A post about the 80's? Elementary, my dear Watson! Is it possible to have a flashback to one day ago? Well, I am. Day 2 will combine "elements" from day one. We'll see how long I can keep building on this.

FIRE

Fire played an important role in the United States in the 1980's. In 1980, Mount St. Helen, located in the state of Washington, erupted, causing $2.9 billion in damages and killing 57 people. In 1980, there was also a heat wave across the Central and Southern states, costing $20 billion and causing 1,700 lives. In 1988 another heat wave and drought affected 45% of the country, at a cost of $120 billion and approximately 8,000 lives.

I know, I know, we didn't have Eucalyptus trees spontaneously combusting like in Australia, but it was still a catastrophic decade.

Meanwhile, in the 80's, British band U2 dropped their album "Unforgettable Fire", while the Australian band Midnight Oil had their hit song, "Beds are Burning". American Billy Joel responded with "We Didn't Start the Fire!". Relax Billy, the song was about giving land back to the native Pintupi, nobody was accusing us of anything. We are a touchy lot at times, aren't we?

WATER

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo devastated the East Coast, with property damages of $7 billion and a death toll of 49.

Peter Gabriel's British rock group hit the charts with the song "Red Rain", while fellow Brit Annie Lennox sang about how she "sailed the ocean and the seven seas".

The Americans tore it up in the water category of music. Guns and Roses started with some "November Rain", which must have caused "The River" Bruce Springsteen sang about, which fed into Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen". Unstable weather patterns caused the Scorpions (OK, their a German band, but I saw them in Philadelphia the night before I graduated from high school, so to me, their American!) to "Rock You Like a Hurricane".

All that Australia had to offer was Little River Band. :(

EARTH

The earth also rebelled against the United States. On October 17, 1989, an earthquake hit Loma Prieta, California, claiming 63 lives.

During the decade, the British rockers Duran Duran release the song "Planet Earth", and Australian bad boys AC/DC rocked the world with "Dirty Deeds", and fellow Oz Garry Gary Beers of INXS sang the song "Firma Terror". The USA only had Afrika Bambaataa (born Kevin Donovan, but doesn't have the same ring as his recording name) created the techno beat "Planet Rock".

AIR

On May 1-2, 1983, 63 tornadoes touched down in 11 states, killing 7 and causing $200 million in damages.

During the decade in music, American Bette Midler sang about a gentler "Wind Beneath My Wings", and British front man Phil Collins released his #1 hit "In the Air Tonight". Sting and the Police (from England, of course) sang their hit about a stalking voyeur "Every Breath You Take". Think about it. "Every breath you take, every move you make, I'll be watching you"? Sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tag line.

Australia dominated the category with the obvious Air Supply. Without them, no one else breathes. Quite egotistical, if you ask me.

BAMBOO

Who ever decided that the Fifth Element was bamboo??!! Oh, that's right, it was me. I guess I didn't really think that through all the way. Heat of the battle and all, you know? However, it turns out that bamboo furniture was quite the rage in the 80's! There are many auctions with "Vintage 1980's bamboo dining set", like the one pictured here:

"What about the music world? Surely he can't pull off a song from the 80's about bamboo?" Here goes. In 1981, The Tom Tom Club had a song called "Bamboo Town", and in 1988, Joe Ely had a song called "Behind the Bamboo Shade". They were both Americans. BAM! I didn't think I was going to pull it off. This war is already starting to take its toll on me.

This topic is so much easier for the Aussies, all they have to do is post about their internet, which is still from the 80's! I wonder if they were given a few days advanced notice of the topics, so they would have time to upload their posts?

Hero Standard by Colonel Hogan.