Let there be '80s

The year was 1984. I was getting ready to go into the eighth grade, and I was standing in the aisle in K-Mart looking at Huey Lewis and the News’ “Sports.”
I had been listening to music for about a year, but I had yet to buy my first cassette (I didn’t own a record player, so a cassette would have to do).
I had decided that “Sports” would be my first purchase.
In the months leading up to my purchase, several options went through my head. I could by the new Billy Joel tape, or Michael Jackon’s “Thriller,” or Cyndy Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” or the Thompson Twins' “Into the Gap.”
Huey Lewis won. There were four songs I had heard and liked on the tape, and I was sure I would like them all.
The tape cost $4.44 on sale and it came in this strange plastic theft-prevention case. I remember listening to it over and over and over again on a mono Panasonic tape player, the same tape recorder I would hold up to the radio speaker and tape music with—constantly hoping and praying no one would speak and ruin the song.
This tape, “Picture This,” was recorded earlier, and purchase several months after I bought “Sports.” To be honest, I still thought I had “Sports” in my case of tapes.
Until the late 1990s, I bought a lot of tapes. In fact, at one time I had probably two copy-paper boxes filled with them. But, around 1998, I went through this anti-nostalgia phase. It was at that time I started getting rid of my tapes.
I sold some, gave some away, and threw out more than a few. I still had “Sports” in 2001, which was the last time I listened to it. It had lost its appeal, and during one of my many moves, it disappeared.
“Picture This” is the only Huey Lewis and the News tape I have left. I don’t listen to it (in fact I no longer have a tape player), and I can’t say I still like Huey Lewis’ unique blend of bar rock and pop.
But Huey Lewis is where my appreciation for modern music began. It was the beginning. I am going to get another copy of “Sports” and hold onto it this time. Until then, “Picture This” will have to do.


Click here to listen to "The Heart of Rock n' Roll" from "Sports" (you will need a Real Audio Player).