I Love the 80s Thread

[Benzgirl]

Ok, many of the retro recruitments prompted me to start this thread. What is it that you loved about the 80s?

The cliches?
rad
tubular
oh my God!

The Bands?
Flock of Seagulls
Duran Duran
Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Soloists?
Michael Jackson
Madonna
Cindy Lauper

Technology?
I want my MTV!
5.25 Floppy
The Sony Walkman

Television?
Cheers
Family Ties
Dynasty

Movies?
Revenge of the Nerds
Nightmare on Elm Street
When Harry met Sally


Fitness Craze?
Richard Simmons
Aerobics ("Let's Get Physical")
Lycra

Things?
Chia Pet
The Mullet, Asymmetical Cuts, Big Hair, Mousse and Gel
New Coke/Coke Classic

Fashion
"Power Dressing" (shoulder pads, big shoulder pads)
Color Coordinated Bags, Footware and Jewerly
Earrings, Gold, and Glitz
Acid Wash Denim


Fashion Icons
Bananarama
MC Hammer
Princess Diana

[cuteASAbug]

Culture Club- duh
Dexy's Midnight Runners
Desperately Seeking Susan

[DaemonSeid]

Things I remember (and would like to forget)

Jheri Curls

Rubiks Cube

Starter Jackers

Members only Jackets

Designer Jeans

[aggieAXO]

I am often ridiculed at work because I make people listen to hits of the 80s on XM satellite radio. My next choice is one hit wonders which often include songs that came out in the 80s.

I loved all the music (esp. Duran D. Madonna, Wham). Watching Princess Di get married. Watching Boris Becker win Wimbledon-I believe he was (and maybe still is?) the youngest player to win. Swatches (just bought a new one a couple of months ago), Guess jeans, Izod, Jellies, etc... Life was simple and fun.

[nittanyalum]

Oh good lord, you all are killing me, some of these things I hadn't thought of in years!

LOL to 5.25 floppy (and green screens!), shoulder pads and Members Only jackets!!!!

I think you cut a pretty wide swath covering most of the biggies, I would add "Like, totally" under Cliches; all of the bands from micky80's thread not already mentioned to Bands; under Technology, VCRs (and remember Beta machines? that's what we had ), Atari / Pac-Man (video arcade boom in general), and compact discs; to movies I'd add "Breakin'", "Fame", "Footloose", "Risky Business", "Pretty in Pink", "The Breakfast Club", "St. Elmo's Fire", to TV I'd add Fame, Square Pegs, The Cosby Show, 21 Jump Street and Roseanne, under Things I'd add boomboxes; under Fitness, Reebok shoes; under Fashion, the camoflage craze, the tuxedo phase, the rounded collars with thin bows phase, the multi-colored rubber "Madonna" bracelets, and Madonna gloves, the digital watches that had "video games" on them, Swatch watches, the "2nd ear pierce", guys getting one ear pierced, collars up, cuffing jeans tightly at the ankle, ankle-zipper jeans, Jordache, Calvin Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Sasson jeans, clogs phase, topsiders phase, legwarmers, paisley print, neon and bright, crazy colors together on one shirt or outfit, headbands, for guys, those knit ties with the flat bottoms... I'm getting carried away... there were so MANY "fashion" trends that decade.... oh, and the Miami Vice look! Don't forget that! And add it to TV, too.


ETA: also add to TV "Hill St. Blues" and "L.A. Law"
ETA again: oh! and to Fitness (/TV) add "20 Minute Workout" -- remember that?

[BetteDavisEyes]

Let's see.

Depeche Mode
Duran Duran
Billy Idol

[PrettyBoy]

GI Joe with swivel arm battle grip
Transformers
Break Dancing
Beat Street
The Fat Boys
Breakin'


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-QoDSq28Kw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leg3WJnttfc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SedYFUhYaGU

I was a really good break dancer back in the 80s, and I loved GI Joe.

[AlphaFrog]

Oh GOD the shoulder pads!!

I was 6 or 7 and I tried cutting the shoulder pads out of everything (WTF does a gradeschooler need shoulder pads for?), but my mom would catch me and either stop me, or sew them back in. She also made us matching neon pink/yellow/green/orange outfits, and made us wear them.

[scbelle]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Oh GOD the shoulder pads!!

I 6 or 7 and I tried cutting the shoulder pads out of everything (WTF does a gradeschooler need shoulder pads for?)

EXACTLY. I cut mine out, too. Of course, sometimes I'd end up with little holes in the shoulder hem of my shirts. That didn't please mom too much.

[PrettyBoy]

I remember I was a member of a break dancing group, and we used to have break dancing battles against other groups. My parents used to tell me that if I were to do that when they were in school (during the 50s) they would have thought I was having a seizure.

[scbelle]

I'd have to go with:

Atari (although my fam was too cheap to get one... I had an Intellivision)
Leggings
Neon anything
Quicksilver bracelets
Cyndi Lauper
Punky Brewster
The Goonies
and for TV, The Greatest American Hero

[KatieKate1244]

JEM!


And My Little Pony

When I was three years old, I wanted to be a My Little Pony when I grew up. And not just any My Little Pony, I wanted to be a flying unicorn My Little Pony (and now I want to be an intelligence analyst...)

[Scully]

I miss my neon slouchy socks that always matched my neon t-shirts. Bangs. Playing with my He-Man action figures. And Voltron! The original metal ones. My Little Pony and Legos. Dancing around the house to the Thriller album on my little red tape-recorder. And Kool & the Gang. My sister and I played Jem & the Holograms...and I always got mad when I had to be the Misfits. Intellivision! Playing Pitfall and Donkey Kong with the Atari on my black & white TV. My Jordache backpack. Shrinky Dinks.

[BetteDavisEyes]

Originally Posted by KatieKate1244

JEM!

Oh Jem. I so badly wanted to be Jem when I grew up. She was so fashionable and just awesome!

[najara]

Jem? What or who is that?
LoL