1983
I do a list of the best music I’ve heard each year — I’m always surprised by how much good stuff I’ve heard by the time I get round to organising it all. But as you get older it’s a case of actively finding music rather than the music finding you like when you were 16 or something. That being said it is way easier to find music these days when everything is available at the click of a button or swipe of a finger. Not like trying to catch the latest bands on the radio or borrowing a tape or CD from someone who had the money to get that album that you weren’t even sure if you would even like.
So this all got me wondering about what if I’d had access to the technology we have now when I was a kid? What songs, bands, even genres would I have had a chance to listen to that I’d missed? And what about films — I remember the local video rental place had a copy of Poltergeist when I was young — and I could have taken it home to own if I had a spare 70 quid (what’s that, £200 in today’s money?) lying around. Today? Just stream it somewhere for like a couple of quid maximum. Same thing with video games — saving up all your pocket money for what was hopefully not just a crap coin-up conversion that took all day to load and you died in 10 seconds.
Nowadays you can experience all of that stuff easily — the only problem is where do you start — or finish — and how do you properly experience it without just skimming over stuff. So I thought I’d try something. Each year, I’m going to pick a year at random — the only parameters being that the year falls between my year of birth (1977) and must be at least 35 years ago — so that’s 1989 as I write this. For the entirity of the year, I’m going to attempt to experience the best music, films, games that year had to offer — and maybe delve into some of the news and events that took place in that year.
First up, is 1983. With the benefit of modern technology it feels like I can easily get through the best of that year. But after a quick look 1983 has classic albums from Talking Heads, REM, The Police, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, U2 — not to mention Madonna, The Eurythmics & Culture Club. Also The Replacements, New Order, Pink Floyd… A glance at the film releases shows Scarface, Trading Places, Monthy Python, Return of the Jedi, The Outsiders, Flashdance & National Lampoon’s vacation. And games wise, 1983 saw the release of the Nintendo Famicon and Sega SG-1000. This is going to be a busy year…
