I’ve stated my case, many times, for 1984 being one of the best pop culture years ever. Over the weekend, there was another effort at laying down ’84’s case. I’m sure this crossed your Twitter/Facebook/Blogosphere streams, but I couldn’t let it go without sharing again.
Thirty years ago last weekend, here’s what you could see at a movie theater:
* Ghostbusters
* Gremlins
* Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
* The Karate Kid
* Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
* Top Secret!
* The Natural
* Police Academy
Holy shit!
As Jason Kottke pointed out, Sixteen Candles and Footloose closed the weekend before.
As for music, here’s the Top 10 from that week:
* “The Reflex” – Duran Duran
* “Time After Time” – Cyndi Lauper
* “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” – Deniece Williams
* “Dancing In The Dark” – Bruce Springsteen
* “Self Control” – Laura Branigan
* “The Heart Of Rock & Roll” – Huey Lewis and The News
* “Jump” – The Pointer Sisters
* “When Doves Cry” – Prince and The Revolution
* “Eyes Without A Face” – Billy Idol
* “Borderline” – Madonna
Pop, rock, dance, and some soul. If you think that list sent me over to the Billboard site to dig deeper into that week’s Hot 100, you would be correct. I just can not resist a 1980s music rabbit hole.
Great movies, great music, and the Los Angeles Olympics were a month away. Summer 1984 was crazily awesome.