The Best From Your Birth Year

Okay, sure you were a baby, but you grew up and discovered these things later in life. And I know this takes a bit of hunting down and google-searching (and confirming the accuracy of lists, some are out of wack), but let’s talk about your birth-year favorites.

You can do these and/or add your own

My Favorites: Birth Year - 1961

Movie: Last Year at Marienbad, from director Alain Resnais
This odd, arty film puts me in an altered state, and there are not many pictures that can do that. They can entertain, they can inform, they can set me on journeys around the globe and beyond. But few take apart my brain and reassemble it, the way Marienbad does.

Song: Moon River, Written by Henri Mancini and Johnny Mercer, preferred vocalist, Audrey Hepburn
Musical event, The Beatles perform under that name for the first time at The Cavern Club

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Comedy Album or Special: Don Knotts, An Evening With Me - his first and only stand-up album was a classic.

Novel: EDIT - It’s now The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Sparks - 2nd place: Solaris, Stanislaw Lem

Short Story: Louisa, Please Come Home, Shirley Jackson (not sure if I’ve read a lot of short stories from this year, but Jackson’s one of my favorite writers, and this was a goodie)

TV Series: Was “Leave it To Beaver” still good in its 4th & 5th seasons? Larry had left and that was a bummer, but I always liked the series. (also The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, The Rifleman,

1961-12-03-Packers vs Giants-M

Sporting Event: Packers won the Super… er, the NFL Championship Game! (they didn’t have Superbowls back then) - This was Lombardi’s first of 5 titles as the Packers head coach, Paul Hornung (the league MVP) scored 19 points in the game (a record at the time) and was named the game’s MVP - they defeated the NY Giants 37 to 0 on Dec 31, 1961.

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Movie: Condorman! (Love this one!)

Raiders of the Lost Ark as well.

Music: Lots of fun songs released the year I was born. I got Celebration! by Kool and the Gang, the theme song from Greatest American Hero, Hit Me with Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar, Another Bites the Dust by Queen. Quite a few.

TV Show: Gotta say that there aren’t too many of the top shows that I cared much about. Magnum P.I. was on. …and 60 Minutes which I watched with my parents when I was older.

Books: I’ve got two Brother Cadfael mysteries which I love: St Peter’s Fair and The Leper of St. Giles. Also, Frank Herbert’s God Emperor of Dune.

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Ah, Pat Benatar and Queen, those take me back.

Bruce Lee and MASH too

Here’s another category… a movie released on your birth-year that would eventually be covered on MST?

One of my favorites, The Beast of Yucca Flats was born the year I was born.

(other future MSTed movies from '61 - Reptilicus, Gorgo, Ring of Terror, Invasion of the Neptune Men, Phantom Planet, Bloodlust, Hamlet, and Hercules and the Captive Women).

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Several riffed movies were released the year I was born … I’m going to pretend Castle of Fu Manchu and Girl in Gold Boots aren’t two of them and go with Moon Zero Two.

I was born on the final day of the Let It Be sessions, the day after the rooftop concert.

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1984

Movie: The Terminator

Song: Tonight is What It Means to Be Young (so awesome that it singlehandedly saved the film Streets of Fire from being scrapped after everyone was disappointed in how it was turning out, just so it could end with this song).

TV show: I’ll give Airwolf the edge for having one of the greatest theme songs ever.

Book: The Hunt for Red October
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The movie is SO rough to get through, but man this song rocks

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The year of the Master Ninjas, Boggy Creek II, Cave Dwellers, and Devil Fish

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And Jim Steinman wrote it in just two days after they found they couldn’t get Springsteen’s song Streets of Fire. Plus, the tune was reused in his stage musical Dance of the Vampires, which is well worth checking out.

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1980

Maybe the greatest film of all time.

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oooo, I know of Dance of the Vampires but didn’t know they reused the song for it. Thanks!

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I was born in 2001, but sadly, I roamed the Earth a few weeks after 9/11 (I know, it’s unfortunate). BBBBUUUUUUUTTTT, that doesn’t mean the year I was born in didn’t have any movies I liked!

Spirited Away

Moulin Rogue!

For video games, there’s Super Smash Bros. Melee, Luigi’s Mansion, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Super Monkey Ball, and even Halo 2.

For TV shows, there’s The Book of Pooh and Stanley on Playhouse Disney, and a bunch of Japanese shows I saw religiously no one’s ever heard of.

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^ 3 great movies in a row!

One more from me…

While “The Ladies Man” (my fave Lewis movie) wasn’t released to a wide audience until June, it had its premiere on Friday, May 26th in Opelika, Alabama, I was born a day later, May 27th. So this is the closet thing to a Birthday movie for me. With “A Raisin in the Sun” coming out on Monday the 29th (back then they released new movies throughout the week, not just, primarily on Fri).

and I know this info because I recently worked on a Top 100 movies from '61 list for my Birthday, not because I have a mind like a steel trap. lol

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1975: Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Jaws for movies.

Wonder Woman for TV series, but The Mary Tyler Moore Show aired one of their most famous episodes “Chuckles Bites the Dust” on my birthday.

Song might be Please Mr. Postman by the Carpenters, but there are a few I liked upon a cursory glance.

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In 1980 there was Jackie Chan’s Young Master which has long been a favourite. I also have a bit of a soft spot for John Carpenter’s The Fog and while I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, The Empire Strikes Back is a terrific film.

Airplane! has been my favourite comedy ever since I first saw it. The silly word play always cracks me up. I even managed to catch a showing in the cinema a few years back.

My mum has told me that I used to love this film when I was a kid but I used to run around the house shouting “Condomman”! :rofl: I also used to have nightmares about “marauding socks” which, come to think of it, is a cheesy movie that needs to happen.

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I was born in 1977 so there’s only one obvious choice…

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So we’re talking about 1982 in my case. Pretty much a banner year for Hollywoo with The Thing being my personal favourite (also an obscure Mac & Me rip-off called E.T. that holds up reasonably well).

I always thought it was a bit of an in-between year for music I like but some basic research reveals this to be INCORRECT. In fact, a very good year with Hex Enduction Hour by the Fall being the cream of the crop.

For TV, 1982 was the year Channel 4 launched in the UK which brought a bit of a bounty with it. My choice would be ‘Comic Strip Presents…’ which is where Ade Edmondson, Rik Mayall and that school broke through into TV. It’s greatest gift to the world was the fake Heavy Metal band Bad News, which appeared in a few different episodes and one off specials. Highly recommended.

As for books…Battlefield Earth, anyone? No? I’ll show myself out.

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This was a challenging topic @JakeGittes. My birth year was 1967…

Movie: The Graduate

My first difficult choice and it came down to The Graduate and Cool Hand Luke (and I’m not sure I made the right choice). I also noted several future experiments from 1967 in The Million Eyes of Sumuru, Catalina Caper and Yongary, Monster From The Deep.

Song: Daydream Believer by The Monkees

Even more difficult than favorite movie. The year began with the release of The Doors debut and closed with new albums from Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. In between was the release of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the Summer Of Love.

So, I opted for the song that was Number One when I was born as it always makes me smile.

TV Series: The Carol Burnett Show

The show and I both debuted in 1967 and Carol was must-see-TV as a kid. I’ve always had a bit of a crush on Carol - one brilliant, funny, and classy lady.

Book: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison

I read a fair amount, but looking through the books of 1967 made me feel as though I’ve never cracked one.

Sporting Event: Packers win the first Super Bowl

The teams that I follow did not have a good year the year I was born. Fortunately, I arrived in a year with a very MST3K-related event.

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I’m enjoying the reads, nice stories from one and all. Feel like I’m getting to know y’all a little more.

@FreemanLowell - To be born the year that the “Packers won the first Super Bowl, Woo-Hoo!” is very, very cool.

Jaws from @nschornhorst’s list – man does that bring back memories. My family was visiting relatives in another -larger- city. And we went to the biggest theater, with the biggest parking lot I’d ever seen. The crowd of people was staggering to my 14-year-old eyes. I’d never witnessed anything like that. (They say Jaws gave birth to the summer blockbuster and I saw it come into being first hand). The movie scared the ever-loving hell out of me, but I loved it.

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I highly recommend Catch-22. I’ve kept a copy bedside for 25 years as I can just open it randomly and be entertained before catching some sleep.

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When I was looking up books, that one kept cropping up at or near the top of most lists. So that’s definitely the next library check-out.

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