Rating: 
Summary: Great subject matter, irritating narative
Review: As a child of the 80's, I looked forward to this book after reading it's great reviews.
If you are looking for a book that will take you back to to the decade of Flashdance, Miami Vice, etc, this is it! The book certainly hits all the highlights (and lowlights) of the 80's; covering movies, music, and tv in separate sections and starting it all off with an overview of people and events.
However the commentary of the author all but ruined it for me. As a fan of snark, I am all for poking some fun at a decade filled will targets. But few of the comments are fun. They are either not funny, barbed, or just plain out of line and wrong! For those who want to remember a decade teaming with quirks fondly, to have the author taking rude potshots at everything and everyone in a patronizing way just sucks the fun right out of it.
Also there were glaring errors to be found even in a casual read through. Add that to the authors very annoying tendency to make assumptions about things such as a bands motivation for writing a song or naming themselves something without any basis for his observations takes all credibility out of the information. This book must have taken a lot of time, too bad the research was done on the bias, and so is the final product.
Bottom line: this book is a great way back machine for all 80's-philes. But a more accurate title would be "One Person's Opinion of Everything 80's", because that is what it is. A more impartial and accurate touch is needed.
Rating: 
Summary: Totally awesome!
Review: Do you love the 80's like I do? This will bring it all back to you in one book. The topics covered are current events, fashion, music, TV, and movies. Special attention is paid to the last three especially. I think fans of 80's music will love this the most. It covers everything from Lionele Richie, to Madonna, to Depehe Mode. As for movies, don't forget E.T., The Breakfast Club, and Back to the Future. In the realm of TV, The A Team comes on strong, the Dukes of Hazard wreck their car, and Arnold says "Whatchootalkinabout Willis?"This will be a great gift for anyone who was a TV child in the 80's. If you're a child of the 80's, you should get it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Calling All Children of the 80's
Review: Do you love the 80's like I do? This will bring it all back to you in one book. The topics covered are current events, fashion, music, TV, and movies. Special attention is paid to the last three especially. I think fans of 80's music will love this the most. It covers everything from Lionele Richie, to Madonna, to Depehe Mode. As for movies, don't forget E.T., The Breakfast Club, and Back to the Future. In the realm of TV, The A Team comes on strong, the Dukes of Hazard wreck their car, and Arnold says "Whatchootalkinabout Willis?" This will be a great gift for anyone who was a TV child in the 80's. If you're a child of the 80's, you should get it for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: The Decade of Decadence Revisited!
Review: Ever wanted to re-vist the 80s and relive all the wonderful memories? Or perhaps learn about that time you might be too young to remember? Matthew Rettenmund's "Totally Awsome 80s" is the best place to start. At just over 160 pages, it gives you loads of trivia in such areas as important world events, pop music, movies, TV shows, scandals, and other items of interest. The entire book is an easy read, since most areas are broken down into top 10-20 lists, with brief and often humorous commentary from the author. The most amusing section bar none is the "80sSpeak: The Idioms and Idiocies of 80s speech", which is an alphabetical dictionary of sorts outlining various 80s slang that was all the rage back them. From the teen slang ("Rad", "Gnarly", "Tubular"), to the annoying valley girl slang ("Fer Shur", "Gag me with a spoon", "Spazzing"), to the sexual innuendos ("Do The Wild Thing", "Get Horizontal", "Do The Nasty"). The list goes on. The book also covered more serious topics, like the greatest historical events (collapse of the Berlin Wall), and the biggest disasters (the AIDS epidemic). Also, for your reading pleasure, there is a look at the trends in fashion and art, which will either have you saying "Oh, fond memories" or "What the @#$% were we thinking?" The most useful sections are the music and movie chapters. The music chapter has a great list entitled "The 80 Quintessentially 80s songs", which has a list of some of the best tracks from the decade - great for people looking to get into the music and who don't know where to start. The movies chapter outlines the best in action, drama, comedy, horror, and the best and worst of the decade. Each is broken down into a top 20 list for easy reference. The commentary from the author, while not overly helpful or informative, is fun to read nonetheless. Matthew Rettenmund has a very sardonic approach to looking at the topics covered, and his commentaries are like those witty captions they have in magazines. After all, this is not a textbook. "Totally Awsome 80s" is a fun read that you will likely revisit over and over again, either for the memories or to reference movies and songs listed therein. I'm sure there are other books that cover the decade better, but I have yet to find one. Though it is best appreciated by those who experienced the 80s, it is easily accessible to anyone who is interested.
Rating:
Summary: Going back to the "day"
Review: Folks, Anyone growing up in the 80's will definitely appreciate this book. Call it a jog down memory lane with music, tv, movies and much more from the 80's. I got this for a friend and she liked it so much that I picked one up for myself. A great mind and a great retrospective to a great time for me and probably a lot of others.
Rating:
Summary: A Total Time Warp Into the Greatest Decade In History!!!
Review: I wasn't even born in the '80s and I truly love everything about that era. The fashion the trends, and the music was great! I know more about the '80s then my parents do, and they grew up in the decade! Well this book says it all. It covers everything about the decade and more!!! The kids in my school don't even know what 8 track tapes are!!! I think that it is a great thing to know about the '80s even though I was born in 1990. Well get the book! It will teach you loads of stuff!
Rating:
Summary: A Total Time Warp Into the Greatest Decade In History!!!
Review: I wasn't even born in the '80s and I truly love everything about that era. The fashion the trends, and the music was great! I know more about the '80s then my parents do, and they grew up in the decade! Well this book says it all. It covers everything about the decade and more!!! The kids in my school don't even know what 8 track tapes are!!! I think that it is a great thing to know about the '80s even though I was born in 1990. Well get the book! It will teach you loads of stuff!
Rating:
Summary: It wasn't exactly what I expected, but not bad
Review: It was funny enough, and decently representative of the pop-culture scene that I recall living through.
However there were numerous mentions of homosexual issues and quite a few political comments that I could have done without. I find it tiring when an author grinds his axe about personal issues as much as this one has done. A chapter would have been fine and totally understandale, but the consistent focus on the emerging gay culture wasn't what I was looking for.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive lexicon of the best decade ever!
Review: The 1980's are my pop culture reference point, and what better way to go back and reflect time and again with Matthew Rettenmund's reference book, Totally Awesome 80's? Because they were awesome. He covers pop music, movies, TV shows, and trends in my decade.
Yes, the 80's were the Reagan years, the year AIDS entered our vocabulary, MTV, back when it was good, VCRs and thus the video rental boom, the War on Drugs, Yuppies, and given her longevity and legendary status, Madonna. Love or hate her, you gotta admit she was the biggest star of the 80's-sorry Michael Jackson and Prince. But we lost a lot of people who made it big back then. John Lennon, Orson Welles, Mae West, and Alfred Hitchcock, to name a few. And games and pastimes such as Trivial Pursuit, Rubik's Cube, classic arcade hits like Pacman, Frogger, and Q*bert.
The list of 80speak, inspired by valley girl talk, stuff from TV shows, "<add your term>-o-rama," "have a cow," "space cadet," or "rad," takes me back as well.
In the music section, included are special text sections on Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Wham!, Madonna, Prince, and others who were essentially 80's figures. The Billboard chart figures for them are also included. However, the section on We Are The World, which lists the reasons for why the artists sang, is a bit jokey, making me wonder if the event's impact isn't as big as it is now.
The list of the top music videos, hit songs, and movies of the decade.
I'll list the Top Five of each:
Music videos:
1. Eurythmics: "Sweet Dreams"
2. Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star"
3. `til tuesday "Voices Carry"
4. Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf"
5. Madonna, "Material Girl."
Quintessentially 80s songs:
1. Prince and the Revolution: "Let's Go Crazy"
2. Kajagoogoo: "Too Shy"
3. Animotion: "Obsession"
4. Asia: "Heat of the Moment"
5. Simple Minds: "Don't You (Forget About Me)"
Quintessentially 80s movies
Ultimate: The Breakfast Club
1. Risky Business
2. Airplane!
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Flashdance
5. Purple Rain
I'm not sure about the top two entries, but of the ones I really liked, Dirty Dancing came in at #10, Fast Times at Ridgemont High at #19, Ghostbusters right behind it, Back to the Future at #38, insultingly way behind at #62 instead of being in the Top Five, both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi-like, I'm so sure-and Gremlins at #70. There are sublists of funny movies, hottest movies, horror, action, camp, overrated and underrated movies. And things aren't complete without a small section on the Brat Pack, i.e. the stars of the Breakfast Club. But yes, the 80's were also a decade where the teen market was exploited in a major way, via comedies and horror flicks. The same market is being mined right now, but the output today makes the 80's oeuvre like Oscar winners. And movies that were PG got an extra edge with that PG-13 rating, where there was more violence and other stuff in non-R movies.
Of the TV shows I watched regularly, The A-Team came in at #11, Diff'rent Strokes at #34, my brother watched Knight Rider religiously (#54). And come to think of it, I don't think I ever watched any of the so-called "Disease of the Week TV movies."
The appendix in the back lists the top Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy, and MTV winners, as well as a list of who sang in Live Aid, in order.
I find myself in somewhat of a midlife crisis, as much of the music I'm trying to get is stuff from that era that I'm still missing. Hey, I had to undergo the transition from cassettes to CDs unlike many Gen Y whippersnappers out there!
Overall rating: Even though I wasn't cool with the movie stuff, I found it like, totally tubular, in a major way. Done with this review, now it's off to play Pacman, or maybe listen to some Cyndi Lauper or watch some Gremlins or Ghostbusters.
Rating:
Summary: Cool book, great memories
Review: This book was pretty cool. It brought back a lot of memories of tv shows, movies, sayings and styles. The only little gripe I have is that this guy didn't watch some of the shows he wrote about. Namely the Golden Girls (one I have noticed so far) he said they shared a condo (it was a house) and that they ate pans and pans of brownies. While they did eat everything brownies included their main food fetish was the cheesecake. But the guy can't watch every single show to know about them all. This book is really cool.
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