# What did you like about the 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 14, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900 "2001-03-14T04:32:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/21 "2001-03-14T18:01:42Z")
_Transformers,_ hands down. Even after fifteen years, it’s enabled me to build a high-traffic web site, develop circles of friends, and generally geek out with other toy-robot-lovin’ folks on a regular basis. And an honorary vote for the _Atari 800,_ since I cut my computer programming teeth on that. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/22 "2001-03-14T19:53:47Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by MGibson \* \*\* > [@](#): > > PS: Oh, and watching Woodstockbirdybird getting laid for the first time. \*\* Oh, was that you? Hey, I need those pictures if you’ve still got 'em. I’m planning on running for office, and I don’t think it would look too good if they surfaced, what with the Great Dane and all. And I’ll second **notcynical** ’s nomination for the Replacements. Add Husker Du in there, too, and old R.E.M. and about a thousand other great bands from the era. ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/23 "2001-03-14T20:06:39Z")
What were my favorites of the 80’s…I was quite the youngin’ then, so these are kind of childlike: Neon everything Cabbage Patch Kids Garbage Pail Kids Atari My 1st computer: Commodore Vic20 Taping songs by holding my tape recorder up to the radio “Sixteen Candles” Michael Jackson - Thriller Unicorns Parachute pants (yes, even as a girl I loved them!) Madonna wanna-be’s Being Cyndi Lauper for Halloween Sticker books Trivial Pursuit In my pre-teen years: discovering boys and “Love’s Baby Soft” cologne ---
**Author:** ![Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/779978/32.png) [@Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zumba_The_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/24 "2001-03-14T20:07:52Z")
We were the first people on our street to get a Commodore 64. We were also the first people to have a Beta Max. (For all of the good it did us) As far as the music I have two words: Stray Cats. What isn’t there to love? And Frogger!! I loved Frogger. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/25 "2001-03-14T20:13:57Z")
- Videos! Videos videos videos! Finally, I got to see what my favourite bands looked like in action. - The music. Like **flodnak** said, every decade has its own great music (to paraphrase), but the 80’s seemed like a time when there was every kind of music you could imagine on the scene, and the radio stations actually _played_ it all. - Oh yeah, and “Flashdance”. My girlfriends and I would watch it just about every weekend; we all dreamed of being Alex and living in a converted warehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/26 "2001-03-14T20:33:06Z")
Let’s see… [ul][li]Top 40 music was actually _good_, at least in the early 80s[/li][li]Started driving[/li][li]Lost my virginity[/li][li]Dig Dig, Galaga, Elevator Action – all for only $0.25/game[/li][li]My short, spiky topped, long backed mullet[/li][li]My preppy clothes – long sleeve shirts with sleeves you rolled up and buttoned into place with a little flap, my Hawaiian shirts, white pants and shoes, etc. Also, my big baggy jeans with approximately 257 pockets.[/li]The cable box we had with a **dial** channel changer that would allow me to pick up Cinemax if I held it between two channels (I don’t remember which two) and jammed in some folded playing cards to hold it in place. Then, I could watch boobies on TV while my parents were at work.[/ul]The one thing I really didn’t care for was my weight gain. I went from about 100 lb to 170 lb, for a net gain of 70 lb! Although, it isn’t quite as bad as that 100 lb weight gain I experienced during the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/27 "2001-03-14T20:53:37Z")
Ah, yes, the 80’s: Working in Yellowstone during the summer to earn money for school. I hiked in the backcountry on my days off, went skinnydipping in the geyser-heated Gardner River, and got to drink legally. Having lots of sex without rubbers back when AIDS was just a blip on the horizon-we’re talking early 80’s here After college, wasting my life as a park bum, working and playing in the Grand Tetons, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon. Black Flag, with the not-yet-buff Henry Rollins Husker Du before Bob Mould left Having friends who were alive then Going to Mexico for the first time Falling in love with my first real boyfriend Bruce Springsteen was still cool ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/28 "2001-03-14T21:13:25Z")
Oh, I too fondly remember the 80s! The ash from Vesuvius had settled, and the beaches in the south were gorgeous again. The lazy days in the just-finished Colliseum, watching lions devour Christians. The early days of Domitian, before the reign of terror…ah, those were the days! Rome was the only place to be in the 80s. I remember getting drunk on sweet Cretan wine at the opening of the Arch of Titus: was I ever so young! [sub]this was a re-run of a “classic” **G.B.H. Hornswoggler** post from [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=20542) thread.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/29 "2001-03-14T21:25:06Z")
Sex on the first date being not necessarily a bad thing. However, the main thing I miss was being in my 20’s, healthy, strong, going to college and making some fantastic music with the various brass groups and orchestras I played in. ---
**Author:** ![Mercutio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mercutio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercutio)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/30 "2001-03-14T22:45:34Z")
From the depths of an abdominal cavity, I, Mercutio was _ **born!** _ You should all be greatful! 😃 ::grabs his head and ducks:: ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/31 "2001-03-15T00:18:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tequila Mockingbird \* > \*\*The SHOES!!! Bring back the SHOES!!! \*\* I LOVED my Famolares My Cherokees were totally hot Candies transparent mules----THE follow me home and f\*\*k me shoes. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/32 "2001-03-15T01:38:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by notcynical \* > \*\*The Replacements performing “Unsatisfied” and “Never Mind”. \*\* The same band opening a show with the theme to “Green Acres” with Bob Stinson sporting a dress. Seeing “Blue Velvet” for the first time on campus, then walking home alone at about 1 in the morning; interesting experience. REM, and how all their 80s albums sounded _totally different_ from one another. Shrooming on the beach at Isla Vista, CA. “Late Night with David Letterman” ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900/33 "2001-03-15T03:01:06Z")
1981: I was born. Definitely a highlight. But let’s not forget: [ul] [li]Those super cool neon slap bracelets.[/li][li]Leg warmers with skirts.[/li][li]Early LL Cool J.[/li][li]Playing Pong all day on Atari.[/li][li]Saturday mornings, watching Saved by the Bell. I wanted to be Kelly Kapowski![/li][li]Being the first girl in third grade to get the New Kid’s new single - Step By Step, ooh baby, gonna get to you gi-rrrrl…[/li][li]Not a wonderful moment, but seeing the Challenger explode was certainly memorable. I remember thinking even then that it would be hugely significant. Made me want to be an astronaut, too.[/li][li]Molly Ringwold. 'Nough said.[/ul][/li] It was a good ten years (just nine for me, though.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-like-about-the-80s/57900.md?page=1)