TEEN MAGAZINES

I was an avid magazine reader growing up, following on from my comic phase in my pre-teen years. The first one I really got into was Smash Hits, in the mid 80s. I think I was first attracted to it when I saw Five Star on the front cover and the promise of the song words for their song System Addict or something like that! Lol! This was the days before the internet, when you could look them up on there. Okay so Smash Hits was the bomb.com, and was the single mag that made me want to be a music journalist. I also loved the posters, which I adorned by bedroom wall with. Kylie Minogue was the first artist that I did that with. I remember one daycoming home to find my little brother had ripped them all down out of spite. I was so vexed, and gave him the ass-whooping of his life! LOL!

When I was in secondary school a lady called Alex Kadis was the editor.  She was good pals with the likes of NKOTB and Take That and I always wanted her job! I remember that the offices for the publication was in Carnaby Street  (London’s west end) back then, and I often contemplated stalking her. Luckily I never did. After leaving Smash Hits Alex Kadis managed Mark Owen for a bit. I recently looked her up and she is now working with Simon Cowell as part of Susan Boyle’s management team (Random!!!).

Read more

HIGH TOP FADE

Back in the day male hairstyles were a lot more interesting than they are now. This was  probably because people weren’t afraid to look silly in the name of fashion, and then what actually happened was they inadvertedly ended up looking good. Most of the time. Why else would the Jheri curl have caught on? Lol!

Read more

Judy Blume Books

I was a proper bookworm growing up. I remember spending hours curled up in the corner with a good book, while all the other kids were outside playing. No coincidence I grew up to be a journalist.

Read more

SINDY VS BARBIE- who were you reppin’?

Okay… So I’ve got a confession to make… I preferred Sindy over Barbie growing up. This is not something I felt particularly ashamed bad about in the past, but as I’ve gotten older I realised most of my friends (then and now) couldn’t stand Sindy and were Barbie all the way.

‘Big head’, ‘tough hair’, ‘butters’ are just some of the comments I’ve heard uttered about my beloved Sindy in recent years, LOL!

But what do they know, huh? Yeah her head was massive a little large, but so what? And yes, I  still played with my friend’s Barbies from time to time, and I might have even owned one or two in my later toy-playing years, but my loyalty was always with Sindy.

So ladies, who were you repping in the days when all you had to worry about was which of your doll’s shoes to match with what outfit? Sindy or Barbie… Below is a impartial-ish case for both, from the perspective of my eight -year-old self (mostly)… You can vote your choice right at the bottom of this post!

Read more

THE JHERI CURL

Hands up who had a jheri curl? Come on, don’t lie now! Lol! I know I had one. I was 11 and  it was the late 80s. I remember I was just starting secondary school at the time, and my best friend then, who is also my best friend now, still teases me about the fact that I always used to use my finger to flip up the fringe, as to stop the ‘jheri-juice’ from dripping into my eyes. I’ve still got my school photo sporting the style, and no, I’m not going to post it here! Read more

HAVE A DRINK ON ME

Sprite recently unveiled their new advert featuring emcee of the moment Drake (below). I like the concept of the commercial and feel what the makers were trying to convey really worked.

A celebrity in a soft drink ad is now nothing to blink twice at, but although technology has progressed quite a bit in recent times, some of the best soft drink endorsement clips came out in the 80s and 90s.

Read more

NAF NAF PUFFA JACKETS

These were all the rage in the UK back in the late 80s and early 90s! The French clothing brand NAF NAF was seen as chic and stylish, and their jackets and body-warmers, which were stuffed with feathers and incredibly warm and ‘puffy’, hence the name, came in a range of bright colours, as well as black.

They were also a bit pricey, about £120 if I remember correctly, so you either had to have a Saturday job, or very generous parents to get one. I had neither unfortunately.

Read more

GARBAGE PAIL KIDS

If you were a child growing up in the mid 1980s, you will definitely be familiar with Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. These cards (which peeled off to become stickers) parodied the Cabbage Patch Dolls, which were also very popular in the 80s. Each card featured a cartoon version of the doll with some comical abnormality, and an equally funny name which related to their ‘condition’, written at the bottom of the card.

Although they were supposed to be light-hearted, some of the pictures were actually quite disturbing, but as a kid, the more disgusting something looked, the better, and these cards were one of the best things about the 80s, if you were a kid! Read more

SHAME GUY!

Back in the 80s ‘Shame guy’ was a phrase widely used among young people. It was usually uttered when something embarrassing happened. For example, if someone tripped over in front of all their friends or got cussed out by their parents, again, in front of a group of friends, or even one friend… In other words any kind of public embarrassment was worthy of a ‘shame guy!’ No one wanted to be on the receiving end of a ‘shame guy!’, but boy did it feel satisfying saying it to someone else.
Read more