This week’s Peel Here is brought to you by insane side effects to prescribed medications. Have you ever heard of nightmares as being a side effect to medication? I hadn’t, yet for the last week I’ve had the weirdest dreamscapes that I can’t help but describe as nightmares (if only because they wrecked my much needed sleepy time.) It’s right there on the pill bottle as well, nightmares. Anyway…

I’ve been meaning to get to the following set of stickers for awhile, but for some reason kept putting it off, so this week I’m going to rectify the situation by presenting the complete Cyndi Lauper sticker card collection from Topps (1985.)

I wouldn’t say I was a huge Lauper fan growing up, but it sure was hard to escape her image and music in my household. My sister had the She’s So Unusual record on regular rotation and thanks to her odd cross promotion with the WWF and her songs in the Goonies flick I seemed to always be running into that bright orange and blonde hair. It also didn’t hurt that I was addicted to the "We Are the World" song and video like most everybody else in the early 80s. A little later on my Mom became a huge fan after the release of the "I Drove All Night" single, which she played more often than my sister played the SSU album. Heck, I’d also be the first to admit that I started wearing multicolored jelly bracelets around that time as well. I’m not a slave to fashion, but I am impressionable from time to time.

Though the design on the Michael Jackson and Menudo sticker cards seemed to scream the 80s, I’d have to say that this set takes the cake in terms of being patently iconic of the decade. As if Cyndi wasn’t vibrant and in your face enough as it is, these background sticker design is insane. Though we do get an appearance by Captain Lou Albano (mainstay of her videos and possible nemesis to her wrestling persona –I just don’t remember), I was kind of bummed by how static the set seems in terms of imagery. Granted, I realize the set is supposed to be Lauper-centric but I think there needed to be a little more variation, possibly by including the pictures from her album cover or something.

The other thing I just thought of is how much Lauper reminds me of Diz Aster from the Nickelodeon show Out of Control (she was the one with the shrill aaaeeeeoooo aaaeeeeooo cry.) Well, actually, I think I have that backwards as Aster was probably a play on Cyndi Lauper.

Anyway, this set of sticker cards also breaks convention a little by offering one huge 15-card puzzle poster instead of two smaller ones like the Menudo and Michael Jackson sets…


It’s kind of weird now that I think back on it.  I have a weird thing with ages and stuff, and it’s hard to believe that Cyndi Lauper is just about my Mom’s age.  I don’t know why it seems weird, but I guess I always thought she was around my sister’s age because I aquated her to my sister since she was the ‘fan’.  Anyhoo…