Stuck in the '80s Podcast

Twenty years ago, Stuck in the ’80s was still the new kid on the podcast block. There were no smartphones recording everything, social media was barely a thing, and somehow people were willing to give three podcasters backstage access. What could possibly go wrong? For this week’s episode, we’re opening the archives and heading back to 2006 for one of our earliest adventures: the “We Are the ’80s”...

Few synth-pop songs from the late ’80s have enjoyed a second life quite like When in Rome’s “The Promise.” Released in 1988, the song became the band’s signature hit, but its story didn’t end there. Years later, a memorable appearance at the end of Napoleon Dynamite introduced “The Promise” to a whole new generation and helped turn it into one of those ’80s songs that seems to keep finding new fan...

Some episodes of Stuck in the ’80s are harder to record than others. This week, Steve goes solo to remember Pete Byrne, the unmistakable voice of Naked Eyes, who has passed away at age 74. For millions of music fans, Pete will always be remembered for the synth-pop classics "Always Something There to Remind Me" and "Promises, Promises." But for Steve, Pete was much more than the voice behind two o...

What if you were 16 years old in the summer of 1985, armed with little more than a Sony Walkman, a few cassette tapes and the belief that somehow — some way — you had to make it to Live Aid? That’s the idea at the heart of Live Aid Runaways , the new novel by Shane Robitaille. Shane joins the podcast along with researcher Livi Stanford to take us behind the scenes of a story that mixes fictional c...

There really was nobody else quite like Dolly Parton. In this special episode of Stuck in the ’80s , we remember Dolly — the songwriter, singer, actress, entrepreneur and wonderfully funny human being who somehow became a national treasure without ever seeming like she was trying to be one. Joining us is longtime friend of the show Annie Zaleski , music journalist and author of the new book Dolly...

Some ’80s bands sold millions of records. Some filled arenas. Some became so permanently embedded in pop culture that you can’t walk through a grocery store without hearing them over the frozen peas. And then there are the bands that somehow found us anyway. This week on Stuck in the ’80s, we’re celebrating Book of Love and a handful of other synth-pop bands that deserved a little more attention t...

We all have that one movie from the ’80s. Maybe yours is Back to the Future . Maybe it’s The Breakfast Club , The Goonies or Say Anything . It doesn’t necessarily have to be the greatest movie ever made. It just has to be the movie that found you at exactly the right time and somehow never let go. For Steve, that movie has always been Streets of Fire . Walter Hill’s 1984 “rock & roll fable” ga...

Forty years ago, Paul Simon released one of the most unlikely blockbuster albums of the 1980s. Graceland arrived on Aug. 25, 1986, blending Simon’s unmistakable songwriting with South African rhythms, zydeco, gospel harmonies and a completely new way of building songs. The result was an album that sounded unlike almost anything else on the radio — and somehow became one of the defining records of...

If you could go back and spend four years at any fictional high school from the ’80s, where would you enroll? Would you hang out with Spicoli at Ridgemont High? Serve Saturday detention with the Breakfast Club at Shermer High? Shoot hoops for Hickory? Learn the African Anteater Ritual at Crandall High? Or maybe you'd choose a school where there's absolutely no chance of being murdered by your clas...

When Stuck in the ’80s was just getting started, we somehow convinced Adam Curry to talk to us. This was our second-ever celebrity interview , and Curry came armed with exactly the kind of stories we hoped an MTV VJ would have. Madonna. Sebastian Bach. Moscow. Richard Marx. And that's just for starters. In this classic Stuck in the ’80s interview, former MTV VJ Adam Curry takes us behind the scene...

Some movies don't just survive the passage of time—they become part of who we are. Released 40 years ago, Stand By Me captured something rare: the bittersweet moment when childhood gives way to adulthood. Based on Stephen King's novella The Body , the film transformed a simple search for a missing boy into one of the most heartfelt stories ever told about friendship, growing up and realizing that...

James Bond didn't just survive the 1980s—he evolved. The decade began with the familiar charm of Roger Moore, who somehow managed to save the world while delivering one-liners smoother than a shaken martini. But by the end of the '80s, the tuxedo belonged to Timothy Dalton, whose darker, more serious interpretation helped pave the way for the modern Bond audiences know today. On this week's Stuck...

Some bands reunite because nostalgia sells. Others reunite because they still have something to say. Listening to Haircut 100's new album, Boxing the Compass , it's pretty clear which camp they fall into. This week, Steve welcomes the always charming Nick Heyward back to Stuck in the '80s to talk about the band's first album featuring the original lineup in an astonishing 44 years. Rather than try...

Episode 791: Forty years ago, the summer of 1986 came with its own soundtrack. It was a season when some of the biggest artists in music were reinventing themselves, while other bands were just beginning to find the audiences that would follow them for decades. Turn on the radio, walk into a record store or press play on your cassette deck, and you might hear something polished and enormous one mi...

Episode 790: Not every story from the 1980s comes wrapped in neon, movie quotes, and mixtapes. Some begin in darkness. This week on Stuck in the '80s , I sit down with author Tracy Viola to discuss her remarkable memoir, Pretty Wrecked: Confessions of a Teenage Addict and Her Road to Recovery . While many of our episodes celebrate the music, movies and pop culture that made the decade unforgettabl...

Episode 789: Summer has a funny way of collapsing time. One minute you're hearing a familiar song on the radio or smelling charcoal from the neighbor's grill, and suddenly you're sixteen years old again. You're counting down the days until the next blockbuster hits the theater. You're hanging out with friends until the streetlights come on. You're convinced that summer might actually last forever....

Episode 788: If you grew up in the 1980s, chances are your childhood memories can be measured in action figures, toy catalogs, and Saturday mornings spent convincing your parents that you absolutely needed "just one more." The toys weren't simply things we owned—they became the stars of our own adventures. They transformed living room floors into battlefields, bedrooms into space stations, and bac...

Episode 787: When people talk about the summer movies of 1986, the conversation usually starts with Top Gun and ends somewhere around Aliens , The Karate Kid Part II , and Ferris Bueller's Day Off . It was one of the strongest movie summers of the decade, packed with blockbusters that still dominate pop-culture conversations 40 years later. But every great movie season leaves a few worthy titles b...

Episode 786: From sci-fi parodies and comedy catchphrases to political satire and celebrity rap records, the ’80s produced some truly unforgettable novelty hits. Steve and Chuck revisit songs that were silly, bizarre, occasionally controversial—and somehow impossible to forget. In this episode, they discuss: • "Star Trekkin'" by The Firm, the cult classic that became a No. 1 hit in the United King...

Some songs don’t just define a decade — they instantly improve your mood the second they begin playing. Few tracks from the MTV era carry that kind of joyful energy quite like Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s Podcast , Steve sits down with frontwoman Katrina Leskanich for a lively conversation about music, touring and the remarkable twists and turns...

Forty years later, So still stands as one of the most ambitious, emotional and sonically adventurous albums of the 1980s. Released in 1986, the landmark record transformed Peter Gabriel from respected art-rock innovator into a full-fledged MTV superstar thanks to unforgettable songs like Sledgehammer, In Your Eyes, Big Time and Red Rain. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s Podcast , Spearsy revisit...

This week on the longest-running ’80s pop culture podcast, Steve Spears and Brad Williams return to one of their favorite recurring topics: unlikely cover songs of the 1980s. Did you know Eddie Money’s “I Wanna Go Back” was originally recorded by Billy Satellite? Or that Chaka Khan’s Grammy-winning “I Feel for You” began as a deep cut by Prince? Episode Timeline 00:00 – Welcome back to Unlikely Co...

This week on the longest-running ’80s pop culture podcast, Steve Spears and Brad in California hit the gas for a deep dive into the most iconic TV and movie cars of the 1980s. Joined by Retro DJ and car expert Travis Bell, the gang explores the legendary “star cars” that became just as famous as the actors who drove them. From Pontiac Trans Am KITT in Knight Rider to the time-traveling DeLorean DM...

Soccer legend and longtime friend Alexi Lalas joins us to talk about the 1981 movie "Victory" starring Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. On Sale Now! Stuck in the '80s: 20 Years of Conversations with Pop Culture Icons Who Defined a Decade , by podcast creator Steve Spears, is finally for sale as both a paperback and ebook. Featuring more than 60 interviews from the podcast, along wit...

We introduce the 2026 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We talk who got in, who got snubbed, and which choices will have us yelling at our dashboards like it’s 1987 and the DJ just skipped our favorite song. On Sale Now! Stuck in the '80s: 20 Years of Conversations with Pop Culture Icons Who Defined a Decade , by podcast creator Steve Spears, is finally for sale as both a paperback and eboo...