharp! That song garnered him a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, but I am fonder of a song from his 1982 album Night and Day. "Steppin' Out" is actually one of my very favorite songs of the entire 80s decade. There is something smooth and comforting about it that I have always really appreciated.

The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and would earn Grammy nominations for both Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. So here is this week's Flashback Video, "Steppin' Out" by Joe Jackson...

The Night and Day album also included the hit single "Breaking Us In Two" and would reach #4 on the Billboard Album Chart. Jackson would continue to release several more albums during the 80s and still is making new music today. In fact, he has released 17 albums since 1982's Night and Day to varying degrees of success. As a side note, he collaborated with Suzanne Vega for the song "Left of Centre" which appeared on the 1986 soundtrack to the John Hughes movie Pretty in Pink. Here is a link to the Joe Jackson Official Website if you want to find out more about what he has been up to. Happy Birthday to Joe and "Steppin' Out" is sure to be in the top portion of my favorite songs from the 80s list when I finally get around to publishing that one.

Hope you enjoyed "steppin' out" 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 "LIKE". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

John Hughes was an incredible writer, director and producer who came along at the perfect time and made seemingly perfect movies to a kid growing up in the 80s. If you are a regular reader of Kickin' it Old School (and I hope you are), John Hughes and his iconic films have been referenced often with reverence throughout my pages of 80s memories and nostalgia.

He only directed eight of his films, but has writing credits on 38 of them. In that list are some of the greatest movies of the 80s decade and some of my favorite movies of all time. I thought to honor Hughes that I would give you a Top 10 list of 80s movies that he was responsible for. So I will get right to it, here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 10 MOVIES OF THE 80s WRITTEN BY JOHN HUGHES:

10. Uncle Buck (1989) - This was the second to last film that Hughes would direct (the last was 1991's Curly Sue).

9. Pretty in Pink (1986) - One of three Hughes' films to star Molly Ringwald.

8. The Great Outdoors (1988) - One of eight Hughes' films to have John Candy in them.

7. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - This was the third film written by Hughes to make it to the screen (after 1982's National Lampoon's Class Reunion and 1983's Mr. Mom).

6. Sixteen Candles (1984) - This was the impressive & hilarious directorial debut for Hughes.

5. Weird Science (1985) - One of four Hughes' films to star Anthony Michael Hall.

4. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) - Read my special Thanksgiving issue on this classic.

3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - Read my Preview Review issue on this fantastic film.

2. The Breakfast Club (1985) - This is the film I connect with the most emotionally and is sure to be a future issue of Preview Review to come.

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) - Probably not on top of most people's lists, but clearly one of my very favorites. Read my special Christmas issue on this hilarious holiday gem.

There's my list. And that does not even include Home Alone which was released in 1990. I plan on watching each and every one of those movies over the coming days and I would highly recommend you do the same. You should not need an excuse, but what better reason to enjoy these classics by this legendary filmmaker.

I would have to say that it is very likely that my 80s obsession and thus this very blog would not exist if it were not for the incredible inspiring films of John Hughes. I obviously did not have the honor of knowing him personally, but I feel like he knew me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all those great films he gave us and offer my condolences to his family. Though he is now gone, his movies will thankfully live on forever. Rest in peace. This picture is what I feel makes the best way to end this issue -fade out with Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" playing...

That's what I have for this 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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: With the new G.I. Joe movie being released this week, I came across this humorous chart. If you watched the cartoon like most kids did back in the 80s, you should remember the slogan they would work in to every episode. It went "Now you know and knowing is half the battle." Here is a pie chart representing that sentiment...

Quote of the day: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller as played by Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) written by John Hughes

Landis has directed Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), Animal House (1978), The Blues Brothers (1980), Trading Places (1983), Spies Like Us (1985) and ¡Three Amigos! (1986) among others. I have already done a Preview Review issue on The Blues Brothers and featured ¡Three Amigos! in my 100th issue. Now I am going to feature my favorite Landis film and one of my very favorite 80s movies, 1988's Coming to America.

Coming to America stars Eddie Murphy as an African prince who comes to America to find his queen-to-be. I ranked it at the top of my favorite Eddie Murphy Movies list in one of the very first issues of Kickin' it Old School. I just think it is a charming story that never fails to make me laugh. Here is the original trailer for Coming to America...

The film co-stars Arsenio Hall who, along with Murphy, plays several different characters during the movie. One of my favorite scenes is when Hall's "Reverand Brown" introduces Murphy's "Randy Watson" and his band Sexual Chocolate to perform at a Black Awareness Rally. This made honorable mention on my popular Best Singing Scenes from 80s Movies list.

Then there is another scene which features both Murphy and Hall playing multiple characters in a barbershop. Warning, this scene does include some f-bombs at the end, but it is one of my favorite scenes in any movie of all time...

There are so many parts of this movie that I just love, I could keep on going about it for pages. The film has Samuel L. Jackson in a small role as a robber before he became a star and also featured Eriq LaSalle (well before his role on E.R.) as heir to the Soul-Glo empire. At the end of the film, the bums that pick up the money that Murphy's character drops are the "Duke Brothers" (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) from Trading Places (1983) which was also directed by John Landis.

John Landis is also responsible for directing the iconic Michael Jackson "Thriller" video which not surprisingly ranks on the top of my Top 80s Music Videos list. Landis did lots of great work in the 80s, but Coming to America has to be my very favorite.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Hope you enjoy the "Preview Review" issues and please let me know if there are any particular 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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: One of my favorite places to visit is Fail Blog because I can always find something that makes me chuckle. Here is one that I particularly enjoyed titled Hat Fail. This is probably an example of fashion over function or just pure stupidity because it just seems so obvious that the brim of the hat turned around the correct way would solve this fellow's problem...

Quote of the day: "Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it." -David Starr Jordan

Today (August 1, 2009) is the 50^th birthday of Joe Elliott who is best known as the lead singer of the band Def Leppard. I did 50^th birthday issues for Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson and even Simon LeBon from Duran Duran, so I thought that I would at least celebrate Elliott's with a Flashback Video issue.

Def Leppard formed back in 1977, but became rock superstars in the 80s with Pyromania (1983) and then Hysteria (1987). Both of those albums were hugely successful each selling over 10 million copies in the US alone. Def Leppard is one of the most popular musical artists of the 80s selling over 65 million albums worldwide in that decade alone.

I thought I would pick one song from each album to feature in this issue. From 1983's Pyromania, I chose my favorite Def Leppard song which is "Rock of Ages." From the odd gibberish spoken in a German accent by producer Mutt Lange at the beginning of the song (instead of the regular one, two, three, four) to the hard rocking guitar riffs that only come in on the chorus, I have just always been very fond of this song. So this week's first Flashback Video is "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard...

From 1987's Hysteria, I had no choice but to choose what is likely the band's signature song and one of the true arena rock anthems of all time, "Pour Some Sugar On Me." The video was #1 on Dial MTV for a record 73 days (from May 26-September 5, 1988). MTV would rank "Pour Some Sugar on Me" #1 in its Top 100 Videos of All Time Countdown in 1991 and, then in 2006, VH1 ranked the song #2 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. I give you permission to rock out with this week's second Flashback Video, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard...

There was a T-Mobile commercial that had a confused listener think that the song lyrics for that song were "pour some shook up ramen." I can't help but remember that when I hear the song now. There are several other mis-heard song lyrics that I always remember like that and I will have to do a separate issue on those sometime.

That's all 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. You can also now follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.