5 of My Favorite Things Turning 35 in 2020 – Making Me Feel Old

What were you doing back in 1985? Me, I was just enjoying life as a scrawny, awkward 10-year-old boy. Running around with my friends, playing baseball, and not having a care in the world. It's hard to believe that was 35 doggone years ago.

Do you remember the things that were popular back then - the things that the world experienced for the first time in 1985? Some of those things (*cough* New Coke!) have come and gone, and some of those things have withstood the test of time.

Here are a handful of my favorite things from 1985 - I bet some of these were a big part of your life too.

Movies

• The Goonies
• Back to the Future
• The Breakfast Club
• St. Elmo's Fire

I realize I might be breaking the rules a little bit here, but I can't pick just one. There's just no way. Some of my favorite movies of ALL time came out in 1985. I would stop what I'm doing and watch any one of these today. It takes a special flick for me to say that.

Cartoons

• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
• Thundercats
• M.A.S.K.

There weren't many things more important to 10-year-old Bobby than cartoons, and in 1985 I was introduced to one of my all time favorites. I'm talking about G.I. Joe! I had a ton of the action figures, and I had all kinds of vehicles. I remember one Christmas morning I got the G.I. Joe Sky Striker, and I just about lost my mind. It was one of the coolest, most memorable toys from my youth.

Nintendo

The Nintendo was a game-changer (pun kinda intended). My Nintendo came with the classic Duck Hunt game and the over-complicated, way too fancy Gyromite game and robot. This gaming system would end up being responsible for countless hours of wasted time during my adolescent years.

Blockbuster Video

The first Blockbuster opened in 1985, and if you're a child of the 80s and 90s, you know how big of a deal video stores were. It's hard to imagine a Friday or Saturday night that didn't include a trip to Blockbuster. I remember running to the new movie section, looking for a certain flick, only to be heartbroken that there were no copies. But wait! Did someone just walk in and return a video? Maybe they returned the one I'm looking for! The struggle was real wasn't it friends?

We Are The World

Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote it...Quincy Jones produced and conducted it...and just about every other known musician at the time sang on it. That last part is a bit of a stretch - but if he or she was an 80s pop star, they were probably involved in We Are The World. Folks like Stevie Wonder, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner and Billy Joel, just to name a very few. And, for some reason, even actor Dan Akroyd can be seen in the music video. We Are The World would go on to raise over $60 million for African famine relief, and would inspire other 'super group' fundraising song efforts, although nothing would compare to the original.