Five Nostalgic Things from the ‘80s
Some have now gone away; some, for better or worse, are making a comeback.
The ‘80s were a time of change. It was the bridge between a much technologically simpler time of the ‘70s to the electronic revolution of the ‘90s.
I graduated from high school in 1986 and here are some things about the ‘80s that I remember fondly (and a few memories that are not so fond).
1. Fashion of the ‘80s
Pastel and paisley shirts with collars often worn upturned were all the rage. Parachute pants and colorful outfits could be found on every street corner. Fanny packs, shoulder pads, and legwarmers were often accessories.
Some of these clothing items are making a comeback. Kids today can be found wearing the same style of slip-on Vans on their feet that the teenagers wore in the ‘80s.
A couple of styles that I hoped I would never see again were mullets and big hair. But, just like anything, I fear we might start seeing these again more and more.
2. Music
Music fans not listening to the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s were split between pop rock icons such as Michael Jackson and Madonna and the hair bands such as Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister and Poison.
MTV was non-stop music videos and if a teenager in the house was allowed to control the television, that is what it was turned to.
Colombia House Cassette Club would sell you twelve albums for a penny, but you had to agree to purchase future items. I am not sure what that future promise was because I know of no one who ever fulfilled this agreement after receiving their twelve music cassettes. One wonders how they ever made any profit at all.
3. Electronics
If you wanted to communicate with someone electronically, you used a fax machine. Although these have mostly gone away, there are still some government agencies that still require things to be faxed.
The predecessor of the now ubiquitous smart phones were bag phones for your car. These were not cheap and fairly rare for the time.
A VCR was in every home and electric typewriters were how most students wrote papers.
If you wanted to take your music on the road, you did it with a Sony Walkman or if you wanted to share, a boom box.
4. Home furnishings
In the ‘80s, televisions were still heavy and boxy.
Leak-prone waterbeds were popular but if the heater went out, you faced a very chilly night.
Personal computers started finding their way into more and more homes. In 1984, Apple introduced the extremely popular Macintosh computer.
5. Fun and games
Cabbage Patch Kids, Slap Bracelets and Trivial Pursuit were popular Christmas presents.
You impressed your friends if you could solve the Rubik’s Cube.
Although it came out in the late 70s, Atari’s Video Computing System (VCS) was in every household and kids played Space Invaders long into the night. As our joysticks broke beyond repair, we shifted to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and traded our space aliens for Donkey Kong.
Most everything I listed can still be found in some form today. Many of the trends fell out of favor in the 1990s but as a teenager in 1980s, I will always have a soft spot for the culture of that awesome to the max decade.
For more nostalgic posts by Curt:
