I’m skipping the facts of 1982 and jumping immediately into the Kerry Facts of 1982. 1982 for me was all about Annie coming out. I wanted to see Annie for my birthday in 1982 and was all excited about my friends going with me because in my 8 year-old mind, we were all a ragtag group going to see Annie, a redheaded girl like me. I was the only redhead in my school if you don’t count Mr. Hays, my 3rd grade teacher. So, my birthday came and Annie here we come! But, no. My mom takes us to the Eastgate shopping center to see E.T. I did not want to see E.T. I sulked throughout the entire movie and ended up dropping my giant Pixie Stix on the floor and spilling the delicious flavored sugar. I dressed up as Annie for Halloween that year and made my sister dress up as the dog, Sandy. My mom made her dog ears out of panty hose, which kind of awesome.
The best thing of 1982 was the release of “I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, which was the first single I bought with my own money. I still love that song.
Me, 1981 with the best toy ever, The Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker.
1981 was aight. I had everything I needed — a Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine, crayons, stickers, and I was making mucho cash off the tooth fairy as you can see in the pic. Also, in the pic, you can’t really see it, but my cousin is wearing an eyepatch. I have more photos of her with the eyepatch, but I won’t post them because that’s kinda mean. I mean, she wasn’t even a pirate.
I remember spending the night with my Aunt Vicki and watching the wedding of Princess Diana. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. She was so beautiful and Prince Charles looked so old to me. I was a Disney obsessed child, so seeing a real Princess’ wedding was a Disney movie brought to life. In 1997 I would watch her funeral on television and cry.
Music in 1981 was the jam. Here’s my favorite song from that year, “Tempted” by Squeeze.
Film in 1981 was great because of On Golden Pond, Chariots of Fire, and Arthur, but here’s one of my favorites, The Fox and the Hound — the scene where Tod meets Copper and Copper says “I’m a hound dog,”
1980 was all about change. For me, for everyone. I started first grade at Claiborne Elementary Fundamental Magnet School and the country elected Ronald Reagan. John Lennon was murdered. My sister refused to wear her Halloween costume as a costume, so she was Princess Dallas Cowboy, I guess?
January 31 – The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. It is called “Spain’s own Tehran”, similar to the 1979–80 Iran American hostage crisis.
April 1 — The 1980 United States Census begins. There are 226,545,805 United States residents on this day.
April 7 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
Not exactly an uplifting year. And Music in 1980 was this bizarre mesh of disco, country/pop, R&B, punk, new wave, heavy metal, and soft rock all over the radio. Everything from Diana Ross to Kenny Rogers to AC/DC were being played and there was even Ska and Rockabilly, which makes 1980 the most unique year maybe in modern music history. It reflected what was going on in the world — uncertainty and change. My song for 1980 is “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division, not just because it was their biggest song, not because it was the year Ian Curtis committed suicide, but because it has the haunting sense of “what’s next?” that the year had.
Film in 1980? This is all that matters. 9 to 5. I apologize for the crappy video, but this IS the best scene.
Thank goodness we’re almost to the 80s. In 1979, I graduated from Kindergarten and I was a pink butterfly in some stage production of something I’ve forgotten. My preschool/Kindergarten was Ingleside Baptist Church and there was a roller rink there, so I liked it. Also, for some reason a local magician would visit every once in a while because as all Baptists know, God = MAGIC. That’s not true, but it really confused me as a 5 year-old.
July 1 — The Sony Walkman goes on sale for the first time in Japan.
August 10 – Michael Jackson releases his breakthrough album Off the Wall. It sells 7 million copies in the United States alone, making it a 7x platinum album.
November 4 – Iran hostage crisis begins: 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial.
The One Child Policy is introduced in China – it has since prevented about 400 million births. It is later loosened in 2013.
Music in 1979 was amazing. The Cure. Squeeze. Joe Jackson. Tom Petty. Michael Jackson. Blondie. Shut up. Punk and Post-Punk were at their height. INXS was on the way. Today we have a few videos.
All you need to know about Film in 1979 is The Jerk. One of my favorites of all time. I will watch this every time it’s on tv, because like Navin, I was also born a poor black child.
April 7 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter decides to postpone production of the neutron bomb – a weapon which kills people with radiation but leaves buildings relatively intact.
1978 saw music begin to turn a corner. Thank Baby Jesus. Elvis Costello and The Attractions released This Year’s Model and we were off to the races. “This Year’s Girl” still holds up and is a beacon in the disco days of ’78. He summed it up well, ““Those disco synthesizers / Those daily tranquilizers / The body-building prizes / Those bedroom alibis” and then “All this, but no surprises for this year’s girl.” Elvis, you brilliant songwriter, you.
1977 was a mixed bag in 3 year-old Kerry’s world. My great-grandmother, Maw, died. She had a farm and I really liked going there. My sister was born in September, which changed everything. I saw my first real movie in a for-real drive-in, Star Wars. Even at 3, I knew it was amazing. A friend said it still holds up today, but it more than holds up. For me, it was the first of its kind – the adventure story/love story/science fiction genre. It was a space western. You can’t tell me it’s not. Luke’s the deputy, Han’s the outlaw-turned-sheriff, Vader’s the guy in the black hat, and Leia is the girl in town everyone wants. Simple.
Ok, let’s go to the facts.
January – The world’s first personal all-in-one computer (keyboard/screen/tape storage), the Commodore PET, is demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago
Snow falls in Miami (despite its ordinarily tropical climate) for the only time in its history. Snowfall has occurred farther south in the United States only on the high mountains of the state of Hawaii.
1977 in Film was pretty damn amazing. I’ve already talked about Star Wars, so let’s talk about my guilty pleasure movie: Smokey and the Bandit. Oh, yeah. This is the movie that started my love of Basset Hounds, using great accents, and Jackie Gleason. It’s the best.
One of my other favorite movies from 1977 is The Rescuers, which kind of made me what I am today, a combination of Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor) and Madame Medusa, the redheaded villain of the movie. Here’s one of the sweetest clips Disney has ever animated.
Music in 1977 was a desert except for Fleetwood Mac. Here’s “Go Your Own Way.”
March 14 – After eight years on NBC, The Wizard of Oz returns to CBS, where it will remain until 1999, setting what was likely then a record for the most telecasts of a Hollywood film on a commercial television network. That record is broken by The Ten Commandments in 1996, which began its annual network telecasts on ABC in 1973 and is still (as of 2012) telecast by that network.
September 25 – The Irish rock band U2 is formed after drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. posts a note seeking members for a band on the notice board of his Dublin school.
I’ll be 40 in 40 days, so I’m going to look back at the last 40 years. But not for long, because let’s face it, I’m getting old and 1) it can’t be THAT long until my memory goes, 2) do we really need to remember some of the years for very long? I mean, the disco years? 3) I’ve committed to 40 posts in 40 days, let’s not push it. And I’ve decided to include a photo of myself from each year, maybe.
A lot of stuff happened in 1974. I’ll be giving you the Wikipedia version followed by my personal thoughts.
April 15 – As “Tania”, Patty Hearst is photographed wielding an M1 carbine while robbing the Sunset District branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco.
Is it weird that Carrie came out that year and my parents named me Kerry? I think so. I think my obsession with the Watergate Scandal has a lot to do with it happening the year I was born.
For fun, here’s my favorite song of 1974:
And you probably know The Godfather Part II came out in 1974, but here’s one of my favorite clips from The Great Gatsby.
