April 23, 2025 • 50 mins
Tell me doctor, where are we going this time? Is it the 50s, or 1999? No, it's 1985.
Episode 192 is about the year 1985 in pop culture. This new style of show will be introduced periodically. In the future, it will include looks at years from 1960 to 2005.
We kick it off with a deep dive into the world of television in 1985. New shows, the most popular shows, the weirdest shows (hello, Small Wonder). Also an overall lay of the land in the industry.
We go way back in the day and look at the music landscape in 1985. New artists making their debut, the rise of MTV and music videos, new tech and sounds and so much more.
The Top 5 crosses over to the other side as we look at the weirdest and funniest news stories from the year. Watching television while your house burns down around you?
There is as always a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the epic failure that was New Coke.
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- In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide(2nd Edition)
- Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.com
- DJ Williams Music
- KeeKee's Cape Cod Kitchen
- Christopher Setterlund.com
- Cape Cod Living - Zazzle Store
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- Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog
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- CJSetterlundPhotos on Etsy
Listen to Episode 191 here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 00 (00:00):
Hello, world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps
podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,coming to you from the vacation
destination known as Cape Cod,Massachusetts, and this is
episode 192.
We've got something fun andslightly new this week, as the
(00:23):
entire podcast will be dedicatedto one year, 1985, the year in
pop culture.
We're going to be looking backat television in 1985, the best,
worst, weirdest shows.
We're going to go way back inthe day to look at what music
was like in 1985, big artists,big albums.
(00:45):
There'll be a brand new topfive that are going to be some
weird and funny news storiesfrom 1985.
And there'll be a brand newThis Week in History and Time
capsule, obviously from 1985,dealing with the release of the
epic failure known as New Coke.
All of that is coming up rightnow on episode 192 of the In My
(01:10):
Footsteps podcast.
So what are we going to talkabout this week?
Obviously, lots of things thathave to do with the year 1985,
as that is the subject matterfor this week's podcast.
This was one of those ideasthat popped in my head during a
walk on the bike trail, where Icouldn't believe I hadn't
thought of doing episodes basedaround a single year.
(01:33):
As I said last week, these willbe dropped in here and there
throughout the podcast.
I'll be choosing years between1960 and 2005.
So in a few weeks or so, whenthe next year in pop culture
kind of episode comes up, if anyof you have a year you want me
(01:53):
to dive into, shoot me amessage.
Also, coming up soon is episode200 of the podcast.
So those of you on Patreon, onthe free and paying tier, anyone
that's a member, I'm going tobe putting up polls for what you
want me to talk about onepisode 200.
So it'll be another listener'schoice, but it'll be completely
(02:17):
on Patreon instead of all oversocial media like I did for
episode 150.
Speaking of Patreon, we can'tkick off this podcast proper
without me giving shoutouts tomy Patreon subscribers.
Lori, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin,Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid,
Crystal, Matt, thank you all somuch for being my biggest fans,
(02:41):
my biggest backers.
$5 a month gets you access tobonus podcast episodes.
It gets you access to theremastered Without a Map live
streams.
They were kind of the post-gamepodcast wrap-up shows that I
did on Instagram.
During the first year or so thepodcast was out, I've tried to
(03:02):
fix the audio, the visual onthese without a map streams.
They were done with my iPhone6, so the quality's not bad, but
compared to 4K and 8K that youhave now, it definitely looks
primitive.
We can take care of more of thehousekeeping parts of the
podcast when we get to the end.
Thank you all for being here,for your weekly dose of Gen X
(03:27):
nostalgia to make us feel youngagain briefly.
So right now for this newformat this week, close your
eyes, except if you're driving,don't do that, and imagine
yourself back 40 years ago.
God, I can't believe it's beenthat long.
I'm sorry.
Well, the cat's out of the bag.
(03:47):
Anyway, let's go back 40 yearsand do a deep dive into the year
1985, now on episode 192 of theIn My Footsteps podcast.
So here we are.
Face to face, a couple ofsilver spoons, and we're going
to go where everybody knows yourname.
(04:08):
It's 1985.
I was seven years old.
I don't know where you were,but we're sitting in the living
room in front of a larger CRTboxy type TV.
I believe 1985 was the yearthat my family got cable from
Cape Cod Cablevision.
(04:28):
It gave me access to MTV, toNickelodeon, to New England
Sports Network, Nessun, toSports Channel with the Boston
Celtics, who were the best teamin the NBA at the time.
So here I was, seven years old,living on Cape Cod.
This is my memories of TV.
(04:50):
The year 1985 was a definingmoment in American television
anywhere.
In the middle of the 80scultural boom, those of you that
lived through it, you rememberit was a time with neon colors,
synthesized soundtracks.
They weren't the trends.
That was the way of life.
Maybe it's because this is theyear that I remember getting
(05:12):
cable TV, but it felt like thiswas when cable really got its
claws into the culture ofAmerica.
So what we're doing here iswe're looking at 1985, the year
in television.
First, let's look at the showsthat burst onto the scene in
1985.
Perhaps the most notable debutwas The Golden Girls.
Speaker 01 (05:35):
Thank you for being a friend.
Travel down the road and backagain.
Your heart is true.
You're a pal and a confidant.
Speaker 00 (05:49):
This NBC show, it was a sitcom that featured
four...
Older Women Living Together inMiami, Florida.
It starred Bea Arthur asDorothy, Betty White as Rose,
Rue McClanahan as Blanche, andEstelle Getty as Sophia.
This was a show that brokestereotypes around aging and
became an instant classic.
(06:10):
The funny thing is this showhas a very deep connection for
me to my family.
No, none of them were on theshow.
But I first started watchingthis, there was a summer in the
late 90s when my family was inbetween homes.
And I had to spend the summerliving with my nana, which was a
really fun time and I'm gladthat I did it.
(06:32):
But my nana always watched theGolden Girls.
I think because the women onthe show were her age.
So anytime I hear the GoldenGirls theme, I think of my nana.
But I also think of my greataunt Elsie, who was like the
spitting image of SophiaPetrillo, except with a lot more
(06:53):
dirty language.
It used to be a lot of fun backin the day when we would have
holiday get togethers and myaunt Elsie would come over and
my uncle Bob would needle her,trying to get her to go off on
kind of a rant and swear at him,just like Sophia, except
swearing a lot more.
Also premiering in 1985 wasMacGyver.
(07:15):
This ABC action-adventureseries centered around agent
Angus MacGyver, a secret agentwho solved problems with
scientific knowledge andhousehold items rather than
brute force.
There's a term calledMacGyvering, or the idea that
using your ingenuity to piecethings together to make
(07:37):
something different is yourMacGyvering something.
I don't know if anyone stilluses that term now in the 2020s,
but it was prevalent when I wasgrowing up in the 90s.
Another big show that debutedin 1985 was Moonlighting.
And this ABC show was comedy,romance, mystery.
It introduced us to BruceWillis, and it also starred
(08:00):
Sybil Shepard.
It was famous for itsfast-paced, witty dialogue,
behind-the-scenes drama...
And it was played with breakingthe fourth wall and ushered in
a more stylized, self-awareapproach to storytelling.
Those were the new shows.
What were the most popularshows of 1985?
One I bet you could guessbefore I even say it.
(08:24):
Because I've stated in a lot ofthe time capsule segments, if
they're from the 1980s, theCosby show is usually the number
one show.
This was a show about theHuxtables, an upper-middle-class
black family in Brooklyn.
It was the number one show inAmerica for years.
This show helped to revive NBC,as did Family Ties, which was
(08:47):
another NBC hit.
It was centered around MichaelJ.
Fox, who was Alex P.
Keaton, a young conservative ina liberal household.
Other ratings juggernauts in1985 included Dallas...
which was the tangled web ofthe oil tycoons, the Ewing
family.
There was also Dynasty, aglitzy nighttime soap opera
(09:12):
known for outrageous fashion andcatfights.
And there was Cheers, whereeverybody knew your name.
This was the year that Cheersreally took off.
It was modestly popular in itsfirst couple of years, but it
led to it becoming one of themost beloved sitcoms ever.
There were also some longtimestaples of television that bid
(09:35):
farewell in 1985.
One notable goodbye was TheJeffersons.
Speaker 04 (09:41):
Well, we're moving on up.
We're moving on up.
To.
Speaker 00 (09:55):
The CBS show was the spinoff of All in the Family,
and it ended its run after 11seasons.
This had the theme song, Movingon Up to the East Side.
1985 also saw the departure ofDifferent Strokes, an NBC sitcom
that had been picked up for ashort revival by ABC.
(10:17):
It was the Drummond family, andArnold...
Played by Gary Coleman with hiscatchphrase, what you talking
about, Willis?
1985 also saw the ending of theThree's Company universe, I
guess, for lack of a betterterm.
Because Three's Company hadended and they did a spinoff
called Three's A Crowd.
where Jack Tripper and his loveinterest, Vicki Bradford, move
(10:43):
in together.
She was introduced in the lastfew episodes of Three's Company,
but Three's A Crowd was a fail.
It lasted one season and wascanceled in April 1985.
What about some weird orforgotten TV shows?
Do you remember Small Wonder?
Speaker 03 (11:01):
Small Wonder.
Oh
Speaker 00 (11:17):
man, this show was weird even when it was out when
I was watching it as a kid.
The show debuted in September1985.
It was on for four seasons,which I was kind of surprised.
It's about a family that has arobot daughter named Vicky.
which stood for Voice InputChild Identicant.
Tiffany Brissett played the10-year-old android Vicky.
(11:42):
And I just remember the showbeing based around her
superhuman strength andintelligence and speed.
And also her talking in a robotvoice, which was definitely
off-putting.
There was the sci-fi showStreet Hawk, which lasted a
whole 14 episodes.
where a former motorcycle copis hired to fight crime using
(12:07):
Street Hawk, which was a combatmotorbike.
Do any of you remember thatshow?
I have no memory of it.
For us little kids back then,there was the Berenstain Bears
show that debuted in 1985.
Stan and Jan Berenstain createdthis family of four, mother and
father and two kid bears.
(12:28):
The show was only on for twoseasons and 26 episodes.
I thought it was on a lot more.
Maybe it just made a bigimprint on me watching it on
Saturday mornings.
There was also the workplacecomedy called Sarah, which was
one of the earliest roles foractress Geena Davis.
The show only lasted 13episodes, but when I was
(12:51):
researching it, it's got prettypositive reviews, so I don't
know why it didn't last.
I saved the best for last asfar as forgotten.
There was a show calledTroubles and Strife.
This is when an attractiveyoung church official takes over
the parish and starts to havean effect on the local wives.
(13:12):
The show debuted in November1985 and it has the honor of
being one of the lowest ratedshows from the 80s on IMDb.
The show lasted two seasons,but only 13 total episodes, with
the reviews at the time beingmixed at best.
But what about the trends andinnovations of 1985 in
(13:35):
television?
As I stated a few minutes ago,cable TV was no longer just a
novelty.
It was becoming a powerfulforce.
Like I said, I think that'swhen my family got it.
I don't know when you out theregot cable TV.
If you don't have it yet, it'stoo late.
Just get streaming.
You had MTV influencing music,fashion, and youth culture.
(13:57):
You had CNN with their 24-hournews cycle that reshaped how
audience consumed currentevents.
You had other new cable TVnetworks coming out in 1985 like
VH1, the Discovery Channel,Arts and Entertainment Network,
A&E.
You had Nick at Night, but thatwas on the same channel as
(14:19):
Nickelodeon, but I guess it doeskind of count as a separate
thing.
That's where I learned aboutall the 50s shows, Car 54, Donna
Reed, The Danny Thomas Show, MyThree Sons.
I knew more about My Three Sonsthan Small Wonder.
I don't know if that's sayingmuch.
Cable TV gave you more options.
(14:41):
You weren't stuck with the bigthree of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Technologically, the VCR becamemore common in American
households.
So it gave you control overwhen you watched your show.
It was in the late 80s that westarted to record all our
favorite movies or sportingevents.
(15:02):
And then one of us fivesiblings would tape over the
other one's stuff.
Because VHS tapes wereexpensive.
They were like gold.
Now the only thing old VHStapes are good for is building a
fort.
It was also around this timethat syndication exploded,
giving older series new life.
(15:22):
Like I said, Nick at Night.
I wasn't alive in the 50s, butyet I got to see all those shows
in the 80s.
Narratively, in television,there was a shift towards more
serialized storytelling,particularly in the dramas like
Dallas and Dynasty or Falcon'sCrest or Knot's Landing.
These laid the groundwork forthe more complex narratives that
(15:45):
would dominate TV in thedecades that came after.
TV was also becoming moreself-aware and socially
conscious, from the clevermeta-commentary of Moonlighting
to the Golden Girls tacklingissues like aging, illness, and
LGBTQ rights.
1985 was a year that televisiondared to be a little smarter
(16:09):
and a little bit bolder.
A time when Thursday nightlineups were sacred and network
jingles were a part of everydaylife.
What were your favorite partsabout 1985 television?
Favorite shows?
Favorite commercials?
Favorite theme songs?
Favorite cable TV networks?
This week in history, I know,surprising, we're going back 40
(16:39):
years ago to April 23rd, 1985,and the launch of New Coke.
Speaker 02 (16:47):
All right, we're New Edition, and we're here to
introduce the great new taste ofCoca-Cola, the taste of today.
Yeah, Coke is it.
Come on, check it out now.
It's got a new taste.
It's a definite wow.
Speaker 00 (17:02):
Boy, in the annals of marketing history, there are
few product launches that haveearned as much notoriety or
immediate backlash as New Coke.
When Coca-Cola reformulated theiconic soft drink in 1985, it
ignited a firestorm of protestthat not only threatened the
brand's reputation, but alsorevealed just how deeply
(17:25):
American consumers identifiedwith their favorite soda.
Coca-Cola first came out in1886, when Atlanta pharmacist
John S.
Pemberton created it as amedical tonic.
By the mid-20th century, Cokewas a dominant force in the
beverage industry, a brand soembedded in American life that
(17:45):
it was practically a nationalinstitution.
In the 1970s, Pepsi launchedthe Pepsi Challenge, which was a
blind taste test campaign,showing that a lot of people
preferred Pepsi over Coke.
This got the Coca-Cola peopleworried, fearing that their
classic formula might be tooclassic for the evolving tastes
(18:07):
of younger consumers.
So Coca-Cola took what seemedto be the bold but logical step
and changed the formula of theirsoda.
After conducting thousands oftaste tests and market research
surveys, Coca-Cola developed asweeter version of its cola.
Initially referred to asProject Kansas, the new
(18:29):
formulation consistentlyoutperformed both Pepsi and Old
Coke in taste tests.
On April 23, 1985, Coca-Colaannounced it was retiring its
original formula, replacing itwith a new version called New
Coke.
You'd think all these tastetests that said, oh, we love
this New Coke, then when itcomes out it should be an
(18:51):
immediate hit, right?
Nope.
The backlash was immediate andintense.
Coca-Cola's phone lines wereflooded with up to 1,500 calls a
day complaining.
There were protest groupspopping up around the country.
People were hoarding cans ofthe original formula.
(19:13):
There was even one Houstonconsumer who founded the Old
Coca-Cola Drinkers of America,which was a grassroots group
demanding the return of theoriginal beverage.
What's interesting is it wasn'tthat new Coke tasted bad.
Many people admitted it wassmoother and sweeter, even
preferable in a blind test.
(19:34):
But the problem wasn't theflavor.
It was the emotion.
Coca-Cola had misjudged thedeep emotional connection people
had to the original formula.
It was entwined with nostalgia.
You know how powerful that isas you listen to a Gen X
nostalgia podcast.
So to many, in 1985, it feltlike they were losing a piece of
(19:55):
their identity, their culturalheritage.
Incredibly, after just 79 days,Coca-Cola announced on July
11th, 1985, the return of theiroriginal formula, now rebranded
as Coca-Cola Classic.
The public was happy.
Sales surged.
(20:15):
The company spun this fiascointo a wind.
And it was almost like an urbanlegend that they had
intentionally done this, tankedthe company very briefly to make
it way more popular after.
Even though Coca-Cola Classiccame back, New Coke continued to
be sold for several years underdifferent names.
First as Coke 2, before beingquietly phased out in the early
(20:39):
2000s.
There was even a quick, quirkyrevival in 2019 thanks to a
promotional tie-in with StrangerThings on Netflix.
Did you ever try New Coke?
I know I didn't.
I drank whatever soda wasbought and put into the fridge.
But that epic disaster known asNew Coke was unveiled 40 years
(21:03):
ago this week in history.
Now it's time for a brand newtime capsule.
Obviously, we are sticking tothat same day.
We're sticking to 1985.
April 23rd, 1985.
What was going on in the worldof pop culture back then?
Well, let's find out.
(21:24):
The number one song was We Arethe World by USA for Africa.
This was the charity singlewith dozens of famous musicians
all singing together.
It was written by MichaelJackson and Lionel Richie and
had some of the biggest names inmusic at the time.
(21:45):
Bruce Springsteen, StevieWonder.
What I didn't know at the timeis there was a full album called
We Are the World that hadunreleased songs from other
artists that were a part of thesong.
The We Are the World single hassold more than 20 million
copies worldwide, though, makingit one of the best-selling
(22:05):
singles ever.
And one of the best charitablesongs, charitable donations
ever, because it was for thefamine in Ethiopia at the time.
The number one movie was Stick.
And you could get into thetheater with a ticket costing
$3.55.
What is Stick, you ask?
(22:25):
It's a crime film starring BurtReynolds as Ernest Stick
Stickley, who witnesses themurder of his friend during a
drug deal and has to get a jobas a chauffeur to kind of go on
the lam and lay low.
Despite it being the number onemovie, it was a major box
office bomb, making just over $8million on a budget of $22
(22:49):
million.
So it lost $14 million.
It was part of the series offilms that knocked Burt Reynolds
down to B-level star fromA-level that he was in the late
70s.
The number one TV show was TheCosby Show.
I told you, mid-80s, it'salways The Cosby Show.
If you don't know what it'sabout, rewind this podcast about
(23:13):
10 minutes when I talked aboutit back then.
A little something different,though, on this time capsule
because it's 1985, the year inpop culture.
Some celebrities born in 1985include Kaley Cuoco from The Big
Bang Theory, Gal Gadot fromWonder Woman, Keira Knightley
(23:34):
from Pirates of the Caribbean,Bruno Mars the singer, soccer
player Cristiano Ronaldo, hockeyplayer Alex Ovechkin, Olympic
swimmer Michael Phelps.
Some celebrities who passedaway in 1985 include Orson
Welles, Ricky Nelson, RockHudson, and Roger Maris.
(23:57):
The big new companies that werefounded in 1985 include
Blockbuster Video, Papa John'sPizza, and Samuel Adams the
Beer.
So that wraps up another timecapsule, another This Week in
History.
But let's get into some weird,funny, yet true news stories and
(24:20):
events from 1985.
Here is a top five that'll haveyou shaking your head in
amazement as I did when Iresearched it.
We couldn't get through 1985without me finding some news
stories that'll just have yousaying what in the world was
(24:41):
going on back then.
If you enjoy weird slashfoolish news stories...
In episode 181, I did a segmenton weird 1960s news stories.
And back in episode 158, I dida segment on weird 1970s news
stories.
Here, though, we're sticking tothe one year, 1985.
(25:02):
And boy, there were some weirdstories here.
As with many of these top fivelists, there are some honorable
mentions, and the top fiveitself is in no particular
order.
So let's get into the honorablementions, and there are a
couple of them.
One honorable mention is theNFL's Houston Oilers threatening
(25:25):
to try to shut down the NFLdraft.
This is a very complicatedstory.
It has to do with Houston notgetting a draft pick they were
owed and having to do withquarterback Bernie Kosar coming
out of college.
and Houston threatening to suethe NFL and Commissioner Pete
Rozelle.
(25:45):
It didn't happen, and the daybefore the draft, Houston
dropped the lawsuit.
And the other honorable mentionis the famous Sports
Illustrated April Fool's articleabout baseball pitcher Sid
Finch.
Obviously, Sid Finch wasn't areal person, but the story was
he was raised in an Englishorphanage, learned yoga in
(26:09):
Tibet.
and could throw a fastball 168miles an hour.
Despite the absurdity of thisarticle, there were people who
thought he was a real person.
He was supposed to be signed bythe New York Mets.
They even gave him a locker,but then on April 2nd, they had
a news conference where heannounced his retirement.
(26:29):
In the article, Sid Finch wasphotographed, and he was played
by a man named Joe Burton, whowas a friend of sports
illustrative photographer LaneStewart.
So those are the honorablementions, but let's get into the
actual top five and just theinsanity that was 1985.
Number one, is a TV show sogood that you'd watch it while
(26:54):
your house was burning downaround you?
This occurred in January 1985in Birmingham, England.
Nancy Thurlow and her daughterMadeline were We're watching the
TV show Saint Elsewhere, alongwith husband George Thurlow,
when a fire broke out, but theywere so into the episode of the
(27:15):
show that they watched it whiletheir house was burning down
around them.
The firefighters arrived, sawthe fire, sent people inside,
and were shocked to see three ofthem sitting in the burning
living room watching SaintElsewhere.
Everybody was rescued and thefire was put out.
And once the fire was out,Nancy and her daughter Madeline
(27:38):
rushed back inside to catch thefinal few minutes of St.
Elsewhere.
Is there any episode oftelevision where you would
actually sit and watch it whileyour house burned down around
you?
I guess they didn't have a VCR.
Number two is What Happened toBambi?
This is from February 1985 andcenters around a Soviet Union
(28:03):
production of a live-actionversion of the movie Bambi, so
about the deer.
The movie was going to becalled Bambi's Childhood, and
there were three fawns that werebrought in to play the baby
version of Bambi.
These three fawns werestolen...
(28:23):
killed, butchered, and eaten ata birthday celebration.
So the movie Bambi's Childhoodnever got made because three
Bambis were killed for thisparty.
Two men were arrested.
One of them ended up gettingsix years in prison, and the
other one got four years inprison, and he was the one the
(28:45):
birthday was for.
One of the best things aboutthis is is that this story was
in Weekly World News at thetime, and it was actually real.
It was not made up.
The headline in Weekly WorldNews said, Drunken Russians Eat
Bambi, with a picture of amother and a baby deer.
That's unreal.
(29:06):
Number three is The Ultimate ofIrony.
This story is from New Orleans.
It's from July 1985.
There was a party being thrownfor more than 100 lifeguards
celebrating a summer seasonwithout any drownings, which
obviously is a good thing tocelebrate.
(29:27):
No one died on your watch.
Where the irony comes in iswhere lifeguard Jerome Moody,
who had been drinking heavily atthe party, fell into the pool
and drowned.
The party was so fun andraucous that none of the more
than 100 lifeguards celebratingno one dying on their watch had
(29:49):
another lifeguard die on theirwatch at this party.
I don't know if that is thetextbook case of irony, but it's
got to be up there.
It's at least jinxing yourselfwhen you say you never get sick
and then the next day you'resick or you say you never get
speeding tickets and as soon asyou start your car, cops are
just waiting for you.
Not that that's ever happenedto me, though.
(30:11):
Moving on.
Number four, stupid criminals.
This is from December 1985 fromWashington, D.C.
It was called OperationFlagship.
U.S.
Marshals used the get somethingfor nothing scheme to get
wanted fugitives to voluntarilygo to the Washington Convention
(30:34):
Center.
They were responding to aninvitation from a fictional
television company saying theyhad won free NFL tickets.
They had to go there and claimthe tickets to see the
Washington Redskins play theCincinnati Bengals and get a
chance to go to Super Bowl XX.
101 wanted criminals showed upand were arrested immediately.
(30:58):
There were 166 marshals posingas ushers, cheerleaders, MCs,
caterers, and even mascots.
They all just swarmed thesecriminals and arrested them.
These criminals and manycriminals are living embodiments
of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
(31:18):
That is, stupid people are toostupid to know how stupid they
are, which is why they getcaught up in stings like that.
Speaking of stupid, finally,number five on the list of weird
and funny news events of 1985is one of the worst changes you
(31:38):
could ever see.
This is from March 1985 fromSt.
Louis, Missouri.
And the absolutely asinine ideathat the term bus stop conveyed
too many negative emotions.
So they changed it from busstop to bus start.
Many people thought it might bean early April Fool's joke, but
(32:00):
nope, it was voted on, andthere were 1,800 bus start signs
put up all throughout St.
Louis.
All this did was cause massiveconfusion, which you can
understand.
It'd be like changing a stopsign to something else, or
changing stop lights from redwhile red's an angry color.
Let's make it happy.
(32:21):
It's just nothing butconfusion.
After a year and a half ofstupidity, they had to change it
back, which meant they had toget all new bus stop signs made,
so there's a nice waste of cityfunds.
There you have it, though.
Some of the weirdest, funniest,head-scratching news events
from 1985.
(32:42):
I don't know.
To me, the craziest one is thepeople that were watching TV
while their house burned downaround them.
I could see maybe if I was onthe verge of beating a game on
Nintendo and the house wasburning down, I might be like,
please, I just gotta defeatMetroid.
But even then, I think mymother would have stomped a hole
(33:02):
in the Nintendo and thrown meout the door.
Oh, here we go.
1985 was a vibrant andtransformative year in music.
It straddled the last wave ofnew wave, the peak of synth pop,
(33:24):
and the first steps into thedigital future.
As with any year, there weresome artists that reached their
peak of their career, some thatfizzled out, new talents that
emerged.
So let's take a look at all ofit.
Let's do a deep dive into themusic scene in 1985.
For me, I believe at this timeI was still kind of a metalhead.
(33:46):
I listened to a lot of VanHalen, Motley Crue, Twisted
Sister, Rat, Quiet Riot.
But I also enjoyed Huey Lewisand the News.
Obviously Michael Jackson, hewas still riding the wave of
thriller.
There were some big new artiststhat came out in 1985.
(34:07):
First and foremost was WhitneyHouston.
She released her self-titleddebut album in February.
It had the songs Saving All MyLove For You and How Will I
Know.
She was very different on thatfirst album, very made up with
teased up hair.
I mean, she was only 21 yearsold then.
(34:27):
LL Cool J released his debutalbum Radio, produced by Rick
Rubin.
Guns N' Roses was formed,although they wouldn't have
their first album come out fortwo years.
Sade released their first albumwith Smooth Operator.
Run DMC released their firstalbum, King of Rock.
(34:49):
One band that seemed like theywere destined to be big based on
what they did in 1985 was Mr.
Mister.
They had two massive songs withBroken Wings and Kyrie.
They both went to number one.
Their debut album, Welcome tothe Real World, went
multi-platinum, but they endedup not being able to continue
(35:13):
that success.
I guess they're not a one-hitwonder, but they are a two-hit
wonder.
I mentioned We Are the World inthe Time Capsule segment, so
you know all about that one.
Some of the other major songsthat were released in 1985
included George Michael'sCareless Whisper, though in some
(35:33):
markets they credited it asstill with Wham.
There was Take On Me by A-Ha,including their famous video
that's kind of like a graphicnovel come to life.
Don Henley of the Eaglesreleased The Boys of Summer.
David Lee Roth, who had justrecently split from Van Halen,
(35:54):
released California Girls, thecover of the Beach Boys song,
which included a video that Idefinitely enjoyed watching,
even as an eight-year-old.
There was REO Speedwagon andtheir song Can't Fight This
Feeling.
One song, or I should sayvideo, that freaked me out was
Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersDon't Come Around Here No More,
(36:16):
which was an Alice inWonderland-themed video.
So the end of the song whenAlice is a cake and they're
eating her, boy, that freaked meout.
There was Don't You ForgetAbout Me by Simple Minds that
all of us from a certain agegroup know from The Breakfast
Club.
Tears for Fears releasedEverybody Wants to Rule the
(36:38):
World.
Every time I hear that song, Ithink of the home video release
of the 1985-86 Celticschampionship team.
There was one highlightspackage that had the music from
that song in it.
Huey Lewis and the Newsreleased The Power of Love,
which I, of course, rememberfrom Back to the Future.
(36:59):
And don't worry, Back to theFuture, when it turns 40 in
July, will be getting its ownsegment.
It has to.
Some of the other major albumsfrom 1985 included Dire Straits'
Brothers in Arms, which had theawesome song Money for Nothing
with that crazy computeranimated video.
Phil Collins released No JacketRequired, which won Album of
(37:24):
the Year at the Grammys.
The soundtrack from the TV showMiami Vice spent seven weeks at
number one, which is justcrazy.
Mostly because it didn't evenhave Don Johnson's song,
Heartbeat, on there.
I mean, you need that.
Speaking of celebritiesreleasing music, 1985 also saw
Eddie Murphy release his song,Party, all the time.
(37:46):
That is the one where RickJames sings backup.
Not everything was sunshine andrainbows for musicians in 1985.
The supergroup, The PowerStation...
comprised of members of DuranDuran and singer Robert Palmer,
released the hit song Some LikeIt Hot, but their album had
(38:07):
mixed reviews.
It didn't live up to the buzzof a quote-unquote supergroup.
Billy Squire released his albumEnough Is Enough, but that
failed to reverse the damagedone by that infamously awkward,
one of the worst videos ever,Rock Me Tonight.
When it comes to best and worstof music, it's all subjective
(38:29):
stuff.
As I've done my research forthis segment, I have found a lot
of people's lists for worstsongs of 1985.
We Built This City by Starship.
That's pretty much on all ofthe lists.
But I guarantee somebody who'slistening to this loves that
song.
Others in the running for worstis St.
(38:50):
Elmo's Fire, the theme from themovie.
Dancing in the Street by MickJagger and David Bowie with
another cringy video.
There was the song Oh Yeah byYellow.
That's from Ferris Bueller'sDay Off, which I don't mind it,
but as a song in and of itself,it's kind of a quintessential
(39:11):
80s song that couldn't be madeat any other time.
The song Tarzan Boy byBaltimore.
That's kind of a split one.
I'm sure a lot of you likethat.
It's got a very singablechorus.
It's not really words.
But there are others that wouldprobably find it pretty
annoying.
By 1985, MTV was the kingmaker.
(39:34):
They were the ones, if yourvideo was popular on MTV, you
were made.
That's where Mr.
Mr., A-ha, acts like thatbecame successful because their
videos were unique.
It became required.
Artists needed to have strongmusic videos to thrive.
and careers were made or brokenby what aired on MTV.
(39:57):
I just mentioned Billy Squire.
Early in 1985, MTV releasedsister channel VH1, Video Hits
1.
It was meant to be for olderpeople, which I kind of don't
understand because music videosweren't really prevalent until
at least the late 70s.
(40:17):
So what older people are youlooking at in 1985?
People in their 60s were bornin the 1920s.
Do you have any music videosfrom Glenn Miller, Frank
Sinatra, Bing Crosby?
I don't think so.
In May 1985, you had thecreation of Spin Magazine,
(40:38):
launched by Bob Guccione Jr.,whose father started Penthouse
Magazine.
This magazine would focus a loton alternative, hip-hop, grunge
music.
It was here that you'd get alot of information about the
college radio acts, ones thatwere popular in college, like
REM, Talking Heads, The Cult.
(40:59):
You'd probably have Kate Bush,Jesus and Mary Chain, Husker Du.
Music itself saw the rise ofsynthesizers and drum machines,
digital recording techniques.
It's funny, if you go ontoInstagram, if you post a story,
and some of them you can putmusic with, You go and you
(41:20):
choose music that fits whateveryou've got there.
There's kind of a more ironicsegment that is the 80s
synth-pop sound-alike music.
And if you play any of it, forpeople that are my age, those of
you out there around 50, alittle older, a little younger,
you hear the first few beats ofthese fake new wave songs and it
(41:42):
immediately makes you think of1985.
July 1985 saw the Live Aidconcert.
The legacy of this concert hasgrown throughout history.
This is the one with Queen andFreddie Mercury's impactful
performance.
You had Phil Collins performingboth in London and
(42:02):
Philadelphia, being the drummerfor Led Zeppelin.
I have some vivid memories ofthis being on TV at my house
when it was playing.
I didn't know much about whoQueen were or how big the
reunion of Led Zeppelin was.
Nearly 2 billion people watchedit live, though.
That's a lot of people.
(42:24):
In September, there was thefirst ever Farm Aid, organized
by Neil Young, Willie Nelson,John Mellencamp.
1985 also saw the Parents MusicResource Council, PMRC, get
formed.
This was the beginning of theputting the labels on CDs,
(42:45):
parental advisory programs.
which only made me want thealbums more if I saw that
sticker on there.
I was like, ooh, I'm cool.
Some of the biggest moviesoundtracks of the year included
The Breakfast Club, CrushGroove, The Goonies, Back to the
Future, and of course, TheWrestling Album, which included
(43:06):
theme songs sung by wrestlerslike Hillbilly Jim, Rowdy Roddy
Piper, Mean Gene Okerlund,Nikolai Volkov.
As far as awards to kind ofwrap up 1985, the MTV Video
Music Awards, David Lee Roth wasnominated the most with eight
nominations.
California Girls and also Justa Gigolo, which has him
(43:30):
performing with a lot ofcelebrity lookalikes.
Video of the Year was DonHenley, the Boys of Summer.
New Artist in a Music Video wasTill Tuesday with Voices Carry,
and they are from Boston, whichis why I remember that song.
For the Grammys in 1985, TinaTurner won Song of the Year for
(43:50):
What's Love Got to Do With It.
Lionel Richie won Album of theYear for Can't Slow Down.
Cyndi Lauper was Best NewArtist.
And if you're wondering, thepeople from 1985 that won in the
Grammys that came out in 1986,Phil Collins won Album of the
Year for No Jacket Required.
We Are the World won the Grammyfor Song of the Year.
(44:13):
Sade won Best New Artist.
So there you go.
1985 wasn't just a year ofhits.
It was a pivot point, with popbecoming bigger, brasher, more
visual thanks to MTV.
Hip-hop was creeping towardsthe mainstream.
R&B started shifting away fromdisco shadow into smoother, more
(44:36):
melodic territory.
New technology like CDs,digital recording, and a greater
emphasis on music videos.
It transformed how musicsounded and how it was sold.
So what was your favorite partabout music in 1985?
Did you have albums orcassettes or were you high
(44:56):
rolling and got CDs?
And are you as freaked out asme that 1985 was 40 years ago
now?
That's my biggest takeaway fromall of this.
But until we meet again, that'sgoing to wrap up episode 192 of
the In My Footsteps podcast.
Thank you all so much forlistening, for making it to the
(45:20):
end, for reminiscing with meabout 40 years ago in the year
1985.
We'll keep the content trainrolling next week with episode
193.
It will be a return to formnormal.
These year in review typeepisodes, they'll be sprinkled
in.
It's not going to be somethingI do all the time, but it was
(45:41):
definitely a fun change of pace.
If you enjoy my work, you cansupport me by becoming a
subscriber on Patreon for $5 amonth.
You can always subscribe to thefree tier and just be a part of
the community.
Maybe try before you buy.
You can also buy me a coffee.
Links to all this are in thedescription of the podcast.
(46:04):
Of course, the best way to showyour support for me, for any
content creator, is to sharetheir work, spread the word
around about their work.
I'm just one person, so I canonly speak for me, but doing a
lot of content work, it takes alot of time.
Typically, 15 to 20 hours aweek, I spend recording,
(46:26):
editing, marketing, promoting,creating visual art to go along
with what I create.
It feels like since I startedthis podcast in the fall of
2020, that my content creationgame has really stepped up.
It really is like a second job.
And that's not a bad thing.
(46:47):
The creative side, using mybrain, that's the stuff I really
like.
Because then when I'm super oldand beaten up and I can't do
much else but sit at my desk, Ican still do this.
I will keep you informed whenit gets closer to the release
date of the movie that I filmedabout a month or so ago.
I'm hearing that it might besometime in June.
(47:10):
Obviously, you will all knowwhen I know.
And then from there, it's offto the races.
I am going to try my hand atvoice acting, maybe a little bit
of on-screen stuff, smallroles, background roles, because
why not?
That's my main thinking.
Acting in a film was notanything on my radar as recently
(47:33):
as nine months ago.
So here's a new thing.
Why not give it a shot?
I bought a portablesoundproofing booth, I guess,
for lack of a better term.
It should be here for nextweek's podcast when I record it,
so you'll have to let me knowif it sounds any different.
It's basically a series ofthree foldable soundproofing
(47:56):
panels that I can put around mymicrophone and me, and it fits
on my desk.
Maybe it'll make no differenceand I'm just wasting my money,
but I'd rather take the chancethan not.
Happy birthday when thispodcast goes live on this date
to my Aunt Emma out in LasVegas.
I'm hoping that the weather isperfect out there.
(48:20):
It usually is much better thanCape Cod's weather, especially
in April.
So I hope it's the bestbirthday it can be, and I hope
sometime in the future we gettogether again, whether it's me
visiting Vegas or you visitingCape Cod.
If you celebrated Easter, Ihope you had the best day
possible.
I know I was stuffed as full offood as I could be, but hey, I
(48:43):
went to the gym in the morning,so that makes up for it.
Whenever I think of Easter, itreminds me of my nana and Easter
at her house, followed by usbeing forced to go for a walk
down to the nearby cranberrybog.
It was something so simple, butit was really good family
bonding time.
Lots of fun, lots of laughs.
(49:05):
And we got in cardio aftereating loads of ham and my
Nana's special cheesy hash brownpotatoes.
Those things were so legendary.
When I was...
A kid when I was like 10, she'dmake one pan would probably be
enough.
Then they got so popular.
I think she ended up having tomake at least two, maybe three
(49:28):
big pans of those.
And whether it's holidays ornot, I hope that you out there
take the time, make the time forthose that matter the most to
you.
Family, friends, maybe you'reout for a walk right now in the
sun listening to this.
I hope my voice is helping yougo on your way.
(49:48):
Find me all over social media.
You know where I am.
Subscribe to the YouTubechannel.
Follow me on Instagram, myFacebook fan page, Threads, Blue
Sky.
I'm sometimes on TikTok.
But until next week, remember,in this life, don't walk in
anyone else's footsteps.
Create your own path And enjoyevery moment you can on this
(50:13):
journey we call life, becauseyou never know what tomorrow
brings.
Thank you all for tuning in.
This has been the In MyFootsteps podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,and you already knew that.
And I'll talk to you all againsoon.
Hello, world, and welcome to the In My Footsteps
podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,coming to you from the vacation
destination known as Cape Cod,Massachusetts, and this is
episode 192.
We've got something fun andslightly new this week, as the
(00:23):
entire podcast will be dedicatedto one year, 1985, the year in
pop culture.
We're going to be looking backat television in 1985, the best,
worst, weirdest shows.
We're going to go way back inthe day to look at what music
was like in 1985, big artists,big albums.
(00:45):
There'll be a brand new topfive that are going to be some
weird and funny news storiesfrom 1985.
And there'll be a brand newThis Week in History and Time
capsule, obviously from 1985,dealing with the release of the
epic failure known as New Coke.
All of that is coming up rightnow on episode 192 of the In My
(01:10):
Footsteps podcast.
So what are we going to talkabout this week?
Obviously, lots of things thathave to do with the year 1985,
as that is the subject matterfor this week's podcast.
This was one of those ideasthat popped in my head during a
walk on the bike trail, where Icouldn't believe I hadn't
thought of doing episodes basedaround a single year.
(01:33):
As I said last week, these willbe dropped in here and there
throughout the podcast.
I'll be choosing years between1960 and 2005.
So in a few weeks or so, whenthe next year in pop culture
kind of episode comes up, if anyof you have a year you want me
(01:53):
to dive into, shoot me amessage.
Also, coming up soon is episode200 of the podcast.
So those of you on Patreon, onthe free and paying tier, anyone
that's a member, I'm going tobe putting up polls for what you
want me to talk about onepisode 200.
So it'll be another listener'schoice, but it'll be completely
(02:17):
on Patreon instead of all oversocial media like I did for
episode 150.
Speaking of Patreon, we can'tkick off this podcast proper
without me giving shoutouts tomy Patreon subscribers.
Lori, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin,Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid,
Crystal, Matt, thank you all somuch for being my biggest fans,
(02:41):
my biggest backers.
$5 a month gets you access tobonus podcast episodes.
It gets you access to theremastered Without a Map live
streams.
They were kind of the post-gamepodcast wrap-up shows that I
did on Instagram.
During the first year or so thepodcast was out, I've tried to
(03:02):
fix the audio, the visual onthese without a map streams.
They were done with my iPhone6, so the quality's not bad, but
compared to 4K and 8K that youhave now, it definitely looks
primitive.
We can take care of more of thehousekeeping parts of the
podcast when we get to the end.
Thank you all for being here,for your weekly dose of Gen X
(03:27):
nostalgia to make us feel youngagain briefly.
So right now for this newformat this week, close your
eyes, except if you're driving,don't do that, and imagine
yourself back 40 years ago.
God, I can't believe it's beenthat long.
I'm sorry.
Well, the cat's out of the bag.
(03:47):
Anyway, let's go back 40 yearsand do a deep dive into the year
1985, now on episode 192 of theIn My Footsteps podcast.
So here we are.
Face to face, a couple ofsilver spoons, and we're going
to go where everybody knows yourname.
(04:08):
It's 1985.
I was seven years old.
I don't know where you were,but we're sitting in the living
room in front of a larger CRTboxy type TV.
I believe 1985 was the yearthat my family got cable from
Cape Cod Cablevision.
(04:28):
It gave me access to MTV, toNickelodeon, to New England
Sports Network, Nessun, toSports Channel with the Boston
Celtics, who were the best teamin the NBA at the time.
So here I was, seven years old,living on Cape Cod.
This is my memories of TV.
(04:50):
The year 1985 was a definingmoment in American television
anywhere.
In the middle of the 80scultural boom, those of you that
lived through it, you rememberit was a time with neon colors,
synthesized soundtracks.
They weren't the trends.
That was the way of life.
Maybe it's because this is theyear that I remember getting
(05:12):
cable TV, but it felt like thiswas when cable really got its
claws into the culture ofAmerica.
So what we're doing here iswe're looking at 1985, the year
in television.
First, let's look at the showsthat burst onto the scene in
1985.
Perhaps the most notable debutwas The Golden Girls.
Speaker 01 (05:35):
Thank you for being a friend.
Travel down the road and backagain.
Your heart is true.
You're a pal and a confidant.
Speaker 00 (05:49):
This NBC show, it was a sitcom that featured
four...
Older Women Living Together inMiami, Florida.
It starred Bea Arthur asDorothy, Betty White as Rose,
Rue McClanahan as Blanche, andEstelle Getty as Sophia.
This was a show that brokestereotypes around aging and
became an instant classic.
(06:10):
The funny thing is this showhas a very deep connection for
me to my family.
No, none of them were on theshow.
But I first started watchingthis, there was a summer in the
late 90s when my family was inbetween homes.
And I had to spend the summerliving with my nana, which was a
really fun time and I'm gladthat I did it.
(06:32):
But my nana always watched theGolden Girls.
I think because the women onthe show were her age.
So anytime I hear the GoldenGirls theme, I think of my nana.
But I also think of my greataunt Elsie, who was like the
spitting image of SophiaPetrillo, except with a lot more
(06:53):
dirty language.
It used to be a lot of fun backin the day when we would have
holiday get togethers and myaunt Elsie would come over and
my uncle Bob would needle her,trying to get her to go off on
kind of a rant and swear at him,just like Sophia, except
swearing a lot more.
Also premiering in 1985 wasMacGyver.
(07:15):
This ABC action-adventureseries centered around agent
Angus MacGyver, a secret agentwho solved problems with
scientific knowledge andhousehold items rather than
brute force.
There's a term calledMacGyvering, or the idea that
using your ingenuity to piecethings together to make
(07:37):
something different is yourMacGyvering something.
I don't know if anyone stilluses that term now in the 2020s,
but it was prevalent when I wasgrowing up in the 90s.
Another big show that debutedin 1985 was Moonlighting.
And this ABC show was comedy,romance, mystery.
It introduced us to BruceWillis, and it also starred
(08:00):
Sybil Shepard.
It was famous for itsfast-paced, witty dialogue,
behind-the-scenes drama...
And it was played with breakingthe fourth wall and ushered in
a more stylized, self-awareapproach to storytelling.
Those were the new shows.
What were the most popularshows of 1985?
One I bet you could guessbefore I even say it.
(08:24):
Because I've stated in a lot ofthe time capsule segments, if
they're from the 1980s, theCosby show is usually the number
one show.
This was a show about theHuxtables, an upper-middle-class
black family in Brooklyn.
It was the number one show inAmerica for years.
This show helped to revive NBC,as did Family Ties, which was
(08:47):
another NBC hit.
It was centered around MichaelJ.
Fox, who was Alex P.
Keaton, a young conservative ina liberal household.
Other ratings juggernauts in1985 included Dallas...
which was the tangled web ofthe oil tycoons, the Ewing
family.
There was also Dynasty, aglitzy nighttime soap opera
(09:12):
known for outrageous fashion andcatfights.
And there was Cheers, whereeverybody knew your name.
This was the year that Cheersreally took off.
It was modestly popular in itsfirst couple of years, but it
led to it becoming one of themost beloved sitcoms ever.
There were also some longtimestaples of television that bid
(09:35):
farewell in 1985.
One notable goodbye was TheJeffersons.
Speaker 04 (09:41):
Well, we're moving on up.
We're moving on up.
To.
Speaker 00 (09:55):
The CBS show was the spinoff of All in the Family,
and it ended its run after 11seasons.
This had the theme song, Movingon Up to the East Side.
1985 also saw the departure ofDifferent Strokes, an NBC sitcom
that had been picked up for ashort revival by ABC.
(10:17):
It was the Drummond family, andArnold...
Played by Gary Coleman with hiscatchphrase, what you talking
about, Willis?
1985 also saw the ending of theThree's Company universe, I
guess, for lack of a betterterm.
Because Three's Company hadended and they did a spinoff
called Three's A Crowd.
where Jack Tripper and his loveinterest, Vicki Bradford, move
(10:43):
in together.
She was introduced in the lastfew episodes of Three's Company,
but Three's A Crowd was a fail.
It lasted one season and wascanceled in April 1985.
What about some weird orforgotten TV shows?
Do you remember Small Wonder?
Speaker 03 (11:01):
Small Wonder.
Oh
Speaker 00 (11:17):
man, this show was weird even when it was out when
I was watching it as a kid.
The show debuted in September1985.
It was on for four seasons,which I was kind of surprised.
It's about a family that has arobot daughter named Vicky.
which stood for Voice InputChild Identicant.
Tiffany Brissett played the10-year-old android Vicky.
(11:42):
And I just remember the showbeing based around her
superhuman strength andintelligence and speed.
And also her talking in a robotvoice, which was definitely
off-putting.
There was the sci-fi showStreet Hawk, which lasted a
whole 14 episodes.
where a former motorcycle copis hired to fight crime using
(12:07):
Street Hawk, which was a combatmotorbike.
Do any of you remember thatshow?
I have no memory of it.
For us little kids back then,there was the Berenstain Bears
show that debuted in 1985.
Stan and Jan Berenstain createdthis family of four, mother and
father and two kid bears.
(12:28):
The show was only on for twoseasons and 26 episodes.
I thought it was on a lot more.
Maybe it just made a bigimprint on me watching it on
Saturday mornings.
There was also the workplacecomedy called Sarah, which was
one of the earliest roles foractress Geena Davis.
The show only lasted 13episodes, but when I was
(12:51):
researching it, it's got prettypositive reviews, so I don't
know why it didn't last.
I saved the best for last asfar as forgotten.
There was a show calledTroubles and Strife.
This is when an attractiveyoung church official takes over
the parish and starts to havean effect on the local wives.
(13:12):
The show debuted in November1985 and it has the honor of
being one of the lowest ratedshows from the 80s on IMDb.
The show lasted two seasons,but only 13 total episodes, with
the reviews at the time beingmixed at best.
But what about the trends andinnovations of 1985 in
(13:35):
television?
As I stated a few minutes ago,cable TV was no longer just a
novelty.
It was becoming a powerfulforce.
Like I said, I think that'swhen my family got it.
I don't know when you out theregot cable TV.
If you don't have it yet, it'stoo late.
Just get streaming.
You had MTV influencing music,fashion, and youth culture.
(13:57):
You had CNN with their 24-hournews cycle that reshaped how
audience consumed currentevents.
You had other new cable TVnetworks coming out in 1985 like
VH1, the Discovery Channel,Arts and Entertainment Network,
A&E.
You had Nick at Night, but thatwas on the same channel as
(14:19):
Nickelodeon, but I guess it doeskind of count as a separate
thing.
That's where I learned aboutall the 50s shows, Car 54, Donna
Reed, The Danny Thomas Show, MyThree Sons.
I knew more about My Three Sonsthan Small Wonder.
I don't know if that's sayingmuch.
Cable TV gave you more options.
(14:41):
You weren't stuck with the bigthree of ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Technologically, the VCR becamemore common in American
households.
So it gave you control overwhen you watched your show.
It was in the late 80s that westarted to record all our
favorite movies or sportingevents.
(15:02):
And then one of us fivesiblings would tape over the
other one's stuff.
Because VHS tapes wereexpensive.
They were like gold.
Now the only thing old VHStapes are good for is building a
fort.
It was also around this timethat syndication exploded,
giving older series new life.
(15:22):
Like I said, Nick at Night.
I wasn't alive in the 50s, butyet I got to see all those shows
in the 80s.
Narratively, in television,there was a shift towards more
serialized storytelling,particularly in the dramas like
Dallas and Dynasty or Falcon'sCrest or Knot's Landing.
These laid the groundwork forthe more complex narratives that
(15:45):
would dominate TV in thedecades that came after.
TV was also becoming moreself-aware and socially
conscious, from the clevermeta-commentary of Moonlighting
to the Golden Girls tacklingissues like aging, illness, and
LGBTQ rights.
1985 was a year that televisiondared to be a little smarter
(16:09):
and a little bit bolder.
A time when Thursday nightlineups were sacred and network
jingles were a part of everydaylife.
What were your favorite partsabout 1985 television?
Favorite shows?
Favorite commercials?
Favorite theme songs?
Favorite cable TV networks?
This week in history, I know,surprising, we're going back 40
(16:39):
years ago to April 23rd, 1985,and the launch of New Coke.
Speaker 02 (16:47):
All right, we're New Edition, and we're here to
introduce the great new taste ofCoca-Cola, the taste of today.
Yeah, Coke is it.
Come on, check it out now.
It's got a new taste.
It's a definite wow.
Speaker 00 (17:02):
Boy, in the annals of marketing history, there are
few product launches that haveearned as much notoriety or
immediate backlash as New Coke.
When Coca-Cola reformulated theiconic soft drink in 1985, it
ignited a firestorm of protestthat not only threatened the
brand's reputation, but alsorevealed just how deeply
(17:25):
American consumers identifiedwith their favorite soda.
Coca-Cola first came out in1886, when Atlanta pharmacist
John S.
Pemberton created it as amedical tonic.
By the mid-20th century, Cokewas a dominant force in the
beverage industry, a brand soembedded in American life that
(17:45):
it was practically a nationalinstitution.
In the 1970s, Pepsi launchedthe Pepsi Challenge, which was a
blind taste test campaign,showing that a lot of people
preferred Pepsi over Coke.
This got the Coca-Cola peopleworried, fearing that their
classic formula might be tooclassic for the evolving tastes
(18:07):
of younger consumers.
So Coca-Cola took what seemedto be the bold but logical step
and changed the formula of theirsoda.
After conducting thousands oftaste tests and market research
surveys, Coca-Cola developed asweeter version of its cola.
Initially referred to asProject Kansas, the new
(18:29):
formulation consistentlyoutperformed both Pepsi and Old
Coke in taste tests.
On April 23, 1985, Coca-Colaannounced it was retiring its
original formula, replacing itwith a new version called New
Coke.
You'd think all these tastetests that said, oh, we love
this New Coke, then when itcomes out it should be an
(18:51):
immediate hit, right?
Nope.
The backlash was immediate andintense.
Coca-Cola's phone lines wereflooded with up to 1,500 calls a
day complaining.
There were protest groupspopping up around the country.
People were hoarding cans ofthe original formula.
(19:13):
There was even one Houstonconsumer who founded the Old
Coca-Cola Drinkers of America,which was a grassroots group
demanding the return of theoriginal beverage.
What's interesting is it wasn'tthat new Coke tasted bad.
Many people admitted it wassmoother and sweeter, even
preferable in a blind test.
(19:34):
But the problem wasn't theflavor.
It was the emotion.
Coca-Cola had misjudged thedeep emotional connection people
had to the original formula.
It was entwined with nostalgia.
You know how powerful that isas you listen to a Gen X
nostalgia podcast.
So to many, in 1985, it feltlike they were losing a piece of
(19:55):
their identity, their culturalheritage.
Incredibly, after just 79 days,Coca-Cola announced on July
11th, 1985, the return of theiroriginal formula, now rebranded
as Coca-Cola Classic.
The public was happy.
Sales surged.
(20:15):
The company spun this fiascointo a wind.
And it was almost like an urbanlegend that they had
intentionally done this, tankedthe company very briefly to make
it way more popular after.
Even though Coca-Cola Classiccame back, New Coke continued to
be sold for several years underdifferent names.
First as Coke 2, before beingquietly phased out in the early
(20:39):
2000s.
There was even a quick, quirkyrevival in 2019 thanks to a
promotional tie-in with StrangerThings on Netflix.
Did you ever try New Coke?
I know I didn't.
I drank whatever soda wasbought and put into the fridge.
But that epic disaster known asNew Coke was unveiled 40 years
(21:03):
ago this week in history.
Now it's time for a brand newtime capsule.
Obviously, we are sticking tothat same day.
We're sticking to 1985.
April 23rd, 1985.
What was going on in the worldof pop culture back then?
Well, let's find out.
(21:24):
The number one song was We Arethe World by USA for Africa.
This was the charity singlewith dozens of famous musicians
all singing together.
It was written by MichaelJackson and Lionel Richie and
had some of the biggest names inmusic at the time.
(21:45):
Bruce Springsteen, StevieWonder.
What I didn't know at the timeis there was a full album called
We Are the World that hadunreleased songs from other
artists that were a part of thesong.
The We Are the World single hassold more than 20 million
copies worldwide, though, makingit one of the best-selling
(22:05):
singles ever.
And one of the best charitablesongs, charitable donations
ever, because it was for thefamine in Ethiopia at the time.
The number one movie was Stick.
And you could get into thetheater with a ticket costing
$3.55.
What is Stick, you ask?
(22:25):
It's a crime film starring BurtReynolds as Ernest Stick
Stickley, who witnesses themurder of his friend during a
drug deal and has to get a jobas a chauffeur to kind of go on
the lam and lay low.
Despite it being the number onemovie, it was a major box
office bomb, making just over $8million on a budget of $22
(22:49):
million.
So it lost $14 million.
It was part of the series offilms that knocked Burt Reynolds
down to B-level star fromA-level that he was in the late
70s.
The number one TV show was TheCosby Show.
I told you, mid-80s, it'salways The Cosby Show.
If you don't know what it'sabout, rewind this podcast about
(23:13):
10 minutes when I talked aboutit back then.
A little something different,though, on this time capsule
because it's 1985, the year inpop culture.
Some celebrities born in 1985include Kaley Cuoco from The Big
Bang Theory, Gal Gadot fromWonder Woman, Keira Knightley
(23:34):
from Pirates of the Caribbean,Bruno Mars the singer, soccer
player Cristiano Ronaldo, hockeyplayer Alex Ovechkin, Olympic
swimmer Michael Phelps.
Some celebrities who passedaway in 1985 include Orson
Welles, Ricky Nelson, RockHudson, and Roger Maris.
(23:57):
The big new companies that werefounded in 1985 include
Blockbuster Video, Papa John'sPizza, and Samuel Adams the
Beer.
So that wraps up another timecapsule, another This Week in
History.
But let's get into some weird,funny, yet true news stories and
(24:20):
events from 1985.
Here is a top five that'll haveyou shaking your head in
amazement as I did when Iresearched it.
We couldn't get through 1985without me finding some news
stories that'll just have yousaying what in the world was
(24:41):
going on back then.
If you enjoy weird slashfoolish news stories...
In episode 181, I did a segmenton weird 1960s news stories.
And back in episode 158, I dida segment on weird 1970s news
stories.
Here, though, we're sticking tothe one year, 1985.
(25:02):
And boy, there were some weirdstories here.
As with many of these top fivelists, there are some honorable
mentions, and the top fiveitself is in no particular
order.
So let's get into the honorablementions, and there are a
couple of them.
One honorable mention is theNFL's Houston Oilers threatening
(25:25):
to try to shut down the NFLdraft.
This is a very complicatedstory.
It has to do with Houston notgetting a draft pick they were
owed and having to do withquarterback Bernie Kosar coming
out of college.
and Houston threatening to suethe NFL and Commissioner Pete
Rozelle.
(25:45):
It didn't happen, and the daybefore the draft, Houston
dropped the lawsuit.
And the other honorable mentionis the famous Sports
Illustrated April Fool's articleabout baseball pitcher Sid
Finch.
Obviously, Sid Finch wasn't areal person, but the story was
he was raised in an Englishorphanage, learned yoga in
(26:09):
Tibet.
and could throw a fastball 168miles an hour.
Despite the absurdity of thisarticle, there were people who
thought he was a real person.
He was supposed to be signed bythe New York Mets.
They even gave him a locker,but then on April 2nd, they had
a news conference where heannounced his retirement.
(26:29):
In the article, Sid Finch wasphotographed, and he was played
by a man named Joe Burton, whowas a friend of sports
illustrative photographer LaneStewart.
So those are the honorablementions, but let's get into the
actual top five and just theinsanity that was 1985.
Number one, is a TV show sogood that you'd watch it while
(26:54):
your house was burning downaround you?
This occurred in January 1985in Birmingham, England.
Nancy Thurlow and her daughterMadeline were We're watching the
TV show Saint Elsewhere, alongwith husband George Thurlow,
when a fire broke out, but theywere so into the episode of the
(27:15):
show that they watched it whiletheir house was burning down
around them.
The firefighters arrived, sawthe fire, sent people inside,
and were shocked to see three ofthem sitting in the burning
living room watching SaintElsewhere.
Everybody was rescued and thefire was put out.
And once the fire was out,Nancy and her daughter Madeline
(27:38):
rushed back inside to catch thefinal few minutes of St.
Elsewhere.
Is there any episode oftelevision where you would
actually sit and watch it whileyour house burned down around
you?
I guess they didn't have a VCR.
Number two is What Happened toBambi?
This is from February 1985 andcenters around a Soviet Union
(28:03):
production of a live-actionversion of the movie Bambi, so
about the deer.
The movie was going to becalled Bambi's Childhood, and
there were three fawns that werebrought in to play the baby
version of Bambi.
These three fawns werestolen...
(28:23):
killed, butchered, and eaten ata birthday celebration.
So the movie Bambi's Childhoodnever got made because three
Bambis were killed for thisparty.
Two men were arrested.
One of them ended up gettingsix years in prison, and the
other one got four years inprison, and he was the one the
(28:45):
birthday was for.
One of the best things aboutthis is is that this story was
in Weekly World News at thetime, and it was actually real.
It was not made up.
The headline in Weekly WorldNews said, Drunken Russians Eat
Bambi, with a picture of amother and a baby deer.
That's unreal.
(29:06):
Number three is The Ultimate ofIrony.
This story is from New Orleans.
It's from July 1985.
There was a party being thrownfor more than 100 lifeguards
celebrating a summer seasonwithout any drownings, which
obviously is a good thing tocelebrate.
(29:27):
No one died on your watch.
Where the irony comes in iswhere lifeguard Jerome Moody,
who had been drinking heavily atthe party, fell into the pool
and drowned.
The party was so fun andraucous that none of the more
than 100 lifeguards celebratingno one dying on their watch had
(29:49):
another lifeguard die on theirwatch at this party.
I don't know if that is thetextbook case of irony, but it's
got to be up there.
It's at least jinxing yourselfwhen you say you never get sick
and then the next day you'resick or you say you never get
speeding tickets and as soon asyou start your car, cops are
just waiting for you.
Not that that's ever happenedto me, though.
(30:11):
Moving on.
Number four, stupid criminals.
This is from December 1985 fromWashington, D.C.
It was called OperationFlagship.
U.S.
Marshals used the get somethingfor nothing scheme to get
wanted fugitives to voluntarilygo to the Washington Convention
(30:34):
Center.
They were responding to aninvitation from a fictional
television company saying theyhad won free NFL tickets.
They had to go there and claimthe tickets to see the
Washington Redskins play theCincinnati Bengals and get a
chance to go to Super Bowl XX.
101 wanted criminals showed upand were arrested immediately.
(30:58):
There were 166 marshals posingas ushers, cheerleaders, MCs,
caterers, and even mascots.
They all just swarmed thesecriminals and arrested them.
These criminals and manycriminals are living embodiments
of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
(31:18):
That is, stupid people are toostupid to know how stupid they
are, which is why they getcaught up in stings like that.
Speaking of stupid, finally,number five on the list of weird
and funny news events of 1985is one of the worst changes you
(31:38):
could ever see.
This is from March 1985 fromSt.
Louis, Missouri.
And the absolutely asinine ideathat the term bus stop conveyed
too many negative emotions.
So they changed it from busstop to bus start.
Many people thought it might bean early April Fool's joke, but
(32:00):
nope, it was voted on, andthere were 1,800 bus start signs
put up all throughout St.
Louis.
All this did was cause massiveconfusion, which you can
understand.
It'd be like changing a stopsign to something else, or
changing stop lights from redwhile red's an angry color.
Let's make it happy.
(32:21):
It's just nothing butconfusion.
After a year and a half ofstupidity, they had to change it
back, which meant they had toget all new bus stop signs made,
so there's a nice waste of cityfunds.
There you have it, though.
Some of the weirdest, funniest,head-scratching news events
from 1985.
(32:42):
I don't know.
To me, the craziest one is thepeople that were watching TV
while their house burned downaround them.
I could see maybe if I was onthe verge of beating a game on
Nintendo and the house wasburning down, I might be like,
please, I just gotta defeatMetroid.
But even then, I think mymother would have stomped a hole
(33:02):
in the Nintendo and thrown meout the door.
Oh, here we go.
1985 was a vibrant andtransformative year in music.
It straddled the last wave ofnew wave, the peak of synth pop,
(33:24):
and the first steps into thedigital future.
As with any year, there weresome artists that reached their
peak of their career, some thatfizzled out, new talents that
emerged.
So let's take a look at all ofit.
Let's do a deep dive into themusic scene in 1985.
For me, I believe at this timeI was still kind of a metalhead.
(33:46):
I listened to a lot of VanHalen, Motley Crue, Twisted
Sister, Rat, Quiet Riot.
But I also enjoyed Huey Lewisand the News.
Obviously Michael Jackson, hewas still riding the wave of
thriller.
There were some big new artiststhat came out in 1985.
(34:07):
First and foremost was WhitneyHouston.
She released her self-titleddebut album in February.
It had the songs Saving All MyLove For You and How Will I
Know.
She was very different on thatfirst album, very made up with
teased up hair.
I mean, she was only 21 yearsold then.
(34:27):
LL Cool J released his debutalbum Radio, produced by Rick
Rubin.
Guns N' Roses was formed,although they wouldn't have
their first album come out fortwo years.
Sade released their first albumwith Smooth Operator.
Run DMC released their firstalbum, King of Rock.
(34:49):
One band that seemed like theywere destined to be big based on
what they did in 1985 was Mr.
Mister.
They had two massive songs withBroken Wings and Kyrie.
They both went to number one.
Their debut album, Welcome tothe Real World, went
multi-platinum, but they endedup not being able to continue
(35:13):
that success.
I guess they're not a one-hitwonder, but they are a two-hit
wonder.
I mentioned We Are the World inthe Time Capsule segment, so
you know all about that one.
Some of the other major songsthat were released in 1985
included George Michael'sCareless Whisper, though in some
(35:33):
markets they credited it asstill with Wham.
There was Take On Me by A-Ha,including their famous video
that's kind of like a graphicnovel come to life.
Don Henley of the Eaglesreleased The Boys of Summer.
David Lee Roth, who had justrecently split from Van Halen,
(35:54):
released California Girls, thecover of the Beach Boys song,
which included a video that Idefinitely enjoyed watching,
even as an eight-year-old.
There was REO Speedwagon andtheir song Can't Fight This
Feeling.
One song, or I should sayvideo, that freaked me out was
Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersDon't Come Around Here No More,
(36:16):
which was an Alice inWonderland-themed video.
So the end of the song whenAlice is a cake and they're
eating her, boy, that freaked meout.
There was Don't You ForgetAbout Me by Simple Minds that
all of us from a certain agegroup know from The Breakfast
Club.
Tears for Fears releasedEverybody Wants to Rule the
(36:38):
World.
Every time I hear that song, Ithink of the home video release
of the 1985-86 Celticschampionship team.
There was one highlightspackage that had the music from
that song in it.
Huey Lewis and the Newsreleased The Power of Love,
which I, of course, rememberfrom Back to the Future.
(36:59):
And don't worry, Back to theFuture, when it turns 40 in
July, will be getting its ownsegment.
It has to.
Some of the other major albumsfrom 1985 included Dire Straits'
Brothers in Arms, which had theawesome song Money for Nothing
with that crazy computeranimated video.
Phil Collins released No JacketRequired, which won Album of
(37:24):
the Year at the Grammys.
The soundtrack from the TV showMiami Vice spent seven weeks at
number one, which is justcrazy.
Mostly because it didn't evenhave Don Johnson's song,
Heartbeat, on there.
I mean, you need that.
Speaking of celebritiesreleasing music, 1985 also saw
Eddie Murphy release his song,Party, all the time.
(37:46):
That is the one where RickJames sings backup.
Not everything was sunshine andrainbows for musicians in 1985.
The supergroup, The PowerStation...
comprised of members of DuranDuran and singer Robert Palmer,
released the hit song Some LikeIt Hot, but their album had
(38:07):
mixed reviews.
It didn't live up to the buzzof a quote-unquote supergroup.
Billy Squire released his albumEnough Is Enough, but that
failed to reverse the damagedone by that infamously awkward,
one of the worst videos ever,Rock Me Tonight.
When it comes to best and worstof music, it's all subjective
(38:29):
stuff.
As I've done my research forthis segment, I have found a lot
of people's lists for worstsongs of 1985.
We Built This City by Starship.
That's pretty much on all ofthe lists.
But I guarantee somebody who'slistening to this loves that
song.
Others in the running for worstis St.
(38:50):
Elmo's Fire, the theme from themovie.
Dancing in the Street by MickJagger and David Bowie with
another cringy video.
There was the song Oh Yeah byYellow.
That's from Ferris Bueller'sDay Off, which I don't mind it,
but as a song in and of itself,it's kind of a quintessential
(39:11):
80s song that couldn't be madeat any other time.
The song Tarzan Boy byBaltimore.
That's kind of a split one.
I'm sure a lot of you likethat.
It's got a very singablechorus.
It's not really words.
But there are others that wouldprobably find it pretty
annoying.
By 1985, MTV was the kingmaker.
(39:34):
They were the ones, if yourvideo was popular on MTV, you
were made.
That's where Mr.
Mr., A-ha, acts like thatbecame successful because their
videos were unique.
It became required.
Artists needed to have strongmusic videos to thrive.
and careers were made or brokenby what aired on MTV.
(39:57):
I just mentioned Billy Squire.
Early in 1985, MTV releasedsister channel VH1, Video Hits
1.
It was meant to be for olderpeople, which I kind of don't
understand because music videosweren't really prevalent until
at least the late 70s.
(40:17):
So what older people are youlooking at in 1985?
People in their 60s were bornin the 1920s.
Do you have any music videosfrom Glenn Miller, Frank
Sinatra, Bing Crosby?
I don't think so.
In May 1985, you had thecreation of Spin Magazine,
(40:38):
launched by Bob Guccione Jr.,whose father started Penthouse
Magazine.
This magazine would focus a loton alternative, hip-hop, grunge
music.
It was here that you'd get alot of information about the
college radio acts, ones thatwere popular in college, like
REM, Talking Heads, The Cult.
(40:59):
You'd probably have Kate Bush,Jesus and Mary Chain, Husker Du.
Music itself saw the rise ofsynthesizers and drum machines,
digital recording techniques.
It's funny, if you go ontoInstagram, if you post a story,
and some of them you can putmusic with, You go and you
(41:20):
choose music that fits whateveryou've got there.
There's kind of a more ironicsegment that is the 80s
synth-pop sound-alike music.
And if you play any of it, forpeople that are my age, those of
you out there around 50, alittle older, a little younger,
you hear the first few beats ofthese fake new wave songs and it
(41:42):
immediately makes you think of1985.
July 1985 saw the Live Aidconcert.
The legacy of this concert hasgrown throughout history.
This is the one with Queen andFreddie Mercury's impactful
performance.
You had Phil Collins performingboth in London and
(42:02):
Philadelphia, being the drummerfor Led Zeppelin.
I have some vivid memories ofthis being on TV at my house
when it was playing.
I didn't know much about whoQueen were or how big the
reunion of Led Zeppelin was.
Nearly 2 billion people watchedit live, though.
That's a lot of people.
(42:24):
In September, there was thefirst ever Farm Aid, organized
by Neil Young, Willie Nelson,John Mellencamp.
1985 also saw the Parents MusicResource Council, PMRC, get
formed.
This was the beginning of theputting the labels on CDs,
(42:45):
parental advisory programs.
which only made me want thealbums more if I saw that
sticker on there.
I was like, ooh, I'm cool.
Some of the biggest moviesoundtracks of the year included
The Breakfast Club, CrushGroove, The Goonies, Back to the
Future, and of course, TheWrestling Album, which included
(43:06):
theme songs sung by wrestlerslike Hillbilly Jim, Rowdy Roddy
Piper, Mean Gene Okerlund,Nikolai Volkov.
As far as awards to kind ofwrap up 1985, the MTV Video
Music Awards, David Lee Roth wasnominated the most with eight
nominations.
California Girls and also Justa Gigolo, which has him
(43:30):
performing with a lot ofcelebrity lookalikes.
Video of the Year was DonHenley, the Boys of Summer.
New Artist in a Music Video wasTill Tuesday with Voices Carry,
and they are from Boston, whichis why I remember that song.
For the Grammys in 1985, TinaTurner won Song of the Year for
(43:50):
What's Love Got to Do With It.
Lionel Richie won Album of theYear for Can't Slow Down.
Cyndi Lauper was Best NewArtist.
And if you're wondering, thepeople from 1985 that won in the
Grammys that came out in 1986,Phil Collins won Album of the
Year for No Jacket Required.
We Are the World won the Grammyfor Song of the Year.
(44:13):
Sade won Best New Artist.
So there you go.
1985 wasn't just a year ofhits.
It was a pivot point, with popbecoming bigger, brasher, more
visual thanks to MTV.
Hip-hop was creeping towardsthe mainstream.
R&B started shifting away fromdisco shadow into smoother, more
(44:36):
melodic territory.
New technology like CDs,digital recording, and a greater
emphasis on music videos.
It transformed how musicsounded and how it was sold.
So what was your favorite partabout music in 1985?
Did you have albums orcassettes or were you high
(44:56):
rolling and got CDs?
And are you as freaked out asme that 1985 was 40 years ago
now?
That's my biggest takeaway fromall of this.
But until we meet again, that'sgoing to wrap up episode 192 of
the In My Footsteps podcast.
Thank you all so much forlistening, for making it to the
(45:20):
end, for reminiscing with meabout 40 years ago in the year
1985.
We'll keep the content trainrolling next week with episode
193.
It will be a return to formnormal.
These year in review typeepisodes, they'll be sprinkled
in.
It's not going to be somethingI do all the time, but it was
(45:41):
definitely a fun change of pace.
If you enjoy my work, you cansupport me by becoming a
subscriber on Patreon for $5 amonth.
You can always subscribe to thefree tier and just be a part of
the community.
Maybe try before you buy.
You can also buy me a coffee.
Links to all this are in thedescription of the podcast.
(46:04):
Of course, the best way to showyour support for me, for any
content creator, is to sharetheir work, spread the word
around about their work.
I'm just one person, so I canonly speak for me, but doing a
lot of content work, it takes alot of time.
Typically, 15 to 20 hours aweek, I spend recording,
(46:26):
editing, marketing, promoting,creating visual art to go along
with what I create.
It feels like since I startedthis podcast in the fall of
2020, that my content creationgame has really stepped up.
It really is like a second job.
And that's not a bad thing.
(46:47):
The creative side, using mybrain, that's the stuff I really
like.
Because then when I'm super oldand beaten up and I can't do
much else but sit at my desk, Ican still do this.
I will keep you informed whenit gets closer to the release
date of the movie that I filmedabout a month or so ago.
I'm hearing that it might besometime in June.
(47:10):
Obviously, you will all knowwhen I know.
And then from there, it's offto the races.
I am going to try my hand atvoice acting, maybe a little bit
of on-screen stuff, smallroles, background roles, because
why not?
That's my main thinking.
Acting in a film was notanything on my radar as recently
(47:33):
as nine months ago.
So here's a new thing.
Why not give it a shot?
I bought a portablesoundproofing booth, I guess,
for lack of a better term.
It should be here for nextweek's podcast when I record it,
so you'll have to let me knowif it sounds any different.
It's basically a series ofthree foldable soundproofing
(47:56):
panels that I can put around mymicrophone and me, and it fits
on my desk.
Maybe it'll make no differenceand I'm just wasting my money,
but I'd rather take the chancethan not.
Happy birthday when thispodcast goes live on this date
to my Aunt Emma out in LasVegas.
I'm hoping that the weather isperfect out there.
(48:20):
It usually is much better thanCape Cod's weather, especially
in April.
So I hope it's the bestbirthday it can be, and I hope
sometime in the future we gettogether again, whether it's me
visiting Vegas or you visitingCape Cod.
If you celebrated Easter, Ihope you had the best day
possible.
I know I was stuffed as full offood as I could be, but hey, I
(48:43):
went to the gym in the morning,so that makes up for it.
Whenever I think of Easter, itreminds me of my nana and Easter
at her house, followed by usbeing forced to go for a walk
down to the nearby cranberrybog.
It was something so simple, butit was really good family
bonding time.
Lots of fun, lots of laughs.
(49:05):
And we got in cardio aftereating loads of ham and my
Nana's special cheesy hash brownpotatoes.
Those things were so legendary.
When I was...
A kid when I was like 10, she'dmake one pan would probably be
enough.
Then they got so popular.
I think she ended up having tomake at least two, maybe three
(49:28):
big pans of those.
And whether it's holidays ornot, I hope that you out there
take the time, make the time forthose that matter the most to
you.
Family, friends, maybe you'reout for a walk right now in the
sun listening to this.
I hope my voice is helping yougo on your way.
(49:48):
Find me all over social media.
You know where I am.
Subscribe to the YouTubechannel.
Follow me on Instagram, myFacebook fan page, Threads, Blue
Sky.
I'm sometimes on TikTok.
But until next week, remember,in this life, don't walk in
anyone else's footsteps.
Create your own path And enjoyevery moment you can on this
(50:13):
journey we call life, becauseyou never know what tomorrow
brings.
Thank you all for tuning in.
This has been the In MyFootsteps podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,and you already knew that.
And I'll talk to you all againsoon.
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