Skip to main content

Candies You Grew Up With That May Gross You Out Now (Part 2)


In part 1 of this series, we looked at some examples of candies that you may have grew up with in the 70s and 80s that hold a sweet memory in your mind of carefree and happier times when getting a sugar high after school was paramount on your things to do list. The reality is some of these treats were actually kind of disgusting but it took years of maturing before coming to that conclusion. Not all of it was that bad though. Here's a look at some more of our favorite sugar fix delivery systems. 

Candy Necklaces - Candy that allowed for sharing was always fun. These candy bracelets and necklaces allowed you to share with your nearest and dearest friends and make you the most popular kid in the schoolyard. Your friends would line up for a chance to chew off a sweet morsel off the string hanging around your neck. The wouldn't even mind or care that the string of candy has been hanging around your neck all day on a hot and humid summer day while you played soccer. Yummy.
 
Pop Rocks - More than likely you remember the first time you experienced pop rocks. Your were probably unsuspecting of what your buddy just handed you as you poured a little in your mouth only to have your eyes bug a bit as you experienced the weird tingling / burning sensation on your tongue. Shortly after your first experience came your first dare to see how many packs you could handle in your mouth at once. Hours later, your sense of taste would return. 



Garbage Candy - You have to wonder about the marketing meeting that took place while they were coming up with this candy.  Trash shaped candy pieces in a garbage pail is either a flash of genius or the result of being awake way too long with a cocktail of controlled substances in the system.  Having said that, these were pretty popular back in the day. You couldn't get kids to take out the garbage without grumbling but they'd have no problem scarfing down trash shaped candy by the can full. 



Freshen-Up - This gum was pretty innovative at the time. A cube shaped gum with a liquid flavor center. This gum suffered the fate of many gimmicky or novelty gums in that they' turn to cardboard in no time but it was a cool concept. One problem was it didn't store well in your jeans. 
  
Candy Buttons - Another classic candy made for sharing. These little flavor dots were cool and came in lots of flavors but the cool thing was how easy they were to store. Just fold them up and slip them in your pocket. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Retro Heatwave Video of the Day - Hot In The City

People say that relentless heat can mess you up in many ways. It can make some people nauseous, dehydrate you, give you a headache, make you drowsy or in some cases, it destroys your ability spell ! I'm not bying itt thoughh. I thunck thets a lode of crips.  Yup, it's been a pretty hot one this week with temperature records being broken, hydro grids being strained to the limit and people with air conditioning suddenly having friends over unexpectedly. You can actually buy a raw steak and cook it on your dashboard during the drive home.  While some would say this heat wave is a result of global warming, others say it is the coming of the end. I just think it's a great excuse to hear a great summer retro classic !  

Retro TV Ad of the Day: Pop-O-Matic Trouble

You know you used to watch a lot of TV as a kid when you catch yourself mumbling a certain part of an advertising jingle from time to time even though the commercial hasn't played on air in over 30 years. Case in point - the Kohner Brothers "Pop-O-Matic" Trouble. Originally made by Irwin in 1965, it eventually was made by Milton Bradley which is now part of Hasbro. This probably explains why the board games of today aren't as good as back then with all the major brands are buying each other up - so much for competition. But I digress. Although the game was actually called Trouble, you probably knew it more as "Pop-O-Matic Trouble" thanks to the popular commercial from around 1970 that showcased the plastic domed dice container that when pushed down would "pop" the dice ensuring a fair roll of the dice, faster game play and guaranteed annoyance to parents everywhere due to the constant popping sound.

New Site

Just a heads up, the blog has now moved to a more modern WordPress site over at https://retroguyswonderland.com   Site is up and under slight construction. New posts coming soon!   - Retroguy's Son (The SysOp)

The Return of Retroguy !!

Hi everyone - been a while since my last post. Hey, life happens! I had to put this on the back burner for a while but thanks for all the kind words! Fear not, I'm back!! Been working on the look of the page so this you may see changes for the next little while. Plenty more to come but for now, check out this awesome cover from Hall and Oats from the "Live From Darryl's House" web series featuring the Canadian electro-pop duo Chromeo. As always - Keep It Retro !

Rest In Peace SpaghettiOs Dude

If you grew up in the late 60s, 70s and 80s you probably had SpaghettiOs. As you got older you probably made the switch to something more adult like Chunky soup. Both of these were developed by Donald Goerke while working for Franco American that eventually was bought by Campbells Soup. You can't help noticing that SpaghettiOs sound eerily similar to Cheerios. (Can you say ripoff?) I wish they'd carry this theme over to other food. Still waiting for BaconO's or even PizzaO's.......mmmmmm. I digress. Sadly, Donald passed away last week and left behind a legacy of retro goodness in the form of two classic advertising catch phrases or slogans: "Uh - oh SpaghettiOs" and "Soup that eats like a meal!"