1984 was a great year. We were young, and life was beautiful. I attended my first two Detroit Tigers games, both 14-1 complete and utter humiliations of the hated, and for good measure Canadian, Toronto Blue Jays, on their way to leading the AL East wire-to-wire and winning the only World Series of my life, so far. If you want to remember that beautiful summer of '84 along with me (and Sparky Anderson)(and really, who wouldn't want to?), you would read Bless You Boys, and you would buy it in a union-shop bookstore. Hey, we could start a book club! Where was I? Oh yeah. 1984.
Prince released Purple Rain. Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons founded a little business called Def Jam Records. Krush Groove was filmed, though it didn't see the light of day in theaters until the following year. And no, that Sbarro's off of 53rd that the Fat Boys hung out at isn't there anymore. I checked. Although if you're up there, you may as well swing by 53rd and 3rd and pretend to be Dee Dee Ramone (whose own band, I guess I should mention, released the underrated [but still not very good, except for Dee Dee on "Wart Hog"] Too Tough to Die). An eventful year, you know? I haven't checked, but I bet there were at least three breakdancing movies released featuring Ice-T. And last but not least, the Minutemen released their ground-breaking, almost untoppable, kind of headache-inducing (but in a good way) double album, Double Nickels on the Dime, which among other things, has a Creedence cover on it. Need I say more?
Minutemen - Theatre Is The Life Of You
Boogie Down Productions - South Bronx (from 1987, not 1984, but still good!)
And I'd be remiss to forget the oft-forgotten Dead Milkmen/Detroit Tigers connection. If anyone wants to buy Jim Walewander's 1987 Topps baseball card, give me a holler. I'll give you a good deal, promise. I jumped from 84 again to 87, didn't I. Whatever. If the Tigers won the AL East, it's all the same magical year to me.
