Chuck Small’s ‘Between The Pages’: A Pop Culture And Memories Scrapbook From 1982

I’m opening almost five decades of scrapbooks, starting with 1978, and uncovering the personal as well as the cultural headlines of each year.

When I went to college to study journalism and English, I told my dad I would wait to join the student newspaper until after first semester.

That way, I could build a foundational grade point average.

As it was, that first semester proved more than just adjusting to college academics. I also came out to myself, even as my August bout with mono meant I was sleeping more than usual.

At the end of semester one, I had a 3.85 GPA.

Within weeks, I entered the Indiana Daily Student newsroom. And as my hours in the ground floor offices of Ernie Pyle Hall went up….

…that GPA went down.

I didn’t care. The newspaper bug bit me hard.

For the next three years, I’d devote hundreds of hours to reporting, writing and editing.

I’d been able to get through four years of high school term papers by hunting and pecking. But I had to learn to type if my career was going to rely on it.

I took a typing class pass-fail freshman year, and for a quarter I thought I might fail. I couldn’t get speed and accuracy to correlate.

It wasn’t until the last few weeks on the IBM Selectrics that my fingers developed the muscle memory the teacher told me I would get if I kept practicing. Even so, at that time, the IU School of Journalism was still using manual typewriters in its writing classes!

To this day, as a result, I tend to bang the keyboard.

Dr. Richard Gray, dean of the journalism school, was my introductory journalism teacher.

One day after class, he asked me about my career goals.

I told him I wasn’t sure about becoming a professional reporter. He suggested a career as a journalism teacher. I laughed.

Perhaps not the most judicious way to respond to the dean, but the idea caught me by surprise.

Still, his suggestion took root. Soon, I decided to pursue classes in the School of Education while proceeding with a bachelor’s in journalism and English.

On the big screen:

E.T. and An Officer and a Gentleman dominated the box office.

I enjoyed both.

The theater where we saw E.T. was so packed that people literally were sitting in the aisles.

(It’s impossible to imagine now, and I don’t know how that was permitted then.)

The crowds weren’t as full at the Richard Gere-Debra Winger weeper, but they were enthusiastic (and a good deal older).

Its theme song, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ “Up Where We Belong,” earned its share of criticism, but I felt it and the movie were indivisible. When it topped the Hot 100, I wasn’t mad at all.

On the small screen:

Between classes and the Daily Student, I was not watching much TV.

The student union had a big-screen TVs that showed the ABC soaps.

So I do remember catching “All My Children” while grabbing a bagel a couple of minutes from Ernie Pyle Hall.

I was far from the only undergrad caught up in the stories of Jenny and Jesse (played by Kim Delaney and Darnell Williams), on the run in New York City due to scheming Liza Colby (Marcy Walker). Meanwhile, their true loves, Greg (Laurence Lau) and Angie (Debbi Morgan), pined for their return.

This storyline would keep AMC just behind General Hospital in the weekday soap ratings.

On my radio and turntable:

Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry/Get Away” was the top song of the year on my charts, but it also did quite well in Billboard, going to Number 1.

The Top 100 of 1982

“Hard to Say I’m Sorry” – Chicago
“Waiting for a Girl Like You” – Foreigner
“Centerfold” – The J. Geils Band
“Juke Box Hero / Break It Up” – Foreigner
“Open Arms” – Journey
“Take It Easy on Me” – Little River Band
“Without You (Not Another Lonely Night)” – Franke and the Knockouts
“Ebony and Ivory” – Paul McCartney / Stevie Wonder
“Key Largo” – Bertie Higgins
“Leader of the Band” – Dan Fogelberg
“What’s Forever For?” – Michael Murphey
“Don’t You Want Me?” – The Human League
“Rosanna” – Toto
“Hurts So Good” – John Cougar
“Hold Me” – Fleetwood Mac
“Do You Believe in Love?” – Huey Lewis and the News
“Trouble” – Lindsey Buckingham
“Chariots of Fire” – Vangelis
“Up Where We Belong” – Joe Cocker / Jennifer Warnes
“Heat of the Moment” – Asia
“The One You Love” – Glenn Frey
“Jack and Diane” – John Cougar
“American Music” – Pointer Sisters
“Blue Eyes” – Elton John
“Eye in the Sky” – The Alan Parsons Project
“Don’t Stop Believin’” – Journey
“’65 Love Affair” – Paul Davis
“Even the Nights Are Better” – Air Supply
“Caught Up in You” – .38 Special
“More Than Just the Two of Us” – Sneaker
“Gloria” – Laura Branigan
“Sweet Dreams” – Air Supply
“Let Me Love You Once (Before You Go)” – Greg Lake
“Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)” – Elton John
“You Should Hear How She Talks About You” – Melissa Manchester
“Sara” – Bill Champlin
“Somewhere Down the Road” – Barry Manilow
“Love’s Been a Little Bit Hard on Me” – Juice Newton
“The Sweetest Thing (I’ve Ever Known)” – Juice Newton
“Making Love” – Roberta Flack
“Goin’ Down (For the Last Time)” – Greg Guidry
“Leather and Lace” – Stevie Nicks and Don Henley
“Man on Your Mind” – Little River Band
“Sweet Time” – REO Speedwagon
“We Got the Beat” – The Go-Go’s
“You Could Have Been with Me” – Sheena Easton
“Play the Game Tonight” – Kansas
“Somebody’s Baby” – Jackson Browne
“I Love Rock and Roll” – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
“I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” – Daryl Hall and John Oates
“Only Time Will Tell” – Asia
“Freeze Frame” – The J. Geils Band
“Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” – Donna Summer
“Love in the First Degree” – Alabama
“You Don’t Want Me Anymore” – Steel Breeze
“Take It Away” – Paul McCartney
“Love Me Tomorrow” – Chicago
“Always on My Mind” – Willie Nelson
“Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
“Hold On” – Santana
“Love or Let Me Be Lonely” – Paul Davis
“Let’s Hang On” – Barry Manilow
“Turn Your Love Around” – George Benson
“Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?” – Soft Cell
“Out of Work” – Gary U.S. Bonds
“Our Lips Are Sealed” – The Go-Go’s
“Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do” – Huey Lewis and the News
“Break It to Me Gently” – Juice Newton
“This Man Is Mine” – Heart
“Run for the Roses” – Dan Fogelberg
“Coming In and Out of Your Life” – Barbra Streisand
“When It’s Over” – Loverboy
“Edge of Seventeen” – Stevie Nicks
“Twilight” – Electric Light Orchestra
“Love Will Turn You Around” – Kenny Rogers
“Take Off” – Bob and Doug McKenzie
“Don’t Let Him Know” – Prism
“That Girl” – Stevie Wonder
“What Kind of Fool Am I?” – Rick Springfield
“Hot in the City” – Billy Idol
“Love Is Like a Rock” – Donnie Iris
“Cool Night” – Paul Davis
“Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight” – Eddie Rabbitt
“Crimson and Clover” – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
“Vacation” – The Go-Go’s
“Nobody Said It Was Easy” – LeRoux
“Still in Saigon” – Charlie Daniels Band
“When All Is Said and Done” – ABBA
“Come Go with Me” – The Beach Boys
“I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” – Michael McDonald
“Under Pressure” – Queen and David Bowie
“Waiting on a Friend” – The Rolling Stones
“Heartlight” – Neil Diamond
“867-5309 / Jenny” – Tommy Tutone
“Tug of War” – Paul McCartney
“Never Been in Love” – Randy Meisner
“Fantasy” – Aldo Nova
“Only the Lonely” – The Motels
“Abracadabra” – The Steve Miller Band
“I Don’t Know Where to Start” – Eddie Rabbitt

Overall, tracks from Foreigner, John Cougar, Toto, the J. Geils Band, Human League and Asia began to push my listening habits in more of a pop/rock direction than had been the case the previous few years. 1983 would move that even more.