Popular Nostalgia

You are browsing the archives of 2008 April.

Remember getting spokies in your Frosties? Remember trying to out-do your friends with the number you could fit on your bike? It used to make a racket but we loved spokies. They’re still widely available - especially the Disney ones. Some clever people used to get flashing ones or spokies that made a noise [...]

Moonwalker was released in 1999 as a strange way of linking together a string of Michael Jackson’s songs. It was a success and feature in a number of Christmas repeats to this day.
All I really remember about this film is the scene where Michael Jackson takes on the now embattled Wesley Snipes in a pop [...]

This was a staple favourite of my local kiddy disco - the Royal Order of the Association of the Buffalo Club (or Buff Club for short!!!) Once a month, the local townies, scallies and neds would gather round to train up for their eventual admittance to Tall Trees, Cream or the Ministry of Sound. [...]

Another 1993 classic, Mr Vain by Culture Beat followed in the trend of using occult videos in the style of the Prodigy. Zombies, crosses and vampires were de rigeur in the early 90’s. Watch this clip for some classic goth trance action! Sing along too:

Another great hit from 1993, “The Rhythm of the Night” was a hit for Corona. I don’t know how she danced around so much with those gigantic gold earrings but I love this track. Reminds me of fairgrounds and junior discos.

More black waistcoats without anything underneath from 1993 - Yay! Some great dancing in this. I love the bass line and the way it reminds me of proper clubbing. Is it just me or is Haddaway wearing coloured contact lenses in this video? Good irony, too: “Baby don’t hurt me” to the vampiress:

I love the black leather waistcoat the guy wears in this video. This was the true era of clubbing when people really went for it with the outfits. Nowadays it seems everyone wants to look like Girls Aloud and pick up a footballer rather than experience some truly banging music and prance around in PVC [...]

In line with their striking pedigree of hit adverts and soundtracks, Levi’s took TV by storm once more with a montage of twisty dancers throwing their limbs about and doing Exorcist-style tricks with their necks to the wonderful sound of Pepe Deluxe “Woman in Blue” otherwise known as “Before you Leave” - shown below the [...]

Levi’s continued their advertising history with a little yellow puppet that aimed to shift more of their jeans. The music and the furry little fiend took the world by storm - topping the charts and bringing out a popular imitation puppet. The response was so immense that Levi’s broke their one-campaign-only rule and brought Flat [...]

Christmas would not be complete without repeats of this fantastic series of films. There are so many memorable moments, the Chinese orphan, Short Round, driving a car with boxes tied to his feet in Temple of Doom, the fight next to aeroplane propellers in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the infamous Venice boat chase [...]

This was, very possibly, the album of the 1990s. Nirvana didn’t produce one better and, for me, only Pearl Jam’s 10 has stood the test of time anything like as well as Nevermind by Nirvana.
It amazes me a little to think this album dropped onto the scene in the very beginning of last decade, released [...]

George Formby was born George Hoy Booth on 26 May 1904 in Wigan, Lancashire. He started out as a professional jockey because his father didn’t want his son to follow him into showbusiness. Once his Father died, George went into stand-up. He bought a ukelele from an actor for £2.50 with a bet that he [...]

Before Hugh Laurie had an American accent and limped around a hospital, he was dim-witted Prince in Blackadder. “Queenie” was hilarious with her indiscriminate orders to behead and whims attended to by none other than Rowan Atkinson. My favourite character by far was Lord Flashheart -played by Rick Mayall. See him here:

Following a crash at Charles de Gaulle crash in 2000, an investigation led to a series of safety improvements to the design of the Concorde. However, this wasn’t enough to save the service, which was eventually retired in 2003.

I’m not sure precisely when, but at some stage in (I think) the 1970s, some genius came up with the incredible “Spacehopper“. What was, presumably, one small step for a man, became a giant leap for under 10s the world over, as they bounced around aimlessly for hours upon end.
Spacehoppers were quite possibly the silliest [...]