Throw on your thick rimmed glasses, cut your hair in the fresh wavestyle and hit the streets with your Adidas as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: RUN DMC
Song: Rock Box
Album: RUN DMC (1984)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A Bonus Fun Fact: This was the first video made by RUN DMC. It was filmed at the famous NY punk club, Danceteria. The beat from this song was sampled in the Chris Rock song "Champagne".
I have a fairly big collection of loose figures from the 80s & 90s. I would like to share a few of my faves with you at this time. These are a few of the toys I re-discovered while cleaning out my basement closet this past weekend. Here we go!
Go-Bots: Rube (Bandai, 1984)
When I was a kid, I did have a fondness for the Go-Bots. I had a few of them and my favorites had to be Scooter, Leader-1 and Cop-Tur. I had seen some of the cartoon episodes, but was not a loyal watcher so I did not know much about the lore of these transforming robots. I found this Rube figure in a box of old Hot Wheels cars that I picked up from a second hand store and actually thought he was a Transformer at first. Then I did some digging and he is in fact a Go-Bot and is part of a team of bad guys that fit together to make the Renegade ultra-bot, Puzzler!
Mission Masters 4: Lunar Attack Batman (Kenner, 2001)
I still think these Batman: The Animated Series action figures look great. The simplistic forms work well for Batman. This Mission Masters version of the Dark Knight even glows in the dark! Kinda defeats the purpose of sneaking up on villains in the pitch black of night, but what the hell it looks cool!
Mega Man: Mini-Pop (Funko, 2018)
My wife surprised me with a box of Mega Man FunkO's one day and I was extremely happy to bust the box open and pull out the prize! The prize in question happened to be this mini-Pop version of the Blue Bomber. He now sits on the top of my computer at my desk at work. He doesn't stand up too well due to the top heaviness of his head, but a little stick tack has kept him in place.
TMNT Toon Turtles: Michelangelo (Playmates, 1993)
These Ninja Turtles toys came out just as I was entering my teenage years and my interest in toys started waning. I never did grab them off the shelves, but I wish I did! In addition to Michelangelo I have been able to track down a Toon Donatello and Toon Shredder. I hope to complete the quartet of Toon brothers in the future, but the prices seem kinda steep.
The Simpsons: Nelson Muntz (Mattel, 1990)
Once again, this is a toy line I saw on shelves back in the day but decided to pass on them. Instead of picking up Nelson or any of the Simpson family figures, I chose a Shish Kebab Beetlejuice by Kenner. Even though that was a great figure, I wish I would have purchased some Simpsons instead. As of right now the only 2 Mattel Simpsons figures I own are Mr. Muntz and a Bartman. It's a small series of figures that I think I can hunt down pretty easily.
This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
GHOSTBUSTERS 35TH ANNIVERSARY
EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS
The 35th Anniversary of the Ghostbusters is upon us! Let's celebrate with four spooktacular weekly comics featuring different Ghostbuster teams in all-new standalone adventures! Some people wish for the ability to fully communicate with the animals around us, but when the furry, feathered, and finny inhabitants of the Central Park Zoo star talking and demand their release, the people of New York just wish they'd shut up! Egon Spengler and his EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS race to answer the call, unaware of one creature's fiendish plot to control the possessed animals and drive them to attack humanity in revenge for their incarceration. The Extreme Ghostbusters in an all-new original adventure by the mega-extreme creative team of Jim Beard & Keith Dallas (Ghostbusters Con-volution) and Tim Lattie (Ghostbusters: Crossing Over)!
Throw on your thick rimmed glasses, cut your hair in the fresh wavestyle and hit the streets with your crew as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Heavy D and The Boyz
Song: Now That We Found Love
Album: Peaceful Journey (1991)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 11 Bonus Fun Fact: This Teddy Riley produced song is a 90s remake of the 1973 O'Jays hit song. It plays at the end and during the credits of the Will Smith movie "Hitch".
While doing a little spring cleaning around the office, I recently discovered that the station I work for used to run the WB Television Network as a secondary channel!
The WB launched on January 11th, 1995 and focused mostly shows catering to the teenage and young adult viewers. With shows like Unhappily Ever After, Sister/Sister, 7th Heaven and Buffy The Vampire Slayer to name a few. The WB had some hit shows on it's roster, but ultimately ended up folding on September 17th, 2006. The WB & rival independent station UPN came together to form what is now known as The CW.
The WB lastled just over a decade, but I do remember watching some of the shows and especially the Kids WB Saturday Morning Cartoon lineups. I hadn't thought about it for a while until recently when I uncovered these artifacts in my office.
WB Balloons
There were a ton of these stashed away in one of my office cabinets. I may take some of them home so my kids can have an insane water balloon fight this summer in memory of Michigan J. Frog and The WB.
Mucha Lucha Stickers
These were part of a group of stickers that also included The Jackie Chan Adventures and Pokemon. Mucha Lucha must have been the least favorite of the group, because I still have a bunch of these in my cabinet at work.
Kids WB Tattoos
Once again, we must have received a truckload of these colorful tattoos to giveaway as promotional items at community events, because I have enough of these to keep myself tatted up for the next 85 years! I love the artwork on these and the variety of characters from The WB's cartoon line up is AWESOME! Only problem is since they are so old, they don't really stick to your skin so well.
The Wayans Bros. Mail Box
This is my favorite item of all the WB promotional offerings. First off it's a mail box! I keep some of my kids artistic drawings and crafts inside. Second, I was a huge fan of The Wayans Bros. show. Did you know The Wayans Bros. was the first show to air on The WB Network when it launched in 1995? Pretty AWESOME! My favorite episode had to be the one where Gary Coleman helped the brothers sell a product called "Goop! Hair it is". Also, who can forget that memorable opening sequence.
That's it for now. If I find any other cool retro stuff lying around the office, you can be sure I will share it with you here on 20 Years Before 2000!
This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
STAR WARS TIE FIGHTER #1 (OF 5)
ENTER SHADOW WING! THE EMPIRE'S SALVATION! THE REBELLION'S DOOM! As the war against the REBELLION stretches on, it is the innocent people of the GALACTIC EMPIRE who are most at risk. An elite squadron of TIE fighter pilots is assembled to help protect Imperial interests and hammer the Emperor's fury down upon the treasonous and violent Rebel Alliance. But how far is this untested team willing to go to preserve law and order? And are the pilots of SHADOW WING as loyal to the Empire as they seem?
(W) Jody Houser (A) Roge Antonia, More (CA) Giuseppe Camuncoli, Elia Bonetti
Throw on your bandanas, cut your hair in the fresh baldystyle and hit the rooftops with your Bo Staff as we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Partners In Kryme
Song: TURTLE Power
Album: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie Soundtrack (1990)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 13 Bonus Fun Fact: Despite the popularity of this song, Partners In Kryme never released a full album. The song "TURTLE Power" was also featured on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 Soundtrack in 1993.
I know this is not the typical post you would see here at 20 Years Before 2000, but hear me out. I went shopping for some undies last week and was looking around in the men's clothing section at Target when I noticed some of the Hanes packages were different than the others. On further examination the specially tagged briefs and boxers contained...
Packs of Michael Jordan Anniversary FLEER trading cards! These specially produced cards were made to celebrate 30 years of Michael Jordan endorsing Hanes underwear. They already had me hooked there, but throw in the chance to unwrap an autographed card and I wanted to take home every single one of these bonus packs! I got in the car and tore open the wrapper to find some pretty cool looking cards inside.
The cards feature Michael Jordan in a myriad of poses from his many Hanes commercials. The bottom 2 cards in the above picture actually have red foil backgrounds on them.
The backs of each cards feature facts about Jordan's Hall-of-Fame basketball career and a "brief" synopsis about the Hanes commercial on the front of each card. The overall design of each card is a tweaked version of the 1986-87 FLEER design which happened to be the set that included MJ's rookie card.
In addition to the base set and red foil parallel cards, there were also some All-Star hologram cards randomly inserted into these packs. I was able to pull this one from my pack. Once again the design is a revamped retro FLEER design and I really like it! It's clean, has a holographic background and it's colorful. the above scan really doesn't do this card justice. So if you are in the need of some clean undies and are a Michael Jordan fan, be on the lookout for these specially marked packages of Hanes underwear. You won't regret grabbing one or maybe even a pair!
This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING #93
"City at War, Part 1." The battle for control of New York City begins! As the city splinters into different human, mutant, and ninja factions, the TMNT find themselves in the middle of the chaos! Eight years of storytelling have led to this! Including the first of eight special "legacy" incentive covers: an IDW TMNT year one homage by Dan Duncan! The storyline that leads to TMNT #100 begins here!
Throw on your parachute pants, cut your hair in the fresh flat topstyle and hit the dance flooras we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Hammer
Song: It's All Good
Album: The Funky Headhunter (1994)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 46 Bonus Fun Fact: This song was a response diss track to Redman and Black Sheep. It was produced by The Whole 9 and was the second single released off "The Funky Headhunter" album.
Just this past week I was in the local Dollar Tree store and I noticed that they had been getting some cool toys in recently. It's in this section that my eyes were drawn to these colorful packages of DC Comics Justice League FLiXSTARS by MATTEL. Each pack contained 3 DC Super Heroes for only $1! I grabbed 2 of the packs, but noticed there were a couple more with some different characters. I may have to go back this week and pick those other packs up, but for now here is what I got...
The first package I opened contained a running Flash, flying Superman and ready to punch Batman!
The second pack I grabbed had a ninja kicking Batman, kicking Wonder Woman and another flying Superman this time in Yellow. I'm pretty sure each pack contains a Batman, Superman and another character. I would have preferred to get some more variety, but I also realize that the Dark Knight & Supes are where they money is at.
The backs of each of these non-poseable figures is hollowed out and contains a small "trigger".
This "trigger" was included so you could pull off the toys' action jumping feature. I'm not gonna lie, I think this is a pretty cool feature. I tested each of the figures and they all jump pretty good, especially and surprisingly the punching Batman went the furthest!
The main reason I picked these up was because they reminded me of the Tim Mee plastic toys of my youth! I loved the space men from the Galaxy Laser Team set and the demons from the Fantasy Warriors sets. These figures are pretty close to those from the 80s with a new action feature twist. For $1 a pack these DC FLiXSTARS were definitely worth the price!
This week the comic book I am most excited to read is...
ROCKOS MODERN AFTERLIFE #1
Rocko returns in this new limited series from writer Anthony Burch (Borderlands 2) and Mattia Di Meo (Ben 10: For Science!) for a spooky look at everyone's favorite wallaby! Something is turning the good people of O-Town into mindless zombies and Rocko wants nothing to do with it. He barricades himself and Spunky in their home and is determined to outlast the hoards outside. But desperate times calls for desperate measures when Rocko's best friend Heffer becomes infected, Rocko will have to risk it all to save his friends and his city.
(W) Anthony Burch (A) Mattia Di Meo (CA) Ian McGinty
Throw on your gold chain, cut your hair in the fresh Jheri Curlstyle and hit the blacktopas we take you back! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Kurtis Blow
Song: Basketball
Album: Ego Trip (1984)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A
Bonus Fun Fact: This song was covered by Lil' Bow Wow for the soundtrack of his movie "Like Mike" in 2002. Kurtis Blow crafted a remix of this song for an episode of the ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs" in 2016. The song changed the lyrics to reflect the game Dungeons & Dragons. You can hear that song below.
