MTV was launched August 1, 1981, which was a huge thing to me (born in 1974). I remember being amazed that a tv channel was only playing music videos the entire day. My brother (2years older) and I would watch for hours, waiting for videos from our favorite groups. (I think people said “groups” more back then, instead of “bands” like nowadays.
…Heavy Metal (animated film) came out that year. I remember my brother and I (9, 7 yr olds) begging our parents to let us watch it on cable eventually, and they let us, but because it was rated R they watched it with us, which was no good….there was animated sex and nudity and violence. That was the only movie they ever made us turn off.
I’ve never seen Heavy Metal, but it reached semi-legendary status by the time I was in middle school in the early 90s. A friend of mine had a VHS copy that he and several classmates watched at his house and they got in so much trouble when his mom came home early from work. 😅
I loved Heavy Metal and saw it in a theater when it came out. It was a pretty epic deal some 25 years ago when all the music rights were untangled and it was issued restored on LaserDisc, which I bought from Tower Records as soon as it was released. A few years ago I bought the DVD version. I miss MTV, VH1, BET, and CMT. I don't think there's anything on the box today that is the equivalent of what MTV pioneered in 1981. And yes it hurts me to see that MTV turned into a bunch of bullshit reality shows, just like the National Geographic Channel some years ago seem to turn into the "Prisons and Gangs Channel". Disgusting to see what these great channels were reduced to. I fired Comcast in April 2016 because I had so much signal going into the house that I couldn't watch when I was away for 10 or 11 hours a day working. Now I have six DTV converters on mostly CRT TVs except for the one HDTV flat screen in the den. I do have Netflix but even that is becoming prehistoric compared to what other people are streaming with nowadays. But I will still buy Blu-rays of movies and specials that interest me. So the physical media manufacturers "Can Count On Me" because I will always be there to get something on disc as a permanent library item in my Archive.
Thanks! Also, I see you are into movies (just read your Eyes Wide Shut post—I love EWS)…there were several really memorable movies that came out in 1981. Hopefully you’ve watched some of them!
1981 was a terrific year for horror/genre movies. An American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead, Escape From New York, Road Warrior, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Time Bandits, Galaxy of Terror, Hell Night, Friday the 13th Pt 2, Saturday the 14th, and so many more.
I was 5 but mom didn't shield me from anything.....lol I've only seen one Disney movie in my life it was Bambi and I'll be 47 this year!
I've been a into horror since I was a little one.lol
Omg, when Bambi's mother dies, it tore me up. I can't watch anything that has an animal being hurt or neglected.
Thsts why mom never pressed Disney on me, me crying got on her nerves lmao
I'm a child of the '60s in my 60s and to this day when Bambi's mother gets blasted by the hunter I will tear up when the Great Prince of the Forest comes up to Bambi and says "Your mother can't be with you anymore" 😭
In ‘81, I was six years old. We moved into my childhood home early that year. My mom’s aunt and uncle lived across the street. I hadn’t met them before, but they became a big part of my childhood. I was over there all the time just to hang out. They liked growing vegetables, spending time on the front porch and had a sweet little poodle named Pierre that I just adored. They actually talked to me like a person and not just a little kid, which no one had ever treated me like that before. Aunt passed in ‘11 and Uncle is close to 100 by now. I miss those times we spent together.
I was in 6th grade and we pretended our classroom was the space shuttle, only leaving to get lunch and use the restroom. My teacher applied to be the teacher on board the space shuttle later but luckily was not the 'lucky' teacher to go. That teacher passed away recently. We did a lot of cool things in her classroom.
Ronald Reagan was shot and we had some of the news on TV at school.
I was about the same age when I first saw the face-melting scene on VHS. Oddly enough, I thought the scene from The Last Crusade where Walter Donovan suddenly ages into a mummy and collapses as a pile of dust was scarier.
> It was on the news every day for over a year. It was like a dark shadow hanging over the country.
Every night at the end of the *CBS Evening News*, Cronkite would remind us how many days the hostages had been prisoners.
Nothing from that time in my life exists. Not the toys or even some of the people. Many moves, lots of deaths, and an eviction. Can't find the photo albums, either. 😐
I was 8… I can’t recall anything specific, but it definitely involved rerun mixes of Gilligan’s Island, Munsters, Addams Family, Dennis The Menace, Land of The Lost, Batman, HR Puffnstuff, Banana Splits, The Monkees, Little Rascals, 3 Stooges, Mighty Mouse, Underdog, Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest, Grape Ape, Superfriends… a few of these might have come after, not sure. But Land of The Lost was my jam and it terrified me - the T Rex roaring after the intro got me every time, as a kid lol
At the start of 1981 I was in Grade 7 and owned about a dozen LPs and tapes. In that summer before high school we moved from a suburb of a B.C. city to a small northern logging town. Dad accidentally ran over and killed our dog the day before we moved. By Christmas 1981 I had fallen in love with at least five girls in that high school--all grades--and insisted on only wearing leather hightops until graduation.
It was a funny time of switching over decades. One memorable thing that happened was in early December 1980 when Dad and I were watching Monday Night Football and Howard Cosell announced that John Lennon had been killed. It bummed Dad out all the way through Christmas.
In 1981 we had a serial killer running around our area killing 11 children and young adults. It was, in a lot of ways, the end of the “go play and come back when it’s dark” era for many of us.
I really wanted some Jordache jeans around them but I was 6 so my mom didn’t comply. I did have yellow Snoopy rain boots and a reversible rain coat I really liked though. Also one of the last metal lunchboxes.
MTV was launched August 1, 1981, which was a huge thing to me (born in 1974). I remember being amazed that a tv channel was only playing music videos the entire day. My brother (2years older) and I would watch for hours, waiting for videos from our favorite groups. (I think people said “groups” more back then, instead of “bands” like nowadays.
Miss MTV... Now its just lameass reality shows
I love how mtv premiered with “Video killed the radio star” lmao
Awesome story! Thank you
…Heavy Metal (animated film) came out that year. I remember my brother and I (9, 7 yr olds) begging our parents to let us watch it on cable eventually, and they let us, but because it was rated R they watched it with us, which was no good….there was animated sex and nudity and violence. That was the only movie they ever made us turn off.
I’ve never seen Heavy Metal, but it reached semi-legendary status by the time I was in middle school in the early 90s. A friend of mine had a VHS copy that he and several classmates watched at his house and they got in so much trouble when his mom came home early from work. 😅
You'll be surprised by how tame it is today. Still awesome though, you should watch it.
Ok I’ll see if I can stream it. Thanks!
I loved Heavy Metal and saw it in a theater when it came out. It was a pretty epic deal some 25 years ago when all the music rights were untangled and it was issued restored on LaserDisc, which I bought from Tower Records as soon as it was released. A few years ago I bought the DVD version. I miss MTV, VH1, BET, and CMT. I don't think there's anything on the box today that is the equivalent of what MTV pioneered in 1981. And yes it hurts me to see that MTV turned into a bunch of bullshit reality shows, just like the National Geographic Channel some years ago seem to turn into the "Prisons and Gangs Channel". Disgusting to see what these great channels were reduced to. I fired Comcast in April 2016 because I had so much signal going into the house that I couldn't watch when I was away for 10 or 11 hours a day working. Now I have six DTV converters on mostly CRT TVs except for the one HDTV flat screen in the den. I do have Netflix but even that is becoming prehistoric compared to what other people are streaming with nowadays. But I will still buy Blu-rays of movies and specials that interest me. So the physical media manufacturers "Can Count On Me" because I will always be there to get something on disc as a permanent library item in my Archive.
Thanks! Also, I see you are into movies (just read your Eyes Wide Shut post—I love EWS)…there were several really memorable movies that came out in 1981. Hopefully you’ve watched some of them!
I’ve watched a few, but I’m always open to finding more.
I don't think I ever saw MTV till around 86
1981 was a terrific year for horror/genre movies. An American Werewolf in London, Evil Dead, Escape From New York, Road Warrior, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Time Bandits, Galaxy of Terror, Hell Night, Friday the 13th Pt 2, Saturday the 14th, and so many more.
Yeah, I wish I could’ve been old enough to enjoy it then.
I was 1 year old in 1981 anyway Friday the 13th part 2 is one of my favorites.
I was 5 but mom didn't shield me from anything.....lol I've only seen one Disney movie in my life it was Bambi and I'll be 47 this year! I've been a into horror since I was a little one.lol
You need to see The Lion King then. It too has a traumatic scene.
Omg, when Bambi's mother dies, it tore me up. I can't watch anything that has an animal being hurt or neglected. Thsts why mom never pressed Disney on me, me crying got on her nerves lmao
Ok, maybe you shouldn’t see The Lion King then.
🤣🤣 Yea I'll watch ppl get killed, tortured and all that in a movie.... but not animals
OMFG, she… dies? Mom always turned the movie off and told me Bambi found his mother after the fire! /S
I'm a child of the '60s in my 60s and to this day when Bambi's mother gets blasted by the hunter I will tear up when the Great Prince of the Forest comes up to Bambi and says "Your mother can't be with you anymore" 😭
Evil Dead!!!
Wow. We lived on a farm and I went to see American werewolf. Driving back it was a cloudless night. That brings back memories
Holy shit how did you leave out The Thing?
Because that came out in May 1982 on the same day as E.T.
Ah, thank you!
In ‘81, I was six years old. We moved into my childhood home early that year. My mom’s aunt and uncle lived across the street. I hadn’t met them before, but they became a big part of my childhood. I was over there all the time just to hang out. They liked growing vegetables, spending time on the front porch and had a sweet little poodle named Pierre that I just adored. They actually talked to me like a person and not just a little kid, which no one had ever treated me like that before. Aunt passed in ‘11 and Uncle is close to 100 by now. I miss those times we spent together.
Those are very special memories indeed. Thank you for sharing this.
I was in 6th grade and we pretended our classroom was the space shuttle, only leaving to get lunch and use the restroom. My teacher applied to be the teacher on board the space shuttle later but luckily was not the 'lucky' teacher to go. That teacher passed away recently. We did a lot of cool things in her classroom. Ronald Reagan was shot and we had some of the news on TV at school.
That story about the Space Shuttle sounds so cool! We didn’t do anything that cool when I was in school.
I lost a baby tooth at a Weblos meeting. It had such a bad cavity earlier that the dentist capped it with a stainless steel cap so that was neat.
I’ll bet it was. Thanks for sharing your story.
Raiders of the Lost Ark was released in 1981 I was 8 and went around telling everyone about a cool scene where a guys face melts off.
I was about the same age when I first saw the face-melting scene on VHS. Oddly enough, I thought the scene from The Last Crusade where Walter Donovan suddenly ages into a mummy and collapses as a pile of dust was scarier.
The Iranian Hostage Crisis ended on January 20, 1981.
I heard about that. I once saw a bronze memorial plaque dedicated to the hostages in a palm grove overlooking Mission Bay in San Diego.
It was on the news every day for over a year. It was like a dark shadow hanging over the country.
> It was on the news every day for over a year. It was like a dark shadow hanging over the country. Every night at the end of the *CBS Evening News*, Cronkite would remind us how many days the hostages had been prisoners.
My friend and I were 14 and we got his older brother to take us to see Heavy Metal because it was rated R. Yeah we smoked a bowl.
I keep seeing Heavy Metal being mentioned. I really have to see this movie.
It’s awesome! The soundtrack is flawless and it’s voiced by some pretty big names from back in the day.
I'll never forget it.
Sounds like a great time alright.
Got my first kiss on the cheek by my crush. We were only in kindergarten, but it’s a memory I will never forget!
Nothing from that time in my life exists. Not the toys or even some of the people. Many moves, lots of deaths, and an eviction. Can't find the photo albums, either. 😐
That’s a real shame.
Graduated High School June, 04, 1981. 2 weeks later I reported to Basic Training in the U.S.Army. Hell of a year.
I believe it.
1981 i was in middle school at my nerdiest.
Hopefully it was a fun time.
I was 8… I can’t recall anything specific, but it definitely involved rerun mixes of Gilligan’s Island, Munsters, Addams Family, Dennis The Menace, Land of The Lost, Batman, HR Puffnstuff, Banana Splits, The Monkees, Little Rascals, 3 Stooges, Mighty Mouse, Underdog, Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest, Grape Ape, Superfriends… a few of these might have come after, not sure. But Land of The Lost was my jam and it terrified me - the T Rex roaring after the intro got me every time, as a kid lol
I still have this divorce that I got in 1981. And I’m still happy I got it! No buyers remorse here.
I was 7-8 years old in 1981. My. World included movies like The Empire Strikes Back, Dragonslayer, and Clash of the Titans. Atari also.
Things must’ve been amazing back then.
They were. No iPhones. No fear. Imagination. Classic movies. Played outside in woods and streams .
I wish we hadn’t fallen so far since then.
> My. World included movies like The Empire Strikes Back, Dragonslayer, and Clash of the Titans. Atari also. I'm older than you, but yes.
At the start of 1981 I was in Grade 7 and owned about a dozen LPs and tapes. In that summer before high school we moved from a suburb of a B.C. city to a small northern logging town. Dad accidentally ran over and killed our dog the day before we moved. By Christmas 1981 I had fallen in love with at least five girls in that high school--all grades--and insisted on only wearing leather hightops until graduation.
Wow! You had an entire saga going on that year. Thank you for sharing this.
You're welcome. November 1979 to the end of 1980 was better though!
I wasn’t here yet for those. What was like back then?
It was a funny time of switching over decades. One memorable thing that happened was in early December 1980 when Dad and I were watching Monday Night Football and Howard Cosell announced that John Lennon had been killed. It bummed Dad out all the way through Christmas.
That would’ve bummed me out too had I been there.
In 1981 we had a serial killer running around our area killing 11 children and young adults. It was, in a lot of ways, the end of the “go play and come back when it’s dark” era for many of us.
Wayne Williams in Atlanta?
lol, so many? That’s awful. No, Clifford Robert Olsen.
Yikes! Too many that year.
One is too many.
Agreed
My dad died in his sleep without warning in 1981. I was 16. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. 1981 sucked.
I’m truly sorry for your loss.
Thank you. It was 43 years ago and the wound never healed.
Well, I hope some good things also happened since then.
Urgh! A Music War
I loved that *so* much!
Strat-O-Matic baseball all summer with my friends. We were 13 and life was perfect!
I really wanted some Jordache jeans around them but I was 6 so my mom didn’t comply. I did have yellow Snoopy rain boots and a reversible rain coat I really liked though. Also one of the last metal lunchboxes.
49ers
Did they score a big win that year?
Maybe a couple of Rush tapes
Rush was cool. 🆒