The definitive '80s thread

In My Humble Opinion
1

I know it’s been done before, and it is pretty difficult to search, but I would like to go further, and give an opportunity to anyone who didn’t comment earlier. I have begun to reflect on the 1980s decade, and would appreciate all the input you Dopers, being such a wise bunch, could bring to it. I know cutting history in decades is arbitrary, but let’s play the game (and if you don’t believe in cutting history in decades, feel free to say it and why).

So: if you had to tell the story of the '80s to somebody who wasn’t there, what would you tell him/her?

Possible topics:

When does the decade begin in your eyes (not on January 1, 1980, please)? When does it end? What sets it apart from the so-called '70s and '90s?

Which events were the most important? Which characters? What was the mood? What hopes/delusions dit it bring? Did it fulfill its promises? What promises? Do you have a nostalgia for the '80s if you were old enough then to remember it?

Which books, films, cultural endeavours marked the '80s? Which scientific breakthroughs? How did it show progress? What were the setbacks?

Do you believe there is such a thing as Generation X? Generation Y? If so, what defines them?

What legacy did the '80s leave? 50 or 100 years from now, how do you think people will view the decade?

Let’s talk strange hair, new wave, Lennon, Reagan, AIDS, your coming of age, anything that pertains to the '80s.

Thanks in advance for all your comments.

2

I would say starting from July 12, 1979 with the Death of Disco until September 24, 1991, with the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind (although Pearl Jam’s Ten was released a month earlier.

John Lennin assassinated
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Challenger disaster
Rise of AIDS
Ronald Regan assassination attempt

Mostly just 80s music for it’s retro value.

The films that defined the 80s are IMHO:
Rocky IV
Less Than Zero
Wall Street
The Breakfast Club
Pretty in Pink
Footloose
The Day After
Red Dawn
Rambo
Escape From New York
Say Anaything

These films cover the major themes, fears and moods of the decade:
Fear of war, nuclear or otherwise, with the Soviet Union
Drugs
Class issues
Corporate corruption
Crime
Generation gaps

Yes, in the sense that people who grew up in the 70s and 80s share a different set of historical and pop cultural experiences from people who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

As a member of Generation X (age 35) I did not have cell phones or the Internet until my early 20s. This is something Generation Y has never gone without. My world growing up consisted of my small home town and what I saw on the TV. Gen Y kids have access to information from people all over the world.
There might be half a dozen people from my high school class on MySpace. The whole graduating class from last year is probably on there. That, in and of itself, creates a whole different dynamic. Kids nowadays can keep at least a tenous connection with their classmates for years after graduation. I couldn’t tell you what 99% of my class is doing now.

3

Most of what has been mentioned here will be forgotten, or regarded as trivia.

The rise of personal computing, & the decline of both the US & the Soviets will be recalled.

4

The 80s began on January 20, 1981 with the simultaneous release of the Iranian hostages and the inaguration of Ronald Reagan. They ended in August 1991 with the collapse (and eventually dissolution) of the USSR.

The rise of AIDS.

Development of home computers (which wasn’t that significant until the Internet came along.)

The beginning of the end of the U.S. auto industry.

I also got married and had children during the 80s, but that wasn’t a huge cultural landmark to anyone else.

5

I remember the 80’s were a time of incredible inflation of pot prices. It got about 3 times more expensive and there were long dry spells with none to be found. I think it may have been due to the expansion of the coke market – which was much more profitable a smuggling item, I’d guess. Higher price price and lower shipping volume per unit. At the time we blamed Gearge Bush, Sr., and his drug interdiction program, but that was foolish. It was all about shifting market demands.

6

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe strikes me as the quintessential 1980s work of literature.

7

The 80s marked the transitional period between 70s Wookie bush and 90s+ clean shaven or Brazilian non-bush in commercial porn.

8

Hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop.

The 80s began for me with Rapper’s Delight by the SugarHill Gang in 1979.

The 80s ended with WuTang in 1993. That is when the very last residual 80s dust was shaken off of me.

I fell in love with Hip-Hop and hip-hop culture in the 80s. I ‘came of age’ so to speak, in 1986 when a neighborhood boy popped a ‘dub of a dub’ cassette tape of Boogie Down Production’s ‘Criminal Minded’ into my stereo in the basement of my moms ‘Projects’ apartment.

Hip-hop gave to me a way to express my ‘blackness’ in a way that I am sure the civil rights movement of the 60s gave to my parents.

Outside of that, I would tell someone who wasn’t there of Reaganomics and the ‘rise’ of computers.

9

Lennon, bro.

10

Bosda, what do you mean by “decline of the US”?

11

The Internet existed in the 1980s and access to it was not rare. Plus, there were plenty of non-Internet BBSes dating from the mid-1970s you could dial up, including BBSes linked into national or even global networks (Fidonet, for example).

Finally, of course, home computers were plenty significant even in the non-BBS areas of the country during the 1970s. VisiCalc for the Apple ][ ring any bells?

12

New Romantics and Arcade Video Games.
The Young Ones, Knight Rider, and What Now?

13

The rise & decline/reorientation of the Christian Right, the big blow coming in that insane time around 1987-8, in which Oral Roberts made his “God will take me Home” money plea, the Bakkers lost PTL to -temporarily- Jerry Falwell, Swaggart was caught with a hooker, and Pat Robertson actually thought he could get elected President.

14

Wookiee Bush–I wonder how that would be as a username.

15

If you aren’t reading the paper, I can’t force you to. :smack:

16

Only question about the '80s I have is how come you used to see white dog poop then and now you don’t?

17

Musically the 80s began with the death of disco and ended with the rise of the Seattle garage bands, but unlike msmith537’s link, for me personally, disco didn’t really die until some time in 1981. 80s pop music was wimpy to say the least. Thank Og some of the classic rock bands were still producing inthe 80s

Politically, the 80s begin with Ron Regan and end with Bush Sr (the 90s belong to Bill)

Fashionwise the 80s began with Madonna and probably ended with her as well

Gen X is the transitional generation between the Baby Boomers and the BB’s kids are Gen Y. Think about it. The Gen X’ers are into their 30s now. the prime 18 to 26 age group are children of Baby Boomers. So what will the the Gen X’s kids’ generation be called?

eta:

dogs snorted, too?

18

People who walk their dogs are more likely to scoop it up, not allowing it to set & dry up into those white fossil poops that I also remember.

19

These seems completely off topic, and wrong as well. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Reagans rebuilding of the military, America reigned supreme as the only superpower in the 80s. Although we did find a new boogieman in Japan for awhile.

20

Yeah, it was an honest question. How did this “decline” materialize?