MCF's Old School 100: Part II

What shaped me? What memories of my youth in the ‘70s and ‘80s define who I am today? What memories would I consider “old school”? Last week I began a list, and that list continues now:

21) Modell's wasn't always solely sporting goods; I remember when it was a full-blown department store, the Target of the ‘80s, and my folks shopped there every week. I remember the bank of video games and pinball machines I'd amuse myself with near the entrance while they shopped. (In hindsight, they're lucky no one took me. They were so over protective most of the time; leaving me alone near a store entrance was definitely out of character for them).

22) I remember the games I would watch people play there, including Kung-Fu Master, Paperboy, Rygar, Bionic Commando, Dragon's Lair, Altered Beast, Baby Pac-Man, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Super Mario Bros., Rampage, Popeye, BurgerTime, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Q*Bert, Out Run and so many more.

23) Then there were the frustrating but awesomely animated Laserdisc video games, including Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and Cliff Hanger.

24) Dedicated video game arcades themselves, dark lairs in every local mall, seem to have been replaced now with stores selling consoles and discs for home use.

25) My first favorite rock songs, Bon Jovi's “You Give Love a Bad Name” and Beastie Boy's “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”.

26) My synthesizer, with its digital drum beats and 100 different key settings. My favorites seemed to be “Ocean Wave” and “Machine Gun”. I was like Ross and his “sound”, though I never shared the “gift”.

27) The Recorder, the simple woodwind instrument every kid in my class played in 3rd grade.

28) Transformers #3 guest-starring Spider-Man, the gateway issue that led from a cartoon obsession to a larger obsession with superhero comics.

29) Cameo's 1986 Cherry Coke commercial sang to the tune of Word Up! I remember it vividly, and to this day cannot drink Cherry Coke without thinking of it. For some odd reason, all evidence of it has been meticulously kept off the internet, save for one YouTube playlist with the words “[video unavailable]” mocking me. I don't get it.

30) Velcro sneakers.

31) Where's the Beef?! Where's the beef???

32) ”Gimmie a cheese with nuttin'!”

33) ”Look! A wagon wheel! I hanker for a hunka cheese!”

34) Connect 4: “Pretty sneaky, sis.”

35) Memorizing the lyrics to ”Nightmare on My Street”.

36) Worse, memorizing the lyrics to ”Ice, Ice, Baby”.

37) Rollerskating at Laces.

38) WDRE, which was once WLIR, and became WLIR again.

39) Watching The Three Stooges on Sunday afternoon, partly for them, and partly for the animated Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse shorts my local channel 11 would put on after the Stooges.

40) Watching the syndicated ‘60s adventures of Batman after school every weekday. Holy cliffhangers! Holy Batusi! Holy Batgirl jumpstarting puberty!

I'm not done yet! I'll have another 20 items from my good old days next week!