Category: Retro

Top 40 Nostalgia

October 7, 2023

Some years back I referred to my collection of ‘Too 40’ charts I used to get at the record shops. I had dozens of them lasting many years through the 1980s, and wish I still had them.

Recently I found some scanned in a historical website of Australian music. The scans were a little low-resolution, but the charts are still readable. Here’s one from March 1984:

Some iconic songs in that top 10! Also note that Thriller is at week 67 in the top 40 but a Midnight Oil album is at week 69! Incidentally I love how this scan is obviously of a copy once owned by a kid who wrote on it.

Here’s the back of the same chart:

These were about A4 size, always printed in two different colours, and usually sat in piles on a counter free for the taking. The fronts always showed the singles/album chart and the back was usually an ad that often contained lyrics. It was a particularly great week when a band I liked was featured on the back 🙂

Here’s the front and back of another from 1984:

99 Luftballoons spent at least two weeks at number 1 in Australia? I wouldn’t have remembered that, even though I did buy the single (and I believe own it to this day). Since I was a big fan of Nik Kershaw in those days, I’m sure I was thrilled to see him featured on the back.

Here’s one from 1985, in which we see the Countdown (a very famous Oz music TV show) promotion had ended:

And lastly the fronts only of two more:

That’s all I was able to find online, and since it was years ago I no longer remember where. If anything this dip into nostalgia makes me want to get my hands on one even more. Years back I saw one (in so-so condition) for sale in an antique store for some silly price and passed. Next time I may reach for my wallet, especially if it’s got a good band on the back 🙂

Funspot (Part 1)

July 25, 2023

We went on a cruise of Lake Winnipesaukee today. The weather was lovely and the breeze as the boat glided along was a nice break from the heat. The shores of this large freshwater lake are full of enormous and very expensive home and all I think when I see them is “How long does it take to clean a home like that?” Of course those that can even afford a house ten times larger than ours can also afford staff to clean it!

Afterwards, and for the second time in two days we went and spent several hours at Funspot. This is – once again – the principle reason we’re here. Last time was during the pandemic and they seemed to have fewer machines but I’m very pleased to see things have turned around and there’s now more than ever!

A new inclusion are several super-rare games such as this ‘Mystic Marathon’ cabinet. Only five were ever made and Funspot has two of them! The other is playable and I can assure you the game is awful 🙂

I played lots of games both days – more on this tomorrow – and as always it was extremely nostalgic and a good even-more-retro follow up to my time spent at Hirose in Akihabara six weeks ago.

Of course they’ve still got a bunch of pinball machines, including several rare and unusual examples. Every time I visit I play Hercules and wonder how it ever got into production.

A new addition is the ‘pinball outpost’ which is a darkened alley with about a dozen tables. The low light lets the lights on the machines pop and makes it easy to marvel at the beautiful back glass art. Check out this table art too:

I played a few pinballs of course, but for me they’re a side-dish to the video games. Even the most thrilling pinball can’t hope to compete with a sit down Star Wars in the original cabinet 🙂

Tomorrow I’ll have more info on some of the games I played and how I did. Stay tuned!

The Ironlords

July 22, 2023

When I sold my Star Wars figures, I also traded in a small amount of other items for store credit. With the credit, I took these:

It’s a set of five die cast metal figures. Each is about two inches tall, fairly thin of sculpt and with lots of obvious flash. They also have bases, and even though I haven’t opened them, seem to be able to stand well on their own.

Here we have Ghan and Astare, two wild barbarians from some forgotten world, obviously fighting for the same cause as evidenced by their identical shields. Their compatriots have similarly evocative names: Vlad, Dakk and Femaré. How do I know this? It’s on the back:

Holy moly, there’s two other series as well? Reptilians and Demons?!? Fear not good reader, because I got them as well:

These are just lovely, either cast in or painted green and gold metal respectively. The Reptilians seem to be humans wearing lizard-themed armor, but the Demons are legitimate monsters.

That’s Slithus and Gark ready to fight. If only someone would burst them from their packaging.

Released in 1983 by a die cast toy company called Midgetoy (which seems to have folded the year prior), I can’t find anything about these online. But as soon as I saw them on the shelf at the shop they just called to me. As an 11-year old, I would have gone absolutely bonkers for these, and would have waged many fights between the reptiles and barbarians and demons, using a rules system of my own creation. I would have loved these unequivocally, and they would have been my treasures.

And now – 40 years later – they are 🙂

Robot Claw