To Those Who Have Lived the 1980s

I was born in 1986, which means I was three when it ended. Therefore, I don't remember the 80s. From what I know, historically, it was a good time in which to live.

To those who have lived it, was the 80s truly the blessed time that I imagine it was?

Jeanette Isabelle

Yes, but the ‘50’s were better.

The 70's were better (except for disco and leisure suits). By the 80's, disco was fading, and they hadn't invented rap yet, so those years were pretty good too.

That is what I hear. One of the attributes of the 1980s is that it was a simpler time.

If simpler is indeed an attribute, then I would agree with your statement. I feel so removed from that time that all I can go on is the music, movies, pictures and antiques from that decade.

The only issue that comes to mind is, if I were living in the 1950s, I would want seatbelts.

Jeanette Isabelle

Ouch. That hurt.

In Finland is was a real good time for many, a lot of people had a lot of money. It was the decade of the yuppie.
I was not among them, I was a teenager in the beginning of and in my early 20´s by the end of the decade. I´m born 1966.

But after that came the 90´s and an economical crash but that´s another story.

I've heard that the 70s was an ideal time to be a child. As you pointed out, the 70s was also the era of disco and ugly fashions.

Jeanette Isabelle

You miss the 50s. It may even hurt; you got the chance to live it, whereas I can't even imagine how it was. So, yes, I would glean information from whatever source I could.

When I was a teen, I wanted to learn about what it was like to live in different periods of twentieth-century America. I would listen to the stories adults would tell me. Some times I would even surprise them with what I know.

One time a man said something to this nature, "You wouldn't know about Sky King."

His jaw dropped when I recited everything I read about that radio program, which later became a TV series.

I would talk about what I knew about radio programs such as Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters or The Cinnamon Bear. This was before mobile Internet devices that would allow us to look up information on the spot.

Sometimes I would make mistakes. One time, when talking about old computers, I mistakenly called the S-100 bus the T-100. Oops, wrong letter of the alphabet.

Jeanette Isabelle

When I graduated from Tech College in '83, youth unemployment was 24% (+50% in my field), mortgage interest rates were 18-21%, my student loan was a mere 12%. It took me 4 months after graduation to finally get a job and months after that before I could buy my first car. Music was great if you overlook the bubble-gum pop and end of disco. Counter culture was rad and hip, yeah dude! Space shuttles were blowing up, Presidents and Popes were getting shot. People were starting to think about Y2K worries. I got my first bank card and then my first debit card (decades before others claimed to have created them). Internet was taking off (I mean the real internet; WWW which is only part of it came later in '93). Dial-up was king and I connected after midnight to get the cheapest rates. Hey it was 300-1200 baud! I was president of a computer club. My Montreal Expos were forced out of the Pennant and World Series by the powers that be... oh wait that was '94. The greatest CFL Grey Cup EVER was played in '89. Climate change question was "are we going into a new ice age"? But hey climate science is 0/100 in their predictions!

That was January 28, 1986, two days after I was born.

Jeanette Isabelle

Nearly everyone you talk to will say the best decades was the one they lived in as a youth. I graduated high school in the 80's so I'm not different. We explored space, the Berlin Wall fell, we had New Wave and heavy metal, the CD was invented (a fancy silver coffee coaster to the youngsters), and it was a good time to be young with world ahead of you. However, there was no internet as we have today, there was lots of racism and homophobia (probably not as much as in the 50's) and of course Reagan.

Quote from a movie: Disco sucks, punk is dead. Gimme rock or gimme redacted.

Rap actually did emerge in the 80's. Some of the 70's were cool but there's really no justification for the affront to God and man that is the bell-bottomed jeans. The 70's had to have been the silliest era for fashion since men wore codpieces.

Okay, I think about that the current trend towards wearing one's pants around their ankles might be sillier still...

For some reason I thought Rapture (Blondie) was from the late ‘70’s, but you’re right, 1981 ...

That was a wonderful moment in history.


I would say that it is a good thing because simplicity rocks!

Jeanette Isabelle

Rapper's Delight by The Sugarhill Gang was released in '79 and was certainly one of the first rap recordings made.

I graduated high school in the 2000s; the 1990s were better.

Jeanette Isabelle

I had some sear-sucker (a type of material) red, white and blue striped bell bottoms, white patent leather shoes, a silk shirt, and gold chain. And bushy hair that would make that Kaepernick dude look normal. That was the price of admission to the discos ... where the girls were. A codpiece would have been a great addition to that style of clothing! Except, I didn't know about them back then. It was always a breath of fresh air when you could get out of that horrid garb and put on the jeans, cowboy boots and hat and head out to the country-western bars for some line dancing. As an added bonus, you got to dump that stupid drink with an umbrella in it and get a beer instead. There were quite a few lovely ladies there too. But my groups real love was rock and roll. You'd go to those places, and, well, I never once saw a female there.

These days, I play classical piano - desperately trying to keep up with all the talented ladies who can so easily out-perform me!

I never made it into a rap bar. Was there such a thing? I hated rap more than disco.

I participated in a number of questionable fashion trends in the 80's as well, although I think they were less dorky than the bell-bottoms and corduroy of the 70's. [Note: Corduroy bell-bottoms were the deepest circle of hell! Nothing like looking like an idiot while simultaneously creating friction fire with your legs!]


While I was in high school I had the camo jeans, the skinny leather ties, collars popped up, and of course a mullet. Ah, the 80's...

I think the 80s fashion was totally awesome!

Jeanette Isabelle

‘80’s fashions were fairly unremarkable. Mid-80’s I discovered Royal Robbins and started wearing 6 pocket trousers and shorts. Other than that, jeans, t-shirts... uniform.

Since I was on active duty during the ‘80’s, I was in uniform or a nomex flight-suit during the work day. The turtleneck I wore to the O’club was the one I was wearing under my flight-suit earlier, whatever color (blue, maroon, black, et al) it happened to be that day. I wasn’t Air Force so the T-neck color wasn’t uniform and was not prescribed — definitely no AF ascot LOL. Whatever I had on under my flight-suit had be cotton; polyester/nylon kinda defeat the purpose of nomex. In the ‘90’s I dropped the full T-necks for mock-T’s, much more comfortable.

Unremarkable?! You obviously never owned a Member's Only jacket!

When it comes to 80s fashion, I think wild designs and bright colors.

Consider 80s icons such as Cyndi Lauper, Tiffany and the TV series heroine Punky Brewster.

Jeanette Isabelle

More like it was pushed over grudgingly. I had the opportunity to see both the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie of all places while East Berlin was still a different city. I remember walking up to an out-of-the-way bridge (closed at the time) that resembled the bridge in the 2015 film Bridge of Spies — yeah, it looked like that. I remember the distinct impression that crossing the barb wire would be a very bad idea. Different world... I recommend the film.

Nobody I knew dressed like that.

I have not seen anyone except for Cyndi Lauper to go to that extream.

I've seen pictures of my cousins back in the 80s. One could tell that this is definitely from the 80s.

Jeanette Isabelle

My outfit in the 80´s was mostly jeans, t-shirt and a biker-style of leather jacket.

During the 80's I preferred a light grey shirt, loden green slacks, or cordovan brown shoes or boots - something about working at my career in the National Park Service. occasionally I wore civvies....

List25 things 80s kids could do that todays kids can't

https://youtu.be/nt91z9WOrdw


and a few from the 90s:

25 things we secretly or openly miss from the 90s.

https://youtu.be/4hndgohzwxg

worst 90s hairstyles we can't believe were popular

https://youtu.be/_p2rToMEfQU

go on admit it; you had one of them

qjs

Number 19, we had those even when I was young. Number 18, we had that as well. Number 17, I learned how to use DOS as a child. Of what is listed so far, that is what I miss the most. Number 12, I remember those and that is something I do not miss. Number 9, we had that in the 90s; it was on its way out. Number 2, I played that game and I loved it.


Number 18, I did listen to some Grunge. Number 12, I loved the Backstreet Boys.


I exercise my right to remain silent. Joking aside, I prefer to have some of those back over the fashion disasters we have now.

Jeanette Isabelle

I tend to disregard fads; some music (if it can be called that) is more fad than music. It may make the singer or group a lot of money, but 10 years from now we might be asking, “Who?”, “Never heard of him.”, “Didn’t he die of an infection from all that ink?”...

In music as in many things, some will have passed the test of time, but most will not. There’s a reason many people still listen to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Vivaldi ... There’s a reason I have a lot of John Coltrane on my CD shelf along with those other names. There’s a reason that 30+ years later Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) is still on stage doing songs he wrote in the 70’s & 80’s to sell-out crowds.

Speaking of old, the guitar on Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” album cover is a 1937 National Resonator which Knopfler still plays — Mark Knopfler - Telegraph Road (Sevilla 26.07.2015) before switching to a Fender Stratocaster about 5 minutes in. Old and new can work together just fine. The same shiny steel guitar can be seen onstage during Dire Straits’ aLCHEMY Tour in 1983, 32 years earlier.

I could go into the closet and put on clothes that would not look out of place at any time from 1960 ‘til today. I wear a lot of 6 pockets these days, but the clothes I wore in the 80’s would not be out of place.

Speaking of passing the Test of Time: the first time I shot a Glock was my neighbor’s G-17 off the back deck of his home in rural MD circa 1986 iirc. So yeah, the 80’s were great.

Correction on the use of the Stratocrater in the video. That is not a Strat, it is a Pensa MK2 Custom that Knopler switches to in the video link.

Better view of MK playing the Pensa. What I would give to own a Pensa like this one.

You are correct, good catch — the man has so many guitars. But the point was that old National... played it in the 80’s, still playing it.

good music for most of my early adulthood... graduated HS in 1965 folk music, rock and roll,protest,PPM, Dylan, Baez, Simon/Garfunkle, Collins,Beatles, didn't really like the Stones until I turned 40, , UF till 69,Ike and Tina, Diana Ross, MoTown, USAF 70-73 worked the NVN problem but not in country, Doors, CSNY, Taylor, Stevens, Morrison, TDN... started teaching in 1980.. Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, and at 72 I like country... Shania, Willie, Vince Gill, Garth, Brooks/Dunn, George Strait, Allison Kraus

Born in 65, so 80s were late high school, college, and beginnings of career.

Good times, good music, etc.

Had to know what you were doing to use a computer, command line only and few GUIs.

But for all the 70s and 80s joys, I like the tech advances we have today.

My life would be much harder without a continuous glucose meter, not to mention all the advances in chemo that have extended many a friend's life.

No. Three words: launch on warning. Growing up, many of us lived with the knowledge that our world could literally come to an end in 30 minutes, and this nearly happened due to errors. I was rather surprised when I reached my mid-to-late 20's and discovered I was still alive.

We don't hear about it much; I believe that threat is worse now than it was during the Cold War.

Jeanette Isabelle

I am not sure that the threat today is really worse but it is substantially different.

I've hit the old-as-dirt stage or am almost there as I was born in the very early '50s and remember scary stuff from all of the decades right up to now (duck and cover to EMPs). Personal experience, stories from older friends and family also led me to think that in one way or another there was always a threat and the 80's were not unique.

I live with in eye sight of Cheyenne Mountain, no worries I won’t fee a thing

No more “end of the world” discussion here, please.


chaosmagnet

The '80s also gave us the Signals album from Rush.

Subdivisions. New World Man. The Analog Kid.

I wore out this album -- on 8-track and cassette. It said what I felt growing up in those times.

Rest well, Neil Peart, and my heartfelt thanks.