Throw on your Puffiest Shirt and head to Paisley Park as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Prince and the Revolution Song: Purple Rain Album: Purple Rain (1984) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: #2 Bonus Fun Fact: Following Prince's death in 2016 this song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked at #4! This song is ranked #18 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All-Time" list.
Throw on your Elf Ears and head to Hollis Ave in the dark as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: RUN DMC Song: Christmas In Hollis Album: A Very Special Christmas (1987) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: #78 Bonus Fun Fact: This holiday classic features a cameo by DMC's adoptive mother, Bannah McDaniels!
Throw on your Best Christmas suit and celebrate as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: New Edition Song: Christmas All Over The World Album: Christmas All Over The World (1985) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A Bonus Fun Fact: This song was the last song recorded with Bobby Brown on vocals before he was kicked out of the band for his behavioral issues!
Throw on your Brightest ShirtandContinue To Rock as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: D.J. Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince Song: Jeff Waz On The Beatbox Album: And In This Corner... (1989) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A Bonus Fun Fact: This song features a sample from the 1978 song "Sing Sing" by Gaz!
Throw on your Puffiest ShirtandGo Crazy as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Prince & The Revolution Song: Let's Go Crazy Album: Purple Rain (1984) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: #1 Bonus Fun Fact: This song was Prince's second #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was the opening track to the film Purple Rain!
Throw on your Short Circuit t-shirt andprepare to take the stand as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: El DeBarge Song: Who's Johnny? Album: El Debarge (1986) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: #3 Bonus Fun Fact: This song was used in the movie Short Circuit (1986) and was El Debarge's only top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts after leaving his family's band Debarge in the mid 80's!
Throw on your freakiest outfit, cut your hair in the fresh wave style and slip on your Ben Cooper mask as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK...
Artist: Whodini
Song: The Haunted House of Rock
Album: Whodini (Released 1983)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: NA
Bonus Fun Fact: Whodini was one of the first rap groups to mix rap & R&B, in turn this helped bring about a new genre of music known as New Jack Swing!
Throw on your sideways capand start livin' on the edgeas we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Janet Jackson Song: Black Cat Album: Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1 Bonus Fun Facts: This song garnered Jackson a Grammy nomination for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance". This gave Jackson the distinction of being the only person to be nominated for a Grammy award in 5 different music genres including Rock, Rap, Pop, Dance & R&B!
Throw on your cut-off t-shirtand get some foodas we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Musical Youth
Song: Pass The Dutchie
Album: The Youth Of Today (1982)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 10
Bonus Fun Facts: This song covers parts of the song "Pass The Kouchie" by Mighty Diamonds. That song references marijuana culture whereas the lyrics for this song have been changed to "Pass The Dutchie" which allegedly is in reference to a Dutch Oven or food!
Throw on your headphones, head to the studio and get your hair permedas we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Eddie Murphy Song: Party All The Time Album: How Could It Be (1985) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 4 Bonus Fun Facts: This song was written and produced by Rick James, who also provides backing vocals! Allegedly this song was created as part of a $100,000 bet Murphy had with fellow comedian Richard Pryor!
Throw on your dopest overalls, and get into my caras we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Billy Ocean Song: Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car Album: Tear Down These Walls (1988) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1 Bonus Fun Facts: This song was Ocean's final #1 hit in the U.S. and was featured in the film "License To Drive" which starred Corey Haim & Corey Feldman.
Throw on your thick rimmed glasses, and grab your synthesizer as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Herbie Hancock Song: Rockit Album: Future Shock (1983) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 71 Bonus Fun Facts: This song features turntable scratches by Grandmaster DXT & Grandmaster Caz! The music video for this song won Herbie Hancock 5 MTV Video Music Awards and 2 Billboard Music Video Awards in addition to a Grammy award in 1983 for "Best R&B Instrumental Performance"!
Throw on your De La Clothes, and head to school as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: De La Soul
Song: Me Myself And I
Album: 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 34
Bonus Fun Fact: This song is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll"!
Back in the 80's & 90's every fast food restaurant had an array of high end glasses for sale in an attempt to get customers to saunter through their doors in hopes that they would keep returning to finish the whole set and buy some food & drink while at the establishment. Some of the most fondly remembered of these glasses include Star Wars, E.T., The Muppets, Garfield and of course Batman! On the rare occasion that my parents would take us to one of the restaurants, I always fawned over these sweet looking glasses with amazing artwork, but alas, we never ended up taking any home! Recently, my wife was at a community yard sale and found some of these glasses for a fairly cheap price. She picked them up thinking the kids would love them, little did she know that I would be the one who would be using them every night during dinner! Below you can view the small collection of glasses that currently hang out in our kitchen cabinet.
Care Bears from Pizza Hut (1983)
Pizza Hut gave us all one heck of a deal with these Care Bear glasses. You could get 2 glasses for 99 cents with the purchase of any Pizza Hut pizza! That is a freakin' steal! There were 4 glasses in total and the set included Funshine, Tenderheart, Grumpy and Cheer Bear. I just need 1 more to complete the collection!
Peanuts "Camp Snoopy" from McDonalds (1983)
These glasses were 49 cents with the purchase of any Coca-Cola drink at McDonalds in the early 80's. There were 5 in total and I have 2 of them. The glasses are nice and as the commercial says, they were designed by Peanuts creator Charles Shulz himself, but the real star here is a brand new animated Peanuts commercial featuring Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy & Sally. We need more great promotions like this!
Smurfs "Happy Smurfday" from Hardee's (1983)
Hardee's went all out with this promotion and dubbed July 25th as "Smurfday"!. The glasses were available until September 4th at their restaurants, but they also offered a new drink just for the occasion! This drink was called "Smurfberry Punch". I have no idea what it tasted like, but it looked like a fruit punch sort of drink. Wonder if we'll ever see this return?
Throw on your best swag wear, and head to the disco as we take you back to the 80s! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: The Sugarhill Gang Song: 8th Wonder Album: 8th Wonder (1981) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: N/A Bonus Fun Fact: This song was featured on their second album that was produced by Sylvia Robinson!
Over the last few years, I've been collecting old wax & foil packs of trading cards from the 80s & 90s. When you would buy one of these packs you would tear it open and throw away the wrapper. Never giving it a second thought. Seeing these again brings back memories of feeling the slick paper in your hands, seeing the simple artwork and the smell of bubble gum. In celebration of the return of Major League Baseball after the great lockout of 2022, let's dive into a few of these packs that I have on display and celebrate a few of my favorite players from my #1 team...the NEW YORK METS!
1988 Donruss
1990 Topps Traded
1991 Donruss
1991 Fleer
1992 Topps Stadium Club
Thanks for taking a minute to look at some old packs of baseball cards and humoring my die hard Mets fandom. I hope whoever you cheer for has a great season and you can enjoy the game to the fullest! If you feel like checking out the classic 1985 broadcast of the Mets vs. Cubs game, feel free to watch the Youtube video below. Now let's PLAY BALL!!!
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are probably my favorite characters from my childhood. Close by are the Masters of the Universe, Thundercats and Ghostbusters, but none of those stand up to my passion for collecting all things TMNT. Recently, I've been scouring the internets for any great deals I could find on merchandise featuring the Mean, Green Machine in an attempt to recoup some of my childhood collection. I did find some more cool stuff that I would like to share with you. Hopefully it brings back some great memories from that time in life where animals in bandanas were everything to us. Here we go!
I had been wanting one of these collectible ice cream vinyl figures for quite a while. I thought it was the perfect way to display one of my favorite childhood frozen treats without any of the mess! These were on sale at the Culture Fly website and I had wanted to get the vinyl of my favorite Turtle, Donatello, but they were sold out!
I ultimately decided on getting a Mikey since he was the last TMNT frozen treat that I had ingested. Pretty close resemblance to the real thing, huh?
Henry Gordy International TMNT Watergun (1988)
Here is another one of those rack toys I have talked about. I wasn't actively seeking this water gun out, but it came with the TMNT Flash Gun I had wanted. Not a bad throw in though! Still love the crude, early TMNT artwork on the packaging. I like the looks of the Shredder on this one!
Henry Gordy TMNT "Puffy Stickers" (1988)
These stickers may be one of my favorite items in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection. Me and my brother would beg my Mom for any spare quarters she may have had in her pocket book any time we went to the local A&P supermarket. Usually she would break us each off a quarter if our behaviors were good enough during the shopping trip. It was a great way to make sure we were on our best behavior and while she was checking out, we were checking out the machines at the front of the store. More often than not, we would spend those quarters on globs, mini football helmets or those tiny, translucent Masters of the Universe figures. Then Turtlemania hit and we pumped quarters into those machines for the chance to get a complete set of these very TMNT stickers! So many great memories are attached to these pieces of sticky perfection!
I never had any of these Mighty max style playsets from the Nickelodeon show, but I saw this in a bin at my local Goodwill for $2 and since it was a depiction of my favorite member of the Green Machine, I picked him up. He now sits on one of the desks in my office as a proud member of my TMNT collection.
IDW Usagi Yojimbo Comic #20
This was a book that I had wanted, but my local comic shop didn't order any shelf copies. I searched ebay for copies, but most were out of my price range. Finally, while purchasing some My Little Pony comics off the IDW website, I saw this book for sale at the shelf price of $3.99. The reason I wanted this book is because it introduces a new recurring character to the Usagi Yojimbo story by the name of Yukichi Yamamoto. Yes, it is the second print, but I'm glad to have this book in my collection. I know it's not technically a TMNT book, but Usagi is a friend of the TMNT and that makes him part of the family to me!
Thanks for checking out some more great Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles items from my collection. I hope you enjoyed it.
Back in 1982 Marvel Comics started publishing a line of G.I. Joe comics under the "A Real American Hero" banner. The G.I. Joe cartoon was beloved by millions of kids and the toys were flying off the shelves, so it made sense that someone would want to cash in on this craze with a comic book. Writer Larry Hama crafted such amazing, endearing and legitimately entertaining stories in this so called "Kids" book that it is still looked at with fondness today by us alleged grown-ups. With the success of the flagship title, Marvel decided to branch out with other spinoff series like "G.I. Joe: Special Missions" (1986), "G.I. Joe: Order of Battle" (1986), G.I. Joe/Transformers" (1987) and "Tales of G.I. Joe" (1988).
I recently found an issue of Tales of G.I. Joe on the $1 rack at my local comic shop and immediately picked it up. Most of the time when I find old, cheap books like this, it's not for the story or art...it's for the ads! The issue I picked up was from 1988 and features some ads that I honestly had never seen before! I'd like to share those ads with you now! Let me know if you have any memories of these in the comments below.
WOW! Those ads were amazing! Imagine if you could still get some of those deals from that New England Comics ad today? I'd buy almost everything off that page! How crazy would it have been if we got a Contra movie or series based off the video game ad above? Would have blown my mind back in the 80's! Who am I kidding, still would blow my mind today! My other favorite out of the bunch would have to be that Jolly Rancher ad with artwork by Don Martin. Really takes me back to the days of wasting time at the library reading MAD Magazine. I hope you enjoyed checking these ads out as much as I did. Which was your favorite?
Every now and then I like to peruse the "Shop" section on the Kevin Eastman Studios website. Once in a while there is something there that I would like to add to my collection and that is within my spending range. I've gotten some pretty cool stuff from the site and just last week, I placed another order. One of the items I purchased was this set of enamel pins. They come in this cool little pizza box container and I received the "Team Eastman" pin...
in addition to this magnificent looking "First Turtle" pin based on the very first drawing of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle by Kevin Eastman in 1984.
Another item I picked up was this set of 5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle greeting cards that were released by Nexoft Corporation in 1989! I love the look of the artwork on these and it reminds me of the early days of Turtlemania!
I picked a grouping of 5 that would include each of the four turtles and I'm hoping to get these framed and hung sometime in the near future...along with a million other TMNT items in my collection!
The final item I picked up was what they call a "Cowabundle". It's a lot of comics that are related by a theme. The "Cowabundle" I chose was the "Vintage Mirage Bundle". Each one of these lots comes with 15 comics from the personal collection of Kevin Eastman with one of these comics signed by one of the creators. I will show off what I received in next Friday's post, but as a special bonus for buying this bundle, the studio threw in an autographed print! Once again these prints would be signed by the artist and you did not know which one you would get. I lucked out and got one signed by TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman! Pretty cool stuff!
That's it for the first part of this delivery. Next week I'll show off the comics I got in my "Cowabundle"! Until then be green and keep it clean! COWABUNGA!
Throw on your Bow Ties and head to the prehistoric era as we take you back to the 80's! Without further ado, here is the 20 Years Before 2000 THROWBACK JAM OF THE WEEK!
Artist: Was (Not Was) Song: Walk The Dinosaur Album: What Up, Dog? (1987) Peak Billboard Hot 100 Position: 7 Bonus Fun Fact: This song had a cover by George Clinton that appeared on the Super Mario Bros. movie soundtrack in 1993!
