Today (November 18, 2009) is the 49^th birthday of British pop singer Kim Wilde. She released her debut single way back in 1981 with "Kids in America" which was a huge success in the UK but only reached #25 on the US charts. Though she would have a bigger hit in the US later on, this is my favorite song by Wilde so this week's first Flashback Video is "Kids in America" by Kim Wilde...

Wilde would continue to achieve success and popularity in the UK, but it would not be until her fifth album, Another Step released in 1986, that Wilde would finally find major success in the United States. It would come with her cover of the Supremes 1966 classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On" which would make it all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1987. Wilde's version was a total re-working of the original, completely transforming the Supremes' Motown Sound into a 1980s power pop song which allowed her to become only the fifth UK female solo artist ever to top the U.S. Hot 100 chart. So this week's second Flashback Video is "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Kim Wilde...

That song was played to death back in the summer of 1987. Wilde's popularity was still primarily in Europe where she actually holds the record for being the most-charted British solo female act of the 1980s, with 17 UK Top 40 hit singles throughout the decade. Since her 80s success, Wilde has still been active in the music industry, but has also achieved success in her second career as a gardener. As recently as this spring (2009) she successfully toured around Europe to almost sold-out venues proving her music still means a lot to her fans. To many fans, especially in the US, she will always be remember for those 80s hits.

That will wrap up another 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 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.

Now I definitely remember Adams first as an 80s rock star, though he did have big hits in the 90s too. What I have read from the guys over at Stuck In the 80s, Adams considers himself much more than an 80s artist. That may be true, but like I said, I will always remember the 80s.

Bryan Adams would really get noticed after his 1983 triple-platinum album Cuts Like a Knife was released. This would begin a string of 5 straight platinum albums for Adams from 1983 through 1996. His next album, 1984's Reckless, is one of the iconic pop albums of the 80s in my opinion. Reckless would go 5x platinum and hit #1 on the Billboard album chart. Six singles were released from the album and all six would reach top 15 or higher on the Billboard Hot 100 which at that time was a feat only previously accomplished by Michael Jackson's Thriller. That is quite impressive and all six of those songs made my personal top 10 which is coming up. 1987's Into the Fire album would be his last of the 80s decade and achieved triple-platinum status.

Here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 10 BRYAN ADAMS SONGS FROM THE 80s:

Honorable Mention. "Christmas Time" (1985) - I like Christmas music quite a bit, but mostly different interpretations of the traditional songs. One of the few non-traditional Christmas songs that I do like is this original single written by Adams and Jim Vallance. I did not find an actual video for the song, but here is a link where you can hear "Christmas Time". I thought it at least deserved an honorable mention.

10. "It's Only Love" with Tina Turner from Reckless (1984) [link to video of live performance]

9. "Cuts Like a Knife" from Cuts Like a Knife (1983)

8. "This Time" from Cuts Like a Knife (1983)

7. "Somebody" from Reckless (1984)

6. "Run to You" from Reckless (1984)

5. "Heat of the Night" from Into the Fire (1987) [link to video]

4. "Straight From the Heart" from Cuts Like a Knife (1983) [link to video]

3. "One Night Love Affair" from Reckless (1984) - Also included on the film soundtrack for one of my favorite 80s comedies Real Genius [link to video with song playing (sorry this was the best I could find)]

2. "Summer of ‘69" from Reckless (1984) - Here is a quote from Adams regarding the song titles meaning, "I think it's timeless because it's about making love in the summertime. There is a slight misconception it's about a year, but it's not. '69' has nothing to do about a year, it has to do with a sexual position." That's not necessarily why I have always liked it (and not sure if I even want to believe him), but thought it might end some controversy. [link to video]

1. "Heaven" from Reckless (1984) - Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1985. Was actually first included on the 1983 soundtrack for the film A Night in Heaven (though the song is much much better than the movie). Adams did an acoustic version for MTV Unplugged which I think I like even more than the original. [link to original video]

There's my list. No big surprises except for maybe the order I put them in. As you hopefully noticed, there are links to videos on several of the songs so you can listen and remember them right now. Adams would go on to have a huge hit in 1991 with "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack which would win him a Grammy. He would stay on the soundtrack kick joining Sting and Rod Stewart to record 1994's "All For Love" for the Three Musketeers movie and then solo for 1995's "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" for the Don Juan De Marco soundtrack. All three songs would be #1 singles though none of them captured the magic of the 80s for me. Happy Birthday Bryan Adams and I hope you come to realize that being remembered for the 80s is not such a bad thing.

That's all I have for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks so much 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 are interested in reading more of my Top 10 lists, please click there for a summary. 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". Have been sending daily 80s tweets out via Twitter, so be sure to follow me there. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: Regular readers will know that I often share with you in this section signs that I find humorous. Here is a No Parking sign that I don't think I would take the chance to find out if the threat is real or a joke. What do you think?

Quote of the day: "Your happiness ultimately comes from the way you work, not where you work." -Russell Simmons

The 1989 World Series between the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants was deemed the "Battle of the Bay" and ended on October 28^th and that was after a 10 day delay due to a severe earthquake. No November baseball back then! The earthquake occurred on October 17^th just as Game 3 in San Francisco was getting ready to begin and served to make this World Series much more unforgettable than the actual baseball games did. Here is the live footage of the broadcast as the earthquake happened...

I remember watching the game when that happened. ABC play-by-play man Al Michaels, who you hear in that video footage, would end up being nominated for an Emmy Award for news broadcasting after giving an eyewitness account of the aftermath of the earthquake at Candlestick Park. The earthquake also caused a section of the Bay Bridge which connects Oakland and San Francisco to collapse with 42 ending up being the final death toll from the event. Baseball rightfully took a back seat to this tragedy.

The Oakland A's dominated this World Series both before and after the earthquake. They had won the first two games 5-0 and 5-1 respectively. Then the A's would complete the sweep by winning the next two games 13-7 and 9-6. This was the first World Series where the losing team never had the lead in any game and never even had the tying run at the plate in its final turn at bat. It had been the first sweep in the World Series since 1976.

As a big fan of Rickey Henderson (as documented in my Rickey Hall-of-Fame issue), I was cheering for the A's in this series. This team which won the 1989 championship is the one of the best teams of the 80s decade. In addition to the great Rickey Henderson, the team also featured Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dave Parker, Carney Lansford and Dave Henderson in its line-up. They were managed by Tony LaRussa and had a pitching staff which included future Hall-of Famer Dennis Eckersley and World Series MVP Dave Stewart. They could have gone on to become a dynasty, but would lose the World Series the next year to the Cincinnati Reds. Between the earthquake and the dominating performance by the A's, the 80s decade of baseball would come to a memorable end.

That wraps up this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks so much 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". Trying to send daily 80s tweets out via Twitter, so be sure to follow me there. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: Someone recently sent me a list of random thoughts. Not sure where they originated, but I thought most were pretty good and wanted to share them with you here:

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection. Even BlueRay is kind of annoying.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page file that I swear I did not make any changes to.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my a$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

It really pi$$es me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I told you they were random, but hope at least a couple hit home with you.

Quote of the day: "Everyone who got where he is, had to begin where he was." -Robert Louis Stevenson

This is the first single I recall from the 1988 triple-platinum album He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper (even before "Parents Just Don't Understand"). The song's release coincided with the fourth Nightmare on Elm Street film A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, but producers at New Line Cinema were not pleased. A video allegedly shot for the single was buried, and a disclaimer was hastily included on each pressing indicating that the record and the single was not officially affiliated with the "Nightmare" property.

Since there is no official video for the song (I could not make this a Flashback Video issue), I am going to share with you a homemade video for this comical song which is done using scenes from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. You can watch this video to hear the song and as a bonus you get to see some Peanuts clips too...

As you should know, the Fresh Prince is better known today by his real name, Will Smith. He does not get enough credit as a rapper, but he was a witty lyricist and had good flow back in the day. In fact, I did a past issue refuting another bloggers ignorant claim that Will Smith was one of the 25 worst rappers of all time. "A Nightmare on My Street" is not one of my favorites, but it is from the 80s and I just felt it was fitting with Halloween coming.

That'll do it for another short 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". Trying to send daily 80s tweets out via Twitter, so be sure to follow me there. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I was (am) a big fan of the television series Scrubs which is now only available to watch in syndication after a 9 season run. One of the characters on the show, "Ted" played by Sam Lloyd, is a member of an a cappella group and they actually appear in several episodes. Surprisingly, this is a real group and they are called The Blanks and they even have an album out. In the random performances on Scrubs, the group sings commercial jingles, TV theme songs and other songs. In one episode, they perform the 80s classic by Michael Sembello "Maniac" which I especially enjoyed. Here you can watch and listen for yourself...

Quote of the day: "Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold." -Judith Olney