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The 80’s were
an amazing decade.
Some people look back
and think, Reagonomics and “Greed is good”, but
the 80’s were too unique to be characterized by one
word or phrase. The kids and teenagers that grew up during
this time are very protective and proud of the 80’s,
myself included. Sure, the fashion could be considered laughable,
the leather and lace, the gloves on one hand, the parachute
pants, the punk vests with high collars. No one will ever
forget the mullet – the quintessential hair look that
was the poster child of the 80’s. That was definitely
not one of the best parts, but the huge hair is definitely
coming back as we see the straight haired 90’s look
fade in the past few years. Maybe the height of the bangs
will never be exactly replicated, but bigger body is once
again rearing it’s Aqua Net head. But still, there
was something undeniably special about this decade.
What would everyone agree was the best part of the 80’s?
The music. Heavy metal, the hair bands, pop, punk, even the
innocent beginnings of rap. The variety was voluminous – every
station had something new to try. You could headbang one
minute and do a pop Madonna dance the next. This was the ‘one
hit wonder’ wave. “Come on Eileen”, “Tainted
Love”, 867-5309, the list is endless.
Music has never been the same.
The timeless tunes of this period
were the focus of the recently released, “Rock of Ages”,
which was filmed right here in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
This lively musical tribute to the 80’s featured our own
local talent. The guitarist for a local cover band, Lazy
Bonez, Brev Sullivan can be clearly seen shredding away
right next to Tom Cruise during “Pour Some Sugar
On Me” and “Don’t Stop Believing”.
Heidi Rae, a local actress and model, flanked Russell Brand
in one of the movie’s key scenes. If you scan the
crowd scenes, you may recognize other friendly faces who
were more than happy to lend their time for a chance to
resurrect this time period. And why not? It was fueled
with toe-tapping and air guitar inspiring music, not
to mention tons of energy. It was a happier time, an easier
time, before the country was stressed about money, war,
health care. Seeing this movie is like a mini-vacation,
you can just let yourself be carried away by the infectious
melodies of the inimitable eighties and forget your
troubles. (Come on, get happy)
During the 80’s,
Robert Hatton was in New York City. He had the complete
80’s look, clothes, long hair – in fact,
he still has almost the same look today. So much that
when he arrived at the “Rock of Ages” to
be an extra and went to hair and make-up, they said
they didn’t really have to do anything! It was
a great experience working on the movie, he said, and
it was quite a scene with 500 extras all in 80’s
garb! When he heard about the opportunity to work on
the movie, he decided, “Why not? Any press is
good press.” He heard Tom Cruise sing “Pour
Some Sugar On Me” in a scene and was literally
blown away. “I didn’t think he’d
be any good at all, but he was amazing.But I don't
think the film was a completely true depiction of the
80’s – it was mostly symbolism and fantasy.
To me the 80’s are about the feel, the energy. “Nowadays
everyone’s looking for the next big thing.”
Many of today's musicians seem to agree
that the music scene in the 80’s was not necessarily
better, but more interesting because you had to be
playing hip stuff and in a certain age range, like
18-24 to make it, where as now there aren’t as
many rules. You can be older and the music doesn’t
have to sound a certain way. Today you have to do everything
yourself, but you can release an album almost anywhere
and be a success. |
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Robert says it like this, "Basically,
you can write your own ticket now as opposed to the 80’s
when you had to go through the labels and the greedy suits
that ran it. They were the only ones with the power
then because they were the ones with the distribution network
for music . Now with the internet we have more of a do it
yourself philosophy and the chance to give an artist much
more exposure. Back then, the bands and artists needed the
record labels, but not now. If it was the way it is now in
the 80’s
it would have been perfect. Because of all the greed back
then and the control being so one-sided, a lot of great music
suffered. “Nowadays you have to develop the artist
first, the whole package, before you present it to a record
company, but the artist also has a lot more freedom and control
than they did before. I don't mind the free downloading of
music because you can make tons with live shows and merchandising.”
Hollywood California comes to Hollywood Florida
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Recently
a major studio film "Rock Of Ages" has just
been released. The film is a recreation of a musical
bearing the same name, and is a loosely based story
wired around the frame of the eighties music scene
in Los Angeles. Surprisingly much of the film was actually
filmed in South Florida, with sunny Florida acting
as a double for LA.
We had a chance to speak further
with a few Fort Lauderdale locals on what their experiences
were while making the film Liz Debolt was one cast
member we caught up with and talks about her days
on the movie set;.
"We were all having our own party & jam
while we were waiting to go on set...We didn't even
want to go 'cause we were having so much fun rocking
out. I turned on a some of my musician friends to
this movie, Robert, Laz, & there were some others
already there. We all got together brought
our acoustics & jammed out in the back room
and got paid each day to play & party! We even
had people filming it, lol. We had our own show going
on -
"The Eighty's Crazies"
That's what I'm talking about!!! The
real movie to me was being at Club Revolution (doubling
for the Whisky in LA) with friends...That was all real,
we were remembering the 80's & it was fun! Brev
Sullivan, who played the part of one of Tom Cruise's
band mates in the film rocked the house with song after
song of powerful tunes from the 80's. Heidi Rae looked
like she was still in the 80's with her headband and
all - that was live - that was really cool....Yeah
those were the days my friends and there still here
in our hearts!!!" |
Hangin with Heidi Rae
Heidi Rae has been a successful model and
actress for over 20 years and is
featured prominently in “Rock of Ages”. She
relates very closely with the film as it was “basically
her life story.” She moved to California at a young
age, learned the ropes, paid her dues and was eventually
discovered by agents to go on to do modeling, commercials
and movies.
A popular hangout with
her friends was the famous ‘Rainbow Bar and Grill’ in
Hollywood, where she happened to get invited to an
after party at Axl Roses’ house one night. She
remembers noticing the necklaces he wore in the “Sweet
Child of Mine” video when she was in the bathroom.
There were also pictures of Marilyn Monroe, who Axl
was somewhat obsessed with. The party was huge and
became an impromptu blues fest when everyone started
picking up instruments and jamming, including Heidi
with her harmonica. After many years and numerous amazing
opportunities, Heidi decided to leave the earthquakes
and riots that were prevalent at the time for another
Hollywood – the one in Florida.
The Eighties had a big impact on fashion
as well, guys wore a lot of bandanas and leather and
the girls literally wore lingerie, with garters, high
heels, especially after the Motley Crue video, “Girls,
girls, girls”. Chicks were hot items – it
was all sex, drugs and rock and roll. Oh yea! Heidi
says "I just went to Walmart and I saw bustiers
that were leopard and zebra print, so right there,
that’s the 80’s." |
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Everybody got along and
there were no guns, no shooting, no fights
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Heidi goes on to share
her thoughts about the scene like this, "The music
scene was much better back then. It made sense. The
music always went around in circles, but everybody
knew the lyrics. These days you don’t know the
lyrics and everything is like the same. Like the rave
music, the ‘boom, boom, boom’, it’s
terrible. In the 80’s there was always a variety,
it was always happening with different bands, live
music, even the jukeboxes had rock and roll music.
Nowadays you don’t even see jukeboxes unless
you go to an old-fashioned bar. And the hip-hop music
with the swearing, I don’t like those lyrics.
Yea, definitely. It was all laid back too, though,
everybody was cool. Everybody got along and there were
no guns, no shooting, no fights. Guys would just ride
around on their motorcycles and be cool. Chicks would
do the same thing – we would go to the Rainbow,
the Roxy, the Whiskey and listen to great bands and
they’re never going to come back again. I wish
they would, because what made the era go away in the
first place? Who did that? Who made that happen? What
made the bands that were so good just stop, y’know?"
People used to say that ‘rock
and roll takes your soul’, but it doesn’t,
it’s music that gives the power of whoever wants
to listen to it, whoever wants to continue and keep
driving that band going. Back then it was all about
record selling and now it’s about getting yourself
out there. It was brutal, hardcore rock and roll. It’s
stuff that bands don’t even know how to put out
now, unless they really practice to make it good. There
are still bands that are still kicking ass, still doing
that music. It was phenomenal, you can never replace
it. |
You don’t have to be raised in the 1980’s
to appreciate this movie or the resurgence of it’s
popularity. Today’s teens and kids like the eternal
tunes of Madonna, Michael and Motley Crue as well. When
it comes to this particular decade, it’s not necessarily
a case of it ‘coming back’, it’s more
like it never left and thanks to the millions of ferocious
fans, it will never die.
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