Stupid stuff I remember part 1

[Wok]

A fresh blog posting that has MJ in it. I thought I would share, and maybe you can tell me your favorite trends, fads and more. This could be fun!

My head is filled with worthless crap, and tend to remember things most people have long forgotten or did not even hear about. If Jeopardy! had a show on trivia on useless or forgotten stuff, I think I would be the world champion. That alone should be cause for some concern, or better yet, something most people should not really care about. Such things deserve a blog posting on a blog nobody cares to read as well. Why? Because I can (Another aside, I remember my teacher saying “Never begin a sentence with ‘because’”).

First, stuff few or none heard of before. Two shows I watched regularly as a kid remain etched firmly in my head, and when I do mention it, everybody I know of look at me with a weird look:

That’s Cat. What is that? It rhymes just like the TV show did. My brother and I would see this show every morning, and we would get excited by the segment, “Can you find Me in this picture?” Usually, it is some famous painting and Me’s face would flash over a part of the painting. Once it did, we would jump up and down and point, “There it is!”, and sometimes even argued who saw the face first. Interestingly enough, the Wikipedia posting has more information I expected, and now at least I can show my friends the show did exist; if my friends cared. Which, by the way, they do not. Furthermore, it is also not a surprise I could not find anything on YouTube, Google Images or trying my best at advanced search functions to find pictures and/or clips of the show. Little information is here and there, but in all, the show is long forgotten.

Whitney and the Robot. Another kiddie show that my brother and I would look forward to every Saturday morning. I found more information on this show, and when I inquired about it from the actor “Corky” Greene (I e-mailed him from a comment on the blog I linked), he was kind enough to link me to a full-length show on his personal web site (or I am assuming it is his personal web site).

Next, are the things many would rather forget, have been forgotten, or have a niche audience after the trend/show ended. As a kid growing up in the 1980’s, the younger generation tend to view it with a laugh or a “huh”. I look to those days with a smile, yet at the same time with sadness because some of my best and worst days were in that era. Putting the personal feelings aside, I do look to the trends, shows, fads, and other things of that nature with fondness despite the laughs and jokes. If you happened to grow up in the era, you might remember these things.

More on TV later…

Fashion

Ahhh, the fashion fads and trends of the day (and the 1990’s for that matter) are something to smile and/or shudder in retrospect. There are big lists with the trends, and I think some are worth mentioning here:

Pegged pants. Those were everywhere when I was a kid. You were not cool unless you pegged your pants. Moreover, the more fads you stacked with with the peg, the cooler you became. The picture on the right (source) shows the peg, but not the peg I remember. The peg I remember was, the tighter and smaller, the better. I made my peg so tight, at the end of the day I would come home and my ankles would have a mark. Oh, and as an embarrassing aside, I did not lose the peg until years after it went out of style. Yes, I was one of those people who cannot let go of the past, and this posting proves it.

Hi-top sneakers, Roos, Reebok, and L.A. Gear. Like the big hair, the higher your hi-top sneakers, the closer to God you were. Some of the high top sneakers got so high, it almost felt like boots. In the early 1990’s, when the basketball shoes were all the rage (remember people killed for those pump shoes), I remember my mother buying me a pair of the first Nike pumps that came in a huge plastic container and one had to pump the shoes with a separate pump. The shoes resembled the ones Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future Part II. At the time, the Reeboks were more popular, and when I came to school very, very proud of the shoes I got, I whipped out the pump and heroically pumped my shoes while all the kids snickered and laughed. It was just not cool. I was devastated, and rarely wore the shoes afterward. On the same token, my mom would wonder why I would not wear the shoes, and I felt so badly about it, because she sacrificed so much to get me those shoes.

The surfer dude look. I was into this trend full-force, because my best friend at the time was really into it, and I wanted to be like him, because he seemed to be the cutting edge of what was cool. He was an only kid, and while his parents were not well-off by any means, they did go out of their way to make him happy. I was one of those friends that would get me the hand-me downs, or the parents would take pity and get us stuff when they went out sometimes. One of the big things many were into were either the Vision skateboard group, the metal-shirters, or the surfer dude look complete with the Bermuda shorts. I loved this look so much, I did not want the trend to end. One of the big trends in this look (and could of been a local thing) was T&C Surf Designs. They had colorful characters on them such as the cool Gorilla, the Tiki guys, and a lot more. I had the Tiki guys, and wore that shirt until it fell apart. Of course, I had the other shirts too, like OP, Surfer’s Alliance, and all the rest of it. Oh, and looking back, I do not know why I did the surfer dude look when I never touched a surfboard in my life.

The Michael Jackson and Madonna look. In those days, Madonna and Michael Jackson defined the 80’s for better or worse. In the 2nd grade, Michael Jackson and Madonna were on the radio every other song, and people everywhere were dressing like them too. The rubber bracelets, lace gloves, heavy makeup, the M.J. leather jackets, and I even saw the white glove. Yes, it was true; if you saw The Wedding Singer, and thought the glove was over-the-top, it was. Yet, some people did it. Not only did people mimic the MTV personalities, people were wearing the clothes of popular TV shows. Yes, you probably already guessed it before I even said it. The Miami Vice look. This does not even need a picture, because if you grew up in the 1980’s, the epitome of cool was the Don Johnson get up complete with shoes with no socks, pastel shirt, white sport coat, and cool Ray-Bans. Forget about his sidekick; he was not so cool. Everybody loved this look until Johnson decided to release an album. Wow, did that album stink.

Big belts, oversized sweaters, ESPRIT, skinny pants with pumps, stirrups, and neon colors. For women, these fashion trends strikes fear into the hearts and minds everywhere. I still think the skinny pant/pump look is kind of hot, but do not tell anyone. The shirts with the neon colors would blind me, but at least people were seen in the dark. I guess safety was a priority. All the popular girls wore these things, and it seemed the bigger and crimpier the hair, the cooler you were, just like the hi-top sneakers for dudes. Of course, toy also had the Flashdance/Olivia-Newton John exercise look (Let’s get physical!). The ripped sweaters, headband, hi-top sneakers, and leg warmers. Ahh, those were the days. Also, who could forget the exercise craze of the day? Jazzercize, and Jane Fonda immediately come to mind. I may have crammed more items than I should have, because some of these fads deserve a category all to themselves. The problem is, there is only so much room I have before the bandwidth of the Internet gets sucked up by things people want to forget about.

M.C. Hammer pants. In the 1990’s, M.C. Hammer was soaring in the charts, and no matter where you went, “U Can’t Touch This” was playing. I guess this did not make Rick James too happy, but it does not really matter now, because M.C. Hammer is (last I heard) on TBN, and Rick James passed away. Like all fads, they do eventually go away, and while I did wear those pants, that trend did not last too long, thankfully. Oh, and those pants reminded me of another fad that quickly went away as fast as Vanilla Ice: The head with shaved sides with designs etched in. When I went into high school, all the cool guys had those designs, and I had no idea that was the thing to do. It seemed the more elaborate the design, the cooler you were (see a trend here folks?). Of course, just like the pump sneakers, I had to do the design trick too. Yes, I followed the herd, and I wanted to fit in. Too bad I was always either a day late or a dollar short. Mostly it was the latter. Fashion and fads, when hot, cost money. Come to think of it, fads still cost money. Brother, can you spare a dime, so I can be cool and carry around an iPhone as a fashion statement?

The annoyances everybody seemed crave. You might of guessed it, but I will say it anyway. Slap bracelets, Swatch watches, paint splattered Oakley Razor Blades, and maybe you sneaked your Garbage Pail Kid collection in you Member’s Only jacket. I think many will remember the slap bracelets getting banned along with the trading cards with kid’s heads blowing up. I guess sex and violence always is a good seller.

That is it for this instalment of Stupid stuff I remember. Stay tuned for more posts.