when did all the 80s throwbacks start? i remember seeing a transformers logo shirt and a voltron logo shirt for the first time since the mid 80s during the autumn of 2001. i also remember seeing the video for the bloodhound gang's song "mope" around the same time and that video featured Pac man.

oh 1996. it came fast

I started to feel nostalgic for the 80's on January 1st 1990.

I would say around 1996 or 1997. The late 90's were retro paticularly to the early 80's new wave period. A lot of the new electro-pop songs from that time had a new wave sound to it (i.e. Barbie Girl, We Like To Party), and it was a very experimental period. I call it the "new new wave". There were a few early 80's songs that were sampled in the late 90's, like P. Diddy sampled Sting's "I'll Be Watching You" song in his tribute to Biggy. Also, the movie "The Wedding Singer" was released in 1998, which was all about 80's nostalgia.

The same way 80's nostalgia began about 10 years ago, right now we are seeing the beginning of 90's nostalgia, especially with the early 90's period of dance pop, new jack swing, and adult contemporary. I've been more nostalgic about the 90's lately more than for the 80's.

These things go in sections, which is why it's so hard to pinpoint an exact timeframe. I think there may've been a few pangs of '80s nostalgia starting as early as 1997 (i.e. movies like Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion) since they were just barely old enough for a large group of people to start missing them. I was 15-16 and I already did lol.

However, I didn't hear about the revival going into the mainstream until about 2002, and even then it was in spurts. It didn't start reaching fashion until the last couple years - that's when it's really noticeable, when the styles of clothing start coming back. Like Izod shirts and brighter colors, I've even noticed semi ripped jeans being sold now.

Although I think the BIGGEST way in which they've come back are from more fans coming "out of the closet" and/or people getting into them for the first time. I've seen lots of comments from kids or younger teens on YouTube on '80s videos saying how cool they are. It's far more noticeable in ways like that, as opposed to them having a major influence on the mainstream. That can't totally happen since there's such an urban, hip hop dominated culture now.

There are bands which are totally '80s influenced though, like The Killers, Rooney, The Bravery, etc. It's just more in pockets as opposed to being all over the radio.

1982.  I'm serious.  I was there.  I saw it happen.

We saw our parents' nostalgia for the '60s from Annette Funicello to Abbie Hoffman, from the Beach Boys to Woodstock.  So we started running '80s nostalgia concurrently with '80s trends.  It was the first deliberate nostalgia speculation!

Built for nostalgia:

http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/rubikscube.jpg

http://efectomariposa.ixine.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/et.jpg

http://z.about.com/d/top40/1/0/I/8/world1986.gif

http://www.destructoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/pacmanfever.jpg

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000ERU3PG.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V64884696_.jpg

I think it began when I turned 30 this year.  I started missing music from 1985-1989.  I started missing New Jack Swing.  I think I'm about to cry!!!! :\'(

i think it began in 1980.

1996-1997... but not really in full swing until 2000.

Like most people in this thread, I think 80s nostalgia started around the late 90s. Although in the early 2000s, it became more mainstream.

2000 was for sure a pretty significant year for 80s nostalgia because of the comebacks of Bon Jovi and U2, both of which returned to their late 80s style that year.

It started as early as 1996/1997 for some forms of media, but by 2002/2003 it became as insufferable as "90s kid" stuff is today. (okay, not that bad, but still pretty bad).

This came out in 2000 and it's super 80's nostalgia all the way. It's got our good pal Pac Man and it samples Relax!

v2NFl86LX3Q

The '80s never really went away, thanks to TV/movie reruns and radio stations playing numerous shows from that decade. It just had to set aside for new trends that just pushed the '80s trends to the background.People were buying a new edition of the original Star Wars Trilogy for the 1990 Holiday Season. I was also playing Pac-Man on my NES in 1991, watching Mama's Family reruns in 1993, riding the ET ride in Universal in 1994, and Missile Command on my PC in 1995, and listening to adult contemporary songs from Lionel Richie in 1996 as background music. If anything, this "nostalgia" helped to bring a better understanding of the decade itself than when people actually lived in it itself, where people were focusing more on proclaiming why the '50s/'60s were the greatest decade of all time. Not to mention, we had Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" sampled in 1993 and Nicki French having a big cover hit of Total Eclipse Of The Heart in 1995. I don't care if "Early90sGuy" pops up and mentions his weird "spirits". IMO, it's just that the spirits of the '90s/'00s/'10s are also around in addition to those holding on to the "80s spirit". 

Still, I'd say 2002-2009 was the core "80s nostalgia" period, culminating in the post-mortem Michael Jackson wave. It still exists to a degree thanks to the CNN documentary miniseries from this past spring, but like when the '80s ended itself, its taking a backseat to the revivals of the '90s.