A lot of people, like in movies or TV shows, tend to view the '80s one of two ways--Either the '80s was a crappy time for the common man, when the rich got richer, the poor got poorer and the middle class got ''trickled down'' on; Where a self-righteous 'moral majority' ruled and attempted to turn the clock back to the 1920s, a good time only for corporations, a time of cheesy fashion and over-commercialism ''You have to rob to get rich in the Reagan era'' to quote a movie (New Jack City). Or, there's the other view--That the '80s was a great time, ''Morning again in America'', in, when America rediscovered itself and had pride again, a time of peace and prosperity, a time of stability after the tense and turbulent '70s, a time to party and go all to excess, a time when one could achieve success, when the American dream was closer and more attainable than perhaps any time in American history--Obviously these are two distinct, very different views of one decade, but they seem to be the predominant views of the 1980s in contemporary pop culture.

So what is your take?

A fun time!  8)

Kind of both.

a great time! killer music and NO CELLPHONES! :)

a great time! killer music and NO CELLPHONES! :)


Oh, there were cellphones, but only guys like Randolph and Mortimer Duke had them, they were about the size of Maxwell Smart's shoephone, and they weighed as much as a Fort Knox gold bar, and cost one too!

Ronnie Reagan ushered in a new era of freed greed with a gilded inauguration parade that made the Windsor family look like trailer trash, and then he and Jerry Falwell started a-preachin' about "family values" while Time magazine ran a cover story, "Diamonds are back!," celebrating the new culture of conspicuous consumption.  The message being: If you got it, flaunt it.  If you ain't got it, keep your worthless mitts away from MY money, shut yer nasty mouth, and go back to church so's you can beg God to forgive you for not being stinking rich, like Jesus commanded.

And cocaine, that was the drug of choice.  If you got caught with an ounce of Peruvian powder in your Mercedes on your way back to Greenwich, you got probation, while if you got caught with $5.00 rock of crack on Westchester Avenue, you went to prison for...well, you're still there.

It was about 1984 when a little clown named Milton Friedman became a household name and the be-all, end-all of mankind's economics, thrashing the late Ayn Rand's delusions into the policy de jour.  And that's why we're stuck in the intractable sh*theap we're in now.

Yeah, it was a decade of greed and the consummation of a wrong-headed right-wing love affair that is finally dying three decades later.  

Fun Time:

Last night I was down in the lab,
Fun
Talkin' to Dracula and his crew
All aboard for funtime!

--Iggy Pop

Both, is the honest answer.  :)

Good times...I was a teenager and loved it.

A lot of people, like in movies or TV shows, tend to view the '80s one of two ways--Either the '80s was a crappy time for the common man, when the rich got richer, the poor got poorer and the middle class got ''trickled down'' on; Where a self-righteous 'moral majority' ruled and attempted to turn the clock back to the 1920s, a good time only for corporations, a time of cheesy fashion and over-commerspampillsm ''You have to rob to get rich in the Reagan era'' to quote a movie (New Jack City).


  I have a sense that the times were much like this ^


Or, there's the other view--That the '80s was a great time, ''Morning again in America'', in, when America rediscovered itself and had pride again, a time of peace and prosperity, a time of stability after the tense and turbulent '70s, a time to party and go all to excess, a time when one could achieve success, when the American dream was closer and more attainable than perhaps any time in American history--Obviously these are two distinct, very different views of one decade, but they seem to be the predominant views of the 1980s in contemporary pop culture.


  While you were requested to feel like this ^

  Sometimes waving a flag in someone's face to help them forget their woes works.  Sometimes it doesn't...

Both, is the honest answer.  :)


Both, and I don't see either of 'em as a downside :)

I think it depends entirely what side of the fence you're one. Since I was coming of age in the 80s, I would say it was a fun time.  I think back on the pop culture of that era I cant help but reminisce. I didnt pay too close attention to politics, wall street or foreign affairs.. I think the first time I heard the word "yuppie" was in '86. I always believed the 90s, well the early 90s, ended the fun. Grunge had alot to do with that. :\'(

To tell you the truth, it is both.  I was a child and a preteen in the 80s so techinically I had a good time as a child and preteen, but also, even though it's not greed, it's abuse.  I don't want to go that deep, so I just focus on the good times as a child in the 80s.

This question would work better in a poll, but since I have more than one digit in my I.Q., I have to side with those who called the 80's a Fun Time!

Your Pal,
Doc
8)

A Fun Time, definitely!  :) Great songs and great childhood. I especially enjoyed my tyke years back in 1984-85. I loved Barbies, Strawberry Shortcakes, Luv Buds, Rose Petal Place, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. I wish I could go back to the 80s. I'd be back in grade school. I also used to dress like Madonna and pretend to be her while watching her vids.