Do you play your 80s music when you're around your kids? Why or why not?

Well, from the other side of the fence: My parents played their music around me as a kid (albums, as well as the radio), and that's what made me get into it. According to them, it was purely coincidental. In other words, they never tried to get me into it, I just kinda liked it on my own.

I was born in 1981 and my favorite music has always centered around 1984-ish (though I like some things from every era).

But, to answer the original question. If/when I do have kids - yeah, I'll probably play "my" music around them. If it embarrases them, I'll try not to do it in front of their friends, LOL. ;D

However, by 2020 or 2030 for instance, the 80's will probably be old enough to be retro cool. Much like certain things from the 60's are now. It won't be like listening to something outdated by only ten-twenty years (that's what gets laughed at the most, it seems. Because it's still recent enough to be in most people's memories, but too old to be current).

Well, yeah, I was born in 1987, and that's how it was for me. My sister was ten years older than me, and both my sister and my mom were into 80s music. They never told me that I had to like 80s music - but because I heard it so much, that's what I came to like. I mean, IMO, it's hard to not like the music of your childhood - even if it's just for the nostalgia factor. So that's how I look at it.

^ Cool. I had some older friends once I was in school, so even on a peer level I was always exposed to the 80's.

Overall, 80's music had a very "easy to like" quality about it. So, even if I was five today and hearing those songs on a radio station, or if I was 40 in 1982, I think I'd like it regardless.

However, since it reminds me of my parents, and the first things I ever experienced, make it that much more special to me.

Yeah, why not?

Yeah, it's like what I said. If you start playing your music around them from infancy, then they're more likely to like the music as they get older - even if they do go through a period of time of listening to something more current. That is, of course, if you have a good relationship with your kids - then they'll be nostalgic for the music they were raised on.

I was raised on music from the '60s and '70s when my parents were teenagers, a la Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Stones, Wilson Pickett, British Invasion bands, The Kinks, Motown...we used to listen to 101.1 and 104.3 (from NYC) back when they were still only '60s and '70s in the 1990s and early '00s. I think '80s stuff is already old enough to be back in and not that laughed at, it's passed the 20-year mark. '90s music still gets laughed at, though.

I was raised on music from the '60s and '70s when my parents were teenagers, a la Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Stones, Wilson Pickett, British Invasion bands, The Kinks, Motown...we used to listen to 101.1 and 104.3 (from NYC) back when they were still only '60s and '70s in the 1990s and early '00s. I think '80s stuff is already old enough to be back in and not that laughed at, it's passed the 20-year mark. '90s music still gets laughed at, though.


Pretty much I agree, but 2006 still has alot of "late 90s" feel to it. Pop culture hasn't gone through a dramatic change since 1999, maybe even '97.

The early 90s dance music does sound pretty dated, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was laughed at.

Right, early 1990s dance music and pop are still considered old enough to be laughed at but not new enough to be back in, like watching Saved by the Bell or Beverly Hills 90210. Even mid-late 1990s R&B and dance music sounds sort of passe...we had 102.7 on the other day in the car and they were playing some 1999 Jennifer Lopez song and R&B has become so much slower since then, it already sort of has a cheesy, lighter sound with the overprocessed voices. It is just passe, I don't think anybody would laugh at it yet really. I also think grunge and other early-to-mid 1990s alternative is pretty out now and somebody who really liked it would get laughed at by hipsters...this does not just include Nirvana but also Tori Amos and Liz Phair.

Right, early 1990s dance music and pop are still considered old enough to be laughed at but not new enough to be back in, like watching Saved by the Bell or Beverly Hills 90210. Even mid-late 1990s R&B and dance music sounds sort of passe...we had 102.7 on the other day in the car and they were playing some 1999 Jennifer Lopez song and R&B has become so much slower since then, it already sort of has a cheesy, lighter sound with the overprocessed voices. It is just passe, I don't think anybody would laugh at it yet really. I also think grunge and other early-to-mid 1990s alternative is pretty out now and somebody who really liked it would get laughed at by hipsters...this does not just include Nirvana but also Tori Amos and Liz Phair.


True, some songs from the late '90s do sound semi dated (i.e. Fastball's "The Way", Britney Spears' 1999 stuff, Blink 182's "What's My Age Again"). They probably wouldn't be as big if they were released today, but it sounds similar enough to not quite be "old school".

Now, from 2002 to now, it's been relatively the same.

My kid was playing U2 today, think that's 80's isn't it? She doesn't have kids. The other kid only listens to 50's stuff, which we don't understand. Well, sometimes she listens to more modern music; her husband plays mostly 2000's stuff, but sometimes dips back through the decades and fun to watch the kids get down & boogie to it.

The last kid and his wife are pretty much stuck in the 80's and yes they play it around their kid. Because they're the 'kids' I usually let them play the music they want to listen to, but they listen to a lot of the same music I listen to, so it's cool.

dude...I play my Ramones music full blast in the car with my 3 1/2 year old...he knows a lot of the words and sings them all the time! LOL!

People do like to remember that music, though, even though late '90s pop-punk and teen pop, some dance pop, already have had a semi-dated feel to them since maybe 2003 or 2004. Music from then was alot lighter and fun, though, even if it was of pretty low musical quality and throwaway. I never really liked any of that so much, but it was at least catchy and arguably superior to some of the whiny, fake-arty sheesh on the market today. You can probably tell I'm not a big fan of the 2000s...I think they've edited out alot of the good from the 1980s and heavily, heavily riffed and emulated the bad parts of it.

I have to ask first!

True, some songs from the late '90s do sound semi dated (i.e. Fastball's "The Way", Britney Spears' 1999 stuff, Blink 182's "What's My Age Again"). They probably wouldn't be as big if they were released today, but it sounds similar enough to not quite be "old school".

Now, from 2002 to now, it's been relatively the same.


I think the reason the 1990s got off so easy is one because they were subcultured and anti-trendy and two because when 2000 happened people were so excited about the Millenium that they sort of forgot that the '90s were over too. So people subconciously thought of it as being sort of "extended '90s" in a way, especially because this decade has no accepted name.  And thus it became in many ways, a cultural extension of the '90s, even if politics, world events and technology are quite different.  If our 1990s happened to be called the '80s and the '80s became the '70s I bet they would have had a backlash.

Marty, you ever notice how the music that's considered to be the most '90s is actually the same music that sticks around today?  Grunge, gangsta rap, etc. all are still around in an updated form, but dance music, Disney-movie pop and "This is how we do it" are very very dated today.  In fact, a lot 1990-1996/'97 stuff is pretty dated today, but people remember the stuff that's still cool, like Nirvana.

BTW I'm back, yo!

I won't be posting as much, but I'm back!

I think the reason the 1990s got off so easy is one because they were subcultured and anti-trendy and two because when 2000 happened people were so excited about the Millenium that they sort of forgot that the '90s were over too. So people subconciously thought of it as being sort of "extended '90s" in a way, especially because this decade has no accepted name.  And thus it became in many ways, a cultural extension of the '90s, even if politics, world events and technology are quite different.  If our 1990s happened to be called the '80s and the '80s became the '70s I bet they would have had a backlash.

Marty, you ever notice how the music that's considered to be the most '90s is actually the same music that sticks around today?  Grunge, gangsta rap, etc. all are still around in an updated form, but dance music, Disney-movie pop and "This is how we do it" are very very dated today.  In fact, a lot 1990-1996/'97 stuff is pretty dated today, but people remember the stuff that's still cool, like Nirvana.


Yeah, I think if everything was moved back a decade (the "1990s" had been the "1980s" and now was "1996") there could've been more of a focus on the new decade, as opposed to the new millenium/century.

It probably would've been about halfway inbetween a backlash and the way it is now (still largely cool). Stuff like backwards baseball hats, or boy bands probably would've been laughed at, but the "everlasting" stuff (i.e. The Simpsons) I could see still hanging around.

In print, we could call this decade the 00s - but how would you say it? That's the thing. ;)

8) Absolutely...my kids grew up listening to our music..mostly Rock and Roll...I didnt make them..except in the car..then they all3 started knowing all the words and Jammin with us..I never told them what to listen to, My son DJ who is 19 now went through a Beethoven phase, I jammed with him..but he is true blue rock..I have posted it before but his first concert was ACDC with him in the middle of me and dad and he says to this day it was the best time of his life!...My son Deven and my Daughter are rock fans too...and now I got my daughter a cd player for her 10th B-Day and she is jammin on our cds!...Cool!! ::)

Well, we certainly should share the 80s with the younger generation so that we have people to carry the torch onto future generations.

8) Absolutely...my kids grew up listening to our music..mostly Rock and Roll...I didnt make them..except in the car..then they all3 started knowing all the words and Jammin with us..I never told them what to listen to, My son DJ who is 19 now went through a Beethoven phase, I jammed with him..but he is true blue rock..I have posted it before but his first concert was ACDC with him in the middle of me and dad and he says to this day it was the best time of his life!...My son Deven and my Daughter are rock fans too...and now I got my daughter a cd player for her 10th B-Day and she is jammin on our cds!...Cool!! ::)


Cool. I always thought the earlier you're exposed to something, the less likely you are to think it's "stupid and old" later.

As a parallel, I should also say that, in addition to the '80s, I also "grew up" on alot of 60s and early 70s music (esp. the Beatles, Doors, Rolling Stones, Peter Paul & Mary). So even if that was already fifteen or twenty years old by the time I heard it, I still liked it and consider it part of my childhood.

No reason a kid today couldn't feel that way about the 80s down the road.

Teen in 2015: Let's think of some cool songs from our childhood.
Friend: I listened to alot of Journey, Duran Duran and John Mellencamp
Teen: What!? That's 80's! Way before us. This is supposed to be 50 Cent and all that.
Friend: Yeah I know, but I listened to alot of 80's music as a kid, so I consider that my generation too.

Well, yeah, it's the whole nostalgia factor, I believe. :)

Of course, and most of them love it!!

There never was a backlash against the 1990s, it just sort of changed. Like baggy pants, goth and grunge fashion, buzzed hair on the sides, backwards baseball caps, flannel, piercings to all hell, bare midriffs, jelly bracelets, etc. are not things you see in the suburbs every day. Sitcoms aren't popular anymore, and dance music, grunge-style hard rock, teen pop and boy bands, real gangsta rap haven't been at all really since maybe mid-2002, when I think the '00s really began. I sort of look back at the '90s and think there were probably alot of good things about them, though, even if they were "tasteless."

Maybe there is a difference between the early-90s and the late-90s. The early-90s were a little bit more like the 80s, while the late-90s is a little bit more like today. While it might be hard to imagine that now, people most likely will become nostalgic about the 2000s in the 2020s. Afterall, I'm sure there some old fogeys back in the 80s who thought that 80s sucked a lot, compared to the 60s. Then back in the 60s, there were probably old fogeys who thought that the 40s were much better than the 60s. So maybe it is a point of view type of thing. Still, that being said, the 80s definitely did rock, even though I wasn't born until 1987.

I think there is a pretty big early '90s-late '90s difference. By the late '90s, culture had become alot more corporate, though nobody admitted it. This was also the start of the bobos. When I think of what I liked about the '90s, I think early-mid '90s. But even the late '90s would've been preferable to now. At least it wasn't so damn pretentious. But TV was better, movies were better, music was better in the early-mid '90s, it was sort of its own transition between now and the '80s that holds its own, the way the late '60s does.