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«« Mini-Rewind ««

• "Everything", the 3rd studio album by the Bangles was released October 18, 1988. The album featured a pair of hit singles "In Your Room" and the #1 hit "Eternal Flame". The album was the bands last album before their nine-year hiatus from 1989 to 1998.

• October 18, 1985 the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in New York as a test market prior to the full NA launch in September 1986.

• October 18, 1984 The Cosby Show aired the episode where Theo wants an expensive Gordon Gartrell shirt to impress a girl.

• The drama "Crimes of Passion" hit theaters October 19, 1984, starring the mesmerizing Kathleen Turner and the legendary Anthony Perkins. It was definitely one of the most talked-about films of the year!

• "All the Right Moves" starring Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson and Chris Penn was released in theatres October 21, 1983.

• "Look Sharp!", the second studio album by Roxette was released October 21, 1988. The platinum album featured the #1 hit singles "The Look" and "Listen to Your Heart".

• "Uh-Huh", the 7th studio album by John Cougar Mellencamp (the first in which he used his real last name) was released October 23, 1983. The album features his hit singles "Pink Houses" and Crumblin' Down".

• "Make It Big", the second studio album from British pop duo Wham! was released October 23, 1984. The multi-platinum album features the hit singles "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Freedom" and "Careless Whisper".

• October 24, "Eddie Murphy: Comedian", Murphy's second album was released. The album won the 1984 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. The full concert of this performance was released as a 1983 HBO special called Eddie Murphy Delirious.

Forget the sequels - the 1982 film First Blood is a gut-punch of a movie. It’s not about superhuman violence; it’s about John Rambo, a decorated Green Beret, returning home from Vietnam only to find there’s no place for him.

Rambo rolls into the small, ironically named town of Hope, wanting nothing more than a meal and some peace. Instead, he runs into Sheriff Teasle, a small-minded bully who sees Rambo’s long hair and army jacket as a challenge. Teasle pushes him too far, arresting him and sparking a traumatic flashback inside the station - a razor blade triggers memories of a brutal POW camp.

Rambo snaps. He escapes into the rugged wilderness, and suddenly, Teasle isn't hunting a vagrant; he's hunting the war itself. The rest of the movie is a terrifying showcase of Rambo using his elite survival skills, trying to stop the fighting that never stopped in his mind.

The emotional core is that final breakdown - Rambo sobbing to Colonel Trautman about the war never ending and how nobody wants him. It was a raw, undeniable statement about the disgraceful way America treated its Vietnam veterans. That's why the original film is a classic.

When you talk about retro gaming anxiety, you have to start with Frogger. This isn’t a game; it’s an emotional rollercoaster about timing and instant trauma.

The premise is deceptively simple: get five frogs home. But the execution is pure panic. You start on the curb, and immediately you’re facing the road - a non-stop, multi-lane torrent of traffic. That rhythmic, desperate hop, hop, hop sound effect is iconic, but the real star is the gut-wrenching SPLAT! when you misjudge a passing truck by a single pixel.

Making it to the center median feels like a monumental victory, but then comes the river. Honestly, the river is worse. Now you’re not avoiding death; you’re hitchhiking on temporary safety. You cling to logs and turtles, hoping they don't drift off-screen or, in the case of the turtles, suddenly decide to dive, drowning your hero.

The frantic pace, the vanishing lily pads, the sudden, unavoidable alligators - it all combined to create a perfect arcade loop. It taught a generation about spatial awareness under pressure. Frogger remains a testament to the fact that brilliant game design doesn't need complex lore; it just needs one stressed-out frog and a whole lot of speeding vehicles.

When you talk about 1980s music videos, you have to talk about A-ha’s “Take On Me.” It's genuinely one of the most important videos ever made, and it goes way beyond the iconic synth riff.

The success of the 1985 version, which was actually the second attempt, hinged on a revolutionary visual technique called rotoscoping. This process involves painstakingly tracing over live-action footage frame by frame to create that stunning, seamless pencil-sketch animation look that blends with the real world.

The video's impact was immediate and massive. It wasn't just a clip of the band performing; it was a high-concept, cinematic, and narrative short film. It proved a crucial point to record labels and artists: music videos could be ambitious pieces of art that drove cultural conversation and, most importantly, sold records.

"Take On Me" set a new, high visual benchmark, winning six MTV Video Music Awards. It challenged other artists to abandon simple performance clips and embrace creative visual storytelling, cementing the idea that the video was just as important as the song in the era of MTV. It’s truly a foundational piece of pop culture history.

🎧 Retro Picks of the Week

📺 T.V. Show: The original Roseanne shattered the typical sitcom mold by delivering an unvarnished, often loud, and hilarious look at a genuinely struggling working-class American family. Centered on the brutally honest matriarch Roseanne Conner, the show used sharp sarcasm and real-world problems to explore everything from financial stress to parenting in a way that felt revolutionary and deeply relatable.

📼 Movie: Mystic Pizza is that quintessential 80s gem about three working-class friends navigating messy summer romances and big life ambitions while slinging pies at a coastal Connecticut pizzeria. It’s a beautifully honest, early showcase for Julia Roberts that perfectly captures the hilarious and unforgettable chaos of chasing love before you know where you’re going.

🎵 Song: Billy Idol's 1982 mega-hit “White Wedding” stands as the quintessential New Wave anthem, fueled by a signature, driving guitar riff and his iconic punk snarl. Far from a romantic tune, the song ironically delivers a cynical, anti-establishment commentary on traditional marriage, cementing Idol's status as the rebellious face of '80s rock. Billy Idol was, and still is one of my favorite performers - he can still bring it.

🕹️ Video Game: Q*bert is the incredibly colorful, isometric arcade puzzle game where players guide the titular orange creature across a pyramid of cubes while avoiding enemies and swearing profusely. It’s remembered for its unique, diagonal jumping mechanic and its instantly recognizable speech bubble featuring a string of cartoon-like gibberish curses. For me, I never got into this game - not sure why, it just didn’t garner my interest.

👾 Cartoon: Considering I couldn’t get enough of wrestling in the ‘80s, this cartoon was a MAJOR deal for me. Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling was the 1985 animated series that capitalized on the WWF's Golden Era, featuring cartoon versions of superstar wrestlers who spent as much time performing music as they did battling outlandish villains. It was a bizarre, yet highly effective, piece of Saturday morning marketing that brought the over-the-top drama of professional wrestling into the realm of children's entertainment.