I loved collecting stickers & cards in the 80’s. My first memories of collecting started with Panini’s Mexico 86 stickers. I didn’t complete it. One series of cards stands out as being the most memorable from my childhood & that’s The Garbage Pail Kids cards. I can remember having piles & piles of cards, swapping with mates & the anticipation of getting the first few packets of a new series. A lot of pocket money was spent on these back in the day.
Garbage Pail Kids the Beginning
Garbage Pail Kids cards were first released back in 1985. Released by Topps & very much a parody of the popular Cabbage Patch Kids the series was the brainchild of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman who came up with the product idea after the success of his earlier creations, Garbage Candy and Wacky Packages. After great success with the first release more artists & writers were brought in to expand the series.
Successful across the world Garbage Pail Kids would also be known The Garbage Gang in Australia, The Filthies in France & The Snotlings in Italy just to name a few of the differing names.
With each packet you would get a stick of bubble gum from which I remember was awful & I would usually just throw it away. There were two versions of each card – an ‘a’ and a ‘b’ – with the same artwork but a different name for the character to make collecting them that little bit more challenging.
My Memories of the Garbage Pail Kids Cards
I loved this series through its original run up to series 15 in 1988 with series 16 planned but cancelled for a 1989 release. The characters were very edgy for a 7 to 10 year old & all my school mates would congregate with stacks of cards in the school playground to check out what new additions we all had & to make swaps with each other.
I can remember my mum not being too impressed with them along with my teachers at the time but fortunately we never had to deal with a ban at my primary school! There were some kids though that weren’t allowed to collect them which really did make them that bit cooler.
Probably the most iconic Garbage Pail Kid is Adam Bomb but it was Nasty Nick that was card 1A in the first release with his 1B variation titled Evil Eddie. Being a lad I never understood the Cabbage Patch Doll madness in the early 80s especially the footage you would see on TV of Americans going absolutely berserk for them decades before Black Friday madness would hit these shores!
Garbage Pail Kids the Movie
The cards were so successful that a live action movie was produced in 1987 which to be fair really wasn’t good & neither a box office success but I can remember eagerly renting the VHS from my local video shop as soon as it was available. A cartoon series was also produced that was never shown in the U.S due to protests from Parental groups. It was shown across Europe & in Canada though. To be honest though I have have no memory of this cartoon at all!!!
As I came to the end of my time at Primary School the original series of cards would end with series 15 as popularity had waned. I mentioned before series 16 was planned but never released and as time passed though Garbage Pail Kids would make a come back in 2003 & they have been regularly released up to the present day. With nostalgia being a big pull I guess you could say a comeback was always on the cards!
An Awesome Garbage Pail Kids Book
If you want an affordable way to look back and reminisce about Garbage Pail Kids then I highly recommend the book below. Garbage Pail Kids an official release by Topps shares all the wonderful card artwork from the original run of the cards from the 1980’s. There is also an introduction by Art Spiegelman too and it a fantastic book to have on the shelf for when you want to take a trip down memory lane. The book is designed to look like an original packet of the cards and if you remove the cover on the back you will even find an image of a broken piece of bubble gum. It is a great little book.
You find the Garbage Pail Kids book on Amazon here (or click the image below).
Garbage Pail Kids Cards
So there you go The Garbage Pail Kids a fantastic card series that gave me a fun distraction from School & something to spend my pocket money on in the mid to late 1980s. If you would like to see a bit more of the book and take a look at the recent cards that have been released then take a look at the video from my YouTube channel below.
For more 80’s and 90’s memories, take a look at these articles…
Did You Have a Doctor Who Tardis Tent?
Can You Remember the Ninja Turtle Names?
My Favourite Vintage Star Wars Vehicles
Thanks for stopping by, you can find my previous post here.
Daz
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