NBC has ordered up a one hour pilot for “Lost in the 80s”. The show is described as an 80s version of the Wonder Years, which makes sense since the show was created by Wonder Years writer Bob Brush. In addition to the Wonder years, the show is being compared to Fast Times at Ridgemont High with a little Ice Storm added in. NBC has been looking back to the 80s a lot lately, having just come out with a new Knight Rider series.
David Coverdale of Whitesnake will be the featured guest on the nationally syndicated radio show Rockline with host Bob Coburn on Wednesday September 3 at 8:30pm PT / 11:30pm ET. Fans are encouraged to call to speak with David by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). For a station near you and for information regarding how to log onto the Internet for the broadcast go to
NEW YORK,
scrunchies, and tube socks! VH1 Classic is devoting the entire
weekend to the 1980s with “80 Hours of the 80’s.”
On Monday, September 1 at
ready to count down the “80 Greatest Songs of the 80’s.” You’ve heard the
songs and seen all the videos…but now find out which ones matter the most as we rock out and reminisce and bring the best of the 80s to you all weekend — from Madonna’s “Like A Virgin,” to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” and Salt ‘N
Pepa’s “Push It.”
Balloons and baggies filled with heroin and cocaine were found on the actress at airport screening Wednesday morning.
Actress Mackenzie Phillips, from One Day at a Time, was arrested Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport for drug possession, according to People.com.
“She was being screened by airport security when a small amount of what appeared to be heroin and cocaine were found on her person,” Sgt. Jim Holcomb said. “She was arrested at about 10 a.m. and is still in custody.”
Around 10:00 a.m. this morning, police responded to terminal 4, where Mackenzie was going through the screening process by the TSA.
A judge thoroughly dismissed a lawsuit brought against the makers of Guitar Hero by the rock band The Romantics, saying the band didn’t even own publishing rights to the song “That’s What I Like About You” anymore and that their lead singer wasn’t even party to the suit. Talk about a nuisance case.The Romantics sued Guitar Hero developers Activision Blizzard and Harmonix (now part of MTV) for hiring a sound-alike band to record its ‘79 song, “That’s What I Like About You,” for Guitar Hero Rocks the ’80s. But the judge found that the song was properly licensed for use in the game by EMI Entertainment World, which owns the publishing rights to the song.
“Finding that the band had made deals in the ’70s with a record company and publishing company, who now owned the song and the master recording, and also finding that the lead singer was not a party to the lawsuit, the judge said ‘game over’ for the remaining members,” said William Hochberg, a Santa Monica-based entertainment lawyer who has covered Guitar Hero and Rock Band for Wired.com, via email.
He made a name for himself in the ’80s as one of the decade’s biggest chart-toppers, but these days you’re more likely to find Huey Lewis tending to his 200-hectare property in Missoula, Mont., or fly-fishing.
That’s according to a new MuchMoreMusic reality show called “Where You At, Baby?” which catches up with old hitmakers to see what they’ve been up to since ruling the radio. (Remember the radio?)
Lewis appears in the first episode Tuesday, welcoming show host Matt Wells at the Missoula airport, taking him to a grocery store, making him dinner and going fly-fishing.
The affable Lewis, who gamely reminisces about his past but offers no shocking revelations, says he had no qualms about welcoming a Canadian TV crew into his home.
“I think the Canadians do a better job at this sort of stuff - they’re a little smarter and little more loftier than they are here in the States - and so I thought, why not?” Lewis says by phone from New York where he was performing with his band, the News.
Lewis adds, though, that he has yet to see the episode.
“You’ve got to enter these things with good faith, anyways. If they’re going to chew me up, they’re going to chew me up.”
After more than 30 years in the music business, English rockers Def Leppard are seeing their audiences getting younger and younger. But it’s not because parents who loved Def Leppard as teens are turning their kids on to the “Hysteria” rockers, according to guitarist Vivian Campbell.
“That’s a byproduct of music piracy more than anything else,” Campbell said with his Irish accent. “I’m not saying that as a negative. I think it’s very positive.
“A lot of younger kids get turned on to classic bands because they’re trading files. They have 4,000 or 5,000 songs on their iPod, that’s $4,000 or $5,000 on their iPod, at iTunes’ prices, at least. A 12-year-old can’t afford that. When kids trade files, it’s actually a good thing for classic bands such as us. It’s not such a good thing for up and coming artists who need to sell records.”
These days, kids are presumably trading files of Def Leppard’s latest album, “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge,” a collection of songs written, where else, but The Sparkle Lounge.
“The Sparkle Lounge is our backstage tuning room,” Campbell said. “When we’re on tour, adjacent to the dressing room, we have a little room that became known as The Sparkle Lounge where we set up little practice amps. It became known as the Sparkle Lounge because our road crew would go in and decorate the room with fairy lights. We’d go in there, I have a mobile ProTools rig and that runs on a laptop. We’d bring that on tour with us and we recorded demos as we went around. It’s a very honest title for the album because that’s actually where the songs were born, The Sparkle Lounge.”
The 1980s just won’t go away.
Rubik’s Cube is a hot seller in England, according to Woolworth’s.
Such popular Reagan era fashion as miniskirts, tank tops and colorful headbands are more ubiquitous these days.
And, of course, there is the music. It continues to grow, much like the waistline of aging Americans.
The Regeneration Tour, which features the Human League, Belinda Carlisle, A Flock of Seagulls, ABC and Naked Eyes, is on an arena jaunt, which stops Thursday at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton.
“People love looking back to the ’80s,” says Human League singer-songwriter Philip Oakey, while calling from London. “Many people came of age as music fans during that era and it was a terrific time for catchy, fun music.”
The Human League is typical of the groups riding the retro circuit. The synthesizer-driven band, best known for hits such as “Don’t You Want Me” and “Fascination,” plays 50 to 80 concerts a year.
“That’s enough for us,” says Oakey. “That keeps it fresh for us and it’s always good to come back to America.”
Oakey and vocalists Joanna Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley have released nine albums over 28 years. The Human League has sold more than 20 million albums.
HOUSTON, TX (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — The Rock The Bayou music festival recently ramped up its line-up with the addition of acclaimed hard rock band KIX, for the band’s first and only Texas show in the past 15 years.
Also added to the bourgeoning Rock The Bayou roster are dynamic rockers Vain, Dirty Penny, Beautiful Creatures and Texas Hippie Coalition.
KIX, credited for influencing several bands, is a group that has rarely left their Baltimore roots since their last album went platinum in the late ’80s.
Originally known for their lively cover song renditions, KIX became a staple for many in the early ’80s. Feeding a grassroots fan frenzy, KIX played the club circuit six nights a week and eventually earned a record deal with Atlantic records and a slot in the studio with some of the same producers who helped create hits for fellow Rock The Bayou bands such as Warrant and Ratt. Their glam-rock musical style, mixed with pop metal and new wave elements, created such power ballads as “Don’t Close Your Eyes” and catchy numbers like “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” and “Midnight Dynamite.” During their 80s emergence, KIX opened for rock legends such as Poison and Aerosmith. Although reunion shows outside of the Maryland and Pennsylvania areas are few and far between, KIX performances are always well-received.
Hailing from Los Angeles, Beautiful Creatures is another high-energy rock band with a large following that has an impressive history of opening for bands such as KISS and performing on the Ozz Fest stage.
The Rock The Bayou Music Festival presented by Bud Light will now play host to more than 100 bands, including Sammy Hagar, Alice Cooper, Bret Michaels, Queensryche, Twisted Sister, Ratt, LA Guns, Skid Row, and Dokken. Rare performances by the original members of Warrant and glam rocker Lita Ford will make Rock The Bayou one of the biggest and most memorable festivals of the summer.
Also, Swedish guitar legend Yngwie Malmsteen is playing his only United States appearance at the festival and will take the stage with the former lead singer of Judas Priest, Tim “The Ripper” Owens.
Some 50,000 people a day are expected to attend Rock the Bayou, which is being built on the former AstroWorld grounds at I-610 and Kirby Drive.
There is less than one month remaining until Rock The Bayou takes over Houston. Tickets are available for purchase at RockTheBayou.com or OnlineTickets.com. To charge by phone, call (713) 629-4747.
Various celebs on VH1 discuss whether the 80s are back in vogue:
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