Trivial matters.

 A couple of weeks ago I went to a family friend’s dinner party and when the host of the dinner party announced we’d be clearing the table to play an alcohol-fuelled game of 80’s Trivial Pursuit, I wasn’t overwhelmed with excitement. Nor was I underwhelmed. I was just...whelmed.
 I don’t consider myself a child of the 80’s. While I was alive to witness the decade in its entirety, I feel no allegiance to it. When I read in the local paper that my nearest over-28s nightspot is having a retro night, I don’t rush down with my proof of age. And when I hear that a radio station is having an 80’s weekend, I feel more than free to change that dial.
 Having said that, I don’t begrudge the 80’s worshippers their cultish celebrations. An all 90’s weekend on radio would be worse – double plays of Ace of Base and M’People going back to a time when you were nobody without a Fido Dido t-shirt and MC Hammer moves on the dance floor. My lack of enthusiasm towards the decade is less about music and fashion, and more about content. The 60’s had Woodstock, The Beatles, Martin Luther King, JFK, Bob Dylan and a man walking on the moon. The only time the 80’s came close to a moment of similar historical significance was when Billy Joel sang through that list in ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’.
 The game confirmed my theory. When you limit Trivial Pursuit subject matter to the years between 1979 and 1990, you tend to cover the same ground a few times. Statistically you could be forgiven for thinking Michael J. Fox was more important than Michelangelo, or that Michael Jackson’s moonwalk was as groundbreaking as Neil Armstrong’s. But putting my Gen-X cynicism aside, I did learn a few lessons from 80’s Trivial Pursuit that will prove invaluable, especially the next time we play.
 Firstly, when in doubt, the answer is probably Duran Duran. Which New Romantic group performed the hit song ‘Rio’? Duran Duran. Simon Le Bon fronted which chart-topping 80’s outfit? Duran Duran. Which 1982 war with Argentina claimed 258 British lives? Duran Duran. Sure, it isn’t always the right answer, but it’s right often enough to make the questioner stop bothering to check the card whenever you say it.

 Secondly, if the good people at Trivial Pursuit are to be believed, it’s a foolish person who underestimates the contribution Yahoo Serious made to Australian cinema. You’d be amazed how many questions have his name as the answer. I also learnt that in “The Slim Dusty Movie” the part of the older Slim Dusty is played by none other than Slim Dusty. That’s right. It’s possible for a question to have the name Slim Dusty in it twice and for the answer to still be Slim Dusty.

 This, really, is the story of the 80’s. In a decade when the Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall came down and John Lennon was assassinated, what we remember is the bad hair and even worse music. When I was asked the question: “Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael formed which pop duo?” an opponent sang a Bros song to throw me off the scent. But I still answered Duran Duran, and I was right.