I wonder why we like the 80's so much, is it the 80's were good times for us, the fashion, movies, music, or something. Even though I was born in 1983 , the first years of my life that I remember were good and memorable to me. The times when CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS were the only channels I knew about, and when the network channels had muiltiple ( not one or two good shows) great shows to watch without cable. The days of me playing with my stuff Alf, remembering when I saw my fiirst CD when I was around 4 or 5 years old, and when I saw the first cordless telephone I remember seeing when I (again) was 4 or 5 years old in around 1988. Also during the 1980's I started school for the first time and had my first crush on a girl.
Those are some of the reason I like the 80's, and really missing the 80's. Plus I miss my family and other people that I loved and had good moments with during the 80's, that are no longer on earth, but in spirit with me, and the ones I loss in touch with.
Why do any of you'll like the 80's so much? Share!

I like the 80's because I lived right through it in my child years.  Great memories of when you could actually watch cartoons on Saturday mornings, when you could hear a catchy pop song on the radio (unlike today where it's all alternative and hip hop crap), and you could rely on just the basics like an Atari and still have fun :)

Everything was so fun.  I was a kid/teenager so life was easy.  The music was fun and catchy.  The shows were funny.  The clothes were horrible but everything else was great.

I liked being a small child from 1980 that grew into a young teenager by 1989.  It was the age I was in those days, combined with the pop culture of the time.  The clothes were cheesy as Jennifer said, but so many other things were still so cool.  The 80s felt like magic.  It's that magic feeling that the 80s give off, that the 90s and 00s do not have.

I use to not hold much appreciation for the 80's because even as a young child I thought a lot of things in the 80's looked real tacky and I couldn't wait for the decade to end. Now I miss those things that surrounded my childhood that are now slowly diminishing before my eyes. I guess you take those things for granted.

For now, what I loved about the 80's was that we may have had computers, but they didn't consume our every moment like they do now. It was a time when kids would still go out and play and be inventive/creative with their time. It was a time when theatres were no bigger than a few screens and you could "feel" the magic of going to the movies the old fashioned way. It's when music was still evolving and producing unique unheard of sounds and styles that we never heard before. It's when Saturday Night Live was at it's best. It's a decade that churned out a great amount of films that still haunt our childhood. It's a time where waking up on Saturday morning and being excited for a new fall line-up of cartoons was all the rage (that's hardly the case anymore).

And there's soooo much more I could say...

I like the music, which most I started liking/discovered in the mid 1990's, which is better than what was polluting the airwaves since the downfall of popular music since 1997.

As for TV, I prefer the 1990's, but there was lots of variety. Though didn't have cable until mid 1990's, though MTV still had music...



Plus, classic cartoons were still on TV like Mickey, Donald, Bugs, Daffy, etc.    :D

The 2000's only a very few tv shows since mostly everything is garbage & the same goes for music...

I use to not hold much appreciation for the 80's because even as a young child I thought a lot of things in the 80's looked real tacky and I couldn't wait for the decade to end. Now I miss those things that surrounded my childhood that are now slowly diminishing before my eyes. I guess you take those things for granted.

For now, what I loved about the 80's was that we may have had computers, but they didn't consume our every moment like they do now. It was a time when kids would still go out and play and be inventive/creative with their time. It was a time when theatres were no bigger than a few screens and you could "feel" the magic of going to the movies the old fashioned way. It's when music was still evolving and producing unique unheard of sounds and styles that we never heard before. It's when Saturday Night Live was at it's best. It's a decade that churned out a great amount of films that still haunt our childhood. It's a time where waking up on Saturday morning and being excited for a new fall line-up of cartoons was all the rage (that's hardly the case anymore).

And there's soooo much more I could say...


Yeah, pretty much the same with me (not surprisingly). :)

Oddly, for all the attention I paid to things, I never really cared about fashion, at all, until I was at least 13 or 14. What I noticed tended to center more on music, video games and movies (mostly in the late 80's), as well as food products or whatever might've been going on around town.

I totally agree that we take things for granted when we're younger, even if we don't intend to. Growing up, I knew stuff would change, but looking back on it now, it does kinda freak me out to think how FAST it all happened. When I was a kid, I feel as much as I liked everything I had around me at the time, I didn't always appreciate it as much as I could have. Which is why I've become so nostalgic for it in the last several years.

The only way my experience differed from yours a bit was that I always missed the 80's not long after they ended. Though it probably had alot to do with the fact that things went kinda downhill for me and my parents starting in mid-1989 through the first half of the 90's (loss of a good deal of money they had, a big move, my two remaining grandparents died, etc etc).

So in, say 1993 or '94 I probably missed my life in the 80's more than strictly the pop culture. The early-mid 80's was always my favorite period for that, but I was still a 12-13 year old kid in '94, so obviously I was young enough to instantly develop a liking for alot of that stuff too. ;)

^You know what, I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but I've always had a great deal of affection for the years of 1979 to 1982, even though I barely barely remember 1979, 1980, and '81.

Yeah, pretty much the same with me (not surprisingly). :)

Oddly, for all the attention I paid to things, I never really cared about fashion, at all, until I was at least 13 or 14. What I noticed tended to center more on music, video games and movies (mostly in the late 80's), as well as food products or whatever might've been going on around town.

I totally agree that we take things for granted when we're younger, even if we don't intend to. Growing up, I knew stuff would change, but looking back on it now, it does kinda freak me out to think how FAST it all happened. When I was a kid, I feel as much as I liked everything I had around me at the time, I didn't always appreciate it as much as I could have. Which is why I've become so nostalgic for it in the last several years.

The only way my experience differed from yours a bit was that I always missed the 80's not long after they ended. Though it probably had alot to do with the fact that things went kinda downhill for me and my parents starting in mid-1989 through the first half of the 90's (loss of a good deal of money they had, a big move, my two remaining grandparents died, etc etc).

So in, say 1993 or '94 I probably missed my life in the 80's more than strictly the pop culture. The early-mid 80's was always my favorite period for that, but I was still a 12-13 year old kid in '94, so obviously I was young enough to instantly develop a liking for alot of that stuff too. ;)


Maybe on the girl's end of things, fashion and pop culture was something I took notice of early on in my life. I guess even at that age, I still had a sharp eye for detail and therefore I realized how much I didn't really like that era all that much due to how "big" everything was. And, to this day, I'll admit that the only part of the 80's I wouldn't miss is the fashion (early 80's fashion was cool because a lot of it was leftovers from the 70's, but come 1985 and onward was just kinda yucky!).

I think another reason I tried to dismiss the 80's from my memory was also for personal reasons. My cousin died in 1991 at the age of 15 and I associated a lot of things with her during the 80's because our family spent so much time with her and her parents during that era. I think I tried to block out 80's stuff because it reminded me of her and it upset me to think about those memories. It seems you and I kinda handled these "personal problems" in almost exact opposite ways! I blocked them out, but it kinda drove you to want to reminisce.

It's funny to think that just in the last 5 years did I finally allow myself to really think back on those old days with fondness, and even yearning. You know, it's really weird because you feel those memories really slipping away. I always wondered why my parents couldn't remember much between 4 and 10 years old and now I can see where they're coming from. I'm having a harder time every day remembering certain things unless something really triggers that memory. I think one reason we developed a renewed interest in the decade we were born/came of age is that those memories are beginning to slip away so if we don't continue to talk about it, they may be gone forever!

Well it's simple, not all the music in the charts was down right awful & totally sucked like it does now. Even though we were bonbarded by hair bands that looked pretty silly & who only wrote songs about fast livin & easy women, they could actually play their instruments though & there were still guitar solos in their songs. Most importantly the music was also fun which is a lost element in music & TV & everything today. MTV actually played music videos. TV shows were all memorable & exciting & you'd never see me fall asleep during any of them. Cartoons were 1000 times better & they were actually 100% "animated" meaning drawn by hand. Also toys were so much better & better qualty, for example the early Transformers had real rubber tyres & diecast metal parts not all plastic like the new line of Transformers toys nowadays. Video games were actually video games & not all of them were crappy eye candy 1st person shooter style 3D games where you're an Afro-American pimp in the ghetto who has to save his prostitute girlfriend or something. They were also fun, the key factor to all video games which is more than i can say for games produced in the last 10 years or so & if you could finnish some of the ones from the 80s you really were a wizard. As for clothes & fashion maybe some looked bad, but i still prefer it to the fasion i'm surounded with now, besides looking back on my old photos i never looked that bad, i always wore jeans & mostly band tees & nothing's changed in that respect. I am guilty of having bad hair back then though. I've always thought fashion is a discusting & crass though anyway, whether it be then or now, fashion just reminds me of the David Bowie filmclip for his song called Fashion.
In short everything from the 80s was memorable for better or worse & nothing about this decade is even remotly memorable or inspiring.

1) We wore what we wanted, and nobody cared how loud or outrageous it was.
2) We had the best cartoons and toys
3) We enjoyed so many varying styles of music

It was just the best time to be a kid, period.

I'm the same age as Chris Megatron THX and I agree with everything he's said.

I was the perfect age to catch the tail-end of the '70s culture that spilled over into the early '80s, as was the target demographic age for all the toys, cartoons, t.v. shows, music and movies of the decade.

We didn't have the 'attitude' that kids growing up in the '90s seemed to have. Although we made so much fun of the '50s and '60s for being so innocent and naive, I think the '80s, (in hindsight), we very innocent and naive in their own way. It was also, in my opinion, the last decade to be that way.

I don't know if everyone who grows up in a certain decade has the same emotional ties to it that I have to the '80s, but I doubt it. Even kids who were teens in the '90s and today are incredibly enamoured with the '80s. It's gotta be more than just a fad to have such a cross-generational appeal.

Hi. My name is Rob, and I'm an '80s - aholic.

It was just the best time to be a kid, period.

I'm the same age as Chris Megatron THX and I agree with everything he's said.

I was the perfect age to catch the tail-end of the '70s culture that spilled over into the early '80s, as was the target demographic age for all the toys, cartoons, t.v. shows, music and movies of the decade.

We didn't have the 'attitude' that kids growing up in the '90s seemed to have. Although we made so much fun of the '50s and '60s for being so innocent and naive, I think the '80s, (in hindsight), we very innocent and naive in their own way. It was also, in my opinion, the last decade to be that way.

I don't know if everyone who grows up in a certain decade has the same emotional ties to it that I have to the '80s, but I doubt it. Even kids who were teens in the '90s and today are incredibly enamoured with the '80s. It's gotta be more than just a fad to have such a cross-generational appeal.

Hi. My name is Rob, and I'm an '80s - aholic.




Great post Rob, well summed up  8)

It was just the best time to be a kid, period.

I'm the same age as Chris Megatron THX and I agree with everything he's said.

I was the perfect age to catch the tail-end of the '70s culture that spilled over into the early '80s, as was the target demographic age for all the toys, cartoons, t.v. shows, music and movies of the decade.

We didn't have the 'attitude' that kids growing up in the '90s seemed to have. Although we made so much fun of the '50s and '60s for being so innocent and naive, I think the '80s, (in hindsight), we very innocent and naive in their own way. It was also, in my opinion, the last decade to be that way.

I don't know if everyone who grows up in a certain decade has the same emotional ties to it that I have to the '80s, but I doubt it. Even kids who were teens in the '90s and today are incredibly enamoured with the '80s. It's gotta be more than just a fad to have such a cross-generational appeal.

Hi. My name is Rob, and I'm an '80s - aholic.



Hi Rob & welcome. I'm about your age aswell & i also just caught the tail end of the 70s that spilled over into the early 80s. My earliest memories of TV were Chips, The Incredible Hulk TV show & early 80s cartoon, Six Milion Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, Dukes Of Hazard & Hana Barbera cartoons like Challange Of The Super Friends, Jabber Jaw & Thundarr The Barbarian. I also vaguely remember the Coca Cola/Sprite/Fanta yoyo fad from the late 70s & early 80s which had a resurgance in the mid to late 80s & then the 90s again. I'll lso never forget how obsessed i was with my uncles pinball & arcade machines in his garage. I don't think arcade or pinball has that misique or excitment anymore & never ever will.  Arcade of late 70s & early 80s is what i immediatly think of even to this very day when i hear or think of the words video games or arcade games. They will be forever iconic. I'm also an 80s-aholic.

I liked the 80s because it was the start of many new things: Video game systems, computers, MTV, catchy music, new styles, etc. It was very groundbreaking time, just my opinion. Things WERE more simple, as mentioned, and I agree.

Welcome Rob.

Why I like the 80's:

music
Peter Gabriel's 3, Security, So
Ministry's Land of Rape and Honey, The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Prince's Purple Rain
Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms
Paul Simon's Graceland
NIN's Pretty Hate Machine
the Fixx's Reach the Beach
the Police's Synchronicity
Talking Heads' Remain In Light,Speaking In Tongues, Stop Making Sense
Oingo Boingo's Dead Man's Party
Frony 242's - Front By Front
Sinead O'Connor's the Lion and the Cobra
Thomas Dolby's Aliens Ate My Buick
Talk Talk's the Colour Of Spring
U2's the Joshua Tree, Boy, Unforgettable Fire
Wang Chung's To Live and Die in LA
XTC's Skylarking
Travelling Wilburys' everything.
Art Of Noise's everything.

movies
Terry Gilliam's Brazil
Rob Riener's Spinal Tap
Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark
John Hughes's Breakfast Club
johnathon Demme's Stop Making Sense

and the best reason to like the 80's - because they're OVER.  :D

Maybe on the girl's end of things, fashion and pop culture was something I took notice of early on in my life. I guess even at that age, I still had a sharp eye for detail and therefore I realized how much I didn't really like that era all that much due to how "big" everything was. And, to this day, I'll admit that the only part of the 80's I wouldn't miss is the fashion (early 80's fashion was cool because a lot of it was leftovers from the 70's, but come 1985 and onward was just kinda yucky!).

I think another reason I tried to dismiss the 80's from my memory was also for personal reasons. My cousin died in 1991 at the age of 15 and I associated a lot of things with her during the 80's because our family spent so much time with her and her parents during that era. I think I tried to block out 80's stuff because it reminded me of her and it upset me to think about those memories. It seems you and I kinda handled these "personal problems" in almost exact opposite ways! I blocked them out, but it kinda drove you to want to reminisce.

It's funny to think that just in the last 5 years did I finally allow myself to really think back on those old days with fondness, and even yearning. You know, it's really weird because you feel those memories really slipping away. I always wondered why my parents couldn't remember much between 4 and 10 years old and now I can see where they're coming from. I'm having a harder time every day remembering certain things unless something really triggers that memory. I think one reason we developed a renewed interest in the decade we were born/came of age is that those memories are beginning to slip away so if we don't continue to talk about it, they may be gone forever!


Very true. Although I hate to generalize, more often than not, girls are the ones more critical of fashion.

Just based on personal experiences, if you go to school with out of style clothes, it's gonna be the girls -- way before the guys -- who say (cue ValleyGirl-ish voice) "Like Oh-mi-gawwwd, where'd that grody thing come from?. That outfit is soooo 5 years ago. Gag me with a sp-ooon!" ;D

On a serious note though, sorry to hear about your loss. I can definitely see why you'd want to block some things out regarding her. I mean, in my case, my grandparents on my dad's side died in their 80's. As sad as that was, it was more natural and you knew it was coming sooner or later. But to have a family member go at 15 has gotta be unimaginably hard. :(

I think anything from about age 4 or 5 and up, I'll remember for life. But true, I think talking about it makes it seem like it's not that far away if it's always in the forefront of my memories. As if 2005 is just a continuation of the 80's, as opposed to a totally different "time capsule", if that makes sense.

Strangly enough, my older relatives never liked "Debbie Gibson"...  (Or claimed to not listened to he or have her poster on the wall)


Though the music was far better and diversed compared to today with new wave/alternative, glam rock, pop, and even more artists from the past ('70's) that were still popular in the '80's... which now there's only a few from the '90's that are still on the charts.

Same with movies, though the '90's was a better era for tv. (despite that I prefer animation from the early/mid 20th century)