I loved most of the music in the 80's. MTV didn't yet suck. I have more but would love to hear some of your opinions first ;)

I agree with you about the music.  :)

the music, the movies. most of the movies i love are from the 80s.

1) The Facts of Life

2) my fun high school years 1985-89

3) nail polish in a magic marker container

4) cool clothes (I still have a pink LA Gear sweater that fits me again!)  :)

5) New Wave and Hair Metal music  8)

Definitely the music (hairbands rock arse!), MTv (Headbangers Ball), the muscle cars, the cartoons, the style (clothes, hair, shoes...) the movies... I liked loved it all!

the music, the movies. most of the movies i love are from the 80s.
Same here ;)

I agree with you about the music.  :)
:)

Definitely the music and movies. Let's not forget also the tv shows we had. They were great too.

Tanya

The Music
The clothes
The Movies
Everything I love 80's

family sitcoms
good songs
phone booths



Howard

I liked arcades/pool halls. It gave young people (kids under 21) a place to hang out. Where do kids today hang out?

Music
TV Shows
Movies
Toys

1. MTV
2. Madonna was cool
3. Michael Jackson was cool
4. John Hughes movies
5. Eddie Murphy was funny
6. new wave/alternative
7. hair bands/hard rock
8. early hip hop
9. The Fox network
10. Solid Gold
11. Perfect Strangers
12. Miami Vice
13. Debbie Gibson (When pop singers HAD talent, also would add New Edition & George Michael)
14. Back to the Future
15. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
16. Valley Girl (movie)
17. He Man
18. "Weird Al" Yankovic
19. Metallica were underground & had great music
20. Ghostbusters
21. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
22. walkmans
23. Alyssa Milano
24. Only one lame boy band in the tail end of the decade, not tons like in 1999/2000  ::)
25. Pee Wee Herman
26. Nickelodeon
27. No reality shows (except for the nightly news and very few like "That's Incredible")
28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
29. License To Drive
30. ripped jeans

The release of home video/vcr...

My vot goes for the arcade as well.  Arcades were everywhere in the 80s.  Sad to think they will not reach that popularity again.

My vot goes for the arcade as well.  Arcades were everywhere in the 80s.  Sad to think they will not reach that popularity again.


Arcade games are also on my list, Pac Man is my favorite!

I liked to do about anything in the places I lived in the 80s, Mississippi, California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado, and Kentucky

My vot goes for the arcade as well.  Arcades were everywhere in the 80s.  Sad to think they will not reach that popularity again.



today,there are not many arcades around.everyone's got computer games and hand held items.


Howard

I liked arcades/pool halls. It gave young people (kids under 21) a place to hang out. Where do kids today hang out?



I don't see many people here in NY hanging out at arcades these days Al but they do hang out at places.I don't know where but I see them.


Howard

family oriented sitcoms
Michael Jackson
Madonna
Prince



Howard

The ready availability of cheap, used 1960's American muscle cars.  :)

Synths  :D

Fast Freddie
Merlin
Copycat


Howard

box after box of albums arriving from Columbia House for me  8)

Life itself was just better in the 80's!!!

cheap beer and smokes. i remember buying a 12 and a pack of fags for under 15 dollars.

you can't do that on television

and most new wave bands

I loved most of the music in the 80's. MTV didn't yet suck. I have more but would love to hear some of your opinions first ;)

"YOU DICK!" Fast times at ridgemont high, amazing movie, including everything with the Bratpat of course. But I'm only 16 now and i can honestly say i tear UP the arcade! I love everything about the 80's.

The music was good, MTV, the films were quite good, mostly I remember the 80's and a decade of prosperity in many affleunt areas around the world.

Take a look at a high school yearbook from 1988. So much happiness and carefree attitudes.

Valley Girl and the music, the style, the life in general

The music, *some* of the fashion and the great teen films of Mr John Hughes!

This is a shameless plug, but for anybody that didn't experience the joy that was the 80s arcade scene, get thee to San Jose and attend California Extreme, July 11-12, 2009.

13 years running, and by far the largest classic video game/pinball show of its kind anywhere.  Bigger, in fact, than most arcades of the '80s.  Play until your fingers bleed.  If you remember the game, it's probably there. 

And not just the classics and rarities (I've even played Tempest with frickiin' lasers!), but the prototypes!  Over the years, I've played the Army's version of Battlezone - one of two Bradley Trainer machines produced.  I've played Marble Man, the sequel to Marble Madness.  Last year, I got to play one of eight The Act machines in existence; the game was a 2007 experiment in crossing Leisure Suit Larry and a fully-interactive version of Dragon's Lair, and was one of the most fun things I've ever played.  Long story short, thanks to CAX, I've frankly lost track of how many games I've played that I'll never be able to play anywhere else.

The talks are as interesting as the games; prior speakers have included just numerous Atari and Williams alumni, personalities in King of Kong and High Score (the quest for the 72-hour Missile Command marathon record), and more.

  I rarely go to the movies anymore.  HAD to watch Star Trek...

  So we got to the cinema an hour early and, lo-and-behold, there's an arcade.  Small and dark but not a very big selection of games.  We head straight for the Lord of the Rings pinball machine.  For a very brief moment it was...well, a part of the eighties that felt familiar and comfortable.  We could've just arrived at the mall on the bus and, while waiting for the Goonies, or Star Trek III or whatever and we're killing time in the arcade.  It was sort of like deja vu.  My buddy is running through the list of all the movie/TV remakes that suck (or don't) and why.  His dad came with us, he's in his 70s, and he was talking about the long line, at that very mall, we stood in while waiting to get in to the first Star Wars.  See, the three of us went together back in 1977.  The same crew.  It was a hoot...

  Of course playing pinball in a movie theater isn't a decade specific activity, but it was a small part of my eighties that made me chuckle at the both of us a little bit... 8)

The music, *some* of the fashion and the great teen films of Mr John Hughes!


Oh yes. I grew up watching those John Hughes films! Made me so excited about becoming a teenager LOL.

16 Candles, which I think is his debut film, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club Ferris Bueller, Weird Science, etc... And he wasn't the only one doing the teen movies. I also loved Shannen Doherty, being in both of my favorite shows, and being kicked off of them. 90210 and Charmed. I know she was in a couple of good ones like Heathers, which was kind of a darker film, and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Other good ones are Fast Times At Ridgemont High, which I saw at the age of three, The Goonies, the Nightmare On Elm Street series, I could go on. The 80's was the era of teen movies. And the best era to be a child in.

Oh yes. I grew up watching those John Hughes films! Made me so excited about becoming a teenager LOL.

16 Candles, which I think is his debut film, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club Ferris Bueller, Weird Science, etc... And he wasn't the only one doing the teen movies. I also loved Shannen Doherty, being in both of my favorite shows, and being kicked off of them. 90210 and Charmed. I know she was in a couple of good ones like Heathers, which was kind of a darker film, and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

Other good ones are Fast Times At Ridgemont High, which I saw at the age of three, The Goonies, the Nightmare On Elm Street series, I could go on. The 80's was the era of teen movies. And the best era to be a child in.


Heathers is an amazing film - possibly my favourite teen movie because of it subverting a lot of the conventions. It's got some real poignant parts in it and Christian Slater played his role birlliantly. Plus  - it's really funny!

;D MICHAEL JACKSON.  ;D

'nuff said.

;D MICHAEL JACKSON.  ;D

'nuff said.

Who?  ;D

Best thing from the '80s was the music AND Saturday morning cartoons -- and somewhat Sunday morning cartoons and after school cartoons; and ABC Afterschool Specials...!

The usual... TV, toys and cartoons!

The usual... TV, toys and cartoons!


I should have mentioned toys as well, hell at least in the '80s -- and somewhat in the '70s -- the networks were willing to try out new shows; now if the show isn't a hit with the first episode they pull it almost right away.

Fashions were cool as well.

And, so was breakdancing, when it actually meant something...not like the kids doing it today; it just seems so out of place now.

Fashions were cool as well.

Much as I adore the decade, I'm gonna say a 'no' to the general fashion. It's great to look back on, but I wouldn't call it nice in any wearable way. The 70s however had cool fashion - which is why it came back in the 90s and again in the 00s.

But yes toys were great back then! What ever happened to the humble action figure? Play time should be tangible and imaginative, not glued to a screen... but maybe that's just me.  :)

Much as I adore the decade, I'm gonna say a 'no' to the general fashion. It's great to look back on, but I wouldn't call it nice in any wearable way. The 70s however had cool fashion - which is why it came back in the 90s and again in the 00s.

But yes toys were great back then! What ever happened to the humble action figure? Play time should be tangible and imaginative, not glued to a screen... but maybe that's just me.  :)


And, that's why '80s fashions are starting to show up again....

As someone mentioned, arcades were great, I miss them...been gaming for almost 30 years and most of that was in arcades.

Best thing from the '80s was the music AND Saturday morning cartoons -- and somewhat Sunday morning cartoons and after school cartoons; and ABC Afterschool Specials...!


Cartoons! How could I forget them?? Cartoons were great back in the day...

Cartoons! How could I forget them?? Cartoons were great back in the day...


Well, technically, most of them were 30 minute toy commercials....  :P

Well, technically, most of them were 30 minute toy commercials....  :P


I wasn't complaining!  ;D I used to bring out the respective toys for each cartoon as it came on.

All of the above plus Wacky Packages, NO seatbelt laws and rock and wrestling (Roddy Piper was pretty cool).

I wasn't complaining!  ;D I used to bring out the respective toys for each cartoon as it came on.


I remember having a My Little pony toy! Did the cartoon come first or the toys?

As I was born in 1984, I remember loving Disney's Gummi Bears, The Racoons, Count Duckula, Inspector Gadget, Denver The Last Dinosaur, Muppet Babbies, Rude Dog and the Dweebs etc...

I remember having a My Little pony toy! Did the cartoon come first or the toys?

As I was born in 1984, I remember loving Disney's Gummi Bears, The Racoons, Count Duckula, Inspector Gadget, Denver The Last Dinosaur, Muppet Babbies, Rude Dog and the Dweebs etc...


The ponies arrived in 1983, which was a year before it's tv debut (a tv special - not the series). My sister had quite a few of them and I watched a bit of the tv series when it was on.  ;D

Vintage animation from the theatrical era were still on tv.

A few cartoons were good like "Garfield & Friends" though most haven't stood the test of time, IMHO.