en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:58:58 GMT 15 By Alex Keith with Hilary Gugig
Heavy Metal Power Ballads:  A heavy metal power ballad is an oxymoron in and of itself.  How can a group of guys clad in head-to-toe leather and chains write songs about love and relationships?  In Guns N’ Roses famous, Billboard chart-topping ballad “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Axl Rose and his boys sing about the little girl whose stare makes them “break down and cry.”  Cinderella, the hard rock/glam rock band curiously named after the Disney princess, reached number 12 on the Billboard charts for their tearjerker “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone).”  Even though vocalist Tom Keifer’s voice resonates more like a food processor than a singer, audiences melted for his scratchy falsettos and white piano. Duran Duran:  Duran Duran may not have been all that talented, but what they lacked in composing and lyric-writing ability they made up in their ability to put out crowd-pleasing music videos.  The New Wave boys from Birmingham, England were best known for their work in the early 1980’s which included the R-rated “Girls On Film,” the saxophone-soloing “Rio” and perhaps their most famous work, “Hungry Like the Wolf.”  While the simple synthesizer melodies and two-chord progressions may have revealed a lack of songwriting depth, Duran Duran really knew how to connect with their superficial teenage audience. Super Mario Bros:  Do-do-do-dewdew-do.  Possibly the only thing more famous about the Japanese video game juggernaut Mario than the actual gameplay is the polyphonic riff that serves as its theme song.  Created by Shigeru Miyamoto for the then-upstart video game system Nintendo, Mario made the jump across the Pacific and invaded American gaming consoles hidden inside the popular “Donkey Kong” game.  The Mario Universe expanded to include his brother Luigi, the green dinosaur Yoshi and Princess Peach, the much more attractive damsel in distress that replaced Mario’s former girlfriend Pauline.  Some questions remain about the game, including the reason for the excessive Italian accents and the real identity of Mario’s baby-mama. KangaROOS:   American architect Bob Gamm liked to run, but his super-short jogging shorts did not allow the space for pockets.  With fanny-packs out of the question, Gamm decided to put pockets in the last logical place, his shoes.  After giving the shoes a cosmetic makeover, Gamm put his “KangaROOS” on the market.  It seemed that the early 1980’s public liked them, as Gamm was selling upwards of 700,000 pairs per month.  Though the shoes with the pocket waned in popularity, the company expanded into Europe and Asia and currently markets itself as a “sports fashion” brand, keeping the trademark pocket. Live Aid:   Rock stars and political activism make an odd pairing.  But for the cause of ending world hunger, musician/activists Bob Geldof and Midge Ure married the two.  By bringing together the biggest bands in the world, Geldof and Ure raised almost 150 million British Pounds, or about $220 million.  Simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia were seen by 400 million people in 60 countries.  Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Madonna, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Ozzy Osbourne, Led Zeppelin and Duran Duran all performed to the tune of famine relief.  In 2005, Geldof and Ure teamed up again to put together Live 8, eleven concerts held in the days leading up to the G8 Summit in order to end poverty. Ronald Reagan:   Ronald Reagan just might be Clark Kent’s successor as Superman.  Starting out as a western film actor, Reagan went on to attain the rank of Captain in the US Army Reserve, the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild, and the gubernatorial chair of one of the bluest states in America.  Reagan, as the Republican candidate for the 1980 presidential election, defeated incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter.  During Reagan’s inaugural address, 52 American hostages were released by Iran, possibly because of Reagan’s superhuman intelligence and heat vision.  Reagan also survived an assassination attempt, that time most likely because of his regeneration abilities.  SuperReagan eventually passed his role as protector of the universe on to another, as he died of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2004. Ray-Ban Wayfarers:   What would Tom Cruise be without his Ray-Ban Wayfarers?  If Cruise had chosen aviators, casual viewers could have mistaken the 1983 classic “Risky Business” for 1986’s also stellar “Top Gun,” a fatal error for any American who was alive at the time.  Other 1980’s celebrity endorsers included the members of U2, Madonna, Elvis Costello and Jack Nicholson.  Vogue cop shows “Miami Vice” and “Moonlighting” made good use of the plastic-framed masterpieces as well.  Even jazz/comedy men The Blues Brothers made use of Wayfarers, making the sunglasses the single coolest item of the 1980’s. Berlin Wall:   The Berlin wall represented all things bad about communism.  The wall split Germany in half, keeping separated democratic West Germany and communist East Germany.  While the Western-backed West Germany began to achieve economic success only a few years after the conclusion of World War II, East Germany floundered under the thumb of Soviet Russia and the state secret police, the Stasi .  President Ronald Reagan made the declaration “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” in 1987, and as global pressure mounted, the wall finally began cracking in 1989. The Simpsons:   The Simpson family had humble beginnings as short sketches in the American variety show “The Tracey Ullman Show.”  Fox Broadcasting Corporation took on a reformulated “Simpsons” in 1989 and the series premiered December 17, 1989 with a Christmas special.  The public seemed to enjoy the show, as “The Simpsons” was the first Fox series to finish in the Top 30 yearly ratings list.  The show celebrated its twentieth season this year, totaling 438 episodes since the premiere of “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire.” Miracle on Ice:  The late 70’s had been tough on the American pubic.  Watergate, the Iranian Hostage Crisis and darkening relations between the US and the Soviet Union had taken its toll on the American outlook.  But out of nowhere, a college hockey coach named Herb Brooks took a group of American hockey players, many from the bitter Minnesota University-Boston University hockey rivalry, and turned them into a gold medal squad.  The Soviets had won every Olympic hockey gold medal since the 1960 American gold in Squaw Valley, California.  Despite this adversity, the twenty Americans pulled together under the leadership of Brooks and shocked its way through the preliminary and playoff rounds.  The Americans met the Soviets in the medal round, and after sixty minutes of back-and-forth play, commentator Al Michaels made the famous call, “Do you believe in miracles?  Yes!” and the Americans took the game.  Contrary to popular belief, this was not the gold medal game, as the Americans beat Finland to win the gold. ]]> Tue, 05 May 2009 15:42:12 GMT