As a nostalgia junkie, there’s just nothing like the 1980s to make me nod my head, smile softly with fondness, and do the slow-clap. There is just so much material there to reminisce about- the amazing music, the hideous humiliating memorable fashion, the TV shows, the movies. Yes, the 80s were a goldmine of wonder, and undoubtedly the best decade for a child to grow up in. Ever.
Here is a short list of reasons why the 1980s kick the ass of whatever decade we’re living in now. (The 10s? What do kids chant at high school pep rallies these days? Do they still have pep rallies? I digress.)
- The bracelets were far superior to the annoying rubberband rainbow loom bracelets that made their way into my home this ill-fated Christmas. Jellies, anyone? Friendship bracelets? Those were quality products. Speaking of jellies- the shoes were amazing, too. Never mind the fact that my freakishly narrow quad-A width feet rendered jellies to be the least practical footwear option available, they were still awesome. I did rock my huaraches and espadrilles though. Let’s not talk about my Moon Boots.
- There were girl bands. Forget the ridiculousness of the boy bands of the late 90s and early 2000s, not to mention Harry from One Direction. The Go-Go’s, anyone? The Bangles? Bananarama? Need I go on? Yes, yes, I think so. Expose? Salt-n-Pepa? Sorry for the accusatory question marks.
- The movie Dirty Dancing was made. Enough said.
- Even the prettiest, most popular girls look horrendous in their old family photos, thanks to the horrifying trends and hairstyles.
- We roamed freely. Sometimes we left the house in the morning and didn’t return until dinner. We walked to the drug store with our friends. We earned money walking the neighbors’ dogs. We formed clubs with ridiculous names and unknown purposes. We explored. We were wild.
- You didn’t have to be genetically altered to win spelling bees. That’s right, I went there. There’s no way in hell that I, as a 35-year-old woman who once graduated summa cum laude, could ever spell the words that today’s freaky 5th graders have programmed into their freaky spelling-bee-champ brains.
- The dolls. Cabbage Patch Dolls stood for love and nurturing, in direct opposition to the materialism-drenched cash cow that is the American Girl Doll. One of Xavier’s babies could kick the ass of any American Girl Doll, any day of the week. (The sad irony is not lost on me that those dolls are in fact based on the beloved and high-quality American Girl series launched in 1986. I am, in fact, reading one of them aloud with my daughter. I just cried when it ended.)
- On that note, the tween literature. The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, the aforementioned American Girl series, prior to becoming befouled by consumerism. Check out this stash:
- The television shows were utterly hilarious, and lacked the abysmal attitude problems, entitlement, and rudeness showcased in today’s Disney Channel filth. (OK, fine, I sometimes like Austin and Ally. And I’m a little bummed about Good Luck, Charlie, if we’re being honest. But the rest of those shows suck.) I mean, didn’t we all learn a lot about ourselves from the teenage struggles of Samantha Micelli and Kirk Cameron’s little sister Carol? Those girls weren’t snotty little smart-mouths. Oh, and there was no Caillou. Just the Smurfs and the Snorks. And did you ever watch that episode of Perfect Strangers where Balki and Larry tried to carry a piano up the stairs? Comic. Perfection. Also? Alf.
- Perms. OK, just kidding, that one actually isn’t awesome. But check out this picture:
Now for the real #10- There were no handheld electronic devices. That’s right- I feel sorry for today’s kids. They will grow up with preoccupied hands and distracted minds. Back then, we had to memorize the phone numbers of our best friends and neighbors, play with them, play with our siblings, and talk to our parents. I for one am grateful for all those years when the biggest screen distraction was a small obsession with Frogger on our Atari. We actually spent time with our friends and family members, without constantly looking down at a screen while pretending to listen.
Despite being somewhat aesthetically unappealing, we children of the 80s had it pretty good. 
It’s going to be hard for the children of the 00s and 10s (?) to top the sweet childhood we had back then. What did YOU love about the 80s?
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Stephanie Sprenger
Ah, I love this, Stephanie! I addressed the hairstyles in my post, although I think you may have me beat with your perm. Dirty Dancing was one of the best movies ever. I still say “I carried a watermelon??!!” when I do or say something stupid. So frequently.
It seriously was one of the best movies– and movie quotes, of course– of all times!
its boreing liveing in the uk no one to talk to and very low self and no one to talk to \yopur friends get you in to \trouble yourgirls friends leave you when yiou have ran out off money you go billy no\mates as well \sas my girl \friend as ripped me off hundred pounds and then was 60 pounds` and then she had about 300 pounds money money that she won on the dla` then it went in the machine now and last week i give her about 200 pounds got that back then went in the macine its her own stuid fault iof her money goes back in and i cant keep\giveing her the money as i have not got it at all now one too as her lucky numbres did not come up at all \now too and on monday she is after the money for the rent as she is behind withe payement 400 pounds and she should keep\her rent money for it only on dss my self ahundfred 86 pounds aweek every too \weeks` since trhe goverment did take it now dave owens
yes it was nice time of the decade more jobs all \through maggie got in to power november 1979 we had the torie goverment the poll tax come out iwas in my teens job less and no \job centres did not com e out un till about 1981 and people had hardly any money in them days now dotal\money was about 10 pounds aweek had to sign on the dotal in haigh road waterl,oo espely house you use to have aold dotal\card and if vyiou was skint your family had to keep you on 23 pounds aweek very whre hard time but better people you could get clothing addtions in them days and a` laundary allawance that did stop round about 1985 april 32 yrs ago you got more help\for your money now too and the commnty care was alot better now you have to have acommnty care asement off your needs done but you dont meet their critria` no help\at all \now too dave owens
The 1980’s were the best! the music was unreal, the television shows were funny, the mood of the country was better! the 80’s were great, well except for reagan, sorry
I am so with you on this and sound like all four of us co-hosts this week agree on the 80s being the best. I had pretty much all of the above and still have my old Cabbage Patch Dolls, which my girls play with now believe it or not. Nothing will ever beat the 80s for me either and as I keep saying tonight so glad it wasn’t just me and am in great company it looks like 🙂
I loved your 80s post, too, Janine! Thanks!
I have to agree with you there. Although, I’m only slightly younger than you, I to have very fond memories of the eighties (about as much as I can remember) and would often find myself quite bothered by the fact that I had not been born at a much earlier date, so that I would have been able to experience the eighties as a teenager or young adult.
The eighties were certainly a goldmine for nostalgic blog material. I spent my teens in that decade and can certainly agree with you that TV was way better with none of the “reality” show garbage that we see today and the music was the best!
Yes- the reality shows today can hardly even count as quality programming. Ugh. 🙂
We rocked the 80’s and the shorts. I mean really to look so cool in shorts that were not? It was the mall-bangs. It distracted from the high-waist. I dare any band to go up against the girl bands of the 80’s. Although I wish I had the perm to explain the Rosannadanna hair that came naturally to me that decade
Ugh, the shorts! So bad… and yet, so good. 😉
Ooooh – my boots were purple and gray Kangaroos with a zip pocket for a quarter (in case i needed to make a phone call of course). I am glad you gave Expose a shout out. I need some ‘Seasons Change” right now! Oh and Sweet Valley Twins!!!! Ahhhh Jessica and Elizabeth. Sweet Valley High rocked too. LOVE THIS!!
I might burst into tears if I heard that Expose song right now- I loved it SO much back then. I can’t wait until my daughter is old enough for SVT! 🙂
Oh my gosh, soul sista, you NEED to check out my 1980s perm that I shared in today’s post…. It’s fitting we had the exact same hair in 1987!!
What a crazy crazy decade. I had a jelly purse. Seriously. WTF – it couldn’t hold anything! Yet we bought them…
My students were talking about the Kevin Bacon video going around about the 80s, and I was telling my students about an era when we didn’t have the Internet or cell phones, how I went through ALL of college without Googling a damn thing, that I didn’t send an email until I was 18 years old…. it was like I was from another planet!
And, OH, Sweet Valley High?!?! Swoon!!
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I LOVED that Kevin Bacon video. Maybe I should tweet him this post! 😉 You rocked your perm, too, soul sista!
Clever post! I am so very grateful that I have no photos of my perm. At least I don’t think I do. Yours isn’t so bad really. It was a tad disconcerting to have my hair stylist frown when she saw my freshly coiffed perm. I had to go back the next day for a complimentary “tidy up.” Btw – your pantyhose are quite something. I forgot about those. They’d be perfect for robbing banks, no?
Aren’t those panythose amazing? ON a ten year old? 🙂
Now I’m starting to rethink my decision to write about the 90s. So far, the 80s are winning! I do miss staying out until the street lights came on & running through the sprinklers. There was none of this fear like there are these days. Our childhood was awesome!
No, don’t rethink! The 90s may have even been more amazing, upon further reflection!
Ok technically I turned 10 in 79 so I was a tween in the 80s. I can remember looking at my sister’s clothes of the time frame of the 70s and being grateful my excuse was I was too young to make clothing choices for myself at that time.
You are exactly my husband’s age. 🙂
yes yes yes to all of it. I was obsessed with the Bangles, and roamed freely too. My only hang up is, I watched the smurfs and the snorks recently, and those cartoons were trippy. No? I mean, I’m not advocating Caillou, but I would take bubble guppies over the Smurfs anyway.
any day not anyway. Great post!! 🙂
OK, you are totally right about the Smurfs being weird. In fact, if they were on now, I might actually make my kids change the channel. 😉
OMG! I read everyone of those books in each of those series. I’m glad you the fashion horrendous, because I know many who don’t. Great post!
Thanks April! Those books were SO awesome!
Totally with you on:
9, 5 and 2
especially #5 do you remember, ‘cutting through (someone’s) yard’? Back then it was simply a shortcut, usually one street to the next. We would always make a point of walking along the side of the yard (when ‘cutting through a yard’) nothing blatant or anything.
the sad thing is that the difference in the worlds between now and then is barely funny anymore.
(need to practice the FTSF thing, a little rough this week, I trust you understand)
Yes, totally! If some kids cut through MY lawn today, I would be shocked. Those were better days. (sniff, sniff.) (Oh, wait, did that sniff look like I might have been referring to cocaine use? Although that too was prevalent in the 80s, that was not my implication. Ha.)
I love 80’s you! I had pretty much the same perm – my step mom gave it to me at home (I can almost smell that smell again just thinking about it) and I rocked being a poodle with my jelly bracelets and espadrilles. And ugly sweaters. And high-waisted pants.
You know, the whole staying out all day and not having screens part makes me kind of sad for our kids. That part was amazing. With that said, I’d likely never let my kid ride his bike through traffic for 3 miles or so to meet his friends at the community pool…
Wow, a home perm? That is even more embarrassingly awesome than a salon perm. And yeah, I can’t imagine EVER letting my kids ride bikes to the pool.It almost feels like it would be illegal.
This is so perfect! You are absolutely right…there was no better time to be a kid than the 80s! As much as the kids have today, I wouldn’t trade those days for any of it. Loved the jelly shoes, and neon everything, big hair, the music… I especially love that we could stay out all day, sun up to sun down, without our parents living in fear we would be lost forever. Times were good and this is a fantastic reminder.
The freedom really was the best part, wasn’t it? I feel like we grew up free from a lot of the fear our children probably will have.
Oh, how I loved reading this post. It brought me “back to the day” – even though I was an adult (or thought I was) during the 80’s. Ahh, the moon boots, decorated with bathtub decals. Don’t forget the stretch pants – which have come around again with a little different look!
Those boots were one of the most humiliating experiences of my whole childhood. Solid effort though, Mom.
Love this list and completely agree! Today’s TV is so terrible, but 80’s TV was awesome! And, a HUGE YES to #4 & #5 & #10!!!
Man, do I miss 80s TV…
I had lots of perms in the 70s and 80s. Does anyone get a perm today??? This group is the first group that can be entertained with a device from the cradle. Wonder how that’s going to turn out? I was outside climbing trees, fishing and riding my bike.
I think my grandma might have even stopped perming her hair. But she probably did up until age 88, I’m guessing. 🙂 That’s the only demographic I can imagine who still gets a perm. But man, you are so right- being reliant on electronic entertainment from birth? That can’t be a good thing for the next generation.
Yup, I grew up in the 80s and it really was awesome! Er, bitchen! Dirty Dancing is one of my very favoritest movies, the TV shows were the best, MTV still played music. Crimped hair! Seriously.
The movies… the TV shows… sigh. Loved them all.
Thank you for reminding me what was so amazing about the 80’s. Sometimes I forget about the amazingly cool toys we had, the freedom to roam, and the bracelets/plastic shoes. Were slap bracelets the 80’s, or 90’s? Because those were so cool.
The slap bracelets were the 90s. You know what? The 90s were actually just as awesome as the 80s. Maybe (gasp!) even more awesome.
You nailed it, girl. I had a perm and the later bangs. Serious bangs. Even into the 90s. What can I say? We were behind the times in SE TX.
But it’s the freedom that I’m saddest my kids will miss. I rode my bike all.over.town and came home when the streetlights came on.
Oh yeah, my bangs spanned two decades. Shudder.
My brother had a black Cabbage Patch doll with a camouflage outfit. I’m pretty sure it could kick any American Girl’s ass, yes!
The 80’s did rock, yo!
That is one bad-ass CPK.
Although I didn’t participate in FTSF this week, I definitely would have picked the 80s too — and it looks like a lot people did! I so agree with you on your 10 reasons, especially the handheld electronics and the roaming free part….that’s something we all seem to remember – that freedom and independence that our kids today won’t have until they are high schoolers or beyond!
It’s hard to even imagine me being okay with sending my elementary school-aged daughter to the park with her friends unsupervised. I can hardly even fathom it! I feel sad she won’t have the same freedoms I did.
Dirty Dancing, I’d forgotten that movie was made in my favorite decade. What a great movie that was.
I know- such a classic. Now I want to watch it right now!
FINALLY one I can jump in on. I just about had jelly shoes and I LOVED them. And going rock-pooling at the beach. And birthday parties.
But I was never quite old enough in the 80’s for perms or remembering phone numbers 🙂
I loved playing in the street til it got dark, and going round all the houses to call for the kids.
I know- I have the most vivid, fond memories of playing until dark. 🙂
Oh yes…the days when kids could go out and play for hours without parents giving it a thought. That was a wonderful time. These days we’re all over scheduled and over connected. I’m not sure I could live without all this technology, but sometimes, it would be nice to have a break. I’m so glad we don’t perm our hair anymore…
It’s a tough one- I feel bad that our kids will miss out on the distraction-free freedom we had, and yet I am terribly reliant on– and grateful for– my technology. :/
Yes to being hands-free! I really miss that, though not completely. I have to agree with you on the 80s hairstyles being horrendous!
I am so conflicted on the hands-free thing- I mean, it’s not like you’d catch ME putting my technology away for a week. Or… a day, even. 😉
The music. And the full production w/ story line music videos, like Duran Duran. We didn’t know what was going on but it was very involved and profound. Loved the line about even the good-looking girls looking bad! Haha. And a shout-out to Perfect Strangers! Sit-coms were so innocent then. I don’t miss the canned laughter though.
Yes, the music videos! And Duran Duran… sigh. I’m getting misty now.
I got my rainbow loom addicted kids to take a break long enough to show them the magic that is friendship bracelets. It was short lived once they realized how long each one was going to take and they were going to have to make three trillion knots along the way. I couldn’t believe they weren’t impressed!
Ha! That is sort of classic, huh?
Girl you said it all about the 80’s.
Loved it inspite of no gadgets we were happy…simpler times.
cheers!
Thanks, Ruchira! Simpler times, indeed…
I’m an 80’s child too and totally agree with our list – but you for got the Hair Bands:)! Bon Jovi! Van Halen! Poison!
all these posts about the 80’s really taking me back…wow… Yeah, so many great and cool things about the 80’s. More for the fact that is was safer back then, or perhaps no social media to catch or trick you.
I loved the 80’s! Both of our kids were born, and I nursed them to MTV! Awesome.
Yes yes yes! all so true. Really, where are the girl bands these days????
For all the awfulness of the 80’s, all of the things you mention were pretty awesome. I loved the morning cartoons and I remember those books..I loved them! Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitters Club were my favorites. And let’s not forget the perfume Electric Youth. Aww, Debbie Gibson.
Just found your blog and am catching up on your great posts…as an 80s kid myself, I can say it was an awesome time… What was great also is that kids stayed kids longer than they do today…it seemed like I was always playing dress up and wore the jelly bracelets AND the plastic necklaces with the clip-on charms! Lol Does anyone else remember those? I also had those exact same tween books:)
Why did I not see this
Post sooner? Yes, to all of it! Two
More things…Aquanet. And…”after school special” on tv.
Nice post, but what about the 80’s lunchboxes?
Also, for point 10: technically speaking there were handheld devices:
Nintendo’s U.S. version of the Gameboy was released in 1989. Okay, so it was the last year of the decade, so sue me.
The first analog cellular system widely deployed in North America was the Advanced Mobile Phone System. It was commercially introduced in the Americas in October 1983. Granted they were big and bulky and expensive and not readily available to your common teenager, but nonetheless existed. It wasn’t really until 1990 when cellphones were more marketable to the average consumer with the introduction of Digital AMPS.
I would have personally done it like this:
1. ABC after school specials. If you were a latch-key kid in the 80’s you could go home without your parents being there, and not worry about anything except for your fictional 7 other family members on Eight Is Enough. Okay, so parents in the 80’s were a little naïve, is it really any different today? At least you could try to raid the fridge for your lunchable to help refuel you after your school lunch had already been digested.
Which brings me to my next point:
2.School lunches: Need a reminder of what school lunches looked like in the 80’s? http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2014/08/87771389jg.jpg [okay, so that photo is a replication for a Disney nostalgia piece, but it is spot on.] Just be glad you got a school-lunch at all in the 80s with the whole Reaganomics situation, okay?
Which brings me to my next point:
3. The best presidents (at least to our young impressionable minds anyway) when communism was still the enemy. I’ll never forget Genesis’ Land Of Confusion video with the characterization of Ronald Regan. At least Regan wasn’t accused of being a communist unlike a certain modern president. Regan knew who the communists were.
Which brings me to my next point:
4. Saddam Hussein. We didn’t really know anything about him as kids, except that he was an evil communist, whatever that meant, according to our great and wonderful President, Ronald Reagan, who seemed to know everything. And that was enough for us, I think. How is that a good thing? We were innocent of any unnecessary speculation. Now a-days you just believe what you are told. We did then too, but the difference is we were conflicted. We were allowed to question the facts. Do they even teach Critical Thinking in schools, these days?
5. Richard Pryor. I may have been too young to understand that he was the most foul mouthed comedian of my generation, and I may have watched him against my parent’s wishes, but come on, who can you compare Richard Pryor to? Superman III, anyone? Which brings me to my next point:
6. Superman. Enough said.
Which brings me to my next point:
7. Christopher Reeve was healthy, to our knowledge at least. And a great actor, by 80’s standards, anyway.
Which brings me to my next point
8. 80s lunchboxes. Yes, I owned one. And you guessed it, Superman! Granted back then a parent could send her child to school with a half a banana and a dried out sandwich in the metallic lunchbox with their favorite t.v. show character on it, and not be chewed out by the PTA.
Which brings me to my next point
9. Food Stamps when they were actually printed on paper. If your parents were on welfare they might have been able to buy you that Walkman you wanted for Christmas, because the government was mass producing those fake currencies more than they did actual currency. Again, Reaganomics, right? But at least you got the Walkman!
Which brings me to my next point…
10. And finally the hit of all: The Sony Walkman, which was sold mass marketed in the U.S. beginning 1979 (not all of the so-called “Walkmans” were actually the Walkman product, some were other models with different names but who cares, it was the 80s, man.) You gotta love the tunes, man. And you could bring your Walkman into the 90’s, too!
If I could,I’d ‘favorite’ your post. (: Things have changed quite a bit,since then¬ all of it for the better,IMO. I personally would’nt mind if my kid,took lunch to school in his fave metal lunchbox,if that’s what made him happy. I don’t have kids,but if I did. I wish ‘critical thinking’ was a thing right now,but it does’nt seem so,does it.\: And yes…gotta love Walkmans! 😀
This is like a list if you were a girl in the 80’s. For boys growing up in that era it was totally different things. My personal favorites were Star Wars & the toys in the early 80’s. Transformers launched in 1984 and became my all time favorite cartoon and toy line. Michael Bay ruined them for me with his changes he made in his movies. But Nintendo is my favorite thing from that decade. It cemented my addiction to video games after Atari started it about 10 years sooner. I still play games from all the systems over the years in my spare time and it let’s me feel like a kid in the 80’s again when I play those old NES games. I could name at least 50 to 100 more things I loved about the 80’s but that would be too long. If anything living back then was much simpler and felt like a care free happy time. If I could go back and re-live those times I would. If I knew then what I know now I would enjoy them even more.
Well, so true, because after all, I WAS a girl in the 80s. Love your ideas, too!
The toys! Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. Colecovision, Atari! We as kids had so much free time back then. The days lasted forever. Cars were more comfortable, and so were bikes! Reagan kept us all safe and Growing Pains kept us seriously entertained. Music was the best! Truly a wonder of a decade. Sigh.
Yes,yes&YES! (: A truly better,simpler time,to live. So much time&so much to do,if one used their imagination. More comfy cars,better made furniture,the movies,the music,the people. We might have more ‘rights’ politically speaking now days,but back then we were ‘free-er’,in many ways,if that makes any sense to you. Exactly…sigh. (:
here are some reasons why i disagree
.in the 80’s gay rights were virtually non-existent and it was not a good time to be a minority group in general.
.the war on drugs was at it’s worst point. not only were they putting addicts in jail more so than now, they were actually dumb enough to bring drugs to schools with their just say no program and some kid always stole the joint. just sooooo dumb. what do you expect from people who support such an awful thing though right?
.there was some serious shady stuff going on in the 80’s. look up the Iranian contra affair. heck, a lot of awful stuff we’re dealing with today is because of greedy jerks from the 80’s selling weapons to dictators and whatnot.
.ronald reagan.
I don’t have to say much about this one. that guy was a bastard and people still believe in his dumb policies that never work. the guy actually had such an ego he called his branch of economics reaganomics. seriously, even if I voted that way, i wouldn’t be able to stand anyone who is that self-absorbed. that’s just the tip of the iceberg with him to. anyone remember the whole star wars fiasco? that one is good for a laugh.
anyways, the 80’s had no shortage of dumb politicians that made bush look smart.
Reagan was even supporting the racists in south africa with the apartheid until the Canadian prime minister pointed out that they were nazis to him. Dumb and ignorant! not that Mulrooney was very smart either.
so all in all it might be to get nostalgic about the decade you grew up in but it was not a very nice decade for a lot of people so I don’t think we can say the 80’s were better than today and frankly I don’t think we can say anytime in the past is better.
we’re always pushing for more rights and freedoms and progressively moving forward albeit slowly so no matter what if you look back to any decade it’s going to be worse than today for somebody.
This is mostly a nostalgic, sentimental, *humorous* piece. It’s not really an intellectual argument about the 80s being superior morally, politically, or in any other way. Just some light, good fun. But thanks for weighing in.
I remember the awesom tv shows of the 80s back in the UK we had Moondial and the spooky kids shows also I loved Happy days and the music back then was way better you had Bands like Duran Duran spandue Ballet wondering if he was a she during the New Romantic period and OMG who can forget colourful Boy Gerorge also I got my first Walkman at the end of the 80s okay not a Sony but I loved that Walkman and yeah I had a puffball skirt and crimped my hair and I was a young kid also remeber wanting a Cabbage patch doll so bad think I got a dreaded Kyle style perm too lol but who didn’t have one of them OMG the 80s were Gold miss them but love 2015 too I couldn’t live with out my iPad
Thanks so much for your blog about the ’80’s. I sure miss that decade as well, being 16 in 1987 was awesome (no pun intended). My son (age 10) found a old photo of me with my high school buddies taken in 1986 with my 1970 Chevy Impala. I almost teared up when I saw this, remembering how simple things seemed back then. No texting, instagramming, nor Facebook. Friends physically spoke to each other either by tying up the home phone or hung out at the Pizza place, or just cruised. The movies spoke for themselves, Breakfast club,Back to school, weird science , the tv shows with family values, growing pains, Family ties, I can go on.
My wife was laughing at me the other day when I couldn’t figure out how to set the navigation nor Ipod on our new crossover SUV (she was born in the ’80’s). I told her I miss my old 1970 Impala when all I had to figure out was the Alpine cassette player and clock reset and I could even work on the engine myself with cheap tools and a heck of lot most dependable than any other car I owned 🙁
Thanks again 🙂
once i was at my granparents house, and they had this tv where u had to walk up so u could change he channel but back then they only had like 4 channels if lucky.
now kids have to have a menu of stuff to look at .
I’m really a 00’s kid, but god I love the music from the 80’s. Maybe it was the specific quality of the recordings or using a different synthesiser or something but 80’s music is amazing. Technology always makes me frustrated too, I wonder if I grew up without laptops and iPods then it would be easier to take control of my life (and my teachers at school make us use laptops even if the computers can really drive you crazy because of how slow they are). “I’ve got– hungry eyes!!” 😀
Something about the 80’s was so innocent and fun! Maybe it’s just the cloud of childhood memories.
I absolutely loved the 80s! I was born in 72 so my young childhood was in the 70s which was a nice time to be a kid…but the 80s is where i came of age….i was in to all the big hair bands and some top 40 music….kids today( its official…im old) just do not understand what they have lost. I know every generation is different but in the case of gen- xer’s we really were. We were the last generation to live in a pre-technological world….we had computers but they were not the same by any means…technology has revolutionized the way kids relate… Their privacy has been taken from them and they dont really understand what they have lost. As they grow maybe they will turn back and study that glorious era before cell phones…emails..and facebook…back to an era known affectionately by us gen-xer’s as the 1980s.
I spent my childhood in the 80s. I think it was way better than today. I think every adult regardless of what era they grew up in thinks their era was better. As we get older and see that things have changed we start to see the differences between today and our era, and we sometimes feel certain things were better back then and certain things are okay today.
They were more genuine too. They didn’t start their articles with a complete sarcastic fabrication of who they are.
Oh, an excellent point. They also didn’t leave rude , bullying comments to complete strangers, high on the pseudo-anonymous power of the Internet. Kudos, sir.
To be fair, American Girl has always offered dolls, it’s just that from the late 80s to the mid-90s, fewer people actually had the dolls and those who did had maybe one or two cherished dolls, not a dozen of them. The Pleasant Company wasn’t a thing until the late eighties, anyway, but it was always about the merchandise. The idea behind the company’s founding was to increase reading in girls by tying it in with their imaginative play. The books, dolls, and accessories were released for the first three dolls at the same time. The difference between then and now is 1.) The Pleasant Company was purchased by Mattel in the late-90s and they tend to focus more on the modern dolls that have accessories like spa chairs than the historical dolls that have related books and actually teach kids something, and 2.) Even until the mid-late nineties the dolls had extensive, but FIXED collections. It was possible for a kid to have the doll of their choice and their entire collection because the company wasn’t constantly adding new stuff. There might be a new doll with a new collection, but it was more about acting out the stories in the books than about acquiring as much stuff as possible.
I hear you on the rest of this list, I just thought I’d point out that most people attribute American Girl with more honorable roots than it deserves. The books are fantastic, and I loved my Samantha doll, but the books have always been about making kids want the dolls.
Sad to say yesterday was the death of George Gaynes, who played the bumbling Commandant Lassard in the Police Academy films from the 80s. While the last couple were no great shakes, the first two were typical feel good comedies that could only be made in the 80s and you left the cinema feeling happier than when you entered it. Also worthy of mention from that decade of feel good American films, Ferris Buellers Day Off, Risky Business, Stripes and The Karate Kid. Over here in Britain our own film industry was small scale and often made miserable, downbeat films with a leftist message, American films were so much better.
TBH,I like the different styles,of the 1980s clothing. They at least had character&some sort of personal individuality,unlike todays ‘be like everyone else…or else’ attitude about style(and most other things,too.). I wear my high-waisted jeans&scrunchys,among other things I’m sure I’d be called ‘out of style’,for occasionally,because I dress for me,not anyone else. (: Things were simpler,better&less complicated in many ways,back then(IMO)&I wish for most of the 1980s back. I often find myself wanting to go ‘back to the future’,because THIS decade,is not for me. There has not,nor will there ever be another decade,like the 1980s…and that’s a damn shame.