What are your memories of 1989? What sort of music (in all genres) was big that year? What were some of the biggest movies? What were the clothing/hair trends of 1989/the late 1980s in general.

I know it's technically "decadeology" but I always sense there was a great deal of difference in terms of pop culture, clothes, trends, fashion, music and the general mindset in America in the late 1980s that set it apart from the rest of the 80s.

1989...Let's see...Well music wise, Warrant, Milli Vanilli, Paula Abdul and The Fine Young Cannibals were popular. They played Black Velvet by Alanah Myles to death (still can't listen to it today). Fashion: Mulletts were still popular, and spandex shorts with high top gym shoes were in.

IMHO this was a great year for industrial music (NIN just released Pretty Hate Machine, for example).  At a club in Detroit we were dancing/listening to Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Sisters of Mercy, Skinny Puppy, Laibach, Doubting Thomas, Front Line Assembly and Ministry.  Sigh....fun (and loud) times.

Lots of great memories.  I turned 18 and graduated from high school.  Bon Jovi, Warrant, Slaughter, Winger, Poison....yeah I was into the hair bands.

Lots of good memories in 1989, I was in High School as a sophmore, wrestling was good and Hulk Hogan was the WWF world champion at the time and music was great at this time, old school rap made it fun again with Tone Loc, McHammer and Young MC.

Am I the only one here who had or wore those really big round pins? Everyone had them at the time. There were Paula Abdul pins, and others. We would collect them and then bring them to school lol. 

I was born in Novembe 1988 so I was only a baby in 1989.  ;D

I was in Vietnam in 1989 that's all I can tell you.

I was a little kid but that was when I discovered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and is on the comeback trail currently), plus other cartoons such as the California Raisins, and Rescue Rangers were popular. My family still didn't have cable until the fall of 1990, so we only had a handful of channels (about 10 or so where I lived). I got my NES that year and Nintendo was the best-selling toy of 1989. I also remember watching "War of the Roses" when it first aired on TV despite being only 4 years old, so in essence was the first R-rated movie I could ever recall seeing. At the time my mom had a 1985 Ford Escort and my dad a 1979 Ford Mustang (before we got our Dodge Caravan the next year), so it shows your typical cars at the time. Something that I would post in the "mall stores you could remember" topic that I really enjoyed that year was a store called "Learning, Etc." (I'm not sure if that's the exact name), but I would enjoy playing on the Brio Train sets and interactive word/math mini-toys. I could also remember being afraid of the song "Hungry Eyes" as my parents had the Dirty Dancing CD and was still occassionally heard on radio as it was a recurrent at the time, because I thought that somebody's eyes would pop out of the radio speaker and bite me.

But looking back at old footage/photos/media sources/videos from that era, it really makes you (and perhaps me) cry in terms of how far removed 1989 is from the present that it almost feels like you're walking in a museum. Hopefully I'll keeping holding on to those memories.

I was a little kid but that was when I discovered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and is on the comeback trail currently), plus other cartoons such as the California Raisins, and Rescue Rangers were popular. My family still didn't have cable until the fall of 1990, so we only had a handful of channels (about 10 or so where I lived). I got my NES that year and Nintendo was the best-selling toy of 1989. I also remember watching "War of the Roses" when it first aired on TV despite being only 4 years old, so in essence was the first R-rated movie I could ever recall seeing. At the time my mom had a 1985 Ford Escort and my dad a 1979 Ford Mustang (before we got our Dodge Caravan the next year), so it shows your typical cars at the time. Something that I would post in the "mall stores you could remember" topic that I really enjoyed that year was a store called "Learning, Etc." (I'm not sure if that's the exact name), but I would enjoy playing on the Brio Train sets and interactive word/math mini-toys. I could also remember being afraid of the song "Hungry Eyes" as my parents had the Dirty Dancing CD and was still occassionally heard on radio as it was a recurrent at the time, because I thought that somebody's eyes would pop out of the radio speaker and bite me.

But looking back at old footage/photos/media sources/videos from that era, it really makes you (and perhaps me) cry in terms of how far removed 1989 is from the present that it almost feels like you're walking in a museum. Hopefully I'll keeping holding on to those memories.

I remember watching the California Raisins too, that year was really some of my first solid memories(I was 3-4 years old that year).

There was still music videos being played from the earlier '80s during that period so I watched Thriller for the first time(that I can remember clearly).

In the fall of '89 I witnessed hurricane Hugo firsthand and that was one scary experience(especially for a small child) I never what to live through again

The Cosby Show
Roseanne
A Different World
Cheers
The Golden Girls
Who's the Boss?
60 Minutes
Murder, She BuWrote
Empty Nest
Anything t Love
Dear John
ALF
L.A. Law
Matlock
Unsolved Mysteries
In the Heat of the Night
Growing Pains
Hunter
NFL Monday Night Football
Head of the Class


These were the shows that were on Tv in 1989.

What a strange year... :o

The Berlin Wall came down
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Nintendo released the Game Boy
Tiananmen Square

I started college/art school.

Heres a good song for it. REM's Pop Song '89 (NSFW, but bonus for a video showing what Michael Stipe looked like with HAIR!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjMwfDFypa4&ob

  Incredibly, unbelievably gauche.  I blame the 1990s on 1989...  *Fer shame, fer shame*

  Batman was good, though...

What a strange year... :o

The Berlin Wall came down
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Nintendo released the Game Boy
Tiananmen Square

I started college/art school.

Heres a good song for it. REM's Pop Song '89 (NSFW, but bonus for a video showing what Michael Stipe looked like with HAIR!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjMwfDFypa4&ob


I still have my Gameboy after 23 years (but I actually bought it in 1992)

As you can see in my username, the first thing that comes to my mind about 1989 is the Batman movie. I also remember Ghostbusters 2 and Indiana Jones 3 that summer. Musically, I remember NKOTB and Milli Vanilli being popular, and I had a huge crush on Paula Abdul. 1989 seems like the beginning of the early 90's culture, especially with the premier of the Simpsons, COPS, Saved By the Bell, Family Matters, Seinfeld, Baywatch, and Arsenio; as well as a rise in new jack swing music and gangsta rap, and with hairstyles and fashion (high-top fades or bowl cut for men, big hair and tight mini-dresses for women), and bright neon colors.

1989 was a lost year for me. It was basically the end of one lifetime but not yet beginning the next. At the beginning of the year, I found myself single again. I spent the majority of the year in Greece so as for pop culture-I totally missed all of it. Even though I was in Europe, I didn't even know that the Berlin Wall came down until AFTER I got back to the States. At the end of the year, I found myself unemployed after getting out of the Air Force.


Cat

I hadn't yet been born in 1989, but my parents got married in August of that year. Almost two years later, in July of 1991, I was born!

1989...Let's see...Well music wise, Warrant, Milli Vanilli, Paula Abdul and The Fine Young Cannibals were popular. They played Black Velvet by Alanah Myles to death (still can't listen to it today). Fashion: Mulletts were still popular, and spandex shorts with high top gym shoes were in.


New Kids On The Block were popular that year and so was the groove tube and pogo balls.  :)  As a matter of fact I still have my Groove Tube that my grandma gave me so lovingly when I was 12.  :)  I still play with it every once in a while.  ;)  I'm amazed that I can still do all of the tricks my Groove Tube that I was doing when I was 12.  :)

In 1989, Nintendo was the hottest video game console and so was Gameboy that also came out during that year.

My father spent most of 1989 with several different girlfriends. My parents met around October 1989 and began dating sometime that November. I was born about a year later in November 1990.

New Kids On The Block were popular that year

Yes they were, and that brings me back to those decorative pins that were all the style in '89-'90. Matter of fact I had a New Kids on the Block one(everyone did) and we would bring them to school only to get yelled at lol. It was fun to collect them.

Yes they were, and that brings me back to those decorative pins that were all the style in '89-'90. Matter of fact I had a New Kids on the Block one(everyone did) and we would bring them to school only to get yelled at lol. It was fun to collect them.


I had a sub teacher threaten me with my NKOTB cards if I didn't put them away.  :(  I was an 8th grader, the New Kids were the new thing in town, and I had a crush on them.

Yes they were, and that brings me back to those decorative pins that were all the style in '89-'90. Matter of fact I had a New Kids on the Block one(everyone did) and we would bring them to school only to get yelled at lol. It was fun to collect them.


They had a lot of good hits during that year.

http://img15.nnm.ru/0/6/9/3/f/1a02a0b8af5b724a6d054533cf2.jpg

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation album topped the charts that year.

I was 7 and 8 back in '89 and I have a perfect memory of it (even if its obviously very VERY old school to me now). I'd already liked music for a few years by this point (I remember Phil Collins, Janet & MJ, Wilson Philips, Don Henley, Aerosmith, etc), this was the heart of my NES days, and I was just barely starting to enjoy movies too.

Looking back, I feel like it was a slightly more modern and edgier version of the rest of the 80s, but still with alot of classic things too. Of course its purely coincidental, but I almost felt like it was a changing year for me personally too. One of my grandma's died that year, and cliche as it sounds, that's the first time I kinda had anything "bad" happen to me firsthand or just anything beginning to change, so I guess it was the very beginning of growing up in a sense.

http://img15.nnm.ru/0/6/9/3/f/1a02a0b8af5b724a6d054533cf2.jpg

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation album topped the charts that year.

I remember. In '89 we would watch all the music videos on VH1.

I remember. In '89 we would watch all the music videos on VH1.


and MTV was still good at that time.

I remember. In '89 we would watch all the music videos on VH1.


Hell yeah! I loved VH1 as a kid (from late 1990 to early 93), when they had the clear boxy logo.

They were like a blend of Top 40, adult oriented music and videos that played on MTV in their first 5 years (that's why I feel like I grew up with early MTV even if I didn't quite see those videos when they were brand new). They even had cool non-music programming, like standup comedy.

Hell yeah! I loved VH1 as a kid (from late 1990 to early 93), when they had the clear boxy logo.

They were like a blend of Top 40, adult oriented music and videos that played on MTV in their first 5 years (that's why I feel like I grew up with early MTV even if I didn't quite see those videos when they were brand new). They even had cool non-music programming, like standup comedy.


Now it's just all reality shows for christ sakes!  ::)

And then there were comedy films of 1989.

In 1989, Nintendo was the hottest video game console and so was Gameboy that also came out during that year.


Yes, I was addicted to Nintendo that year (I got my NES console Christmas '88), so that was the year I stopped playing outside. The only game I had was the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo that came with the bundle (which included the gun), so I would always go to a friends house or have them bring games over. 

Yes, I was addicted to Nintendo that year (I got my NES console Christmas '88), so that was the year I stopped playing outside. The only game I had was the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo that came with the bundle (which included the gun), so I would always go to a friends house or have them bring games over.


Nintendo was my favorite in 1987/88, I always was addicted to Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt.

1989 was the year of one of the greatest hair metal songs that no one really knows about.  It was called 'Give it All You Got' by Shy (or Shy England, as they were known in North America).  This was the second charting single for Shy in their native UK, but it only reached #85 in that chart.  In North America, the song didn't appear until 1990

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFNpQcTvqVA

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_332Hf3G1kfQ/TAFjqJJ1_3I/AAAAAAAAAF0/NFrHvrjrlIU/s1600/1ac6e6f8.jpg

The Super Mario Brothers Super Show

Lots of great memories.  I turned 18 and graduated from high school.  Bon Jovi, Warrant, Slaughter, Winger, Poison....yeah I was into the hair bands.


Dag - you and me Girl.

I graduated high school in '89
Correction - I graduated from 12th grade. September of '89 found me back in high school completing my OAC's. (Basically grade 13, but the OAC's were required for University.)

If I remember correctly:
Bush Sr. became President
Pan Am Flight 103 - bombed
There was something about an asteroid coming so close to earth
SkyDome opens in Toronto
Sega Genesis was released in North America
The Menendez Brothers kill their parents
Pete Rose gets a lifetime ban from baseball
There was something about Panama And Noriega
Salvador Dali and Keith Whitley died
Madonna and Sean Penn get divorced

Midnight Oil, Madonna, Debbie Gibson, Prince, Aerosmith, The B-52's...

Billy Joel's 'We didn't start the fire' was the most brilliant song of the year!

I could of course keep listing, but I won't repeat what has already been said. Interesting how from one person to the next, different things are remembered.

*when did Bush Sr. puke in Japan?* I want to say it was this year, but I think he was in office for a year or 2 before that happened. lol

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_332Hf3G1kfQ/TAFjqJJ1_3I/AAAAAAAAAF0/NFrHvrjrlIU/s1600/1ac6e6f8.jpg

The Super Mario Brothers Super Show

lol! oh my goodness I remember this ;D

lol! oh my goodness I remember this ;D


too bad it didn't last longer.

Billy Joel's 'We didn't start the fire' was the most brilliant song of the year!


one of Billy Joel's angriest songs.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_332Hf3G1kfQ/TAFjqJJ1_3I/AAAAAAAAAF0/NFrHvrjrlIU/s1600/1ac6e6f8.jpg

The Super Mario Brothers Super Show


Captain Lou Albano as Mario
Danny Wells as Luigi

Danny Wells is a Canadian actor.  If you watched 'The Super Mario Brothers Super Show' and always thought he looked familiar, then you probably recognized him as Charlie the bartender on 'The Jeffersons' ...

Captain Lou Albano as Mario
Danny Wells as Luigi

Danny Wells is a Canadian actor.  If you watched 'The Super Mario Brothers Super Show' and always thought he looked familiar, then you probably recognized him as Charlie the bartender on 'The Jeffersons' ...


Lou Albano fit the part perfectly.

1989 is the first year I have some vivid memories of.

WWF wrestling was good that year.

*when did Bush Sr. puke in Japan?* I want to say it was this year, but I think he was in office for a year or 2 before that happened. lol


January 8, 1992, around 8:20 p.m. Japanese Standard Time.

One of the few things not covered in (curse you, copyright monster, for taking it away from YouTube), Alan Gordon's The 90s Song.

January 8, 1992, around 8:20 p.m. Japanese Standard Time.

One of the few things not covered in (curse you, copyright monster, for taking it away from YouTube), Alan Gordon's The 90s Song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnOnDatqENo

Seeds of Love by Tears For Fears was released 09/21/89 to less than glowing reviews and the band's bass player Curt Smith would part ways with his writing partner, close  friend, and colaborator Roland Orzabal in 1990.

Milli Vanilli was a hot team during that year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrTpPbD6VoQ

I was 20 in 1989, it's also the year I got married.  Still married...to the same guy.  ;D

Most of my memories are of planning a wedding! 

1989...Let's see...Well music wise, Warrant, Milli Vanilli, Paula Abdul and The Fine Young Cannibals were popular. They played Black Velvet by Alanah Myles to death (still can't listen to it today). Fashion: Mulletts were still popular, and spandex shorts with high top gym shoes were in.


This is probably the closest to how I remember 1989. I did watch The Super Mario Bros Supershow, The California Raisins and The New Kids on the Block cartoon but that was probably around 1990 and 1991 respectively.

I remember 1989 for the Anglo-Australia connection. Anything Australian was fashionable in 1989, possibly due to the soap opera Neighbours. Two of it's stars came to England and became S/A/W's biggest commodities - Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. The whole thing peaked when they both duetted for the song 'Especially for you'.

Milli Vanilli was a hot team during that year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrTpPbD6VoQ


And then a year after they won the grammy for best new artist they were revealed to be the biggest farce in musical history having not sung a note on their album.  They gave their grammys back.  They were shunned after that and Rob Palatis died in 1998 of a drug overdose.

And then a year after the won the grammy for best new artist they were revealed to be the biggest farce in musical history having not sung a note on their album.  They gave their grammys back.  They were shunned after that and Rob Palatis died in 1998 of a drug overdose.


It was proof that they were faking it all along but they didn't want people to know about it at first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOoIlN5S0hY

Debbie Gibson- Electric Youth

Debbieorah Gibson- Electric Youth


FTFY, in memoriam and such as.

You have Young MC with Principal's Office

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuIZiHk_rk4

1989 was a good year. Last year that my dad had a good job, at least until I was moved out. We camped for a week. Went to Niagara Falls. I got my first Walkman which was the recording version that I wanted. Music was great! I immediately got 2 blank tapes and started recording off the radio. One of which I still have, I made a cover for it at the time and here is a pic of it today.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=45835.0;attach=33618

The next Saturday (which could have been the same night) we were on our way back from fireworks. Traffic detoured. Turned out a couple horses got loose and got hit by 2 vehicles. I remember the vehicles, one was a VW Rabbit pickup, the other was a brand new Olds Cutlass Supreme. The song playing on my radio was Don’t Wanna Lose You by Gloria Estefan. That’s a permanent song association for me.

1989 is my favorite year for the GM cars I like. The 2.8/3.1 from 1989 was so simple, reliable, easy to work on, cheap and easy to get parts even today. 1989 was the last year for the analog EGR so you could bypass it with no codes. They used speed density software in 1989 so no expensive finicky MAF sensor. Crank sensor was 1 bolt and easy to reach with no special tools like on the 90 degree engines. Alternator, water pump, power steering pump, all on top of the engine and super easy to change. 5 little bolts for the water pump and don’t even need to drain the coolant. My Celebrity has over 300k miles and I’d still drive it anywhere. Once I get around to fixing the brakes lol.

1989 was a good year. Last year that my dad had a good job, at least until I was moved out. We camped for a week. Went to Niagara Falls. I got my first Walkman which was the recording version that I wanted. Music was great! I immediately got 2 blank tapes and started recording off the radio. One of which I still have, I made a cover for it at the time and here is a pic of it today.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=45835.0;attach=33618

The next Saturday (which could have been the same night) we were on our way back from fireworks. Traffic detoured. Turned out a couple horses got loose and got hit by 2 vehicles. I remember the vehicles, one was a VW Rabbit pickup, the other was a brand new Olds Cutlass Supreme. The song playing on my radio was Don’t Wanna Lose You by Gloria Estefan. That’s a permanent song association for me.

1989 is my favorite year for the GM cars I like. The 2.8/3.1 from 1989 was so simple, reliable, easy to work on, cheap and easy to get parts even today. 1989 was the last year for the analog EGR so you could bypass it with no codes. They used speed density software in 1989 so no expensive finicky MAF sensor. Crank sensor was 1 bolt and easy to reach with no special tools like on the 90 degree engines. Alternator, water pump, power steering pump, all on top of the engine and super easy to change. 5 little bolts for the water pump and don’t even need to drain the coolant. My Celebrity has over 300k miles and I’d still drive it anywhere. Once I get around to fixing the brakes lol.

Very Nice photo.

They had a lot of good hits during that year.


I was very tempted to tell that sub teacher: "hey I wish you would try! Because then you would have both my mother and my grandmother on your ass if you don't give them back!"!

Because one thing that you don't do is F|_|c|< around with this Blockhead's collector cards in a moment of weakness.

The sub said and I "Celeste I collect baseball cards and I'll take those from you if you don't put them away!"!  It was mostly because I wasn't paying attention in my special ed class senior school.  And what 13 year old is going to pay attention to an outwardly hostile sub teacher who threatens a girl with her New Kids cards?

It was proof that they were faking it all along but they didn't want people to know about it at first.


Nobody knew about it.  Many fans sued Rob and Fabrice and their label to get their money back because many fans felt like they were being ripped off.  And then that negative energy was flipped onto NKOTB.  A lot of people felt that they were just puppets controlled by Maurice Starr.

It was on this day (July 15th) in 1989, Pink Floyd appeared in Canal di San Marco, Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy on a floating stage. Over 200,000 people attended the gig (almost double the number authorities had planned for) causing damage to buildings and bridges. The cleaning of the area after the concert was said to be around £25,000 and the concert was broadcast live on TV to over 20 countries with an estimated audience of almost 100 million. Two Venice councillors were later ordered to stand trial for the costs incurred by the concert.

In 1989 I was really into New Kids on the block. That year I remember going to my cousin's birthday party(This was later in the year). Everyone still had the 80s hairstyles. Even me with my side ponytail. I remember wearing a red blouse that came with a denim skirt. Knee high red socks and black shoes that were kind of like flats but dressier. My favorite song that year was "Love will lead you back" by Taylor Dayne. I wanted so much to sing like her! I would pretend of course in our living room watching the music video.

Here's a photo of me from that day. Typical '80s 9 year old! And look at my eye glasses!

https://i.ibb.co/KzCt4w3/IMG-20210715-230015.jpg

In 1989 I was really into New Kids on the block. That year I remember going to my cousin's birthday party(This was later in the year). Everyone still had the 80s hairstyles. Even me with my side ponytail. I remember wearing a red blouse that came with a denim skirt. Knee-high red socks and black shoes that were kind of like flats but dressier. My favorite song that year was "Love will lead you back" by Taylor Dayne. I wanted so much to sing like her! I would pretend of course in our living room to watch the music video.

Here's a photo of me from that day. Typical '80s 9-year-old! And look at my eyeglasses!

https://i.ibb.co/KzCt4w3/IMG-20210715-230015.jpg



I was into New Kids too.  It never got to see them at all.  But if they're touring next year and I have a source of income then: "LOOK OUT BOSTON CAUSE HERE I COME!"!

It was on this day (July 15th) in 1989, Pink Floyd appeared in Canal di San Marco, Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy on a floating stage. Over 200,000 people attended the gig (almost double the number authorities had planned for) causing damage to buildings and bridges. The cleaning of the area after the concert was said to be around £25,000 and the concert was broadcast live on TV to over 20 countries with an estimated audience of almost 100 million. Two Venice councillors were later ordered to stand trial for the costs incurred by the concert.

Such a cute girl, Jess. :)

Why did you wear eye glasses?

Such a cute girl, Jess. :)

Why did you wear eye glasses?
One thinks, you clicked on the wrong post to reply to here?

I was into New Kids too.  It never got to see them at all.  But if they're touring next year and I have a source of income then: "LOOK OUT BOSTON CAUSE HERE I COME!"!


I never saw them live or in person. Would like to.  :)



Such a cute girl, Jess. :)

Why did you wear eye glasses?


Thank you. I wore eye glasses because when I was a kid I would sit too close to the TV when I watched music videos or cartoons. It made my vision all blurry. I liked my eye glasses though!