When I was in junior high, the show that I NEVER missed was Solid Gold. It was on Saturday evening and I made sure that my butt was in front of a television, no matter where I was just so I could watch Solid Gold. Just watching this video of the opening credits brought back all those memories with crystal clarity.

We didn’t have MTV, so I couldn’t watch music videos whenever I wanted, so the next best thing was Solid Gold. I remember seeing Michael Jackson’s video for Billie Jean on Solid Gold and I fell instantly in love. I remember watching Boy George and Culture Club performing Time (Clock of the Heart) on Solid Gold and I couldn’t believe my eyes. He sounded like a man, but he looked like a woman. It was my first experience with any sort of transvestism without it being a joke. Boy George looked exactly like a woman and no one was even phased by it.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I could see that performance again on YouTube:

I fell in love with the blond guitar player on the left (Roy Hay). I knew lots of girls who had crushes on Boy George, but he never really did anything for me.

I also remembered Marilyn McCoo performing the most popular songs. I thought maybe that this was just a false memory, but no, she really did sing songs karaoke style when they didn’t have a video or live performance to show. Here she is singing Human Nature, by Michael Jackson.

Of course, I loved the Solid Gold Dancers. I wanted to be them so much that I chose dance for my gym credit every year of junior high. Watching the Solid Gold Dancers gave me new ideas and a bunch of wishes for a different body. Here’s a video of the dancers in all of their glory.

It’s funny how much one television show affected me. Looking back, it’s fully of sloppy choreography and lip syncing, but back in 1984, it was the coolest thing EVAR!