48. Flashdance, Middle School, Sandwiches

Every Damn Thing

Phil & Jake are joined by old friend (and fellow Pomolita Junior High School survivor) Sarah Walsh to rank the 1983 movie Flashdance, middle school, and sandwiches on the List of Every Damn Thing.

If you have something to add to the list, email it to [e-mail] (or get at us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).

SHOW NOTES:

• We chat briefly about the 90s sitcom Sister, Sister, which leads to Phil wonder if there was a TV adaptation of the movie Sister Act, but he was probably thinking of Sister Kate. Nuns used to be much more common in popular culture; there are fewer than one-third as many in America now than there were in the 1960s.
• We discuss depictions of breakdancing in popular culture, including the 1984 movie Breakin’, which is perhaps what Phil was thinking of when talking about the theme of street dance vs. classical dance. We also mention the sequel Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, which came out later in the same year. Micheal Jackson moonwalking at the Grammys happened in 1983 (the year Flashdance came out).
• The song “What a Feeling” by Irene Cara was produced by Father of Disco Giorgio Moroder. The music video for the song perfectly demonstrates the marriage of MTV and Hollywood in the 80s; see also “When Doves Cry” by Prince (from Purple Rain), “Footloose”, and pretty much any movie from the era produced by Don Simpson & Jerry Bruckheimer.
• Phil wonders if no-nudity strip clubs were really a common thing in the 80s, or if they only existed in movies like Flashdance and Tango & Cash. In Queens in the early 2000s there was a place like that under the N Train in Astoria.
• Dames is a 1934 movie that has some really amazing dance sequences but it's mostly done with editing.
• Phil notes that the music video for “Papa Don’t Preach” by Madonna is similar in imagery and overall style style to Flashdance. Could Madonna have played the lead in the film?
• In the climax of the movie Akeela and the Bee you don't see her spell out the final word “pulchritude" but you see the people in her life, including Angela Basset, Curtis Armstrong and Laurence Fishburne spell the word out. It's great. Phil wanted something like that at the end of Flashdance.

ALSO DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
Soul II Soul * Beverly Hills Cop * Jennifer Beals * Adrian Lyne * 9½ Weeks * feminism * Jennifer Grey * Batman * Lee Ving * Pittsburgh * class struggle * Bruce Springsteen * Enter the Dragon * Trading Places * Jamie Lee Curtis * The Truman Show * Bon Jovi * shirtless men wearing elaborate angel wings, gold lamé shorts and furry cha-cha heels * the intro to “Back That Azz Up” * Jim Carrey * Pokemon * teenagers * pantsing * Jersey Shore * Monopoly * The Last Starfighter * capitalism * Daylight Saving Time * ice cream sandwiches * burritos * nail clippers * It’s-It * smell

Below are the Top Ten and Bottom Top items on List of Every Damn Thing as of this episode (for the complete up-to-date list, go here):

TOP TEN:

1. Dolly Parton - person
2. interspecies animal friends - idea
3. Clement Street in San Francisco - location
4. Prince - person
5. It’s-It - food
6. Cher - person
7. Pee-Wee Herman - fictional character
8. Donald Duck - fictional character
9. Hank Williams - person
10. air - substance

BOTTOM TEN:

157. broken glass - substance
158. Jenny McCarthy - person
159. Jon Voight - person
160. Hank Williams, Jr - person
161. Steven Seagal - person
162. McRib - food
163. war - idea
164. cigarettes - drug
165. QAnon - idea
166. transphobia - idea

Theme song by Jade Puget. Graphic design by Jason Mann. This episode was edited by Jake MacLachlan, with audio help from Luke Janela. Show notes by Jake MacLachlan & Phil Green.

Our website is everydamnthing.net and we're also on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Email us at [e-mail].