“I’ll be back!” – Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger, Terminator, 1984.
You have to admit, Arnold wasn’t playin’ around. The ’80s are back. Some of you might argue that they really never left, but the year 2009 has defintely become the Year of The ’80s. Just take a look around:
Crue Fest headlined by Hair Metal icons Motley Crue just rolled thorugh town. And don’t forget that you might have also seen Poison, Def Leppard, Foreigner, The B-52’s, Styx, REO Speedwagon, .38 Special and Cheap Trick. Oh, and you can still catch Journey, Heart, The Cure and The Psychedelic Furs before the end of the year.
’80s bands are also making NEW music. Depeche Mode, Bon Jovi, Metallica and the aforementioned Motley Crue and B-52’s. Just play the hits and let us sing along thanks.
As previously mentioned in this space, ’80s songs are the current cover-of-the-minute genre with “Careless Whisper,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Right Round” (by hip–hop artist Flo-Rida), and “Billie Jean” to name a few.
There seems to be a bit of a perfect storm happening to help this phenomenon. With the deaths of the King of Pop (M.J.), and the King of Teen Movies (John Hughes), ’80s music rules the charts and ’80s movies have commandeered your TV.
And don’t forget your favorite ’80s movies and shows making an appearance at the theatre. Halloween 2 just opened in theatres, Friday the 13th just hit the shelves at Blockbuster, and Transformers and G.I. Joe are still around, too. With movie versions/remakes of The A Team, Footloose, Nightmare on Elm Street and even The Karate Kid in the works, the ’80s won’t be leaving the scene any time soon.
The only question now is “Will it EVER stop?” Remember when reliving the ’80s was fun? You’d go to ’80s night at the club (or just go to The Breakfast Club), catch an ’80s cover band, or find yourself channel surfing and stopping when “Girls, Girls, Girls” came on the radio? Now, the ’80s are everywhere and the motto seems to be why try something new when you can just recycle the old stuff.
If the 20-teens look anything like the first decade of the 2000s, the Grunge Revival is just around the corner. Wake up Eddie Vedder, you’ve got some work to do.
So, fearless readers, do you agree? Are the ’80s overstaying their welcome, or just here to stay?
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2009.
I disagree with these re-makes of 80s movies. They are classics and should be left alone… unless they can reassemble the original A-Team. Then I’ll go watch it. But re-making the Karate Kid? Come on, let’s not get ridiculous.
Is there a stage out there that can hold Robert Smith and his massive weight gain? Or has he been hitting the gym instead of the bottle? I didn’t know The Cure were touring again… thank you for the tip!
Come on man… This isn’t about the 80’s, it’s about recycling and keepin it reeeeaaall at the same time! Everyone is just succummbing to the economy and trying to save a buck. Seriously, i think that people are just nesting a little and going back to when things were A LOT more simple!
as long as folks continue to shell out the $$$ to go see the remakes and buy the music the studios and the artists will keep putting it out there for us to gobble up. hopefully it will run it’s course soon.
Remaking “Careless Whisper” and “Footloose” should be illegal in all 50 states.