Los Garbage

Before people talked about Dungeons and Dragons, before Mario and Luigi were popular, before Max Caiman tried to save the earth, these cute lovable characters where the real deal for high school kids.

First, the amount of cards you had were a measure of how cool you were (or rather how rich). Usually, the cool / rich guy in your class had a lot of them, emphasizing his frequent trips to the States. Of course, you had to be friends with the guy so that you would get one of those Hugh Mongous or Jelly Nelly cards.

Second, in some akward 80s rich kids school logic, if you had Garbage Pail Kids you were bad, you were looking for trouble. No need for a switchblade, having a Garbage made you the boss (we have to remember this was the era where being bad meant dancing your ass off in leather on some subway station). The cards were so dangerous that they were banned from my school. I am sure some of our permanent records still say "Garbage Pail Kids dealer".


On a lighter side, it seems difficult to remember that these cards were originally an add-on for buying gum. Or that at some point there was a sticker collection (el popular album de los Garbage).

In truth, you look at them now and they still seem cool. It is not only the catchy and smart names, it is also the fact that the most hideous Garbage was the original Cabagge Patch Kid. The success of this doll was as bizarre as the 90s popularity of Tickle Me Elmo, the king of fruitcakes, and the Garbage Pail Kids nailed perfectly this stupidity.