Weekend Retro Rewind | Men At Work

Men At Work Video For Be Good Johnny & Land Down Under

In 1982 I was 10. In 1982 I loved Top 40 music and Men At Work were one of those Top 40 bands. Men At Work are an Australian band got their name from the "Men At Work" sign when stuck on what to call themselves. With hits such as "Be Good Johnny", "Land Down Under", "Overkill" and "Who Can It Be Now?" Men at Work still sorta wow me today.

Wiki states that Men At Work are the only Australian band to ever have a #1 album (Business as Usual) and single ("Down Under") on the US charts at the same time. They were also a hit in the UK during that time period with a #1 single and album. This Aussie band took home the 1983 Grammy award for Best New Artist and have sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Lead singer Colin Hay has a solo career today and has appeared on several episodes of Scrubs. I have a theory that hottie, Zach Braff is a big fan of his seeing as Colin Hay was also featured on the Garden State movie soundtrack. The Garden State soundtrack is one of my favorite movie soundtracks next to Rushmore, ET and Karate Kid (first one).

Below are two of my favorite Men At Work songs from the old days, enjoy!

10 Questions About This Blogger

Please forgive me for not commenting lately, I'm totally swamped -- have had a crazy, busy week jam-packed with freelance writing projects. No time to blog even which bums me out a bit. Here's a quick and easy post. Ten Questions stolen from What's That? blog. 

1. What are you most excited for RIGHT NOW?

Sadly, nothing really. A few nights out planned with friends and a huge family reunion is planned for July in Virginia where it will surely be balls-hot. I do so love hotel rooms though.

 

2. Who is your style icon? What inspires your look? 

Nobody, I have no look. I'm anti-fashion and somewhat stuck in the '90s. I wear what I can afford and what fits. I do cling to my indie, hipster ways of my youth. Never wear heels, always wear Docs and skater style sneakers, dark denim and Paul Frank purses, that's about it. My MIL will always talk about boots or Uggs or skinny jeans or say "it's what all the women are wearing now" which are typically items I'd never be caught dead in.

3. If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would you invite?

Dead - I'd want all of my teen stars to hang: Corey Haim, River Phoenix, Brad Renfro, etc. but not Heath - I wasn't really a fan of his.

Alive - Jason Bateman, Jack Black and Corey Feldman

4. What did you dress up as for your first Halloween? 

I don't dress up. I slapped on some dumb black bob-style wig, gothic dress and false eyelashes. I looked like an idiot. 
UPDATE- I'm such a loser - I thought the question was LAST Halloween! My first Halloween I think I was a witch. I don't remember really.

5. What are you improving? Dieting and working out more, trying to enhance my writing and SEO skills for work purposes

6. What is the strangest compliment you’ve ever received?  I don't get compliments but once my college boyfriend's mom exclaimed, "Oh my g*d, you have a waist!" after I lost 60 lbs. She then told him he better start dieting before I dump his ass. He quickly lost 40 and dumped my ass before I could dump his :(   

7. What’s your little-known talent? 

I like to think I'm good at, um, never mind.

8. What do you obsessively search for on eBay?  It used to be these John Fluevog platform-ish shoes I once owned and LOVED back in like 1997, they made my feet look adorable. I could never find them again and gave up. I stay away from eBay for now. I used to search for Fred Perry shirts, Jadeite and other hard-to-find vintage stuff.

9. When you were a child, who did you worship & want to be like? So pathetic, but I worshiped so many male stars, I actually wished I was Jason Bateman or Kirk Cameron or one of the many teen idols I loved. I just wanted to be on a hit TV show and be famous and get lots of fan mail. I always swore I'd reply to every letter no matter how much time it took me. 

10. What was your palate band? Otherwise known as the first band you heard that made you realize the world of music was larger than whatever the Top 20 singles were!  Palate band? I have never heard that term in my life... Anyway, I guess it's New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure and The Smiths as I discovered them all on the same day from an older girl I once knew.

Jonas & The Cupcakes

It must have been September, 1994. It's crazy that I somehow remember my college boyfriend G's birthday is September 13. I don't remember anyone's birthdays ever without checking my birthday datebook, yet G's is forever etched into my mind. Maybe it's something about the number 13.

I was obsessed with G. I was obsessed with making G cupcakes. G lived in the dorms and I transferred to a local private college after flunking out for partying too hard. I  insisted on hauling these cupcakes out there on a "school night" I think it was... I convinced my BFF and her boyfriend to come along. We schlepped an entire 54 minutes from Garden City to Stony Brook. When you live on Long Island, Western Nassau to Eastern Suffolk feels like forever, especially in an old "hooptie" (that was what we called old cars back in the '90s).

We're hanging out in the Stony Brook corridor-style dorms. It's all fuzzy to me now, but either he lived with this kid, Jonas or somehow we found our way into Jonas' room.One thing is for sure, Jonas did not want anyone eating any cupcakes in his dorm room.

At first we thought he was joking. Jonas wasn't joking. He grabbed the entire box of cupcakes and tossed them out the window and simply said, "I told you guys. No eating in my fucking room!" Guess we really were in his dorm room and why, I honestly don't recall. Did G room with him? I don't think he did. Maybe G's roommate had a girl over that night? I forget.

After my beloved cupcakes were thrown out the window, I threw a fit. Why? Because G let it happen and actually laughed hysterically over it. Ironically, this is the exact reaction my husband would have if this were to happen today.

Why didn't G stand up for me? Why didn't he kick that little nerdo's ass? Jonas wasn't a big guy. It was one of those times I wished I was a dude. If I were a dude that night, oh boy would I have given that little jerk a beat down.

So there you have it. Perfectly good birthday cupcakes tossed out the window. And no, they weren't homemade cupcakes "from scratch" -- just a $2 box mix from Pathmark. Damn you, Jonas! Damn you G! I'm think I may still harbor some hatred and anger about that night. I'm even mad at my husband knowing he might have reacted the same way.