Musically this year seems like the end of a lot of things for me. Most of the 80s groups I followed either became too pop for me or just got less interesting. I think the only two albums I listened to that year was Prince's Batman sndtrck and Pete Townshend's Iron Man musical. I even remember carrying a copy of the Iron Man musical with me to a field at school and reading the liner notes. Grunge may have begun this year with Nirvana's Bleach and Soundgarden's Louder than Love. I got both these albums along with Rush's Presto today. See pic below:
That's Ninendo Voice Chat Podcast on my iPod Touch there.
I didn't play any of the games that year, but looking at the list now, I'd definitely like to take another crack at Phantasy Star II. I'll play that some on my GBA with The Phantasy Star Collection and then on the weekend with Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on Xbox 360. Luckily you don't have to unlock it there to play it.
I probably won't get to the books for this year this week because I'm finishing up Hunt for Red October, starting Roald Dahl's Matilda, and starting the TMNT comics, but whenever I get to them, I'd like to read two books: John Keegan's The Face of Battle and Morrison/Mckean's Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. I may have read both of these already though. I'll have to look into it more before I go get them.
As for film, I definitely saw Batman, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Erik the Viking, Ghostbusters II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, License to Kill, Major League, Star Trek V, UHF and Uncle Buck that year. I think I'll try and watch Peter Jackson's first film Bad Taste (even though that was actually '87. I couldn't find his '89 film Meet the Feebles) and then maybe one of those van Damme movies on Netflix streaming: Cyborg or Kickboxer on the weekend.
And that's my 1989 week. I'm collecting as much music as I can find for my random playlist. I'm already enjoying The Cure's Disintegration album quite a bit.
Toodle pipsy!
'89 is definitely a kind of lead-in year to the 90s I think. Anyone who was in the samw classes as I was growing up, but was a few months older would have been born that year. I can't wait for you to do my birth year next week!
It totally feels like a lead in to the 90s. Phish had their debut album, so did Offspring, Indigo Girls, Iced Earth, and Dream Theater. I can't wait for 1990 either. This is so much fun. I'm already excited about starting it all over again in 2016 with the first week being ancient times. I wonder what games they played at the dawn of written history.
Grunge became popular in the 90s just as I was becoming an adult, so listening to it takes me back to my high school/college years (which really are the best years). I hadn't discovered Nirvana by 89 yet. I was still listening to Metallica and Guns N Roses at that point.
At that time, I wasn't into anything metal or close to metal. I only got into that stuff in the mid 90s when I played in a band and my bandmate introduced me to the genre. I had no idea there was this grunge thing happening either. My last years of school and first years on my own were pretty unstable.
Wait '89 is when Batman was in theaters? Man oh man, I was 2nd in line at the local theater with my mom and brother when that film came out. I was in elementary school so I went Batman crazy and had like 7 Batman shirts.
Those Van Damme flicks are freaking awesome! My brother and I used to run around saying "Nok Su Kow" from Kickboxer.
Sweet. I think that Batman movie is still my favorite. Who else could do Joker like Jack Nicholson? Ok, Heath Ledger is pretty darn good too.
I'm glad to hear those Van Damme flicks are good. I can't wait to watch one now.
89 was a good year alright.
For me it was the beginning of the end. I don't know. . . things didn't really work out very well after that for me. My adult life is not great.
Never too late to begin again!
I'll go with that.
I had Townshend's Iron Man soundtrack on vinyl and played it to death. Prince's Batman too. Good stuff.
When I saw the title I thought you'd hit your head and were doing a Blog on Taylor Swift. Glad I was wrong. :)
I don't know what happened to my copy of Townshend's Iron Man. I don't even have the rips from it anymore. I remember some of the music though. Roger Daltry is on some tracks.
Taylor Swift has an album titled 1989. I didn't know that. I should make my titles for this stuff more elaborate.
The year I was born, I can't say much for it myself but glad it seems it was a good year.
I was still having a good time that year. The next bunch of years, not so much.
My favorite movie from that year was Henry V, probably one of my top ten of all time movies, too.
That's a Kenneth Branagh production. I've seen his Hamlet. It was good. I'll have to add it to my list.
I've seen the BBC TV production of Henry V. That was great.
Branagh does Shakepeare well. I have both Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing in my collection. Hell, I've owned Henry V on VHS and DVD, and will probably at some point get it on BluRay, and I've owned the soundtrack on both cassette and CD. When you watch it, keep an eye out for a future Batman star.
Was that Christian Bale? I just added the 1990 Treasure Island movie to my list which has him and Charton Heston.
Yup, Christian Bale.
The Balemister! "Oh good for YOUUUUUU!"