Like Totally Festival Celebrates 1980s Pop Music

My first junior high dance was in the mid-1980s. I skipped a Neil Diamond concert to attend it (yeah, it may not have been the right decision, but I was eager to hit the dance floor). If my memory is correct (and it often isn’t), the DJ played basically the entire Thriller album, along with other pop gems of the day. I had a good time, and it was the first of many dances. I still love dancing to 1980s music. It was the last great decade for pop music.

Now several of the artists who became big during that time are coming together for the fourth annual Like Totally Festival in Huntington Beach, California. The lineup includes Kim Wilde, ABC, The Romantics, Animotion, Greg Kihn Band, Public Image Ltd. and B Movie. Not a bad lineup, eh? I am excited to see Kim Wilde. Her “Kids In America” is a staple of 1980s nights at clubs and parties, and I’m guessing she puts on a good show. One song I could just not get enough of during my early teens was “Obsession” by Animotion. I had the single (still do have it, actually), and listened to that record over and over. Eventually I picked up the band’s self-titled LP and ended up playing that a whole lot as well. But perhaps the band I am most excited to see is Greg Kihn Band. Greg Kihn came along in the 1970s, but it was in the 1980s that he hit it big with songs like “The Breakup Song” and “Jeopardy.” It was also in the 1980s that he started giving his albums goofy titles that were all plays on his name, such as RocKihnRoll, Kihnspiracy and Kihntageous. Ah, the 1980s.

The Like Totally Festival will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at Huntington State Beach, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Folks are encouraged to wear their wildest 1980s fashions (there will be a costume contest), so I’m expecting to see a lot of people dressed like Madonna around the time of Like A Virgin, Cyndi Lauper from her “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” video, and Boy George from the “Karma Chameleon” music video, and will be disappointed if I don’t. I don’t, however, need to ever see giant shoulder pads, parachute pants or leg warmers again. By the way, this is an all-ages event (though there will be a bar, thank heavens), and – as I understand it – children age 10 and younger get in for free. This should be a fun day of dancing for everybody.