No. 644 – Take on Me

Performer: A-ha

Songwriters: Pal Waaktaar, Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket

Original Release: Hunting High and Low

Year: 1985

Definitive Version: None

I really was looking forward to Andy and Holly’s party in January 2003. In many ways, it was going to be my last blast before I dropped my bombshell that I was leaving The Dispatch and moving to Cleveland.

Andy and Holly had decided they wanted to hold an Eighties theme party at their place near German Village, so you were encouraged to dress up as an Eighties character or concept.

Well, I had underwear that was still from the Eighties at that point, so … just kidding. Actually, I did still have one piece of ’Eighties apparel for some reason, and I dug that out—suspenders. Yes, I had a pair of suspenders that I wore with my suit back then, because I hated belts. Besides I liked the old-school look. (I probably would have been a steampunk hipster if I were in my early 20s now.)

My costume idea came quickly. I’d go Eighties style suit, complete with tiebar (no one still wears those, right), and then have fake money hanging out of each pocket. My concept: greed. I suppose I could’ve gone the full Gordon Gekko, but I didn’t feel like slicking back my hair.

I showed up fashionably late, and the good bad Eighties MTV synth pop was blaring. Andy loaded up his iPod with all the standards, including this one, which—I must say, donning my Ebertesque tweed jacket—is, given the limitations of the technology at the time, one of MTV’s best videos.

Everyone liked my outfit. There were some characters and some good ideas. Chuck showed up but without a costume, the coward. At one point later in the evening, three people arrived who were dressed regularly. When Holly asked where their costume was, they all clasped hands and said they were Hands Across America. Very clever. I liked it, anyway.

Actually my favorite costume wasn’t really a costume at all. Molly, who was one of the Thurman regulars, and her boyfriend showed up after having rummaged a few secondhand stores in town and were basically dressed like basic California high schoolers from the mid to late 1980s. Aside from a two-tone aqua and purple shirt, Woody looked fairly normal.

But Molly had on high-waisted stonewashed jeans and a high-collar blouse with a jacket that had shoulder pads the size of a defensive tackle’s. She permed and teased up her hair and had the full ’80s makeup look happening. She didn’t resemble Beth, but I recognized the look, and it made me remember what I liked about it. And I definitely liked it.

I suppose fashion is not unlike musical choices—you tend to gravitate to the look that girls or women had when you first got laid. There is something about women dressed in basic garish over-the-top Eighties fashion that flips my switch.

So I was raring to go when Punky Brewster showed up after midnight …

(To be continued)