Featuring the best 80s music videos, TV shows, 80s celebrities and more!
In the mid ’80s, the late Sam Kinison appeared on British TV, and the small studio audience was definitely in for a shock, not to mention the thousands watching at home. One of the comments from the video was spot on, ” Possibly one of the greatest and most toxic comedians of all time. He can make you feel his pain and turn it into humor. RIP Kinison”. Amen to that!
Enjoy this look back at Sam Kinison on British TV in the mid ’80s!
Police Academy was released to theaters in 1984. The film had a budget of $4.5 million, and brought in over $149 million worldwide. It spawned six sequels in the Police Academy franchise, and the first is by far our favorite movie in the series! The cast for the original Police Academy were:
Steve Guttenberg as Cadet Carey Mahoney
Kim Cattrall as Cadet Karen Thompson
Bubba Smith as Cadet Moses Hightower
Donovan Scott as Cadet Leslie Barbara
Michael Winslow as Cadet Larvell Jones
Andrew Rubin as Cadet George Martin
David Graf as Cadet Eugene Tackleberry
Bruce Mahler as Cadet Douglas Fackler
Marion Ramsey as Cadet Laverne Hooks
Brant Von Hoffman as Cadet Kyle Blankes
Scott Thomson as Cadet Chad Copeland
G. W. Bailey as Lieutenant Thaddeus Harris
George Gaynes as Commandant Eric Lassard
Leslie Easterbrook as Sergeant Debbie Callahan
George R. Robertson as Chief Henry J. Hurst
Debralee Scott as Violet Fackler
Ted Ross as Captain Reed
Doug Lennox as Main Bad Guy
Georgina Spelvin as Hooker
Don Lake as Mr. Wig
Michael J. Reynolds as Office Executive
Gary Farmer as Sidewalk Store Owner
John Hawkes as Tesky Truck Driver
Kay Hawtrey as Surprise Party Lady
Dar Robinson as Plaid Thug
TJ Scott as Tough
Hugh Wilson as Angry Driver
Enjoy this look back at the cast of 1984’s Police Academy then and now!
Footloose is one of our favorite movies from the ’80s! There were so many great scenes in the movie, but one of our favorite scenes is when Ren (Kevin Bacon) teaches Willard (Chris Penn) how to dance to Deniece Williams’ Let’s Hear it for the Boy.
Enjoy this look back at Ren teaching Willard how to dance from Footloose!
Raiders of the Lost Ark was released on June 12, 1981, and has become one of the most popular action-adventure movies of all time. The film portrays Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) as a globe-trotting archaeologist in search of an ancient relic, the Lost Ark that is said to make an army invincible.
The main cast of the film are:
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood
Paul Freeman as René Belloq
Ronald Lacey as Major Arnold Toht
John Rhys-Davies as Sallah
Denholm Elliott as Marcus Brody
Enjoy this look back at the main and supporting cast of Raiders of the Lost Ark then and now!
Platoon was released in 1986. The film was based on director Oliver Stone’s experience during the Vietnam War, and it follows a U.S. Army volunteer (Charlie Sheen) serving in Vietnam while his Platoon Sergeant and his Squad Leader (Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe) argue over the morality in the platoon and the conduct of the war. The movie starred:
Charlie Sheen as Chris
Tom Berenger as Sgt. Barnes
Willem Dafoe as Sgt. Elias
Keith David as King
Forest Whitaker as Big Harold
Francesco Quinn as Rhah
Kevin Dillon as Bunny
John C. McGinley as Sgt. O’Neill
Reggie Johnson as Junior
Mark Moses as Lt. Wolfe
Corey Glover as Francis
Johnny Depp as Lerner
Chris Pedersen as Crawford
Bob Orwig as Gardner
Corkey Ford as Manny
David Neidorf as Tex
Richard Edson as Sal
Tony Todd as Warren
Dale Dye as Captain Harris
Paul Sanchez as Doc
Enjoy this look back at the cast of Platoon in 1986 and now in 2021!
Chevy Chase made so many hilarious movies in the ’80s. National Lampoon’s Vacation, European Vacation, and Christmas Vacation were just a few, but one of our favorite movies from Chase was 1985’s Fletch. In this memorable scene from the movie, Fletch visits the airport disguised as an airplane mechanic named Gordon Liddy in order to check out Alan Stanwyk’s plane. This scene has so many great one-liners!!!
Enjoy this look back at the airplane scene from Fletch!
In 1984, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to promote the first Terminator movie. It’s fascinating to watch how confident and relaxed Arnold was on the set with Johnny. I almost lost it when he told Johnny why he got into bodybuilding!
Enjoy this look back at Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1984!
Ghostbusters the movie was released in theaters during the summer of 1984, and it became one of the most successful and most remembered movies of not only the ’80s, but of all time! The film made over $295 million at the box office making it one of the most successful comedy films of the ’80s.
The title track on the movie soundtrack by Ray Parker Jr. is also one of the most successful and most remembered songs from the ’80s. It spent three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the summer of ’84, and it was Parker Jr.’s most successful song of his career. He had previously scored a number four hit on the Hot 100 charts in 1982 with The Other Woman.
Enjoy this look back at Ray Parker Jr.’s music video for Ghostbusters as well as a look at our favorite scene from the movie, the “he slimed me” scene featuring Bill Murray. Also, in case you didn’t know, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II premiered in theaters on November 19, 2021. We’ve got a look at the movie trailer for it as well!
In 1986, Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor released his first solo single called Take It Easy for the American Anthem movie soundtrack. The song was a moderate hit peaking at number 24 on the Hot 100 charts, but the song is most remembered for its music video featuring scenes from the movie starring Mitch Gaylord and Janet Jones.
Enjoy this look back at Andy Taylor’s music video for Take It Easy as well as Taylor’s live performance on MTV in 1987!
I owe the title of this post to Himmel on YouTube. His comment on this post was, “Eastwood and Smith are bookends to a bygone ear of awesomeness.” We could not agree more. They just don’t make movies or men like they used to. Clint Eastwood and William Smith were two of the toughest guys in Hollywood back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. In this scene from Any Which Way You Can, Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) and Jack Wilson (William Smith) meet in a bar and get into a fight… just not with each other. At the time, this was one of the longest two-man fight scenes on screen.
Enjoy this look back at the bar fight scene from Any Which Way You Can from 1980 and RIP to William Smith who passed away in July 2021.
Three Amigos was a 1986 comedy that starred Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase as three silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes by the suffering people of a small Mexican village. In this hilarious scene, the Amigos realize that El Guapo and his gang of villains are using real bullets, and it’s not a show, it’s real.
Enjoy this look back at one of our favorite scenes from Three Amigos from 1986!
Make A Move On Me was the second single released from Olivia Newton-John’s 1981 Physical album. Make A Move On Me peaked at number five on the Hot 100 charts and number six on the A/C charts in 1982. The first single, Physical hit number one on the Hot 100 charts in 1981.
Enjoy this look back at Olivia Newton-John’s music video for Make A Move On Me!
In 1980, Van Halen played live at The Piper Club in Rome, Italy on May 21, 1980. This video of Fools was recorded and aired live on the sixth episode of the TV show Superstar, which aired on September 4, 1980. They also played You Really Got Me as well. It’s pretty apparent that Dave is lip-synching, which was done quite often back then for live performances on TV. No matter though, because that gave Dave more time for all of us trademark theatrics!
Here’s an interesting tidbit about this show:
“In a subsequent video Dave jumps and hits his nose on a low-hanging mirror ball over the stage. A three foot ball of light was lowered over the stage on the darkened television studio. DLR, unaware of this, made one of his famous leaps, crashing into the light fixture resulting in his nose being broken in two places multiple contusion and a possible concussion. This had them cancel the next two shows until five days later on 5/26 at Pinkpop where Dave’s nose is taped up.”
via Van Halen Italia 2
Enjoy this look back at a rare live performance of Fools from Van Halen in Italy back in 1980 as well as another rare look at Van Halen live at Pinkpop when Dave’s nose was bandaged up!
1988’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine as two con artists who wind up in the same town and devise a winner-takes-all competition: whoever swindles their latest mark first gets to stay, while the other has to leave the town.
In this video, YouTube user TV SNEAK PEEK put together all the best scenes from the movie, and it’s hilarious! Enjoy this look back at the best of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels from 1988!
The Cannonball Run was and still is one of the funniest movies of not only the ’80s, but of all time! There were so many famous actors in the movie like Burt Reynolds, Dom Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Jackie Chan, Jamie Farr, Mell Tillis, Terry Bradshaw, Adrienne Barbeau, Peter Fonda, and two of the all time greats, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., who play race car driver Jamie Blake and scam artist Morris Fenderbaum, disguised as Catholic priests.
YouTube’s pettyswildflowerforever put together the incredible video below that features all the famous scenes in the movie featuring Sammy and Dean. Enjoy this look back at the best of Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin in 1981’s The Cannonball Run!
At the time of this interview in 1987, at the age of 22, Robert Downey Jr. had already appeared in memorable ’80s films like Weird Science, Back to School, The Pick-up Artist, and Less Than Zero, but you wouldn’t know it from his bashful appearance on Entertainment Tonight. In 1987’s Less Than Zero, Downey played a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of control, and Downey has stated that for him the role was like the ghost of Christmas Future since his own drug habit resulted in him living an exaggerated version of his character in real life.
Enjoy this look back at Robert Downey Jr.’s incredibly bashful interview on Entertainment Tonight from 1987!
This is so freaking cool! The Love Boat aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986, and also had four three-hour specials that aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. For those of us who grew up in the ’80ss, the show and it’s introductory song will forever be a part of our lives. One of the coolest features of the show was the beginning when the cast as well as the guest stars were announced.
In this incredible video, Retro Hole compiled together almost every guest star* from every regular season episode of The Love Boat from Seasons 1 – 9. It truly is amazing, and it’s very well done. If you were a fan of the show, you’re going to love this! It’s incredible how many current and future stars were guest stars on The Love Boat.
Enjoy this look back at almost every guest star that appeared on The Love Boat!
*Every guest star from every regular episode from Seasons 1 – 9 (except unique guests from Season 9, Episode 3, and Kristy McNichol), as well as the first 3 specials aired after the series ended.
On May 24, 1989, Sam Kinison stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and sang the song Are you Lonesome Tonight in true Sam Kinison style. He then sat down and had a chat with Johnny and had Johnny and the audience rolling with laughter!
Enjoy this look back at the late Sam Kinison on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1989!
In 1986, Sam Kinison made a cameo in Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School as a history professor named Terguson. In this scene, Professor Terguson loses it while discussing the Korean and Vietnam Wars. 1986 was Kinison’s breakthrough year when he released his debut comedy album Louder Than Hell.
Enjoy this look back at Professor Terguson losing it in 1986’s Back to School!
In 1987, the late Conway Twitty released one of the greatest songs about dads called That’s My Job. For those of us who have lost our fathers, this song is so special. I lost my dad to lung cancer four years ago, and every time I hear this song, it brings tears to my eyes because that was my dad. His number one priority was taking care of me! I miss you dad…
Enjoy this look back at Conway Twitty singing his top ten hit That’s My Job live!
On August 12, 1987, Grace Slick made her third appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. If you’ve never seen an interview with Grace Slick, you’re in for a treat. She’s sarcastic, sassy, confident, and very entertaining all at the same time.
Enjoy this look back at Grace Slick on with Letterman back in 1987!
Every now and then, we feature stories or videos from today that either remind us of the ’80s and/or feature ’80s rock stars, and today is one of those times! After all, it’s Halloween, so what’s more perfect that this new video from Ozzy Osbourne and the late Lemmy from Motorhead. It’s a new animated music video for the song Hellraiser that Lemmy co-wrote with Ozzy for Ozzy’s ’92 No More Tears album before Motorhead recorded their own version of Hellraiser in 1992.
Ozzy released an expanded 30th anniversary reissue of his No More Tears album on September 17th, and this duet version of Hellraiser is featured on the album. The song is a tribute to Lemmy who passed away in 2015 and features Lemmy’s vocals alongside Ozzy’s.
Ozzy just released the animated video below for Hellraiser that features Ozzy and Lemmy going after a winged demon that steals Lemmy’s bass and flees in a giant spaceship. It’s completely ridiculous and utterly perfect at the same time!
Enjoy Ozzy and Lemmy reunited in this animated video for Hellraiser!
The Trouble with Miss Switch was an animated TV special that premiered in 1980. It was based on the 1971 children’s book by the same name by Barbara Brooks Wallace. The TV special originally aired in two parts on ABC Weekend Special series on February 16 and 23, 1980.
Because of the popularity of the movie, a sequel was produced called Miss Switch to the Rescue which aired in 1982.
Enjoy this look back at two memorable ’80s Halloween specials, The Trouble with Miss Switch and Miss Switch to the Rescue!
Spies Like Us was a 1985 comedy that starred Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd as two bumbling CIA agents who get sent to the Soviet Union as decoys while the real agents spy on the Soviets. One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when Chase and Aykroyd’s characters cheat on their test for the CIA.
Enjoy this look back at the test cheating scene from Spies Like Us from 1985!
In this week’s episode of ’80s Midnight Metal Videos, our homage to the good ole days of MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, we’re featuring music videos from L.A. Guns, Lizzy Borden, Bulletboys, Dokken, Keel, Babylon A.D., Motorhead, Iron Maiden, and Celtic Frost!
Enjoy the third edition of ’80s Midnight Metal Videos from some of our favorite ’80s heavy metal bands:
This is too funny!!! On an episode of the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1983, Johnny is doing his opening monologue, and his joke about Brooke Shields bombs, and Carson catches Producer Fred Decordova trying to leave the set. Johnny calls him out and goes after him and brings him back to the delight of the audience.
Enjoy this classic moment from the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson!
Check out more interviews from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the ’80s:
The Dead Pool was the fifth and final movie in the Dirty Harry film series and stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan. The movie centers around a serial killer’s dead pool game and also starred Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, and Jim Carrey in his first dramatic role.
One of our favorite scenes in the movie is this one where Dirty Harry visits Lou Janero in prison and brings along another prisoner named ‘Butcher’ Hicks, played by Diego Chairs, who simply stands by while Harry talks to Janero. It’s classic Dirty Harry!
Enjoy this look back at the prison scene from The Dead Pool from 1988!
During the ’80s, Thompson Twins scored three top ten singles on the Hot 100 charts as well as four number one singles on the US Dance charts. Their three top ten singles on the Hot 100 charts were Hold Me Now, #3 in ’83, Lay Your Hands on Me, #6 in ’85, and this song, King for a Day, which peaked at number eight in 1985. This was their last top ten hit on the Hot 100 charts.
Enjoy this look back at Thompson Twins’ music video for King for a Day from 1985!
On season 4, episode 17 titled Second Time Around, Dr. Lilith Sternin makes her first appearance on Cheers. In classic Lilith style, she questions everything Frazier says and does, and both Frazier and Lilith throw out some classic one-liners, but perhaps my favorite line from this clip comes from Woody when Frazier introduces Lilith to the crowd and rattles off all of her doctorate degrees, and Woody says, “Boy, it sure isn’t spelled like it sounds…”
Enjoy this look back at the first time Lilith made an appearance on Cheers on February 6, 1986!
Stir Crazy was released to theaters on December 12, 1980, and grossed over $100 million at the box office making it the third highest-grossing film of the year. It starred Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, and the “We gettin’ bad” jail scene is one of the funniest scenes from the movie.
Enjoy this look back at Wilder and Pryor gettin’ bad in jail in Stir Crazy!
