Retro Cafe Blog: 1986
What was life like in 1986? Here in Iowa it was great. Just like we do today, our folks worked hard so they, and we could play hard.
Like John Mellencamp's song, I was growing up in a Small Town. Although, in my case, it was a place called Sac City, IA. It was the cliche' place where everyone knew everyone and you were proud of that cameraderie. Two bars--which unfortunately I was way too young to enjoy, two grocery stores, three gas stations and a grand total of six cops policing the whole town were all we needed.
"My" Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl. The Hawkeye basketball team had a 30-5 record and scored a #1 ranking for the first time in its history. Oh--and the football team played in the Rose Bowl. It sure feels like it could be a long time time before those sports feats are matched again.
Minimum wage was only $3.35--but seemed to go a lot farther than it does today. Gas was 93 cents a gallon--and at 22 cents, a stamp cost you about half of what it does now. Good thing we have the miraculous inventions of e-mail and texting now, but those were the days.
1986 saw its share of tragedy as well. It was the year of the space shuttle Challenger explosion.
The best part of 1986 was the pop culture. Here's some of what we were digging back then.
That year, we asked each other: "what would we do, baby, without us?" The Keatons on "Family Ties" were the perfect American family and kept us glued to our TV sets each week for the latest resolution to the latest family drama, which was often nothing more serious than Mallory cutting class.
Or maybe "Moonlighting" was more your thing?
We all felt the need for speed as Tom Cruise soared to stardom as America's #1 action hero in "Top Gun", which had Americans flocking to theaters in droves.
Music--and love--were addicting in 1986, thanks in part to a distinguished gentleman in a dapper suit named Robert Palmer. As you pulled out of the gas station after filling up your Z-28 Camaro with that fuel at less than a buck, you had to have been blaring this.
What were your best memories of 1986? Share them in the comments, and don't forget to join us as we relive them every weekday at noon. It's a full hour of the music of the 1980s with the Retro Cafe, here on 104-5 KDAT! Check back on my blog space for a look back at our next featured year from the decade of decadence.
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