She doesn't have anything you want to steal.
Well, nothing you can touch.
--Pretty in Pink, The Psychedelic Furs
Greeting from the 80s. Please feel free to unearth your fluorescent green leggings from the closet, wear a rat tail in your hair, and say Valley Girl phrases, even if you live in the Midwest. This blogfest gave me the opportunity to evaluate the poor fashion decisions I made in the 80s--as well as to revisit my adolescent hormonal urges.
In the 80s, I stopped being interested in cartoons and started noticing the three dimensional boys on the boob tube. Okay, I'll admit, I still occasionally watched Thundarr the Barbarian--have you seen that man's thighs?
This may explain my barbarian fetish. |
As I flicked through pictures of my former crushes, the memories were so poignant I could taste the Bonne Bell Dr. Pepper Lipsmacker. The smell of Christian Dior's Poison filled the air, reminding me of High School Speech Meets, wearing all black, and using a decapitated Barbie as a Voodoo doll to jinx my best friend's only competition for Dramatic Prose reading. Voodoo Jarenda, I owe you one.
But back to the boys of when I still had summers off.
Who was the first to stroke my fancy? Who forever made me partial to tight jeans and fast cars?
Ah, Bo Duke. You may have been dumber than a box of rocks, but archery skills + orange Charger + floppy blonde hair = adolescent hormone lift off.
My next crush was a soap opera star that was candy for the eyes--and the ears. The summer of 1982 I was glued to the TV to watch Dr. Noah Drake (aka Rick Springfield) on General Hospital break hearts as easily as he healed them.
As I got older--and was able to stay up later to watch nighttime dramas--I found a new lust in the form of the bad boy. Falcon Crest was a drama that involved a winery and the evil scheming of Jane Wyman. My first taste of the playboy and his charms came from Lorenzo Lamas as Lance Cumson (not joking with that name). I'm not sure what the plot was, but he spent a lot of time in the family pool.
I still love a man with hair on his chest and a good tan.
Through the 80s I had some short lived flings with others, but one man has stood the test of time, embodying the 80s for me forever. From his be-bopping bicycle babe turns badass role in Tuff Turf to the quintessential John Hughes high school nemesis to a sadistic but sensitive boss in Secretary, this guy stole my heart with his evil charm and kept it with dry wit and that slow-eyed smolder.
So that's it, the guys that primed my hormonal pump just in time for college. And now, I'm going to watch The Lost Boys while wearing my acid washed Pepe jean jacket. Did anyone see where I put my crimping iron?
Oh, the Duke boys! How I wanted to be a hot girl in short shorts just for them. Bo was my favorite too. Great choices!
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the 80's, I had colour in my hair and I could still tolerate fragrance..Charlie..remember that? Shoulder pads? Pierre Trudeau?
ReplyDeleteWow! I DO remember the 80s of course, but I wasn't nearly as young as you were!....Hmmmm, let me think...Ahhh, yes Bruce Willis in Moonlighting!! I loved that show. From the minute he walked on, with his swagger and wise-cracks...I was definitely in love...and yeah, I was married! Whoa! LOL
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, James Spader! I'm loving the memories this blogfest has brought back :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat picks... ahh I loved He-man and She-ra...hehe
ReplyDeleteWell, you certainly weren't discriminating when it came to hair color. If we toss out the cartoon character, it was blondes 2 vs. brunettes 2.
ReplyDeleteLorenzo Lamas - I remember him more from a TV show called 'California Fever'. I made a decent amount of money on that one, doing "Extra" work.
It was always:
"Are you available for a Venice Beach shoot? 'California Fever'?"
"Uhm... yeah. It's a twelve-minute bike ride from my house. Seventy dollars and a free lunch in exchange for hanging-out on Venice Beach for five hours? I'll find a way to work it into my schedule."
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
James Spader? Well, I have to admit that IS some fine feathered hair he has there, and just enough chest hair peeking out from under his sea blue shirt to turn an impressionable girl's head. LOL.
ReplyDeleteOh, man, I thought you'd go for some metal dude. :)
OMG did I love Thundarr the Barbarian!! And the Duke boys w/ the General Lee. Bo was so brutally hot. And yes, to complete the trifecta, I tuned in to GH just for Noah. I wanted to tell him to forget Jesse's Girl and come to me. LMAO!
ReplyDeleteJames Spader was a real cuite back then! Hi, I popped over from the blogfest.
ReplyDeleteI love all your crushes...and oh how I love the 80s!!
ReplyDeleteOh James Spader - completely forgotten about him!
ReplyDeleteDaisy Duke would've been another of my choices!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I never got the James Spader appeal. I'll give a nod to all the others, but his popularity always surprised me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was always afraid my IQ would drop if I ever watched Dukes of Hazards. :)
Love your list! I met Rick Springfield at a book signing last year. He is certainly looking good for his age!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first met my husband in college, he reminded me of James Spader in Pretty in Pink - same exact voice and a little of the cockiness. When he called for the first time I said, " You sound just like James Spader!: :) Luckily he can be goofy silly like Ducky, too.
I owned a bottle of poison. Also Obsession.
ReplyDeleteRick Springfield was cute. My friend saw him in concert, and I was very jealous.
look at all that feathered hair!
ReplyDeletegreat picks to crush on!
James Spader was the best bad boy ever. He exuded intelligence and slime at the same time. Lorenzo Llamas (Lamas? not the animal, right?) I just remember from being the dumb jock in Grease. He never did much for me, LOL
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that I'm glad my tastes have evolved over the years. I think I should examine my choices for each decade--pretty amazing to watch these fairly vanilla feathered haired choices dive into the realm of goth rockers, scifi rogues, and motorcycle boys. But I think I will always love James Spader.
ReplyDeleteJames Spader is the ultimate bad boy (even now, when he's not young and beautiful any more). You know he's messed up, bad news, and definitely bad for you, but there he is, holding out his hand to ask for just one dance in the dark. He is my all-time hero of darkness.
ReplyDeleteLiked Dr. Drake on GH, but really liked Lorenzo Lamas! What about Alec Baldwin on Knott's Landing? He played a psychotic preacher boy with even more chest hair! James Spader is my favorite one on the list, but I don't think I appreciated him until he was older. I started to like him in Secretary, and he continued to grow on me on The Practice and Boston Legal. You found the best James Spader photo ever! Sorry I've never watched much TV! Julie
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, the 80's were wonderful and James Spader will always be a hottie...as for hairy chested men...oh yeah. What's up with goes waxing their chests? Bring on masculine virility. Hope you had a Happy Valentines. :)
ReplyDeleteAh yes...the good old days - and whatever happened to hairy chests, anyway? I'd forgotten how hot James Spader looked :)
ReplyDeleteJULIE ~
ReplyDeleteI don’t watch TV and hardly any movies later than 1988, so I don’t know most of these current stars.
I’ve heard the name James Spader but I couldn’t begin to tell you anything he appeared in. But I kept looking at that picture you posted and thinking: That sissy-boy definitely reminds me of SOMEONE! But WHO?
I mean, seriously, I couldn’t get over what a “puss” he looks like (the kinda boy we used to rob of milk money in junior high school).
Well, tonight it finally dawned on me. Please click the link provided here and tell me, honestly, if James Spader doesn’t look just like DREW BARRYMORE With Shorter Hair!
And if that picture I selected doesn’t prove it to you, just Google “Drew Barrymore Images” and look over the selection, because I had a difficult time deciding which Barrymore photo to link you to, as MOST of them looked just like a long-haired James Spader to me.
No wonder I was thinking he looked like “a puss”.
Incidentally... I really enjoyed your comment on my ‘Hot-Babes-R-Us’ blog bit!
~ D-FensDogg
‘Loyal American Underground’
James Spader -- ah! He did always play an evil role!
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting tour, Jules. I'm glad you chose more than one to give a more, ahem, fleshed-out picture of your developing heart.