The other day my husband and I were talking when one of made a comment only Gen-Xers might remember: “Wow, totally different head. Totally.”
Anyone remember who made that phrase popular? If you’re an 80s child or teen like I was you know that was late actor Merritt Butrick’s character Johnny Slash, from the one-season 1982 wonder, Square Pegs. Butrick, also known by fellow nerds as the son of Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan died at only 29. As for the show Square Pegs, well, it may have only had a brief stay on television, it certainly was indicative of some of the distinctly 80s fare seen on pre-streaming service television.
Here’s a quick look at a couple of the less mainstream offerings Gen-X television viewers may remember, including the aforementioned…
Square Pegs
On the surface, this high school collection of all the 80s stereotypes from the Valley Girl and “beautiful” nerd, to the jock, the punk and the preppies may be just another over-acted sit-com, but it helped launch the careers of the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and Jami Gertz. Butrick’s out-there punk Johnny Slash was a standout, but it was the weird music and cameo collection that made this series distinctly 80s. Created by Saturday Night Live Emmy-winning writer Anne Beatts folks like Bill Murray and Father Guido Sarducci made an appearance, and 80s new wave icons like Devo and The Waitresses (who also provided the theme song) performed in episodes.
Here’s Devo performing at Muffy’s Bar Mitzvah, which couldn’t be more 80s if it tried:
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future
Max was the ultimate “talking head,” of the 1980s, an over-the-top cyber personality taking every stereotype of the phony newscaster to new “A.I” levels. He was clever, hyper, snarky and prone to glitches, but it was actor Matt Frewer who brought this computer personality to life. Every Gen-X teen knew who Max Headroom was. We saw him in commercials, he appeared on talk shows (he served as a veejay in his own Max Headroom Show) and his dialogue and likeness were prominent in Art of Noise’s hit “Paranoimia.”
The 1985 made-for-television movie and the tv spin off series that followed, Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future, showed Max as a the computer alter ego of a coma-ridden reporter, Edison Carter. It was a surprisingly dark dystopian look at a world where television screens are pretty much everywhere, and computers can manipulate everything from news to…elections! Wow, can you imagine that kind of nightmare?
Friday Night Videos
It was a sad reality for many of us in the 1980s, that not everyone had access to cable television. This included the absence of MTV when it was still actually music television bringing us actual music videos. Before the on-demand, self-serve video dispenser known as YouTube, some of us waited patiently to see a handful of music videos on network television. Friday Night Videos started in 1983 to take advantage of the non-cable households and ran for several years: 1983 to 2002. It evolved through the years, and weekly guests hosts were added in 1985 ranging from Elvira to Sam Kinison. Unfortunately, this addition of celebs to the mix cut the video viewing time a little short.
The best bet for video binging was still a sleepover at a pal’s house who had cable. Still, when you saw this intro, you just had to see who was going to be featured and silently prayed for your favorite band:
Of course, even cable television viewers had to occasional commercial, and some of them were very 80s.
Jacko’s Energizer ads
The 80s had some of the weirdest, cringiest and in some cases coolest commercials of any decade (Adam Ant and Grace Jones even hawked Honda Scooters), but it was those high-powered Eveready Energizer commercials of the late 80s that made us wonder who the heck this live action version of a Streetfighter character was? Well, it was none other than an Austrailian rules footballer named Mark Alexander Jackson (aka Jacko). He was known for his often disruptive personality in games, and appeared in several commercials, a handful of movies and television shows, and had his own singing career including a song called “Me Brain Hurts.”
Really, though, us Amercian Gen-X viewers will always know him as the guy who reminds us “Energizer’s the Best!”
Oi!
There you have it, a trip down Gen-X nostalgia lane that barely scratches the surface of what was offered in the 80s.. These may bring back fond memories, or they might be things you are still hoping to forget. The 80s was certainly a unique time, for sure, and I’m glad I made it through it as a teenager.
I do wish I still had the Max Headroom t-shirt I won in high school.