1980s BOOKS - LICENCE RENEWED JAMES BOND

80s BOOK REVIEWS - Licence Renewed / James Bond

I love 80s music, 80s graphic design, 80s fashion, 80s architecture, 80s computers...all things 80s. Which is why I've been turning the pages of books published in the 80s. My latest read has been License Renewed by John Gardner (not Ian Fleming).

Check out the book cover:

James Bond Licence Renewed

You can tell right away this book is going to be a classic James Bond story, but modernized for the 80s! Judging by the jumble of images: you've got handgliding (new to the 80s!), you've got an excentric looking old guy who is obviously the villian, you've got some horse racing (80s gambling at its best), you've got a blond haired beauty wearing a nice conservative early 80s outfit, then you've got the car in the front. A SAAB! A car fit for any secret agent in the 80s. No more old 60s jaguar. All the classic ingredients for a good spy adventure story.

JAMES BOND MEME

The novel begins with a classic Bond story - a deranged ultra-rich man appears to be teaming up with terrorists to destroy the world. The theme is very current for the time, nuclear energy and nuclear explosives. The evil villian this time is a disgruntled nuclear scientist who also happens to be connected with a line of Scottish Royalty. He is on a mission to monopolize the world's nuclear power and he does it by scheming up a plan to take numerous nuclear power plants hostage and threaten the world with nuclear catastrophe that will destroy the world as we know it.
In a predictable fashion Bond gets tangled up in this potential world destroying scheme and is sent undercover to infiltrate and possibly stop this crazed madman. From that point on the story goes from suspensful scenes to tasteful romps in the bedroom, from villians revealing their secret plans to action filled shootouts...in few words - a BOND story.

James Bond - Villian's girl is my mistress #likeaboss

Even though this book was not written by the Bond creator, Ian Fleming, Gardner does a great job of putting together a page turning, action packed, suspenseful novel that is worthy of the Bond franchise. I did feel he overdid the stereotypical Bond descriptions in the beginning of the book - almost as if he felt he had to overcompensate his Bond knowledge and prove he was worthy of writing a Bond novel. But, apart from that I didn't want to put the book down. I love that it was both modern (for the 80s) with the nuclear theme and the updated cars/gadgets, but still stuck to the over-the-top undercover spy stories of the past. A great book.

FUNNY 80s MUSIC MEMES

MURDER SHE WROTE MEMES

FUNNY 80s MEMES

1980s MUSIC MEMES VERY FUNNY

The 80s, a time when technology was simple and BIG (like the hair). Now everything can be done on a smart phone. Those poor old electronics are now obsolete, useless, outdated...I bet they do have a grudge against modern 'phones'.

80s technology vs the smart phone

At least the music of the 80s and the icons of the 1980s are still going strong in pop culture. Like the latest documentaries on Freddie Mercury and Elton John.

Another One Bites The Dust, literally

Remember Billy Idol made a cameo in The Wedding Singer...oh, I guess that was like twenty years ago, but to me it seems recent. Oh great, another feeling old moment. What I do remember about Billy Idol is singing his songs wrong. Mony Mony I used to sing as Pony Pony and I'd ride my imaginary pony around the room!

Billy Idol misheard lyric - Mony Mony or Pony Pony

Now I'm just an old guy listening to Classic Rock on the radio, playing my air guitar when Def Leppard comes on.

Def Leppard rocks the leg guitar

 No Young Turk anymore Rod.

Rod Stewart aint no young turk anymore

I'm more concerned with the numbers on my odometer than phone numbers scratched onto walls saying call Jenny for a good time - 867-5309.

Jenny 867-5309 Funny

My fashion sense is not as bold as it used to be. In the 80s I was dressed to thrill, whip it, or moonwalk. I can still whip it good, but it's more along the lines of making whipped cream from scratch!

Whip It, Whip It Good

MORE FUNNY 80s MEMES

FUNNY VAN HALEN MEMES

VAN HALEN JOKES

Eddie Van Halen was a rock god! Not only could he play mind blowing solos, but he could do it while smoking at the same time! Multi-Tasking Rock N Roll style!

Multi-tasking rock style as shown by Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen had a great sense of humour. One day I found him in his guitar room playing a tiny guitar. I asked him what he was doing? He said, "playing a little guitar". #dadjoke

Eddie Van Halen plays a little guitar #dadjoke

David Lee Roth had a sense of humor as well. Sometimes more crude, but still funny. Usually it involved butt cheeks!

Van Halen funny meme - Oh David Lee Roth!

Spandex outfits were always a bit of joke too. Especially the custom made Running With The Devil suit.

Running with the devil outfit

His wordplay in songs could be considered humourous if you took it the right way. Otherwise he just sounded like a pervert!

Van Halen Panama - reach down between my legs and ease the seat back

 Photo shoots were always a chance for the band to do the seriously-funny thing. They'd dress up in serious outfits, give a serious look to the camera, and give the impression of a put together serious pro, but really, with their giant rock hair these pictures just looked hilarious.

Eddie Van Halen ready to parachute into Panama

 Then there was David Lee Roth doing his seriously-sexy face. He thought he was gods gift to women. But take on of his serious photos and add some of his lyrics and you've got a good laugh!

David Lee Roth - JUMP

 And his song Just A Gigalo is pure fun and laughs...mostly b/c I think he is not kidding. His huge ego is hilarious to laugh at now.

Just a gigalo everywhere I go

He really did bring charisma and character to the band in the beginning. Then when Sammy took over the lead vocals...

Van Halen Sammy Hagar Era meme

 I think what we all learned is that WE NEED MORE HALEN in our lives!

You need more VAN HALEN in your life

MORE VAN HALEN MEMES

Keep tapping to Van Halen tunes with these socks - CLICK HERE