What were the 80s like?

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

As someone who was born in 1992, I'd like to know what the 80s were like for those of you who lived through it.

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

I wasn't there, but I'm pretty familiar with the pop culture.

It was COLORFUL. XD

[King Sejong 859]

I think Mystery Science Theater 3000 put it in the simplest, yet funniest terms.

 

https://youtu.be/bs0osMzTZQA

Edited February 17, 2016 by King Edouard

[Anneal 2,197]

On the other hand the 80s were pretty tense; the Soviet Union and the US broke off their relations again, mostly in part to Reagan's anti-communist beliefs and the Soviet-Afghan War. Oh, and Reagan got involved in some suspicious activity with the Iran-Contra Scandal, and an increasing amount of people were losing trust or at the very least becoming apathetic towards the government. Religion also got a revival and televangelism becomes a thing.

 

The Iran Hostage Crisis also ended with a big hit to American patriotism, Iran-Iraq War starts off in the decade, and in general the U.S. economy was falling to shit. The Rust Belt really hits hard...and there's a lot of racism going on after the busing riots and affirmative action attempts, but cities like Atlanta, LA, and San Jose gets an economic and development boom (historically called the Sun Belt). 

 

As for Asia, Deng Xiaoping is now the leader of Communist China and decides to turn China into a more capitalist economy. Taiwan ends martial law, SE Asia is still dictatorial and chaotic, and oh, Tiananmen Square Massacre. Europe...Gorbachev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union, more countries of the Warsaw Pact are beginning to crumble away, all that. And then there's Margaret Thatcher. Turkey falls to a few years of military rule after the 1980 coup but it ends up backlashing.

 

The 80s weren't exactly pleasant.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

I was born in 1979, so the '80's were my childhood!

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,302]

Punky Brewster, Don Bluth, Warriors of the Wind, and Super Mario Bros.

 

Punky Brewster:

Television series or films that also saw animated spin-offs...  Of themselves.  Punky Brewster, Alf, Ghostbusters, and Fraggle Rock come to mind.

 

Don Bluth:

Animated films (some of them supposedly intended for children) that captured your imagination, threw it in a cage, and then terrified the living shit out of it.  I still remember some of them with both childlike fondness and dread. xD

 

Warriors of the Wind:

Japanese animation; it really started to come into its own and garner attention in the Western world around this time.  "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind" (formerly "Warriors of the Wind" in the English dub) was the first Japanese-animated film I ever saw.

 

Super Mario Bros.:

I don't like to even acknowledge the Atari.  In my eyes, it wasn't until the Nintendo Entertainment System showed up that playing video games in your living room became a worthwhile practice.  The industry nowadays doesn't inspire anywhere near us much affection or excitement as that boxy 8-bit console and its mustachioed protagonist.

[Wingnut 6,998]

As said, the 1980s weren't all rainbows and smiley faces.  There was considerable turmoil in the US and throughout the world.  Soviet Union-United States relations were very tense.  I don't recall ever participating in a duck and cover drill but the thought of a major nuclear shootout was in the back of everyone's minds.  When the '90s came the Soviet Union was dissolved and it seemed like the Cold War was over for good.  Instead it has resumed today.  :/  And personally most of my peers treated me as an outcast when I was a kid so it wasn't the nicest time for me either. 

 

But since most of us who lived the 1980s survived its easy to look back fondly on all the good stuff.  So much pop culture stuff that we still know and love today from Back to the Future to Max Headroom.  Videogames were an interesting business.  They took off in the early 80s, died in the mid 80s, and came back in the late 80s (thanks mainly to Nintendo).  And it's hart to beat 80s music. 

 

Anyone who's an afficiando of the 1980s should check out a sitcom called the Goldbergs if they can.  Each episode contains nods to like a dozen things from those years.   

[On-Locoweed 108]

If it interests you, Songs From the Big Chair by Tears for Fears is one of the most "80s" albums that exists, in my opinion. It is pretty consistent with popular musical sensibilities of the time (1985), but what makes it worth mentioning is that it describes the paranoia, anxiety, ambition, and resignation that came with living in that decade. With these concepts in mind, it can be a pretty haunting listen.

 

Check out some other artists whose careers were limited to or most successful in the 1980s for an idea of what people were into; likewise, watch some interesting films from this era like Koyaanisqatsi, My Beautiful Laundrette, and The Breakfast Club for some cultural reference points.

[1Bit 1,531]

I'd like to imagine the 80s is exactly like how its portrayed in 'Kung Fury' but I know that's just an awesome, awesome fantasy ;~;

[Idris 241]

Telly really was like Kung Fury. We had No idea what was going on half the time, from 'battle of the planets' to knight rider?

Big hair,

Packman arcade game at the truck stop,

ZX81 was the pinnacle of bad home computers,

Really big mobile phones at the end,

Awful tin box cars that broke a lot,

Probably the worse cartoons in history,

A national miners strike full of hate including throwing lumps of concrete off motoway bridges onto 'scabs' cars as they drove to work,

The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher,

Cold War and Regans "Star Wars".

Seat belts made law,

So it wasn't all bad in England

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Telly really was like Kung Fury. We had No idea what was going on half the time, from 'battle of the planets' to knight rider?

Big hair,

Packman arcade game at the truck stop,

ZX81 was the pinnacle of bad home computers,

Really big mobile phones at the end,

Awful tin box cars that broke a lot,

Probably the worse cartoons in history,

A national miners strike full of hate including throwing lumps of concrete off motoway bridges onto 'scabs' cars as they drove to work,

The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher,

Cold War and Regans "Star Wars".

Seat belts made law,

So it wasn't all bad in England

Weren't most 80s cartoons essentially toy commercials?

[Idris 241]

Erm, the good ones were. The bad ones were just mis-placed budgets

 

We maybe did better in the 70's with Tizwas? I know that was pretty specific to the UK, but oh my life that was some mad decent Saturday morning tv! Mostly mad. With cartoons and Sally James it was proper crossover entertainment. Here's a link; https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wDopWvAgSVIIt will explain nothing about 1972 London....

I suppose it shows Monty Python was everywhere before they even made "the meaning of life".

Edited February 19, 2016 by Idris

[Guest]

The 80s were like Miami Vice

[Princess of Bananas 56]

All I can think of, from the 80s, is rock. Van Halen, Journey, Rush, Styx, etc. Even though I wasn't born in the 80s, my dad plays music from the 80s all the time. Its kind of like living in the 80s, but in 2016! I'm gonna miss my dad's iPod when he's gone.

[SquipyCheetah 449]

I dunno. My zygote didn't even exist then.

[gamecubeguy214 2,512]

I wasn't even born in the 90's, but I do know a few things. On May 22nd, 1980, PAC-MAN was released. It was a revolutionary game and almost 100% of the US population has heard of the game. 1981 was also a big step forward for the video game industry, as Donkey Kong released in the arcade, and everyone loved it. Video games were big in this decade, so they started making video games out of other media and different versions of great games on the Atari 2600, two examples being E.T. and PAC-MAN. Unfortunately, these 2600 games were so bad that along with some other reasons, people started losing interest in video games. This was called the Video Game Crash of 1983. People stopped selling video games, they buried their game cartridges, and possibly threw away their arcade machines. It wasn't until 1985 that Nintendo released the NES along with Super Mario Bros, lying that it was toy, but then after they learned it was a video game, they didn't even mind. They enjoyed it. Video games were coming back ever since then. Aside from Megaman, I don't know anything about the other half of the decade. I asked a few adults, but for some reason they didn't notice the Video Game Crash of 1983, but it did happen.

[EpicEnergy 23,219]

I didn't exist in the 80's I was born later.

[Yoshi89 5,293]

I don't have any memories of the 1980s because I was born 9 1/2 months before the decade ended.

[Splashee 28,564]

Take it from someone that was hatched in the 80s.

 

You only need to watch this video to get the entire 80s:

[DubWolf 17,264]

Back then we’d be...

 

MOTORINNN!
*guitar strrums*

WHATS. YOUR. PRICE. FOR FLIIIGHT    

[Dreambiscuit 9,875]

I wasn't born yet but I've lived my life vicariously as an '80s child because all my favorite things came from that decade. I love the movies, TV, all the bright colors and even some of the stupid music (I mean 'stupid' in an affectionate way!) I even dress in '80s styles when I can. I truly love the '80s. 

[Splashee 28,564]

I had my first revisit of the 80s when GTA Vice City came out. And then later in 2014 when ..... the 80s actually came back

[Fluttershutter 2,491]

Watch Stranger Things.

[Sparkleberry 104]

100% like this. Or so i want to imagine. I only know what 90s was like since i was born in 1991

 

[Fluttershyfan94 5,742]

Someone that watched the back to the future movies many times I feel like I can answer this. It was very groovy the music was good people all were looking for love. Was a peaceful time to be alive and Huey Lewis was the vibe.