Stuck in the '80s Podcast

The 1980s gave us many things. Synthesizers. New wave. MTV. John Hughes movies. But it also gave us towering stacks of Marshall amplifiers, guitar solos that seemed to last forever and enough hairspray to damage the ozone layer. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve welcomes authors Ron and Don Higgins to discuss their new book, The Biggest Big Hair Book of Metal Trivia, a deep dive in...

The 1980s gave us arcade games, MTV, heavy metal, slasher movies and one of the strangest moral panics in modern American history: the Satanic Panic. During the decade, parents, politicians, televangelists and talk shows became convinced that hidden satanic messages were lurking everywhere — in rock music, role-playing games, horror films and even children’s toys. This week on the Stuck in the ’80...

There was a time when summer movies felt like a season all their own. You studied newspaper listings. You watched trailers over and over again. You gathered friends, bought popcorn and spent entire afternoons escaping into air-conditioned theaters. For many Gen Xers, the late 1970s and 1980s represented the golden age of the summer blockbuster. That's why this week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast...

The soundtrack albums of 1983 were stacked. Everybody remembers the big songs. The radio hits. The MTV favorites. The tracks that became inseparable from the movies themselves. But what about the songs hiding on Side Two? This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad revisit some of the greatest soundtrack albums of 1983 and focus on the deep cuts that often get overlooked when discus...

Music has always had a remarkable ability to cross borders. Sometimes a great melody, unforgettable hook or powerful performance can connect with audiences even when they don't understand every word being sung. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad debut a new series called Language Lessons , a celebration of the songs that overcame language barriers and found success during t...

There are debut albums. And then there are debut albums that feel like they've always existed. That's certainly true of Violent Femmes. Released in 1983, the self-titled debut from Violent Femmes arrived with little fanfare but gradually became one of the most beloved, influential and endlessly replayable records of the entire decade. Forty years later, it remains a touchstone for generations of m...

It wouldn't be Easter without Easter eggs. And we're not just talking about the ones hidden in your backyard. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve, Brad and company celebrate the holiday by exploring some of their favorite Easter eggs from across the world of 1980s pop culture. Along the way, they uncover hidden movie references, secret video-game surprises, musical inside jokes and,...

Let's be honest. There are some 1983 hits we've all heard enough. Not because they're bad songs. Quite the opposite. They're great songs. The problem is that decades of radio airplay have made them almost too familiar. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad go beyond the obvious and explore the hidden corners of one of the greatest years in pop-culture history. The mission is s...

Second place can be a frustrating destination. Especially when you're only one song away from chart immortality. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Spearsy welcomes back Chuck "Mr. Mayor" Coverly for Part 2 of our look at the songs of 1989 that reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 but never managed to claim the top spot. As longtime listeners know, Close But No Cigar has become one of o...

It always takes a few days to process The 80s Cruise. You get home. You unpack. You try to remember what day it is. And then you begin sorting through the hundreds of memories created during a week that somehow feels both completely exhausting and entirely too short. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad finally sit down to recap everything that happened aboard the 2023 voyage...

As the 1980s drew to a close, the Billboard charts became one of the most competitive battlegrounds in pop-music history. Superstars were everywhere. Genres were colliding. And some truly great songs found themselves stuck just one spot short of chart glory. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve returns to Close But No Cigar , our long-running series celebrating songs that reached No....

Who says you can't re-gift a Valentine's Day present? This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, we're revisiting a listener favorite from 2015 as Steve, Brad and special guest co-host Carol Janssen celebrate one of the defining musical traditions of the decade: the romantic duet. The 1980s may have been the golden age of the power ballad, but it was also an era when record labels seemed determin...

It's happening. After months of anticipation, planning and obsessive checking of countdown calendars, we're officially down to 30 days before embarkation for the 2023 voyage of The 80s Cruise. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad welcome ECP Production Manager Joey Fairchild for a special countdown episode dedicated to everything cruisers need to know before setting sail. As...

If you made a mixtape in the 1980s, chances are good that Holly Knight helped write part of its soundtrack. As one of the most successful songwriters of the MTV era, Knight created or co-created some of the decade’s most unforgettable rock and pop anthems — songs that still echo through classic-rock radio, movie soundtracks and Gen X memory decades later. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s Podcast...

"There is a peck here with an acorn pointed at me." If you recognize that reference, you're probably exactly the kind of person who will enjoy this week's episode. Steve and Brad return to one of the most beloved fantasy films of the late 1980s as they revisit Willow and compare it with the more recent Disney+ series that brought the story back to life for a new generation. Released in 1988, Willo...

For a generation raised on MTV, John Hughes movies and shopping malls, the 1980s were more than just entertainment. They were an education. We may not have realized it at the time, but many of the movies, songs and cultural moments we absorbed during the decade ended up shaping the way we view friendship, success, resilience, creativity and life itself. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast,...

Some movies don't need sequels. And some movies practically dare Hollywood to try. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad take a closer look at A Christmas Story Christmas, the sequel to the beloved holiday favorite A Christmas Story. The premise is simple enough. Ralphie Parker has grown up. Really. After decades of reruns, leg lamps and endless recitations of "You'll shoot yo...

Can it really be 40 years? For many of us, it feels like just yesterday. One minute we were watching music videos after school, trying to learn the dance moves and debating which song was our favorite. The next thing we knew, Thriller had become something much larger than an album. It became an event. This week on the Stuck in the ’80s podcast, Steve and Brad celebrate the 40th anniversary of Thri...

So many different songs have the same name - even in the 1980s. Hence our series continues - "The Song (Title) Remains the Same." This week's installment includes songs by Toto, Bob Seger, Hall and Oates, Bonnie Tyler, Go West and Oingo Boingo. Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas on...

Those songs that hit No. 2 on the charts but no further - our "close but no cigar" favorites - are back this week with the year 1988 - Part 3. Yes, 1988 was an odd year. Just ask fans of Robert Palmer, Elton John, Pebbles and more. Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas on March 3-10 fo...

If you're a fan of horror movies in the '80s, don't miss our interview with "In Search of Darkness Part 3" writer/director David Weiner. We talk movie franchises, our favorite horror moments and get David's recommendation on the one can't-miss horror movie you probably never saw. Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal...

If you're ready to plunge into what it was like to be a teen in small-town Florida in the '80s, you need to read Davida Breier's novel "Sinkhole." Davida joins the show this week. Also includes full seggies.  Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas on March 3-10 for a weeklong trip back...

It's a Hurricane Ian special: We go back to 2014 and listen to our first episode on "Unlikely Cover Songs of the '80s," featuring a short interview with Naked Eyes frontman Pete Byrne.  Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas on March 3-10 for a weeklong trip back to the '80s. The lineup...

Get ready to put on your old-man glasses and slide-on shoes as we celebrate three albums turned 40 years old this month: Rush's "Signals," Simple Minds' "New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)" and Billy Joel's "Nylon Curtain." Special guest co-host Chuck Coverly joins the show. Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal Caribbean...

We remember Olivia Newton-John through her songs and movie roles. Cindy Gaber, co-writer of ONJ's memoir, joins the show to share her memories of working with Olivia. Stuck in the '80s is sponsored by The 80s Cruise . The 2023 lineup has been announced. Join Steve and Brad on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas on March 3-10 for a weeklong trip back to the '80s. The lineup includes: Devo, Br...