80s Ireland (pop culture)

Belle Ende

When thinking back about 80's pop culture, it is almost exclusively stuff from England and the USA.

What Irish stuff do you remember from waaaaay back then? Or did we not have much in that department?

I can recall:

* Zig and Zag / Dempsey's Den
* Bosco
* Wanderley Wagon
* Jo Maxi :rolleyes:
* Brendan Grace's "Safe Cross Code" with Patch the dog
* Johnny Logan's terrible Eurovision 80s outfits
* Pat Ingoldsby's psychedelic TV shows for kids

Any more? Do tell!

telecinesk

TvGaga which got pulled due to political interference.
That great music prog Dave Hefernan presented , was it sight and sounds.. 5.30pm either saturdays or week.cant remember but it was cool.
The 2 punks that used to be in his audience that had Golden Disks in Liffey st. anyone?? Oh and Advance Records in st kings st opp joke shop..
Virgin Prunes and anyone ever "Do the Rat" ??

JoMaxi, there was a chick with brown hair who looked like Bill Wyman>>>

billy the squid

Action Station Saturday on saturday mornings
then there was pajo dont know what kind of creature he was though

back when they used to do the hotline on both television and radio around christmas

MTUSA dont know if that was a n irish programme but it had an irish presenter vincent hanley

billy the squid

Action Station Saturday on saturday mornings
then there was pajo dont know what kind of creature he was though

back when they used to do the hotline on both television and radio around christmas

MTUSA dont know if that was a n irish programme but it had an irish presenter vincent hanley

then theres was 40 coats with 50 pockets and slightly bonkers forget the name ofthe programme though

BLITZ_Molloy

That craft show with your "here's one i made earlier" wan.

All those god awful Tir Na Nog/Chuchulainn plastacene things. The animation in those was appaling.

Belle Ende

It's mostly TV that we recall, innit?

Were there any pop fads / clothing fads / other non-TV things that people remember (specific to Ireland)?

Hmmmm - seems like a tough question to me.....

Mr E

What about "Anything Goes" with Mary Fitzgerald and Fungus McAnally ??

Belle Ende

Originally posted by TmB
What about "Anything Goes" with Mary Fitzgerald and Fungus McAnally ??

Ah yes I remember that show. An*s Smackananny and his ker-azy colour-mismatched shoes.

I recall that he loved to do card tricks on that show.

Clintons Cat

Does "Sean's Show" with sean hughes count?
Late eighties version of the "gary shandling show"

Mr E

That was made in the UK and shown on C4. Loved it, though -totally surreal. I'd love to see it again......

aidan_dunne

Anyone remember "Number 1"? It was a music quiz show, sort of like "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" and it used to be on at 7 o' clock of a Wednesday evening on Network 2 (or RTE 2, as it was still called back then, I think!).

Dave Fanning and Ian Dempsey were the team captains (I think - bit hazy on this). They had regular team members in the shape of Joe Elliot from Def Leppard and Brush Shiels (once again, I'm a bit hazy on whether Brush Shiels was a regular team member but I think he was. I definitely remember Joe Elliot being one. Let's face it, who could forget an 80's rocker poodle-perm like that one! ) and then there would be a third 'guest' team member on each team. There used to be a big, neon board behind the presenter which would chart each team's rise up the 'chart' from 40 to No. 1. I can't remember the presenter exactly but something in the back of my mind makes me think it was Andy Ruane (remember him! :rolleyes:).

Anyway, I've described this programme as best I can. Please tell me someone else remembers it and that I'm not going mad!

Mr E

Jesus yeah, I remember. Joe and Brush were team captains, I think..... It wasn't a bad show

Speaking of Ian Dempsey, anyone remember Talkabout? Now THATS a blast from the past. Watchable, but in a car-crash kind of way !

- Dave.

Mr E

Heres one for you... What was the name of the irish language (sketch?) show from the 80s? It had Frank Kelly in a phonebox at the end with lots of weird shit happening in the background.... He'd be speaking Irish, but throwing in english sentences now and again.

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by TmB
Speaking of Ian Dempsey, anyone remember Talkabout? Now THATS a blast from the past. Watchable, but in a car-crash kind of way !

As the Comic Book Guy from "The Simpsons" might say, "Worst quizshow ever!"

I remember Ian Dempsey did maybe two series of it, then it was scrapped, then brought back a couple of years later with that gay fella that does the weather on Ireland AM presenting it (what's his name - Andy Hughes? Something like that!) and then scrapped for good after that series. Thank God! :rolleyes:

Here's another blast from the past. Does anybody remember "Murphy's Micro Quiz"? Mike Murphy presented it and some former Miss Ireland was the eye-candy for the lads on the show. It was based around families having to play various computer games. Needless to say, the kids were great at them but the parents where $hite beyond belief!

And one more. "The Beatbox." Music show that used to be on of a Sunday morning on Network 2 (the precursor to the '90's "2TV"). It used to be broadcast simultaneously on the telly and on 2FM. This was so you could, as they used to say themselves, "Watch the music videos and listen to them in stereo sound on 2FM." These TV/radio simulcasts were a pretty big deal at the time because stereo TV's weren't around at that time (or were only beginning to appear on the market) and it was the only way you could watch a music video and listen to it in stereo at the same time.

telecinesk

What was the name of the irish language (sketch?) show from the 80s? It had Frank Kelly ***

Easy that was Anois is Airis or something, 1982 era alright.The Horror of 6th class and endless irish lessons...
Youngline. Conor McAnally di it too altho he went posh and runs his own company then.
Anyone remember those crap Quinnsworth commercials with Maurice etc.. Any my sister said yesterday "Scrumptious, Pink Butter Icing".. 80s Stork ads and what was the other one Satzenbraw,, ok Im off topic, sorry..

Belle Ende

Originally posted by telecinesk
Anyone remember those crap Quinnsworth commercials with Maurice etc.. Any my sister said yesterday "Scrumptious, Pink Butter Icing

Maurice Pratt: "Now that's ..... real value!"

God bless Quinnsworth Yellow Pack.

Cork

Bands like, Light A Big Fire "If I was the CIA", Auto Da Fe, Blades, A House, Waterboys, "Minor Detail", "Those Nervous Animals", "Micro Disney" etc.

There was an RTE programme that used to interview people like Duran Duran, Spandu Ballet, Howard Jones etc.

billy the squid

i remember morris prat and I remember the TV bingo competition they had each week you got different coloured cards with your shopping and if you won you could win a tirip to rome sad memory or what

then there were the pirates

sunshine 101
q 102
energy 103

where as down the country we had to listen to john the man with his sammy sunshine and charlie cloud on radio luimnai

anyone remember john the mans car the galloping maggot

anyone remember the first lottery tickets that came out in the eighties

instant 3 windfall and extra chance

ah back when people genuinly believed that when you spun the wheel it wasn't rigged lol

Andor

Originally posted by fcddunne

then there was pajo dont know what kind of creature he was though

Pajo's Junkbox was the name of the first 'series', after that they went into some desert island or something...He was a rat, i think !

I can vaguely remember it had these two puppets called Peg and Peadar

Belle Ende

Originally posted by Andor
Pajo's Junkbox was the name of the first 'series', after that they went into some desert island or something...He was a rat, i think !

I can vaguely remember it had these two puppets called Peg and Peadar

And two human stooges called 'Fetchit' and 'Grabit' ?

Gaffo

Just to brag. My girlfriend's dad IS Fortycoats!!

Or was at least. Fran Dempseyis his name. Did the 'Live Mike' with Mike Murphy of all people. Famous for tripping Gay Byrne up on a candid camera style moment. Still funny to see.

Andor

Originally posted by Belle Ende

And two human stooges called 'Fetchit' and 'Grabit' ?

oh! yea, actually. you scare me even more than I do.

Originally posted by Gaffo

My girlfriend's dad IS Fortycoats!!

i wish i knew somebody famous.

jupiterjack

it had to be anything goes

fryup

Gina Dale Haze and the Champions

the world's most sophisticated and inovative band ever begob!

darkdubh

aidan_dunne wrote: »

Anyone remember "Number 1"? It was a music quiz show, sort of like "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" and it used to be on at 7 o' clock of a Wednesday evening on Network 2 (or RTE 2, as it was still called back then, I think!).

Dave Fanning and Ian Dempsey were the team captains (I think - bit hazy on this). They had regular team members in the shape of Joe Elliot from Def Leppard and Brush Shiels (once again, I'm a bit hazy on whether Brush Shiels was a regular team member but I think he was. I definitely remember Joe Elliot being one. Let's face it, who could forget an 80's rocker poodle-perm like that one! ) and then there would be a third 'guest' team member on each team. There used to be a big, neon board behind the presenter which would chart each team's rise up the 'chart' from 40 to No. 1. I can't remember the presenter exactly but something in the back of my mind makes me think it was Andy Ruane (remember him! :rolleyes:).

Anyway, I've described this programme as best I can. Please tell me someone else remembers it and that I'm not going mad!

Yes,I remember that show well.The third guests would be secondary school kids,one of whoem was my cousin.

vektarman

Holy zombie reincarnation Batman, a nine year old thread.

Here's a rare Irish techno band video from the 80's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvGi1x1gapg

darkdubh

vektarman wrote: »

Holy zombie reincarnation Batman, a nine year old thread.

Here's a rare Irish techno band video from the 80's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvGi1x1gapg

I remember seeing that on the telly just once off.1983,I feel old now.

tonyheaney

Holy zombie reincarnation Batman, a 13-year-old thread.:D:D:D:D:D:D

bodhrandude

Arthur Daley

This thread reminds me how grim it was for my cousins who only had rte in the house through the 1980s.

darkdubh

bodhrandude wrote: »

Was that not a British programme?BTW I thought yer man being interviewed by the puppet about the painting was yer man from the band Yello at first,he's the bulb off him.

Hang on what am I saying?:its is him.

telecinesk

I have to admit we never watched Irish tv whatsoever, heres an example of nothing on...
https://imgur.com/gqtPa6Z was transferring tapes from I guess 1985.. Same tape has totp which I guess says a lot..
No, dont miss the 80s at all.

L1011

Those outside of Two Channel Land rarely watched RTE until the mid 1990s - bar kids shows. RTE2 was recycled old BBC/ITV shows we'd already seen anyway.

I'd say that outside of Bosco/The Den and the 6.1; RTE didn't feature in my life until the mid-late 1990s when Network 2 became N2 and had better programming etc. Went between having BBC/ITV/C4 via aerial, having cable, having Sky, having FTA satellite (Cartoon Network/CNN/Eurosport and some other stuff*) having cable, having Sky etc in a constant cycle based on my Dad's whims

Its interesting that Germany has its own equivalent of Two Channel Land - the "Valley of the Clueless" which are the areas that couldn't receive west German TV before the wall fell!


*I ended up working for one of those 'other stuff' FTA channels much, much later in the mid 2000s. Obviously had an impact.

tonyheaney wrote: »

Holy zombie reincarnation Batman, a 13-year-old thread.:D:D:D:D:D:D

What better forum?

The Princess Bride

tonyheaney wrote: »

Holy zombie reincarnation Batman, a 13-year-old thread.:D:D:D:D:D:D

You've gotta love All Things Retro.
The only place where zombie threads are welcomed.

Arthur Daley wrote: »

This thread reminds me how grim it was for my cousins who only had rte in the house through the 1980s.

I guess you never miss what you never had.

We only had 1 channel in the 80s followed by a second whenever RTÉ 2 started.
It was a novelty visiting our uncle in Dublin as they had the BBC etc... I remember when Prince Charles married, going with my mother to an aunt's house to watch it on her TV as we didn't have the channel.:o

Funnily enough, I watch very little TV nowadays.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^

thats why i always loved visiting relatives on the east coast, cause they had the uk channels...to me as a youngster it was almost like visiting another country in a way

Red Kev

TV:
Glenroe
Bracken
Murphys Micro Quiz M
Where in the World
Youngline
Blackboard Jungle
MTV USA with Vincent Hann-leeeyy.. And here's a 6 in a row from Bruce Springsteen
Self Aid
Clannad
Rise of U2
The Pogues reviving trad amongst the unwashed youth
Lisdoonvarna
Siamsa Cois Lee
Slane
Ballinspittle
Mass
Gregory Grainneog and Sile Snailymabob on Bosco
Gaybo the God
Night Train with Mark Cagney
In Tua Nua and fantasizing about Leslie Downfall
Great Music from Indy and Garage bands
Discos
No NCT and the utter state of the cars here
Stay alive and don't drink 5 ad campaign which said 4 pints should be the max to drink
Ian Paisley
IRA
Support the Hunger Strikes
Bobby Sands
H Blocks
Dirty Protest
Dominic McGlinchy on the run
GUBU
Malcom McArthur
Sean Kelly
Stephen Roche
Cycling Mad
Dirty Dozen win 83 All Ireland
Galway win Hurling
Joe McDonagh sings The West's Awake
German army surplus stuff
Parkas
PLO scarves
Docks
New Romantics
Heavy Metal
Synth pop
American Rock
The Late Late Show being compulsory viewing
Closedown on TV at 12.00 and the National Anthem
Mass emigration
Bedsit land Rathmines and Drumcondra
Anco
FCA
Gardai in Renault 4's chasing lads in Saab turbos
Mart and Market
The Lie of the Land
Anne Doyle
Charles Mitchell
Micheal O'Heir
No money
Jack Frost painting the inside of your window
Honda 50's
70 High Nellys parked in a heap outside Mass on Sunday
Massey 35's
Sweet Afton
Players Please
10 Major
Carrolls Nr 10
Stag
Babycham
Harp
Furstenberg
Hot Toddy
No pints for women
Women in the lounge only
Being lifted over turnstiles
Tubs of ices
Crush on the Hill
Keep an eye on that young fella to a total stranger.
Being slapped
Stick at school
Writing cramps
Encyclopedias from the 60s in school
Commodore 64
Dragon computer
Walkman
Waiting for the DJ to zip it so you could hit the record button
The disappointment when the full song wasn't played
Ice cream sandwich with the wafers
Fruit cocktail
Packet soup
Caravan in Salthill for holidays
Aunt back from England on holidays
Uncle back from the States
All powerful clergy
Divorce referendum
Abortion referendum
3 elections in 18 months
Thatcher milk snatcher
Reagan visiting
Gorbachev
Nuclear war
Ethiopia
Band aid
Do they know it's Christmas
Mullets
Losing your virginity

Anything else?

InTheTrees

Dandelion Market.

Pirate radio.