I used to have a friend named Mike. He and I shared one great love, the love of music and, in particular, the Top 40 singles. We literally spent the 80’s sitting in my basement watching MTV videos. Mike would come over on Friday and we’d watch all weekend, taking time out only to eat and visit the bathroom. My wife would get so mad at us. One of our favorite videos was Bonnie Tyler with “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. This song was not only number one in 1983, but I believe it was number one for the entire year.

According to Wikipedia, Bonnie Tyler was born in Wales to a coal miner. She had a large family with three sisters and two brothers. Her mother, an opera lover, instilled a love of music into Tyler. She had little success until an operation on her throat resulted in her signature raspy voice. She got on the charts with “It’s a Heartache” and then in October of 1983, she spent four weeks at number one in the U.S. with “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. I can’t hear it to this day without getting a lump in my throat.

In news, October of 1983 has to be one of the dullest months in history. After searching newspapers for 2 hours, I have found almost nothing that happened during this month. Reagan was president. The Soviet Union still existed as a Communist state. One big headline declared that they were trying to decide to make Martin Luther King’s birthday a legal holiday. We all know how that came out. During this week, Polish labor leader Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Polish people in their fight against Communism.

It’s interesting to watch the prices of some thing go up over the years. Food, gasoline, clothing have all gone up since 1983. But if you wanted to buy a video tape recorder in 1983, you could pay as much as $600.00. A Video camera which would take two strong men to lift cost $929.00. So, some things have changed for the better. On the flip side of the coin, apple juice was 49 cents for a 32 oz. bottle.

On TV, we watched “The Scarecrow & Mrs. King”. Since Mash had officially ended, the networks wouldn’t let it die and so brought out “AfterMash”. It didn’t last long. “Dynasty” was our favorite prime time soup opera and we enjoyed watching Lee Majors in “Fall Guy”.

1983 was not a momentous year, but any year that can produce “Total Eclipse of the Heart” can’t be all bad. If you’d like to re-visit the song, here is the original music video on YouTube.