Posts Tagged ‘John Hughes’

Lost in the ’80s: Thrashing Doves, “Beautiful Imbalance”

A note to our readers: Former Popdose contributor John Hughes’ departure for bigger and better things has left a rather big hole where his “Lost in the ’70s/’80s/’90s” columns used to be. Fortunately, John gave his blessing for the rest of us to take up his fallen standard, and we’ve pledged to do our best to live up to the brilliance of his work. So without further ado…

When is a rave review also a kiss of death? Perhaps when it’s 1987, and the “critic” is Margaret Thatcher.

It’s pretty well established by now that politics and pop music are uncomfortable bedfellows, at best. Particularly in the three decades since both Great Britain and the United States fell to their respective conservative parties, most attempts to link politicians with pop have been ham-fisted embarrassments – no matter the party or the pop star. As a columnist for the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper put it a few years ago, “Thinking about a politician listening to rock music is like imagining your parents having sex: you not only lose all respect for them, it puts you off the whole concept.”

In that same 2004 article the columnist, Alexis Petridus, bemoaned the attempts of leading Tory politicians to boost their hip factor by variously proclaiming their admiration for the Scissor Sisters, Dido, Jarvis Cocker and even Meat Loaf. Petridus suggested that if history were any guide, those acts might be doomed to suffer what he called “the Curse of the Thrashing Doves.” (more…)

Soundtrack Saturday: The John Hughes Edition

John HughesAs was the case with many people who grew up in the ’80s, John Hughes’s films were an integral part of my childhood and coming-of-age. And on August 6, when I read the news that he’d died suddenly of a heart attack, I was deeply saddened, not only because he was the first writer and director who really inspired me, but because the chance of one last really great John Hughes film being made was gone, too.

Since I first saw Sixteen Candles (1984) at the age of seven, I’ve been a loyal consumer of Hughes’s films. Though I’ve seen almost all of the movies he wrote, directed, and/or produced, good or bad, the ones I love the most are The Breakfast Club (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), She’s Having a Baby (1988), and, of course, Sixteen Candles. They’re the ones I connected with the most. They’re the ones that had female characters I wanted to emulate and male characters I hoped actually existed in the real world (well, except for Weird Science’s Chet, played by Bill Paxton). They’re the ones that featured the best music I’d never heard until I saw them.

Looking at the above list, I can’t help but think, “One of these things is not like the other.” To this day I can’t fully explain why I like She’s Having a Baby so much, since the desire for marriage and children is something I can’t identify with at all. I think it’s that it was the first Hughes movie I’d seen whose tone was noticeably more mature than the previous movies’, and I liked that I understood it, even though I was only 11. Also, I think it has one of the best, and most overlooked, soundtracks of any of his films. I don’t want to talk about She’s Having a Baby too much here since I plan to do a full post on it in the future, but I felt I needed to explain why it shows up alongside Hughes’s most beloved teen films as one of my favorites.

Now, I’m sure you’ve already read plenty of tributes since August 6, some focusing on the incredible, memorable music in Hughes’s films, and you may be reading this thinking, “Another one?” But I couldn’t not do a special Soundtrack Saturday post in his honor, since this column wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for John Hughes and his movies.

It was during a viewing of Pretty in Pink a few years ago, when I was still writing my old blog, Looking at Them, that I decided I wanted to write about out-of-print, incomplete, or forgotten soundtracks from my favorite movies — mostly because I’d always lamented that some of the best songs in Pretty in Pink never made it to the official soundtrack album. Thus, Soundtrack Saturday was born.

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Bootleg City: Top 17 Songs of the ’90s

For this special edition of Bootleg City, I’m spotlighting the top 17 songs of the ’90s, a decade we can all officially start nostalgicizing on January 1, 2010. Until then we’re in limbo, if you’ll pardon the expression — the untimely deaths of Michael Jackson and John Hughes in the past six weeks have put a damper on the last blast of ’80s nostalgia in this decade. But life goes on, of course, as does pop culture’s never-ending look backward.

From top to bottom, here are the top 17 songs:

1. But Anyway (Blues Traveler)
2. Put a Lid on It (Squirrel Nut Zippers)
3. 6th Avenue Heartache (The Wallflowers)
4. It’s a Shame About Ray (Lemonheads)
5. Strong Enough (Sheryl Crow)
6. Hey Dude (Kula Shaker)
7. The Freshmen (The Verve Pipe)
8. The Good Life (Weezer)
9. Where You Get Love (Matthew Sweet)
10. Mom’s a Surfer (a.k.a. My Mom Can Surf) (G. Love & Special Sauce)
11. St. Teresa (Joan Osborne)
12. Low (Cracker)
13. Landslide (Tori Amos)
14. Desperately Wanting (Better Than Ezra)
15. Who Will Save Your Soul (Jewel)
16. Super Bon Bon (Soul Coughing)
17. Galileo (Indigo Girls)

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Basement Songs: Otis Redding, “Try a Little Tenderness”

OtisThe Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-In Theatre located in North Ridgeville, Ohio is like any drive-in you might imagine. One large parking lot with two giant screens and a snack bar and arcade building centrally located. There is a playground area for younger children and flea markets are held on the grounds every Sunday morning. Opened in 1965, I’m glad to say that the Aut-O-Rama is still independently owned and continues to screen double features throughout the summertime. During my formative years in the 1980s, my circle of friends had a pretty good routine: pile as many people into a car loaded with lawn chairs and a cooler, and pay for as few as people as possible, even hiding kids under blankets on the floor, in the hatchback or even the trunk. Cars parked to face the screen of the movie paid for, but that never prevented any of us from turning around and watching the other feature when bored. Once you tuned your AM radio to the special frequency that allowed you to hear the movie’s soundtrack, it was time to settle back in your semi-comfortable vinyl chair, or possibly the backseat of the car, open your beverage of choice and enjoy the show.

The delight of the drive-in was the social factor. Rare was the night when a group of teens actually watched the entire movie. No, you went to the Aut-O-Rama to hang with your friends, maybe score an illegal beer, and possibly try your first cigarette or Swisher Sweet. You also went to the Aut-O-Rama to wander the parking lot with that girl or boy you had a huge crush on and sit with them on the merry-go-round getting to know each other. If by some chance you were lucky, you kissed in the front seat, navigating the steering wheel and gear shift, or better yet, you moved to the back seat where hands could wander in the darkness and occasionally you peeked your eye open to see what was happening in the movie. (more…)

John C. Hughes on John Hughes

My bio for Popdose when it first appeared in January of last year began thusly: “John C. Hughes calls himself such to differentiate himself from the other John Hughes.” A lame joke, but one based in truth. Ever since I was 16 years old, I’ve heard the following from people after they hear my full name for the first time: “You mean, like the director?”

I wish.

The other John Hughes was responsible for a huge formative portion of my life, and that’s no exaggeration. The man introduced me to National Lampoon, he was the cool older brother whose music I’d listen to, he was the guy who made me believe I could escape small-town Ohio and make a living — get this! — doing something creative that I loved. I mean, after all, we even had the same name, so I could do it too, right?

I remember when Sixteen Candles opened. The Avon Lake Theater in Lorain County, Ohio, was included in a nationwide promotion where you got a free Sixteen Candles T-shirt and poster if you came to see the movie on your actual 16th birthday. That was enough for me — the movie opened on May 4, 1984, and I turned 16 on the 16th.

I had no idea one little teen movie could have such an impact. I loved everything about it: the paper-thin plot (Sam’s parents forgot her birthday!), the realistic cadence the characters used when they spoke, and the music. My Lord, the music …

John Hughes and I must’ve been related somehow. We had to have been. Thompson Twins. Paul Young. Spandau Ballet. Wang Chung. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Psychedelic Furs. Yello. Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Seriously — have you read the stuff I write about?

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Soundtrack Saturday: “Pretty in Pink”

I’m going to guess most of you have seen Pretty in Pink (1986), but if you haven’t, I’m sure you have a good reason — like being totally lame.

I kid, I kid. You’re not lame. (Or are you?)

Of all the movies John Hughes wrote, produced, and/or directed, this one just might be my favorite. I had wanted to see it in the theater when it was first released, but I was only eight, so that never happened. I did, however, get to watch it many times on video and cable and could probably recite every line of dialogue by the time I was 12.

Written by Hughes and directed by Howard Deutch — who also directed Hughes’s Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) and The Great Outdoors (1988) — Pretty in Pink is the story of Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald), a high school senior “from the wrong side of the tracks” with a new-wave fashion sense, an unemployed father, and a best friend, Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer), who’s madly in love with her.

Rich preppy Blane (Andrew McCarthy) makes a visit one day to Trax, the record store where Andie works, and the two do some serious flirting. After a few more flirtatious encounters there and at school, he finally asks her out.  The two attempt to start a romance but encounter judgment and resistance from their friends, including Blane’s best friend, Steff (James Spader), who secretly likes Andie; Steff’s girlfriend, Benny (Kate Vernon); and Duckie.

Things get especially rough after Blane asks Andie to the prom, and once Steff gives him the hard sell, Blane backs out of taking her. Heartbroken, but refusing to let the “richies” get the better of her, Andie decides to go to the prom anyway — by herself. But once they’re both there, she and Blane realize they do love each other and want to be together in spite of their friends’ objections.

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Jesus of Cool: John Hughes, Sixteen Candles, and a Kiss…of Death

If you were a GenXer coming of age in the 1980s, moviegoing meant heavy doses of Harrison Ford, too much Tom Cruise, an occasional journey into the unhinged eraserhead of David Lynch…and multitudes of Molly Ringwald. John Hughes’ hugely successful teen flicks were hit-and-miss in quality — with the exception of Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, they all play better in the memory than they do in real time. Still, without them we might never have grown to loathe the Brat Pack — and Hughes did manage to give some early-career screen time to several young people who went on to more interesting acting careers (John Cusack, Alan Ruck and Gina Gershon, to name a few). (more…)