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Subject: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/18/03 at 11:46 a.m.

I'd love to hear your views on this.

Everybody has a different idea of what the eighties meant to them. It could be to do with the trends in fashion (perhaps) or music, the idealogy of the time, movies or any external events - anything.

Let everybody know why you sing the praises of . . .  the eighties.  :D

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Shaz on 06/18/03 at 11:47 a.m.

The clothes, the music, and being young.  :)

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Digitales on 06/18/03 at 12:27 a.m.


Quoting:
The clothes, the music, and being young.  :)
End Quote



I second that emotion  8)
My husband often tells me that I still love the eighties this way because of my childhood. I'm not sure if that was the reason, but in my mind it was the coolest era, the enviroment, the people, the music, toys, videogames, movies, fashion (clothes/hair/makeup, furniture, heck everything!

I'm not sure how to explain but the 80s is fascinating to me. Sure if i was an adult back then (I'm 26) maybe things would be different but even so, I guess I would have had a LOT more fun than in the 90s when i was grown up enough to go to the clubs and so on. All the people around looked so cool, colourful, funny! And all those music icons (there are no icons worthwhile to me in this decade), the computers were so amazing too!

I simply cannot play the new games that often like I used to do with my atari or msx. Is not a matter of having less time, it's just that i totally lose my attention and get bored with the new games from xbox or playstation. They are just so full of perfect graphics and little stories... while because in the 80s the videgames had less resources, the basic idea was more catching, even if the games were repetitive(sp?) i liked better. That's why i play my emulators  :-*
It's a bit like old movies... before people would be more creative and have a nice plot to catch ones attention. Today they just put a TON of special effects, some computer and bang, the realease a movie with no story at all. Even the video clips nowadays are like that. Before there was some music and fashion, today you just need to shake your butt and put some scifi images.

The toys were great! today the kids are only buzy with pokemon and the comics sucks compared to what we have (come on who can beat Transformers, She-ra, He-man, Thundercats, JEM? not a chance!)

And music was absolutely my fave. You didn't have to sing so well or play well, but that punk attitude of do it yourself was still around, but instead people could play around with keyboards and MTV back then actually played music! Today the music equipments and mixing is so advanced that people want to use everything at once and the simplicity is gone, I'm not sure how to explain but the mainstream music stinks nowadays and in the 80s the mainstream, the charts, had a heck of a lot of great stuff. Oh and the artists had cool and different images! today you just need to have some hipsters trousers, long hair, fake boobs and tanned skin and you get a hit. I guess nowadays they give really really good head and get a record deal (sorry for the vulgarity).

Fashion nowadays is not even worth to mention, because they just recycle all the good stuff that was done before, they just seem to not being able to create anything new anymore. Also from the 90s to now, people tend to dress all grey or black and have boring furniture, even the telephones don't have those funky colours like we had in the 80s. Everything looks sterile like in a hospital today, in the 60s and 80s clothes meant fun and you could buy cheap stuff and get new in a week and so on, nowadays people just want 'quality' so they pay big bucks for a piece of boring clothing because it may last forever. Design + Minimalism equals status to most people here but to me is  blergh

Oh and since the mobile phone, nobody actually talks face to face anymore, here in Norway they just send sms and that's it. Internet is a good thing of today, but it's just too much information sometimes, i guess is the only good thing i see of nowadays compared to the 80s.

In a way I'm kinda happy that somehow some of the 80s fashion is back, a bit more color...
the kids of today dress all like uniforms, it's really boring. In the 80s it had more variation, except that everyone in my school could have a mullet if it was the hype thing to have
LOL

i guess that's it. Sorry for being long

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Tbullsr on 06/18/03 at 02:47 p.m.

;D  Everything! The music, from new wave to rock and roll to heavy metal. Friends, fun, partying. Even school was fun. I was 14 when the 80's started and it was the time of my life. I will never forget it.

Tim
RATT-n-ROLL

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/18/03 at 03:13 p.m.

Digitales that was one post!

I agree with most of what you said. Modern day fashion is recycled and computer games are so intrinsic that you don't feel like your playing. I have a Spectrum emulator on my PC and I love it to death.

You mentioned the 'do it yourself' attitude which rings a chord. These days people can't be bothered to experiment with music but would rather enter pop idol competitions for their five minutes of fame. As for images, Pop bands had their own! Who could mistake Culture Club for Adam and the Ants? These days you hear Blazin' Squad give it all that and you think 'How old are these guys to have such an attitude?' There doesn't seem to be any love in the music industry for music - which seemed very important in the eighties.

You have mentioned the deteriorating quality of movies which I fully agree with. Directors have got lazy and come to the conclusion that, as long as the film has digital graphics, it will be the best. I think Star Wars Attack of the Clones is a perfect example (for me).

Very insightful, thanks very much.  :)


Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Criz on 06/18/03 at 04:48 p.m.

The Smiths. Full stop




Nah, not just 'em. I love all sorts of 80s music, expect crappy hair metal!! Sorry!! Some of the fashion was cool too: off-the-shoulder tops being my fav 80s inspried grament - I have about 6 :P All good :)

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: boris66au on 06/18/03 at 05:00 p.m.

I suppose at the time they were happening they didn't seem any different to any other decade.

Looking back though it was the time I left school, I got married, I started my own business, I got my dog, bought my first house, got my first car etc.
You remember stupid things from when you were younger, going to the youthclub disco totally ratarsed after raiding your parents drinks cabinet.
Skiving school to be totally bored all day in the park and not dare leaving it incase someone saw you.
Your first boyfriend, your first break up!
I always seem to remember the summers being hot, all day, everyday, which is impossible considering it was England.

It's amazing how you distort the facts, i'm sure I was pretty miserable alot of the time during the 80's but thankfully you tend to remember the good things.

I was actually into Motown alot during the 80's and it's only the last 10 years or so I really got into 80's music, mainly because it reminds me of all of the above.

Hopefully in another 20 years i'll look back on the 00's as fondly.

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Steve2891 on 06/18/03 at 07:01 p.m.

All the different styles. I was a kid throughout the 80s, and thinking about being a kid back then, just makes me feel great. I love it, when I remember something that I haven't thought about in years.

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Jonman on 06/19/03 at 02:26 a.m.

The 80s were an amazing time in my life. I graduated highschool in 82 and was playing in a top 40 band in all the local clubs in the area...when I got out of school we hit the road and played all over Canada. I was making money doing what I loved, I was partying and it was just an amazing carefree time for me. I had zero responsibility except to myself and family.

The music and fashion of the day just made it all the better. Bring back BIG hair! Bring back those little leather boots with the tassles that the girls used to wear with short skirts...grrrrrrrrrroooooooowwwwwwwwwwlllllll!! Bring back Hair Bands!! Bring back skinny ties and parachute pants and Rubik's Cube and Molly Ringwald and legwarmers and, and, and, and......

Gawd, I miss the 80s...

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/19/03 at 04:36 a.m.


Quoting:
The 80s were an amazing time in my life. I graduated highschool in 82 and was playing in a top 40 band in all the local clubs in the area...End Quote



Wow! Jonman that's excellent. What was your band called?

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/19/03 at 04:42 a.m.


Quoting:
I suppose at the time they were happening they didn't seem any different to any other decade.

I always seem to remember the summers being hot, all day, everyday, which is impossible considering it was England.

It's amazing how you distort the facts, i'm sure I was pretty miserable alot of the time during the 80's but thankfully you tend to remember the good things.
End Quote



I understand, Boris66au. Sometimes we add a pathetic fallacy where there shouldn't be one. (A pathetic fallacy is when we compare moods with the weather - english lit term). Living in the south has certainly made me miss my snow in winter.

I guess that's why I hold my memories - it makes me understand why I am who I am. The memories we hold are our identity - regardless of whether we put on our rose tinted glasses or not.  ;)

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: kayhepburn on 06/19/03 at 04:57 a.m.

I was a small child and totally innocent to the evil ways of the world!

Plus nothing can beat the Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, The Get Along Gang and Poochie!  I don't there's any really good cartoons that are primarily for little girls nowadays!

Plus the  strange divides we had here in England of Yuppies and Punks!

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/19/03 at 05:07 a.m.


Quoting:
I was a small child and totally innocent to the evil ways of the world!

Plus nothing can beat the Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, The Get Along Gang and Poochie!  I don't there's any really good cartoons that are primarily for little girls nowadays!

Plus the  strange divides we had here in England of Yuppies and Punks!End Quote



Innocence plays a lot in memories, my grandad used to tell us tales of his childhood in the 1930s.

The punk thing wasn't much of a big deal when the Yuppies were unleashed (to be honest with you, in this context, I don't think much has changed here in this decade - apart from mobile phones have got smaller).

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Digitales on 06/19/03 at 11:55 a.m.


Quoting:
I don't think much has changed here in this decade - apart from mobile phones have got smaller).
End Quote



A  _L_O_T_   ~smaller~

http://www.ptt.dk/telefonmuseet/uk/page0035.htmlhttp://www.privateline.com/PCS/images/oldcellphonepool.jpg

"The first portable units were really big and heavy. Called transportables or luggables, few were as glamorous as this one made by Spectrum Cellular Corporation. Oki also produced
a briefcase model"

http://www.privateline.com/PCS/history9.htm

--------------

I have a pic of an early 80s mobile phone that it's much scary, it's like huge shoulder bag, lol.
I laugh so every time i see Depeche Mode 101 video, because there is a part where the manager talks in a HuuuuuuGE mobile phone, hehe it cracks me up everytime

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: MotleyCrue85 on 06/19/03 at 05:25 p.m.

the music, movies, tv shows, concerts, parties, arcades, atari, MTV, best time of my life!!! anybody wanna build a time machine and go back??

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/19/03 at 05:33 p.m.


Quoting:
the music, movies, tv shows, concerts, parties, arcades, atari, MTV, best time of my life!!! anybody wanna build a time machine and go back??
End Quote



I'd pay a lot of money for that, MotleyCrue85!  ;D

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Durania on 06/19/03 at 05:52 p.m.


Quoting:
anybody wanna build a time machine and go back??
End Quote



I'm with ya' on that!  With one condition:  we have to be certain we can zap back to reality after our little 'jaunts' back to the 80's.  I LOVED the 80's, but there were certain things that happened to me in the 80's that I'd rather not go thru again.  But I'd love to drop in on occasion and go down memory lane :)

I really don't know what I think made the 80's so good.  Musically, one thing that I can think of is that there didnt used to be as many lines drawn between different music styles.  You could pretty much expect to hear several types of music all on one radio station.  That's hard to come by these days.  Bleh, that's all I can really think of at the mement.  Bottom line....80's ruled!   :-*

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: MotleyCrue85 on 06/19/03 at 06:14 p.m.


Quoting:


I'm with ya' on that!  With one condition:  we have to be certain we can zap back to reality after our little 'jaunts' back to the 80's.  I LOVED the 80's, but there were certain things that happened to me in the 80's that I'd rather not go thru again.  But I'd love to drop in on occasion and go down memory lane :)

I really don't know what I think made the 80's so good.  Musically, one thing that I can think of is that there didnt used to be as many lines drawn between different music styles.  You could pretty much expect to hear several types of music all on one radio station.  That's hard to come by these days.  Bleh, that's all I can really think of at the mement.  Bottom line....80's ruled!   :-*
End Quote





I dont know Durania, I think I might wanna jump around to the different years and skip over the bad ones and probably stay in '86. That was my best year!

That is very well said about the music in the 80's, thats what was great about it, is that people liked all kinds of music from pop to metal, and they played all different genres on the same station. Today you have one station for hip hop, one for rock, and so on.

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: wildblue on 06/20/03 at 05:04 a.m.

I think that what make the 80's special it was the fact that the Pop it seemed to be full of fresh songs and exuberant hairs. 80's culture the Pop full of nothing...but I like it!!!

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Absolutely_Vile on 06/20/03 at 10:28 a.m.


Quoting:
The Smiths. Full stopEnd Quote



YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I wasn't living in this stupid country (Canada), I might have actually known of them back then!! But since I discovered them a few years too late (but at least I was in my late teens), I would have to agree they were one of the best things about the 80's. ;D

I was a kid growing up in the 80's and it was in no way wonderful...but I'd have to say music was a saving grace, and music video. I also loved 80's fashion, and even followed it to a certain extent until I became a teenager and decided I wanted to be an individual and not follow the "cool kids." I think I will always love 80's music and clothes. They were just so cool!! The 80's was the last decade where you could be truly unique in music (please correct me if I'm wrong, but everything I've heard lately seems to be a rehashment of things past). Many bands in the 80's paved the way for what music is today...well, some music anyway. The 80's brought a forum for people to see promotional videos on television so we could actually see the artist we've been listening to. Admittedly, it did kill some careers like "talkies" killed the careers of some silent film actors (yes, video did indeed kill the radio star - how did they know??), but it helped the careers of others. Fashion was flamboyant, colourful, big and extravagant. Yes, it was garish and godawful as well. But people expressed individuality, guys wore make up...it was an androgynous decade. And fashion was, for the first time, being dictated by music because of the advent of music video. Guys wanted to look like Duran Duran and girls wanted to look like Madonna or Cyndi Lauper (OK, not all of them).

The 80's was a unique decade. Music and fashion were (for the most part) fantastic. I will always hold the 80's dear to my heart for the music it produced and the escape it gave me because of it.

Absolutely Vile

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/20/03 at 10:50 a.m.


Quoting:
The 80's was the last decade where you could be truly unique in music (please correct me if I'm wrong, but everything I've heard lately seems to be a rehashment of things past). End Quote



I think the 80s were the last true unique music era. For me, the nineties was either 80s rehashes (like Boyzone's 'When the going gets tough) or boredom from Manic street preachers or Stereophonics.

Do you wish to be called 'Absolutely Vile' or would you like to be called something else?

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Paul_S. on 06/21/03 at 00:57 a.m.

Quoting:
Innocence plays a lot in memories, my grandad used to tell us tales of his childhood in the 1930s.
End Quote



This is something I have always pondered as well.  Ultimately I've come to the conclusion that people just want to remember the past as being somehow magically better and less problematic.  This isn't the reality, but if it makes people feel good, well then more power to them I guess.

I too had a grandfather that used to talk about how great the 1930's were.  I thought gee, the 30's had the Great Depression, dustbowl weather, heat waves, unemployed and alcoholic people.  The 30's were probably the worst time in America, yet my grandfather saw it as the best years of his life.  The 1970's were another cr*ppy decade that is remembered as being "more innocent" and "the good ol' days".  The 70's had Vietnam, Watergate, high crime, high oil prices and high unemployment.  Seems like yet another miserable decade to me,....but for people that truly grew up or lived in that decade, it will be a glorious and more innocent time by default.  

And for the past couple of years I've noticed the "rose tinted glasses" treatment as you say happenning to the 1980's....  The 80's, the decade of greed.  The materialistic decade that gave us stuff like Married with Children, A-Team, Rambo, Porky's and The Last American Virgin is supposed to be some kind of wholesome Leave to Beaver family decade?  And I'll be the "rose tinted glasses" effect will happen to the 90's even sooner then it happened with the 80's. When you consider how many positive aspects the 1990's had, it is ironic that it was and still is regularly trashed.  The 90's were overall the most stable and prosperus time America ever had.  But all we ever heard non-stop was how terrible and cynical the decade was.  Why?  Because at the time the 90's were "the present" and it still is fairly recent today.  Wait a few years and you'll hear people waxing poetic about how back in the 1990's they had to walk two miles uphill to school. (both ways ofcourse, ;) )
 

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Jonman on 06/21/03 at 02:30 a.m.


Quoting:


YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I wasn't living in this stupid country (Canada), I might have actually known of them back then!! End Quote



Hey, if ya decide to move out of Canada could you do me a favour and take Gord Downie with you? ;)

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/21/03 at 07:00 a.m.


Quoting:
This is something I have always pondered as well.  Ultimately I've come to the conclusion that people just want to remember the past as being somehow magically better and less problematic.  This isn't the reality, but if it makes people feel good, well then more power to them I guess.End Quote



Yep! I'm hearing you there. My grandad often talked about World War 2 with great fondness. I find it a little bizarre now but maybe I also understand that even in those times he had good memories - he never mentioned the violence or the bloodshed.

He talked, in great detail, about this mate who fell from a pit latrine into the human entrails below - toilet humour at it's most literal.

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Absolutely_Vile on 06/21/03 at 11:15 a.m.

Quoting:


Hey, if ya decide to move out of Canada could you do me a favour and take Gord Downie with you? ;)
End Quote



Dead or alive??  :D Hehehe...:)

I would, but do you think I would be able to put up with him?! I don't think so. Tell you what...I'll get the chloroform, sedate him, put him in a hockey bag, stick him in cargo on the plane, and get rid of him that way. He'll be on his own once he wakes up and realises where he is.

Hmmmm...funny...the song "Locked In The Trunk Of A Car" is coming to mind...<vbeg>

Absolutely Evil (an anagram of "Vile")

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: JohnTaylorsHeart on 06/23/03 at 05:07 p.m.

MTV, Duran Duran. :)

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: T on 06/27/03 at 10:49 p.m.

 What made the 80s so good to me was the good times I had with my family, the tv shows, the music, the fashion and for the 80s being so unique. Plus a lot of other things too.

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/28/03 at 04:49 a.m.

Sorry, who is Gord Downie?

In response to 'T', the memories of the good times with your parents is probably one of the main things to hold onto when looking back.

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Absolutely_Vile on 06/28/03 at 07:41 a.m.


Quoting:
Sorry, who is Gord Downie?End Quote



Being in England, it's probably best that you remain ignorant as to who Gord Downie is. :)

But since you asked....

Gordon Downie is the lead singer for the most famous band in Canada...a staple in Canadian culture (unfortunately)...The Tragically Hip. They're most probably the biggest thing since The Guess Who (who had hits like "American Woman," "No Sugar Tonight," etc., and who I'm shamed to share the same birthplace of). Downie's voice is just awful, he looks like he's having seizures in half The Hip's videos and on stage live, and they're just annoying as all hell. Downie, I think, is now being regarded as some sort of poet laureate as he has released two solo albums now and people love his songwriting. I'll admit he does write some interesting lyrics. I mean, I find writing a song about kidnapping and murdering someone, and dumping the body rather intriguing. ("Locked In The Trunk Of A Car," probably the only Hip song I like.)

If Downie's lyrics are really that good, maybe he should stick to writing poetry and not put music to his words. Kinda like Leonard Cohen (apologies to my husband...) ;D

Absolutely Vile

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: dugn on 06/29/03 at 12:24 a.m.


I think everyone else has said it so well, so I almost feel like I'm intruding to pitch in even more...

Yes, the clothes - it was great to spike my hair and try a new strap or belt or diagonal button-down bright turqouise new wave shirt.

Yes, the care-free era - AIDS wasn't mainstream, kissing was cool, dates were very exciting and my $1200 1976 Honda Civic (eggmobile) was my ticket to everything.

Yes, the video games - Star Castles, Space War, and Missle Command in the arcade, saving up the $$ to get an Atari 2600 - then years later really saving up the money for an Atari 800 with 64K or RAM!

In addition to all of those things, it was belting out the lyrics to a song that seemed to totally explain the state of your life at the moment.  Whether a girl had just broken your heart, your relationship was sucky, your car broke down, you were on restriction for not cleaning your room, your parents didn't understand, school was tough, or just life was a challenge - somewhow, Duran Duran, Propaganda, New Order, Naked Eyes, or the Thompson Twins totally knew what you were going through (how did they know?  ;D ) without having to resort to explicit lyrics or a unimaginitive rap.  And buying a tape deck from a garage sale that actually had DOLBY B and level meters, so I could make tapes of the music I found after sitting up late to watch one of the late-night music video shows that practically ran all Friday and Saturday nights.

Ahhhh.  Fortunately, I have a fun wife who lived in the 80s too.  She's cool enough to giggle when she comes in the computer room and sees me ignoring my P4 3.0 Ghz machine for an Atari 800 1.47 Mhz playing Star Raiders - or comes home from work and finds me Dancing With Myself to some really good electro-pop-synth New Wave music from the era - or wonders why I spend $300 for the TV repairman to keep coming back to keep my Tempest machine in the garage running perfectly.  The best part is, she likes to kiss, giggle, watch John Cusack movies and be carefree and happy.  Just like I think the 80s were for all of us...

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: Bobby on 06/29/03 at 01:28 p.m.


Quoting:

I think everyone else has said it so well, so I almost feel like I'm intruding to pitch in even more...
End Quote



Don't feel like you're intruding Dugn. You have explained very well why you like the 80s - and that is what I wanted.

Thank you for your memories.  :)

Subject: Re: What made the eighties so good?

Written By: mopar on 07/01/03 at 06:43 p.m.

MotleyCrue85. Dude I'm with you all the way. I'll supply the Delorean, you supply the Flux Capacitor.