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Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?: The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s
If you owe a couple cavities to Marathon candy bars, learned your adverbs from Schoolhouse Rock!, and can still imitate the slo-mo bionic running sound of The Six Million Dollar Man, this book is for you.
Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? takes you back in time to the tastes, smells, and sounds of childhood in the '70s and '80s, when the Mystery Date board game didn't seem sexist, and exploding Pop Rocks was the epitome of candy science.
But what happened to the toys, tastes, and trends of our youth? Some vanished totally, like Freakies cereal. Some stayed around, but faded from the spotlight, like Sea-Monkeys and Shrinky Dinks. Some were yanked from the market, revised, and reintroduced...but you'll have to read the book to find out which ones.
So flip up the collar of that polo shirt and revisit with us the glory and the shame of those goofy decades only a native could love.
Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? takes you back in time to the tastes, smells, and sounds of childhood in the '70s and '80s, when the Mystery Date board game didn't seem sexist, and exploding Pop Rocks was the epitome of candy science.
But what happened to the toys, tastes, and trends of our youth? Some vanished totally, like Freakies cereal. Some stayed around, but faded from the spotlight, like Sea-Monkeys and Shrinky Dinks. Some were yanked from the market, revised, and reintroduced...but you'll have to read the book to find out which ones.
So flip up the collar of that polo shirt and revisit with us the glory and the shame of those goofy decades only a native could love.
230 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2011
29 people are currently reading
529 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
May 6, 2017
I had to have this book after seeing the write-up on salon.com:
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/201...
I'm not ashamed to admit that almost every one of these products passed through my over-privileged, suburban, only-child youth at one time or another and it was great revisiting them.
I raced home from school to watch "Dark Shadows", and safely survived both lawn darts and trick-or-treating in a plastic mask with teeny-tiny eyeholes.
You may have been learning about love in the back of a Chevrolet, but this nerdy girl was playing Mattel Electronic Football while listening to Dr. Demento!
The book loses one star for presentation. Cheap, crappy "newsprinty" pages and black-and-white photos do not compare with my memories (or the great slide-show featured on salon!)
I would have gladly paid extra for glossy pages and color photographs.
My favorite line? Love's Baby Soft smelled "a lot like what we imagined pink unicorns sunning themselves on rainbows would smell like." It did! It really did!
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/201...
I'm not ashamed to admit that almost every one of these products passed through my over-privileged, suburban, only-child youth at one time or another and it was great revisiting them.
I raced home from school to watch "Dark Shadows", and safely survived both lawn darts and trick-or-treating in a plastic mask with teeny-tiny eyeholes.
You may have been learning about love in the back of a Chevrolet, but this nerdy girl was playing Mattel Electronic Football while listening to Dr. Demento!
The book loses one star for presentation. Cheap, crappy "newsprinty" pages and black-and-white photos do not compare with my memories (or the great slide-show featured on salon!)
I would have gladly paid extra for glossy pages and color photographs.
My favorite line? Love's Baby Soft smelled "a lot like what we imagined pink unicorns sunning themselves on rainbows would smell like." It did! It really did!
February 11, 2021
3.5 stars
"For a supposedly fractured generation, we kids of the 1970's and 1980's share a far more universal past than kids of today. We all watched the same five channels, shopped at the same few chain stores, hummed the same commercial jingles . . . " -- from the author's introduction
Remember when the VH-1 network aired those wonderful talking-head docu-series' I Love the 80's and I Love the 80's Strikes Back back in 2003 (and quickly to be endlessly rerun over the rest of the decade)? It featured grade A to Z celebrities riffing on various aspects of our pop culture, and while never taking itself too seriously it also oddly functioned as a fluffy or lightweight history-ish lesson.
In the same vein - though minus celebrity input - arrives Cooper & Belmont's Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?. It's not meant to be a supremely all-inclusive guide - any reader or reviewer can and will probably list at least a dozen things which are missing - but it is a better-than-average attempt at documenting some of notable snacks, clothing, hobbies, toys, TV series and other oddities for those of us 'Generation X' kids who grew up at any point during the Nixon or up to the Reagan presidency eras. Or, to put it more bluntly, if you can remember the sights and products found in a reasonably-sized indoor shopping mall circa 1985 you will recognize much of the content of this book. What works best is that the authors take a breezy and witty approach to the nostalgia, often cracking a well-executed snarky line in each segment. It's casual reading in the best sense of the term.
"For a supposedly fractured generation, we kids of the 1970's and 1980's share a far more universal past than kids of today. We all watched the same five channels, shopped at the same few chain stores, hummed the same commercial jingles . . . " -- from the author's introduction
Remember when the VH-1 network aired those wonderful talking-head docu-series' I Love the 80's and I Love the 80's Strikes Back back in 2003 (and quickly to be endlessly rerun over the rest of the decade)? It featured grade A to Z celebrities riffing on various aspects of our pop culture, and while never taking itself too seriously it also oddly functioned as a fluffy or lightweight history-ish lesson.
In the same vein - though minus celebrity input - arrives Cooper & Belmont's Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?. It's not meant to be a supremely all-inclusive guide - any reader or reviewer can and will probably list at least a dozen things which are missing - but it is a better-than-average attempt at documenting some of notable snacks, clothing, hobbies, toys, TV series and other oddities for those of us 'Generation X' kids who grew up at any point during the Nixon or up to the Reagan presidency eras. Or, to put it more bluntly, if you can remember the sights and products found in a reasonably-sized indoor shopping mall circa 1985 you will recognize much of the content of this book. What works best is that the authors take a breezy and witty approach to the nostalgia, often cracking a well-executed snarky line in each segment. It's casual reading in the best sense of the term.
September 25, 2013
I just loved this book -- so many memories! It would have been great to have photos of each entry, but the descriptions were usually enough to jog my memory. Each description was just the right length and usually made me laugh out loud; I read them all, even the things I didn't remember or know of. (I'm more of a late 60s to late 70s kid; by the time the mid 80s came around I was already married and too old for some of this stuff.)
Read
December 9, 2015I felt I had to read this when I saw this phrase in the description - "If you owe a couple cavities to Marathon candy bars". Okay, maybe the Marathon candy bar didn't GIVE me cavities, but it was the best way to lose a loose tooth.
Loved this pop culture journey into my childhood! I'm gonna zoom, zoom zoomah zoom. . .Bazooka Joe, bicentennial mania, Crissy dolls, Dawn dolls, Dynamite magazine, The Electric Company. . .
I laughed so much at this. It was great.
Loved this pop culture journey into my childhood! I'm gonna zoom, zoom zoomah zoom. . .Bazooka Joe, bicentennial mania, Crissy dolls, Dawn dolls, Dynamite magazine, The Electric Company. . .
I laughed so much at this. It was great.
Want to read
October 6, 2022The 1980's Halloween Costume. It came in a box. An uncomfortable mask with two eye holes and a plain, plastic apron to tie around your neck. ...and we all wanted one!
July 26, 2011
If I could give this book ten stars, I would! By far my favorite read of the entire summer. This book is truly only for those of us who grew up in the 70's and 80's. It is a total trip down memory lane. The authors write in a snarky voice that adds great hilarity to each vignette. I laughed so hard I could not even breathe. What was my favorite segment? McDonaldland? Dungeons and Dragons? The Official Preppy Handbook? It's so hard to choose just one!!
January 27, 2017
If you grew up in the 70's and 80's, this book will make you smile and even a few laughs. Funny, without being condescending, it is a short book with a couple of pages devoted to each thing. There were a few items I had never heard of. There seems to be an emphasis on candy. I'm really surprised there is no mention of pet rocks. This is just a cute, feel good book that will only take you a few hours to read.
August 10, 2012
Such a fun read....but after reading I was wondering....what about colorforms?
June 12, 2011
I read this book in a remarkably short time, and I often struggle to read through books if the author's writing style doesn't facilitate the topic they write about. This book is written as a bunch of short (maybe 2 or 3 pages at most) vignettes on a whole bunch of topics that anyone who grew up in the 1970's and 1980's should be able to associate with, and they're written like People magazine, so no strange-but-seldom used terms or anything like that to worry about. With topics such as After School Specials, Dynomite magazine, Bazooka Joe, Videos on MTV, Six Million Dollar Man Action Figures, Battle of the Network Stars, and Quisp and Quake cereals (if you don't remember most of these, you're probably not the right age group to enjoy this book), but one cannot call this heavy reading. Also, you won't finish this book and feel enlightened by a new subject, but you will probably be smiling about the memories these things bring back (when did I become my parents' age?). The author has done a pretty good job of researching, but some of the items on their X-Tinction Ratings are incorrect - for example, the original versions of The Electric Company and Schoolhouse Rock are available on DVD, yet isn't acknowledged, and others such as Playing Outside still happen in many parts of the U.S. (maybe not in Seattle where the author is based, but that may have more to do with the weather than child abductions). Still, this book was enjoyable and you can read a few vignettes and pick the book up later without having to refresh where you left off. You can also flip to a random page and read a vignette or two without having to commit to reading more. I enjoyed it!
February 1, 2014
Two things made this book an absolute winner for me: the impeccable choice of pop cultural touchstones and the way the authors were able to encapsulate so much of the flavor of the times in each commentary. This is "Beer Frame" meets À la recherche du temps perdu.
March 31, 2017
Fun trip back into the 70s and 80s. I knew most of the items listed. It was good to get proof of something my sister didn't remember. Interesting to see what happened to the items that disappeared, or maybe just became hard to find...Some of them are still sold today and I never would have thought they got their start so long ago. Of course, if you think about it, it makes sense.
For a trip down memory lane, get the book. If you're one of those people who hates reminiscing, don't buy it.
For a trip down memory lane, get the book. If you're one of those people who hates reminiscing, don't buy it.
June 13, 2011
This book took me literally an hour to read. It featured products, TV shows and ideas from the 70's and 80's. It was very short, and a lot of the references had no meanin to me, however there were many that did. Pop rocks! Stretch Armstrong!!! If you were a child of the 80's like me, this book will bring back some nostalgia!
November 20, 2020
This book brought back many great memories.
May 22, 2013
Are you a child of the 70s and 80s? Do you remember After School Specials? Did Jaws keep you out of even the bath tub for a month? Can you remember when Sea-Monkeys were cool…ok, neither can I. But if you wondered what happened to a lot of the culture that our generation held near and dear, Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? might just be what you are looking for.
Sure, you can look all this stuff up on the internet now, but Cooper and Bellmont spice things up by not just telling us where all our stuff went, but reminding us what those things felt like when we were just kids and it seemed like all of this would be around forever. From scratch-n-sniff stickers on our Trapper Keepers to the perils of lawn darts and metal playground equipment, there is more than enough to overload your memory banks.
There were some things I had never heard of – Blythe dolls, Bar None candy bars, Spire Christian Comics. There were plenty of other that I very fondly remember – Mattel Electronic Football, MTV playing music, Connect Four, Choose Your Own Adventure books. And there were a few things I have desperately been trying to forget about – Scott Baio, Silver Spoons, hoopskirts, eight-tracks, Scott Baio.
If your childhood didn’t form in those formative years, this will at least clue you in to what we held near and dear. I would give this book three stars on those grounds. However, if you actually participated in this era, you may find yourself laughing out loud as often as I did as you pursue the anecdotes of each of these little gems. So for me, this was an entertaining trip down memory lane.
Sure, you can look all this stuff up on the internet now, but Cooper and Bellmont spice things up by not just telling us where all our stuff went, but reminding us what those things felt like when we were just kids and it seemed like all of this would be around forever. From scratch-n-sniff stickers on our Trapper Keepers to the perils of lawn darts and metal playground equipment, there is more than enough to overload your memory banks.
There were some things I had never heard of – Blythe dolls, Bar None candy bars, Spire Christian Comics. There were plenty of other that I very fondly remember – Mattel Electronic Football, MTV playing music, Connect Four, Choose Your Own Adventure books. And there were a few things I have desperately been trying to forget about – Scott Baio, Silver Spoons, hoopskirts, eight-tracks, Scott Baio.
If your childhood didn’t form in those formative years, this will at least clue you in to what we held near and dear. I would give this book three stars on those grounds. However, if you actually participated in this era, you may find yourself laughing out loud as often as I did as you pursue the anecdotes of each of these little gems. So for me, this was an entertaining trip down memory lane.
July 9, 2017
This book is plain fun for any child of that era to read. The writers capacity to infuse their emotional memories into each entry is amazing and the reader will bask under an inundation of childhood sentimentality.
The scope of 70s and 80s memorabilia is impressive and, at times, eclectic. There are toy, TV, food, musical and technological entries. Each is brought to light like a long-lost childhood toy that got buried in your toy chest. I found myself reading several chapters to my wife and each time it evoked animated conversations.
What stands out most in my opinion is the contextualized wit in the writers' voice. For example, they will compare a toy or food to another contemporary product of that era so as to create a web of memories. There are few modern cultural analogies. It is apparent that this book is unabashedly about two decades that don't need reinterpretive lenses of the 21st century.
Furthermore, to walk through this alphabetized rendition of our once beloved items conjures up lost memories in such a light-hearted. There is no hint of cultural wars or competing mega-narratives. Each article carries the critique's flare as expressed through the singular focus of how that particular item contributed to our formative years. For example, the chapter on electric typewriters depicted in vivid terms the exact experience that I had in school. For a younger generation the narrative will hold minimal value but for the insiders, it is hilarious and celebratory.
Thanks for taking to time to enrich the soul.
The scope of 70s and 80s memorabilia is impressive and, at times, eclectic. There are toy, TV, food, musical and technological entries. Each is brought to light like a long-lost childhood toy that got buried in your toy chest. I found myself reading several chapters to my wife and each time it evoked animated conversations.
What stands out most in my opinion is the contextualized wit in the writers' voice. For example, they will compare a toy or food to another contemporary product of that era so as to create a web of memories. There are few modern cultural analogies. It is apparent that this book is unabashedly about two decades that don't need reinterpretive lenses of the 21st century.
Furthermore, to walk through this alphabetized rendition of our once beloved items conjures up lost memories in such a light-hearted. There is no hint of cultural wars or competing mega-narratives. Each article carries the critique's flare as expressed through the singular focus of how that particular item contributed to our formative years. For example, the chapter on electric typewriters depicted in vivid terms the exact experience that I had in school. For a younger generation the narrative will hold minimal value but for the insiders, it is hilarious and celebratory.
Thanks for taking to time to enrich the soul.
March 4, 2015
I loved the eighties before it was even cool to love the eighties. So I was thrilled with this book. Oh how well I remember the Crissy doll with her long red braid! (Actually she had been my aunt's doll, more seventies than eighties, but no matter.) I remember Big Wheels, Pudding Pops, (which I didn't even like that much) smelly stickers, and Trapper Keepers so clearly. Too bad that when I was in elementary school I could never seem to find Trapper Keepers in any color except red or blue; if you saw a green one it was a big deal. The book says they came in all colors and that turquoise was very popular.
I wish the book had been longer, there were so many things I wish it had included: Breyer horses, Reading Rainbow, colorful high-top Reeboks, charm necklaces, Madonna before she started taking herself so damn seriously, Michael Jackson before he turned into a nut job, the original My Little Ponies, Speak n Spell. Oh yes, I loved my Speak n Spell, which I got for Xmas of 1982, and the amazing part? It had a Braille overlay so I could use it all by my lonesome. That was a real rarity in those days.
I especially enjoyed the entries on foods of the period, though those are harder to remember. I keep thinking Chicken-in-a-Biscuit crackers (if that's even what they were called) should have been included, but maybe they date to earlier than the seventies or eighties? Man, those were good. I miss the eighties.
I wish the book had been longer, there were so many things I wish it had included: Breyer horses, Reading Rainbow, colorful high-top Reeboks, charm necklaces, Madonna before she started taking herself so damn seriously, Michael Jackson before he turned into a nut job, the original My Little Ponies, Speak n Spell. Oh yes, I loved my Speak n Spell, which I got for Xmas of 1982, and the amazing part? It had a Braille overlay so I could use it all by my lonesome. That was a real rarity in those days.
I especially enjoyed the entries on foods of the period, though those are harder to remember. I keep thinking Chicken-in-a-Biscuit crackers (if that's even what they were called) should have been included, but maybe they date to earlier than the seventies or eighties? Man, those were good. I miss the eighties.
June 17, 2017
Super Fun Read!
This book either had everything I remember about growing up in the 80's-90's or at least touched on it.
I was a little disappointed the cereal chapters didn't mention one of my favorite all time favorite prizes- the Wacky Wallwalker.
However, the mention of the Rain Scent (my personal favorite) version of Love's Baby Soft definitely makes up for that.
I also loved the mention of Choco-Bliss. (Come on, Hostess, it's a just a Suzy Q with chocolate cream filling, chocolate sprinkles, and chocolate icing! If you can make a lime flavored Sno Ball, you can bring back the Choco Bliss!)
Another favorite chapter was the one on Free to Be You and Me, which was my elementary school music teacher's main source material.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who was a child or teen from the seventies into the mid-1990's. You will have a FANTASTIC time reading this.
Do yourself a favor, though, and read this when you have a couple hours to spare. The author covers a LOT of ground here and one chapter easily turned into the next and then the next until I realized I had finished the entire book!
Still, there were two hundred and thirty pages of things I remembered and some things I had forgotten about.
This book either had everything I remember about growing up in the 80's-90's or at least touched on it.
I was a little disappointed the cereal chapters didn't mention one of my favorite all time favorite prizes- the Wacky Wallwalker.
However, the mention of the Rain Scent (my personal favorite) version of Love's Baby Soft definitely makes up for that.
I also loved the mention of Choco-Bliss. (Come on, Hostess, it's a just a Suzy Q with chocolate cream filling, chocolate sprinkles, and chocolate icing! If you can make a lime flavored Sno Ball, you can bring back the Choco Bliss!)
Another favorite chapter was the one on Free to Be You and Me, which was my elementary school music teacher's main source material.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who was a child or teen from the seventies into the mid-1990's. You will have a FANTASTIC time reading this.
Do yourself a favor, though, and read this when you have a couple hours to spare. The author covers a LOT of ground here and one chapter easily turned into the next and then the next until I realized I had finished the entire book!
Still, there were two hundred and thirty pages of things I remembered and some things I had forgotten about.
Read
April 17, 2020A roundup, in alphabetical order, of the things that have meaning to us kids who were raised in the 1970s and 1980s, along with an "extinction rating" listing things that are gone for good (Chrissy dolls whose hair grew and shrunk) and things that linger (candy cigarettes, now called candy sticks and sold on the "low rent" shelves of the gas station). What's weird is I know that I've read several of these entries before, and I can't put my finger on where it was.
Man, Pudding Pops were good, weren't they?
Man, Pudding Pops were good, weren't they?
April 16, 2014
Fluff, but just the thing for bathroom reading -- and pop culture nostalgia is right up my alley. We get a page or two about various topics listed alphabetically ("After School Specials" to "ZOOM"). I learned about a few things I didn't know or remember, especially in candy and cereal. But most of this stuff is familiar from my childhood.
Loses a star because this material demands lots of lovely color photos. And all we get are sporadic tiny B&W pictures.
Loses a star because this material demands lots of lovely color photos. And all we get are sporadic tiny B&W pictures.
July 29, 2014
Pleasantly silly book featuring short "bios" on fads and products of the 70's and 80's. Chock full of the trivial things I wonder about from time to time. Fun coffee table idea for those of us who were not of the greatest generation. From the battle between Quisp and Quake to the emergence of video game arcades and such inspired literature as the Sweet Valley High and Choose Your Own Adventure series it's a romp down memory lane. For the record, pudding pops were awesome!
May 2, 2018
A mini A-Z encyclopedia (that includes an encyclopedia!) of lost trends of the 1970s-80s. Choose Your Own Adventure to find your favorites, complete with X-tinction dates. This is less of a narrative and more a collection of columns, but it works, although I found myself wishing it were organized differently, perhaps by peak, as there were some things I adored and others I had zero recollection of. Surprised not to see Masters of the Universe
January 30, 2015
As a Generation X-er who is tired of being surrounded by paeans to the childhood totems of baby boomers, I loved this!
And ever since I finished it, I can’t get the theme song to The Banana Splits out of my head: “One banana, two banana, three banana, four” – and, of course, the utter profundity of “Tra la la, la la la la, tra la la, la la la la.”
And ever since I finished it, I can’t get the theme song to The Banana Splits out of my head: “One banana, two banana, three banana, four” – and, of course, the utter profundity of “Tra la la, la la la la, tra la la, la la la la.”
February 1, 2015
A fun read about the crazy products, foods, and entertainment from growing up in the 70s & 80s. I would have liked the entries to have more info, photos, history. The book has the feel that these were once blog posts in a previous life. Wait! Looks like one of the authors does have a blog... www.popculturejunkmail.com
Borrow it from the library for a chuckle or two.
Borrow it from the library for a chuckle or two.
March 24, 2015
This is a good, fun quick read down memory lane for those of us who grew up in the 70's and 80's. It brought back some things I had forgotten about. I laughed at some of the toys, movies and other things mentioned.... Especially the Halloween makes with no ventilation, that had me in tears remembering that.
Read
May 28, 2015I'm not sure if I'm slightly too young (born in 1977), slightly too Canadian, or if it's just that my parents didn't go in for super sugary snacks, but I only recognized about half the things in this book, and only a handful or so truly resonated with me. But hey! Now I know that Love's Baby Soft is not the same as Skin-So-Soft, and that Garanamals are not the same as Underoos. Educational!
August 30, 2015
Okay, it's not War and Peace, but it was delightful and utterly amusing, because it was so nostalgic and aimed exactly at my age group. Brought back memories of of a lot of things I had forgotten, and while those things were not crucial in my life, they were long-forgotten pieces of a happy childhood. Very strongly recommended for anyone in their 40s.
February 2, 2019
I read The Totally Sweet 90s and found it had a charming sense of nostalgia with a little what-were-we-thinking? snark around the edges, so I was looking forward to the same treatment of the 70s & 80s. It was fun to look back, but this one seemed heavy on the snark and light on the charm. Not as enjoyable, I’m afraid.
March 8, 2020
What a fun read! If you like nostalgia, looking back to your childhood in the 20th century, or just wondering what it was like for your parents/grandparents...this is the book for you! It brought back a lot of memories, with my 8 siblings, that I had forgotten. I think another book or two on other decades would be great...the 50s for my mom's generation, and the 60s of my early childhood.
June 13, 2011
Basically just an alphabetical list of things that kids of the '70s and '80s will remember. A lot of the things in this book are still around (including Pudding Pops), but if you grew up during this era, you'll enjoy a few laughs of surprised recognition. A quick, inessential read.
December 27, 2014
Slightly biased review as I know one of the authors......
Great, light read. I had to limit myself to just a few topics at a time or I would have read it in one sitting. The smell of Strawberry Shortcake, riding in the WAY back, Shakey's pizza.....
Great, light read. I had to limit myself to just a few topics at a time or I would have read it in one sitting. The smell of Strawberry Shortcake, riding in the WAY back, Shakey's pizza.....
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews