My friend Gayle is working on a movie project in the fall/winter. She is needing songs from 1980. Anyone remember any significant songs from 1980? Anyone remember 1980? Any of you actually a functioning person in 1980?
Music was starting to become a real passion/obsession then. Denver had pretty decent radio at the time and the music was much more varied back then. I had a little portable radio that I could stick under my pillow and still hear it when I put my head on it. I would go to sleep listening to the radio and wake up with a sore head from the lump under my pillow. I also used to have a top-loading cassete recorder (thanks for the memory Gayle) that I was able to hook up to an old stereo speaker through the headphone jack and have a much better sound. I also use to lay on the floor in front of the stereo and turned the speakers till they were straddling my head and listened to music for hours on end. It was the start of my escape/dream world of being a rock star.
I was 14-15 years old in 1980. Jr. High was a suck-fest and I was beginning to realize I didn’t really fit in. I had a couple of friends that were great: Howard Connelly, Randy Shortridge, Jeff Tatro, Steve Heeney, Troy Follett. Okay, Troy wasn’t necessarily a great friend, definitely not a great influence, but he was fun nonetheless. I can’t believe we didn’t get caught/arrested. If he hadn’t have moved, I think a future of petty theft was on my horizon.
The music of my life then…Queen - The Game (Crazy Little Thing Called Love, etc…) Neil Diamond - The Jazz Singer, a couple of others that are slipping my mind. Queen reminds me of Gwen Trapp, my first real crush and unrequited love. Wow…good/bad times. Howard and I were doing cool stuff in his darkroom during that time. I was discovering art and creativity through Howard and he ruined my life… in a good way. How cool to have parents that let you have your own darkroom at 14-15 years old.
I also rode my ten-speed like a madman. That was my other escape. I could ride a bike like nobody’s business and gave me a freedom I had never experienced before. I could ride to Howards or Jeff’s and we could ride down to the Cache La Poudre river, or ride up into the foothills to Horsetooth Resevoir. It was something I could do pretty well, and at the time, I didn’t feel like I could do anything well.
Wow…1980.
YES! the 80’s were the best…I too had a ten speed and rode it all over…my nearest friend/neighbor was about a mile away ( I grew up in rural Missouri)…here’s some names I remember…BLonde (had a hug crush), Kenny Loggins, Pink Floyd, how about Rupert Holmes (Escape…you remember, “Come with me, and Escape…” “If you like Pina Coladas, gettin’ caught in the rain…”; Air Supply (I’ll admit I listened to them)…and, of course, Micheal was just begining his rise up…
My best friend att he time was Kirk Lee…his first car that next year, our Sophomore, was a white 1965 Cadilac convertable…too cool!