Toys I Never Had: Hit Stix

Now while I don’t remember very much about this toy, I DO remember being super pumped when I saw the commercials. The producers did a very good job at making these things sound incredible. Supposedly, you could walk around playing “air drums” but actually produce drum sounds. Pretty cool concept.

They were a combo of fluorescent orange and yellow, a pretty extreme and eye-catching color combination back in the early ’90s. Each stick had a thin cord running from it to a sound box that you wore on a belt. All you had to do was make a striking motion in the air like you would while playing actual drums, and the sticks registered this “hit” and sent a signal to the soundbox that emitted a sound as if you had just rapped a snare drum.

I wanted these things so much. I would lay around and daydream about being the coolest kid in school if I had those things. Walking through the halls, playing a radical solo, with lots of girls following me and talking about how cool I was. I even joined the school band and chose to play percussion, just in the hope that the band director would let me play Hit Stix instead of an actual snare drum.  Sigh. It just wasn’t meant to be I guess.

MTV Headbanger’s Ball Halloween Special from 1989

In case you’re staying in on this Halloween night like I am, you may want something to keep you entertained between visits from modern kids looking for free candy. And since you’re here at Retro Ramblings, then you must enjoy the finer things in life like stuff from the ’80s and ’90s. Well, I’ve got you covered on both fronts with this Watch & Listen feature.

It’s the 1989 MTV Headbanger’s Halloween special with Alice Cooper hosting! Not only is he presenting some of the spookier music videos and hosting segments in between, but this video also has all of the glorious 1989 commercials still intact as well. So feel free to make this your Halloween night entertainment, and take a little trip back in time while you do it. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

Yo! MTV Raps Trading Cards (1991)

Here is yet another old pack of trading card that you can watch me open from my Wax Pack Flashback series on the TRNTV YouTube Channel.

In this video, I open a pack of Yo! MTV Raps cards from 1991. Yo! MTV Raps was a daily show that was on MTV every afternoon at the time featuring the best and latest rap videos of the era. These cards feature shots of many of the artists whose videos appeared on the show at the time. Legendary names like Run D.M.C, M.C. Hammer, Heavy D, and more.

So take a little stroll back in time and live vicariously through me as I open this old pack of cards!

Wax Pack Flashback: Yo! MTV Raps Cards (1991)

With MTV celebrating its 4oth anniversary this week, the timing is right to highlight this video I did last year where I opened an old pack of Yo! MTV Raps cards from 1991. This pack was loaded with icons of the era and is one of the best packs of cards I’ve opened in the entire series. Give it a watch and enjoy.