Nostalgia

The Final Countdown – Europe

- Roshan

The Final Countdown is the third studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. Released on 26 May 1986 through Epic Records, the album was a commercial success, peaking at number 8 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and reaching high positions in charts worldwide. The Final Countdown is the first album to feature keyboardist Mic Michaeli and drummer Ian Haugland and the last to feature founding guitarist John Norum until 2004’s Start from the Dark. John Leven & Joey Tempest handled bass and vocals as usual.

We start of with their biggest hit & probably best ever song, The Final Countdown is a song by the Swedish rock band Europe, released in 1986. Written by their lead singer Joey Tempest, it was based on a keyboard riff he made in the early 1980s, with lyrics inspired by David Bowie’s “Space Oddity“. Originally intended only to be a concert opener, it is the first single and title track from the band’s studio album of the same name. The music video by Nick Morris, made to promote the single and featuring the band’s live performances in both Solna & Stockholm, has received over 1.2 billion views on YouTube. It was based on keyboard riff that Tempest came up with and Leven asked him to write a song based around the riff. The song was #1 in France, Austria, Italy, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. And top 10 in the US & Canada.

Next on the list is their second big hit on the album – Rock The Night. Initially written in 1984, the version we know became second international single from the album. The 1986 release became a Top 10 hit in France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Switzerland, and peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart and #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States in early 1987. The music video sees the band walking into a Hard Rock Cafe and they start singing as a live video of the same song plays on tv. Next up we have Carrie, the ballad on the album and a Top 30 hit in several territories worldwide, #9 in Canada & #3 in the US. It’s a song about breakup but still being in love.

Danger On The Track is a song about being alone and in danger of being attacked by strangers and not knowing what to do. Ninja is a song that admires the ancient warriors and their exploits during war and fights and dreaming of being one of the brave ones. Cherokee is the next single released in 1987. It was the fourth single released internationally from the album and reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The video for Cherokee was filmed in September 1987, in Almería, Spain. It was filmed a half mile from where Sergio Leone shot the famous Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars. Lyrically the song is about the plight of the Cherokee tribes and how they had to survive following the forceful removal & displacement by the US government in between 1830 and 1850.

Another ballad is the beautiful Time Has Come about the dreams and longings of the lonely adventurer  who is coming back home from his adventures & exploits. Heart Of Stone is a song about still longing for the one you love, despite the fights and arguments. On The Loose was initially written and featured in a Swedish film of the same name. Lyrically it is about the exploits of a young man living out on his own and playing by his own rules. Love Chaser released in 1986 as a single only in Japan and featured in the soundtrack album of the Japanese movie Pride One.  It’s basically about someone who is longing for the object of their affection and is determined to do anything to get them.

In support of the album’s release, Europe went on their first leg of the Swedish tour and then Japan for 6 dates. During that tour, guitarist and band co-founder John Norum told the other band members that he wanted to leave the band, due to musical differences with the rest of the band and their manager. He continued with the band through the second leg of the Sweden tour, as well as a promotion tour around Europe including TV appearances and interviews. He made his last appearance with the band for a Sky Channel broadcast at the club Escape in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 31 October 1986. Norum was then replaced by Kee Marcello, appeared in the music videos for “Rock the Night“, “Cherokee” and “Carrie,” before making his first TV appearance with the band at Peters Popshow in Dortmund, West Germany on 12 December 1986.

In January they toured Europe before playing a 23 night run across the US and then later Canada and back to Europe again to end their world tour. I saw & heard The Final Countdown video back in 1986 when I was 10. This was the first rock song/band I knew and I became an instant fan. I played the album to my cousins and every cousin bought this album later the next year.

Nostalgic For the 1980s And My Youth Via Two 80s TV Shows

- Roshan

I am currently in an 80s nostalgia binge. And overdosing on it! I am currently rewatching 3 tv series that I love. 2 of them are from the 90s and the 3rd is from the 2000s. But I am talking about the two from the 80s – V and Full House. To be fair, V is pure 80s (having started as a mini-series in 1983 and ending in 1985) and Full House is considered – well by a lot of people and myself – as more 90s as it started in 1987 and ended in 1995 and spent more season in the 90s! But still it does have a lot of 80s flair.

In terms of V, I remember watching this show as an 8 or 9 year old till maybe the next year. 1985 to 1986 I think. They showed the series on Kuwaiti television about a year later than the original mini-series run on American television. As a pre-teen this show fascinated me and along with reruns of Battlestar Galactica & Galactica 1980 started my obsession with science fiction shows and science fiction in general. I lit up whenever these shows were on tv and I recorded them on VHS so I could rewatch them as much as I could.

As for Full House, I think I started watching it in my 20s when it first started showing on cable tv in the year 1999 to early 2000s. I watched reruns of it as much as I could and I loved the show. I was a bit familiar with what it was about before they started airing it on cable tv here in India but I kinda forgot about the show between the years 2006 to 2019. I think I watched a clip on Youtube or something that rekindled my love for it in 2019 and in August of that year, I broke my toe and was on sick leave for 8 days. During that recovery, I decided to rewatch Full House which was on Netflix at the time and also in preparation for me to watch the new show Fuller House, which is it’s sequel.

So I am glowing with the love of the 80s, with colour outfits and big hair, metal & rock bands, pretty women and good fun, scifi concepts and special effects that look dated now but were awesome for back then! And relive my youth.

A Brief Encounter With A Woman Who Captured My Imagination

- Roshan

Is there a brief encounter or an insignificant remark that stuck with you?

A brief encounter that stuck with me – this was back in 2007 and I still remember what she looked like, her smile, eyes and almost everything about her. That’s some impression I’d say! She has popped into my lonely mind quite a few times over the years since.

Her name is Meher and she told me that she was a Parsi who grew up in Mangalore and moved to Bangalore with her cousin and couple of their girlfriends for work. She had been in Bangalore working in a couple of the call centers and got promoted to the post of a trainer. She then joined a company that focused solely on training and provided training for various other companies & corporates, from an entry level employee to managers, DGMs, & even GMs & VPs on various non-product and non-technical aspects & topics. Like communications, soft skills, office/business etiquette, various other HR related stuff as well. Her company had been hired for a few weeks to provide a 30 day soft skills & communication training for the first batches of entry level call center associates at our BPO (we were providing the customer care for a large international mobile service provider for their Kerala operations).

Anyways, me & a fellow colleague were asked to go and visit with the trainers from Meher’s company and sit with them for a couple of hours and observe their training sessions, go through their modules and in short see their work. My employers wanted to know if we could replicate the same training within our own organization hence cutting costs. So this is how I met Meher as she was one of the trainers there. I spent a few hours talking her & her colleagues and she made quite an impression on me. She was smart, bright, eloquent, vivacious – not to mention elegant, classy and extremely gorgeous. She had a smile that could light up a large stadium, including the parking lot! She has these beautiful eyes and a cute nose. All in all the perfect package. I managed to communicate with her via email for a few weeks but then lost touch (didn’t get her phone number)!

Total Control – John Norum

- Roshan

Total Control is the first solo album by Europe guitarist John Norum. It was released after Norum left Europe following the release of 1986’s The Final Countdown and the tour that followed.  Apparently guitarist John Norum left Europe back in the 1980’s because he was unhappy over the more commercial bent of the group’s music. The band definitely had more success with that change but in more recent years have gone more towards that classic rock sound. While the album’s production is clearly of the 80’s, the material does veer greatly into the heavier guitar driven sound. While keyboards do have a presence on the album, they don’t overwhelm the clearly more aggressive rocking vibe.

Joining him on this album are singer Goran Edman on 3 tracks, while John tackles vocals on the other 8, and Norum’s friend from the early days of Europe Marcel Jacob, when they were still called Force. Jacob joined the band Force for 3 years before quitting to rejoin Yngwie Malmsteen’s band Rising Force. Jacob also cowrote 8 of the 11 songs. Peter Hermansson played drums on the record while Per Blom added keyboards on some songs. We start off with Norum singing and playing guitars on the more rockier Let Me Love You which has a great bass and drum rhythm throughout the song. It was also the first single. The video for the next song, Love Is Meant To Last Forever is from a live performance. The song is about two lovers who are trying to make it through the struggles and Goran takes the vocals on this one.

John comes back to sing the slower Too Many Hearts which is the first ballad in the album. The slower paced guitar solos shows off more of Norum’s range. Someone Else Here sounds more like Europe than most of the other songs in the album. Eternal Flame starts off with a searing solo before the rest of the song kicks off, reminding me a bit of Joe Lynn Turner era Rainbow. Back on the Streets is a cover of a Vinnie Vincent song from the previous year and has got a great music video in which John’s guitar is stolen and he searches for it only to find it in a pawn show before he joins Goran, Marcel and the others to play the solo. More chaotic is the song Blind with John singing again.

One of my favourite songs of the record is the oddly sounding Law Of Life penned by Max Lorentz & Mats Lindfors. For a 11 year old, I thought that this song would be good in a Western movie. We’ll Do What It Takes Together is once again another song that reminds of Turner & Rainbow – especially the rhythm part. I remember singing this song loudly in my room back in the preteens. The album ends with the instrumental In Chase Of The Wind, featuring some beautiful acoustic guitars along with electric. Some regions got a bonus track in a Thin Lizzy cover of Wild One. Norum who is a fan of the band and Phil Lynott, dedicated it to the latter who passed away the previous year.

The album earned the #4 spot in Sweden and did well across Europe heralding Norum’s successful solo career before he rejoined his friends in Europe in 2003 as the band reunited from a long hiatus and has put the band first while still maintaining his solo efforts.

Droopy – One Sad Looking Basset Hound

- Roshan

Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon  shorts produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. Droopy moves slowly and lethargically, speaks in a jowly monotone voice, and—though hardly an imposing character—is shrewd enough to outwit his enemies. When finally roused to anger, often by a bad guy laughing heartily at him, Droopy is capable of beating adversaries many times his size with a comical thrashing.

The character first appeared, nameless, in Avery’s 1943 cartoon Dumb-Hounded. Though he was not called “Droopy” on screen until his fifth cartoon, Señor Droopy (1949), the character was already named “Droopy” in model sheets for his first cartoon. He starred in 24 theatrical cartoons, ending in 1958 when MGM closed its cartoon department. The character has been revived several times for new productions including films and television shows also featuring MGM’s other famous cartoon stars, Tom and Jerry, either as their ally or enemy. He’s also known to be the guider of Cartoon Network back when it first launched at October 1, 1992.

One of Droopy’s more surprising traits is his incredible strength, given his diminutive stature and unassuming looks and personality, but this was usually reserved for when he was upset (with a few rare exceptions, where he very easily moved his adversary without harming him), at which time he would say in a monotone voice “You know what? That makes me mad” prior to thrashing the hapless villain of the piece. I grew up watching the old Droopy cartoons and some of the revived ones in the Tom & Jerry show. It was so fun to watch. I will always cherish two of them a whole lot – the Homesteader one, Wild & Wolfie and Cabalero Droopy. Such nostalgic cartoons.

Hell To Pay – The Jeff Healey Band

- Roshan

Hell to Pay is the second album by the Jeff Healey Band. It was released in 1990, and was one of the top 25 best-selling albums in Canada. In 1991. it was nominated for a Juno Award for “Album of the Year”.  Guest musicians on the album include George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bobby Whitlock and Mark Knopfler. The album was recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada in January and February 1990. It reached #27 in the US, #5 in Canada, #18 in the UK and cracked the top 10 in both Norway & Sweden while hitting #20 in Australia. This was my introduction to the late, great Jeff Healey back in late 1990 when a friend of my in grade 9 let me borrow his cassette tape of this album and recommended it to me. A little while later, I bought my own copy.

We start of with a foot stopping rocker in Full Circle about a certain type of hot woman who teases and pleases but does not commit and likes to keep you waiting. Second up is a Mark Knopfler written & composed song I Think I Love You Too Much. This one has some of the best solos in the whole album with Jeff shredding his strat, while singing about the elusive lover who still makes life difficult for the protagonist even while they are together. I Can’t Get My Hands On You is about a rich playboy who has property, jets around the world, has expensive things and cars but does not have the object of his desire. He understands that all the riches mean nothing and is frustrated that he can’t get this particular woman. It ends with a nice drum solo.

How Long Can A Man Be Strong is my fav song performed by Healey. This gentle ballad is a longing for that one woman, the love of your life, the one who will be with you forever and you are waiting for her and you just know that she is also waiting for you. You haven’t met her yet but you know she’s out there and it’s lonely until you find her. Let It All Go is a cheerful, with a tinge of sadness, hopeful look at staying positive and has a nice sing along feel to it. I see a bunch of people singing along at this one. Hell To Pay is more of a blues to rocker letting you know that yours may not be the biggest problems around and that there are others have it worse.

One of his best and most recognized songs is the cover of the Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps. The George Harrison single has been performer and covered by many but with this studio release, Jeff truly makes it his own. Again the trio switches gears with the rockier Something To Hold On, about a troubled woman wanting to escape an abusive relationship. How Much is about love and the risk of trying to go all out and the man is asking how much should be be willing to give and he could take away the pain of past problems and issues. Highway Of Dreams is basically about the fame game, the search for money and glory and how about everyone is basically travelling the same road or highway. Life Beyond The Sky is looking optimistically while the world struggles with despair and war and hopefully there is a life of goodness beyond this. This life is worth looking forward to.

The album has 5 singles released with varying degrees of success with I Think I Love You Too Much – #5 in the US as well – & How Long Can A Man Be Strong hitting #5 & #8 in Canada, while Full Circle aided by its music video hit 16 in the US.

Sony Blank Tapes : Summer Vacations & Music To Record

- Roshan

Sony blank tapes – cassette tapes bring back so many memories for me. Ever since I can remember I listened to music on blank as well as the published ones. We either recorded them from another cassette or from the radio and once I was back in India, we used to give them to a recording store like Atlantic Records (just a shop that would get you the songs from an album recorded onto a blank tape for you for a fee) mainly for albums that we couldn’t easily find in the music stores in our hometown.

This was a summer vacation activity. Atlantic records has two stores – one near the Ernakulam North Railway Station and the other very close to my grandmother’s house, which is where my cousins and other relatives gathered to stay every summer vacation (and also Onam and Christmas vacations). Usually every few days my cousins and I would head there and check out what new albums they had and if we found something that we likes, we would buy a blank tape or 2 and ask them to record the songs for us. If no albums caught our fancy, we would get like a greatest hits album or a mix tape where we can select individual songs and get them to record the songs onto one tape for us.

The latter option ofcourse took a lot longer so they would usually ask us to give them a week. But it was so much fun when we finally got the tapes and could then play it on our stereo systems or on our walkmans. Evenings would be spent in one big room with us all relaxing and playing songs and chatting with each other. I so miss those days.

Comfort Food, A Struggle Meal, A Cheaper Meal That You Can Fix In A Jiffy

- Roshan

What is a struggle meal you actually like? (a struggle meal can be a cheap meal when finances are tight, or a low effort meal when you have no energy)

Maggi instant noodles – that is common across India. It is our Kraft Dinner or Kraft Mac & Cheese! When in bind, you go for the packet of Maggi in the cupboard. When you want to save money and not buy food from a nice restaurant or cafe, go and search for your packs of Maggi. A rainy day and you won’t want to go outside but you crave some comfort food, get some Maggi that is lying in your shelves. Once again, ever since I was a kid, Maggi has been a very large part of my life as it has been for yours.

And the best thing and most common thing is to make what is called Maggi egg burji or just Maggi eggs, which is basically just cooking scrambled eggs separately and then adding the cooked Maggi to it. Some people would like to add additional masala but I don’t. I find that the flavour packet that comes with the pack of instant noodles is good enough and if you want some additional taste you can add ketchup or hot sauce to it.

If you want to be fancy you can chop up onions or green onions, tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, maybe some chicken or minced beef etc. Cut up bacon or hot dogs. Add whatever you want just don’t add too much masala to it as it takes away from the true taste of the instant noodles.

The Salty Goodness Of Monaco Biscuits

- Roshan

Monaco biscuits have been a staple of Indian households for a very long time. Salted biscuits or crackers as you may call them, they are marketed as a tea / coffee time snack. The Monaco biscuit is a small, flat-baked, salty biscuit, manufactured and marketed by Parle Foods. A light and crispy biscuit sprinkled with salt. Launched in 1939, Monaco pioneered the salted cracker category and is truly an anytime brand.

I think I first became aware of this biscuit in late 1988 when I saw ads of it on tv. A few weeks later would have been the first time that I bought a packet while my family was on a grocery store run and added one to the cart. I initially used to feel that they were a bit too salty but they did remind me of a similar tasting biscuit that we used to have in Kuwait. I probably didn’t buy another one for a long time. I instead went to other biscuits.

When I was around 21 or 22 I used to go, 3 times a week to Kottayam with my dad and accompany him when he went to his business office. Since we left at 6 am, I would also carry some lunch with me (and he would get rice & curry at the office). Mom would make Maggi noodles for me and put it in a thermos to which I would add a bottle of water and a packet of biscuits. One of them would be Monaco and I started like it a lot more. They are now a staple in my household.

Exposed – Vince Neil

- Roshan

Exposed is the debut solo album of Mötley CrĂĽe frontman Vince Neil following his exit from the band in 1992. It was released in 1993 and reached No. 13 on the US Billboard 200 chart and #44 in the UK. The album was recorded at the Record Plant in Los Angeles in 1992. Neil titled the album Exposed because he thought of the album as his moment in the spotlight, no longer being a member of Mötley CrĂĽe. Neil was able to put together a really solid band with bassist Phil Soussan who ended co-writing five of the eleven songs on the album and played on the demos but Steve Stevens eventually played all bass and lead guitars on the album and Vik “Vikki” Foxx of Enuff Z’Nuff who played all drums & percussion & on some songs Robbie Buchanan played keyboards.

We start of strongly with the fast paced Look In Her Eyes, with Stevens laser effects on his guitar solos that makes this song stand out. Sister Of Pain is the second single off the record and features a music video that features porn actress Janine Lindemulder and fittingly the song is about a dominatrix or a sexually dominant woman atleast. Next single is a banger! Can’t Have Your Cake” is the third solo single and the music video features the then up-and-coming Pamela Anderson, and the singer’s son Neil Wharton, who portrayed a young Vince Neil in the video. At the time, Pamela and Tommy Lee weren’t dating and possibly hadn’t met. Neil and Pamela were rumored to have been dating at the time of the music video.

A bass rumble starts of Fine, Fine Wine with more awesome guitar soloing by Stevens. And then he goes on a Flamenco intro to the next song – The Edge, which is about surviving LA. Probably the best song in the album is up next. Can’t Change Me is the 3rd single and the video was filmed at the Record Plant. Once again, Steve’s flamenco guitar is prominent here with the axe man soloing on both that as well as his usual electric guitar. And then we have a cover of Set Me Free from the Sweet’s Desolation Boulevard. Another very interesting song is the awesome Living Is A Luxury with it’s quieter verses compared to the rockier chorus and introspective lyrics.

You’re Invited (But Your Friend Can’t Come) is Vince’s debut single and his first solo single.This song exists in two different versions, the first of which was recorded with Tommy Shaw on guitars, Jack Blades on bass & Michael Cartellone on drums (the 3 from Damn Yankees) and was included on the soundtrack to the Brendan Fraser movie Encino Man; a music video was later released for this version featuring a cameo from co-star Shore. The track was later re-recorded for Exposed with Stevens. Getting Hard is another fun with some double entendre lyrics in places and a bitchin’ rhythm guitar by Stevens. The album ends with the obligatory love ballad, Forever, but it’s a strong one and probably my second song favourite off the album as it immediately takes you back to a long past year!

Neil recorded two bonus tracks for the Japanese edition: Blondes (Have More Fun) and the Ramones’ cover I Wanna Be Sedated. The Last Goodbye, cowritten with Todd Meagher, was pulled from the album at the last minute due to a dispute between Meagher and Neil that culminated in a brawl at the Roxbury on Sunset Strip. The song was a ballad, about Neil’s split from Mötley.

Seven More Rock Albums Turning 40 In 2025

- Roshan

Neil Young, ‘Old Ways’
Originally intended for release in 1983, Neil Young’s country album Old Ways sat on the shelf for two years as a result of the singer’s battle with Geffen Records, who sued him for making “unrepresentative” albums such as the synth-heavy Trans and the rockabilly Everybody’s Rockin’. When he was ordered to re-work Old Ways, Young dove even deeper into country music, which as he told Rolling Stone in 1988 “was a direct result of being sued for playing country music. The more then tried to stop me, the more I did it.”

Dire Straits, ‘Brothers in Arms’
Dire Straits had their cake and ate it too with 1985’s Brothers in Arms. The album’s biggest single, “Money for Nothing,” made fun of modern culture’s rock star worship while also becoming one of the year’s most popular MTV videos, propelling the album sales to unprecedented multi-platinum levels.

David Lee Roth, ‘Crazy From the Heat’
By his account, David Lee Roth wasn’t looking to leave Van Halen when he released his Crazy From the Heat covers EP in 1985. He purposely stayed away from hard rock guitar so as to not step on his main band’s toes, but the success of his take on “California Girls” led to a film offer that helped push the already squabbling group to the breaking point.

Eric Clapton, ‘Behind the Sun’
Relenting to pressure from his label, and seemingly agreeing that his commercial fortunes need a boost, Eric Clapton teamed up with co-producer Phil Collins and outside songwriters for the slicked-up Behind the Sun. He also let the guitar solos fly a bit more freely, particularly on the lead single “Forever Man.” The plan worked, kicking off a successful Clapton revival and a decade-long string of platinum and multi-platinum albums.

Bon Jovi, ‘7800 Fahrenheit’
Bon Jovi’s second album has been largely dismissed by the band over time, but it did show them putting together major pieces of the formula they’d use to conquer the world with Slippery When Wet the following year. Despite clashing with their producer and dealing with a rushed recording schedule, the band showed their promise on songs such as “In and Out of Love” and “Only Lonely.”

Robert Plant, ‘Shaken ‘n’ Stirred’
Robert Plant continued to push further and further from his Led Zeppelin past on his third solo album. With Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward joining the band, Shaken ‘n’ Stirred explores more exotic and complex rhythms while also leaning even heavier on keyboards than Pictures at Eleven and The Principle of Moments. “Little by Little” reached the Top 40, but the album was Plant’s first not to earn platinum sales status in America.

Megadeth, ‘Killing Is My Business… and Business is Good!’
Fired from Metallica just before the release of their revolutionary debut album, Dave Mustaine started again on his own, assembling a new band and self-producing their debut album on a shoestring budget. The resulting Killing is My Business… and Business is Good! helped define thrash metal, and Megadeth went on to become acknowledged as one of the genre’s most important acts.

Back In The Late 1980s & Early 1990s

- Roshan

How I Used to Spend My Weekends as a Kid. Share a nostalgic look at how you spent your weekends growing up, whether it was with family, friends, or on your own adventures.

I like to go in time in my mind on the dull afternoons and think about the years gone by. Boy some of those years especially during my childhood were so good and I think I really had it good. I think the 80s & 90s, even if we didn’t have the technology of today, were a much better time period. We had great cartoons, great movies and great music. If you were a football fan during those years you had great players and rival teams. If you were a tennis fan like myself, you had some great players to watch.

I read a lot of books and we would get movies from one of the two video lending libraries that my family had membership at. At those ages usually on Friday evening my sister and I would go with our dad to the city from the little suburban place that we lived in and sometimes mum joined us too. My sister and I would plan to get atleast 2 to 3 good movies to watch (mostly English) and then if we could we would go and check out a book store or something like that. Post that we would get ice cream or dinner and go back home.

Saturdays and Sundays morning would be very lazy and I’d try to complete any homework that I had to do and then post lunch we would pop in one of the movies. My sister and I would watch that and then go to our rooms where we either listened to music or I read a book. Then after dinner we might watch another movie and sis and I would discuss it until we felt asleep. Sunday it would be more of the same but I would listen to more music on Sundays and probably check for any sports events I could watch.

This is ofcourse on weekends that we didn’t have relatives visiting us. And once in a while I would also get together with my friends from school and we’d hang out for a few hours. Good times!

Have A Hungry Bunny Right Now!

- Roshan

Let’s look at a blast from the past, an icon of my childhood days. Hungry Bunny is a local restaurant fast food chain that opened up in the early 80s in Kuwait. It was inspired by a Australian franchise called Hungry Jack which was what Burger King was called in Australia back then.

My memories of Hungry Bunny is their awesomely cool 1980s commercial with the bunny and the song that is so catchy. My family used to get their frozen patties mostly and I remember eating that a few times when I came back from school. If I remember correctly I had it more in the 1986=87 period when I was 10. I distinctly remember watching The Flintstones after coming back from school and drinking a juice and eating the burger. Good times!

Hungry Bunny fast food chain

  • Founded in 1987 by Mohamed Al Amar Al Dossary, a Saudi Arabian entrepreneur
  • Has branches in Saudi Arabia and franchise locations in other countries 
  • The company’s mission is to expand through franchising
  • Hungry Bunny also owns a meat processing factory in Dammam, Saudi Arabia 

Seven Rock Albums Turning 40 In 2025

- Roshan

Aerosmith, ‘Done With Mirrors’
In a better world, this album would have launched Aerosmith’s comeback. After a half-decade apart, guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford returned to to the fold and help the group record the most underappreciated album in their career. Done With Mirrors was a lean, mean return to form for one of America’s best ’70s rock bands, but the album failed to capture the public’s attention. Two years later, the band reclaimed their commercial stature with the use of outside songwriters and more ’80s-friendly production on the massively successful Permanent Vacation.

Motley Crue, ‘Theatre of Pain’
Motley Crue solidified their status as one of metal’s biggest acts with the follow up to their 1983 commercial breakthrough Shout at the Devil. Although the band themselves are rather critical of the album, Theatre of Pain’s increased emphasis on pop hooks helped the band break through to a more mainstream audience with the help of the hit singles “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” and “Home Sweet Home.”

Phil Collins, ‘No Jacket Required’
Already a star both as a solo artist and as Genesis’ frontman, Phil Collins exploded into megastardom with No Jacket Required, which sold over 25 million copies worldwide on the strength of singles such as “Sussudio,” “One More Night” and “Take Me Home.”

Heart, ‘Heart’
The Wilson sisters jumped head first into the ’80s with their self-titled album, using outside songwriters, pop-friendly keyboards, hairspray and high-budget MTV videos to pull themselves out of a commercial slump. Though they’d express regret over the commercial concessions in later years, the plan certainly worked, giving the band a five-times platinum album and their first-ever No. 1 single, “These Dreams.”

Ratt, ‘Invasion of Your Privacy’
Ratt proved that 1984’s “Round and Round” wasn’t a fluke with their 1985 follow-up Invasion of Your Privacy, which boosted the band’s unique mix of sleazy rock guitars and pop-smart hooks with higher production values. “Lay It Down” and “You’re in Love” were the big hits here, but the overall quality showed that Ratt would be a force to deal with going forward.

AC/DC, ‘Fly on the Wall’
Never a band to follow trends, AC/DC stuck to their straight-ahead winning formula on 1985’s Fly on the Wall. The album didn’t rack up the sales or acclaim of their earlier ’80s work, but contains a handful of gems for true believers including “Sink the Pink,” “Shake Your Foundations” and “Playing With Girls.”

Rush, ‘Power Windows’
Rush’s experiments with futuristic musical instruments continued on 1985’s Power Windows, as they added sampling and electronic drums to their palette on songs like “The Big Money” and “Mystic Rhythms.” The result was their eighth straight platinum album.

Blast From The Past – What Is The Saddest Meal You’ve Had?

- Roshan

CHEEZEZIA pizza corner in the now defunct Kochin Food Mall in the Revenue Tower building just past Marine Drive. I can never forget that experience of going there with my cousin one Summer evening and getting the oddest looking pizza ever. This was only my second visit to the Food Mall and the first time ordering the pizza, if you can call it that. We were a little scared but tried them anyway. A medium sized pie with 8 small to medium slices. We slowly picked up a piece each and ate them.

There were toast crusts of what seemed like rusk to us (if you don’t know what rusk is it’s a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread) – basically what they did was they served us a circular disk of rush, on top of which they added some cheese and – wait for it – the toppings that go with a usual BHEL PURI! A fucking bhel puri! The toppings other than the tomatoes were lots or coriander, chopped onions, tomatoes & Sev (a slight crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste). And ofcourse cheese! The sheer audacity to call that a pizza!

We managed a small slice each and then paid and left, laughing so loudly. In no way, shape or form was that a pizza and the people running it should have been in prison doing hard labour for even suggesting that it was!

Nostalgia : Blank Cassette Tapes And The Era Of The MixTape

- Roshan

One of the things that brings back so many memories from my early childhood upto my 20s. The cassette tape as one of the things that I loved as it had my music on it and I love music. We used blank tapes to record songs from the radio or if you had the twin deck on your stereo system you’d get that elusive album from a friend or someone, and record the whole album. Or ofcourse you made your own mix tapes.

TDK was my jam. We had Sony and some other brands but TDK as the one I loved! I used to buy so many of them so I could my favourite rock and some pop songs & artists recorded on them if we couldn’t get the particular album in the shops.

I made so many mixtapes. I would give them to friends and in particular, at the age of 17, to a girlfriend – songs i thought at the time were some of the best romantic songs. The girlfriend is long gone but I do love the songs just as much.

Some Fun Facts About Mind Your Language

- Roshan

Mind Your Language is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1977 to 1979, with a brief revival in 1985. The show is set in an adult education college in London and focuses on the class in English as a Foreign Language taught by Mr. Jeremy Brown, who teaches a group of enrolled foreigners.

Here are some interesting facts about the show:

  • Inspiration: The series was inspired by the 1937 book “The Education of HYMAN KAPLA*N” by Leo Rosten, which is set in a New York night class for English learners.
  • Cancellation: Michael Grade, then Director of Programmes at London Weekend Television, commissioned the show but later canceled it after three series, believing it had exhausted its comedic potential.
  • Revival: The show was briefly revived in 1985 (or 1986 in most ITV regions) with six of the original cast members.
  • International Popularity: Despite criticisms of racial stereotyping in the UK, “Mind Your Language” found significant success abroad and continues to be rerun in countries like India.
  • Cast Diversity: The show featured a diverse ensemble cast portraying students from various countries, each bringing their unique cultural backgrounds to the classroom setting.

“Mind Your Language” remains a notable example of 1970s British television, reflecting both the era’s comedic tastes and its evolving perspectives on cultural representation.

The 7 Hammer Horror Movies With Dracula

- Roshan

The Hammer Horror Dracula films are a series of British Gothic horror movies produced by Hammer Film Productions, beginning in the late 1950s. These films are known for their atmospheric storytelling, vivid color cinematography, and striking performances, particularly by Christopher Lee as Count Dracula and Peter Cushing as his nemesis, Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

Key Films in the Series

  1. Horror of Dracula (1958)
    • The first Hammer Dracula film and arguably the most iconic.
    • Christopher Lee debuts as Dracula, with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.
    • A loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, known for its sensuality, graphic violence (for its time), and vibrant visuals.
  2. Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
    • Lee reprises his role, though Dracula has no dialogue in this installment.
    • The story follows a group of travelers who unwittingly revive the vampire.
  3. Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
    • Dracula returns from the dead to terrorize a small village.
    • Known for its religious themes and lush, Gothic visuals.
  4. Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
    • Focuses on a group of bored aristocrats who revive Dracula as part of a satanic ritual.
    • Lee continues to deliver a menacing presence.
  5. Scars of Dracula (1970)
    • Offers a more violent and gory take on the Dracula mythos.
    • Dracula is portrayed as particularly cruel and sadistic in this entry.
  6. Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
    • A significant departure, bringing Dracula into a contemporary London setting.
    • Features Van Helsing’s descendant battling Dracula.
  7. The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
    • A sequel to Dracula A.D. 1972, blending Gothic horror with espionage thriller elements.
    • Dracula plots to unleash a deadly plague on humanity.
  8. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
    • A unique blend of Gothic horror and martial arts.
    • Does not feature Christopher Lee; Dracula is portrayed by John Forbes-Robertson.

Hallmarks of the Series

  • Christopher Lee’s Dracula: Tall, imposing, and with a mix of seductive charm and monstrous brutality, Lee’s portrayal redefined the character.
  • Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing: A fearless, intelligent adversary to Dracula, often serving as the moral and physical force against evil.
  • Production Design: Lavish Gothic sets, moody lighting, and Hammer’s signature use of Technicolor heightened the sense of dread and macabre beauty.
  • Themes: The films often explored themes of repressed sexuality, religion, and societal decadence.

Legacy

The Hammer Dracula series had a profound impact on the horror genre, influencing subsequent vampire films and popularizing Dracula as a cultural icon. The films remain celebrated for their performances, style, and ability to blend terror with an underlying sense of tragedy.