I feel like the early part of the decade has its own unique feel and vibe to it. ET, Star Wars was still going on, Raiders of the Lost Ark, you had the last gasp of the auteur system in movies with Heaven's Gate, Flashdance, etc. The Atari 2600 and videogame/arcade scene exploding from 1980 to just before the crash in 1984.

The best way I can explain it is pictorially.

These are various high schools in 1982 and 1983, to show what I mean, as to how this part of the decade looks different from what popular memory remembers as the 1980s (IE, the mid-late 80s look).

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/QlTSesFmHJnycblmHz5oY2cd_oIonX1JdUgAlxjE2NmLHL3r4y9ORZEXMFl7RETMJ58sKdSHNtUDxgaL0-hmt72NfQ2F3cM1myUHyPz6rt2h1JynPdxVlLKA6JS08OpdXJFqNPSZQ4QyvnGVeQ

https://i.redd.it/mu3vrgdnxrjz.jpg

https://www.whitepigeonlibrary.org/uploads/6/7/1/7/6717345/0007_30_orig.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/47/2e/ff/472eff33782d7645ed5939dad12df3ce.jpg

https://2warpstoneptune.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/1982-3.png

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6c/36/80/6c3680e24f1f56b2489d25e66eae8f0d.jpg

More 1982 and 1983 seniors.

The early 80s are the best because digital hadnt yet ruined everything!! (It got worse and worse as the 80s went on)

The early 80s are the best because digital hadnt yet ruined everything!! (It got worse and worse as the 80s went on)


I liked the later part better (late 1986-1989) but maybe because I remember it better.

https://2warpstoneptune.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/1982-3.png



I think I know these people.  ;D  ;D  ;D

I feel like the early part of the decade has its own unique feel and vibe to it.


I 100% agree.

I don't know if I love the early 80s, but there were things to like about it.  For me, it's hard to pinpoint my favorite part of the 80s because the decade for me personally was change, change, change, change, change and more change (perhaps typical for a 20-something then).

I'll go out on a limb and say pop-culture wise, it was slightly "meh", as I plunged headlong into music of the past starting late 70s into the early 80s (preferring oldies to music of the present).  There was some good TV around but by and large not as great as what preceded it.  Movies, on the other hand, were getting really good (the 80s is my favorite movie decade).

Fashion-wise, I welcomed getting away from the 70s (even though I had liked it at the time).  I liked the new emphasis (for women) on natural fabrics (silk, cotton, wool, leather).  I loved all the sweaters and "comfy" wear.  I even liked the return to lace and eyelet blouses.  When I returned to college in '81 I liked all the new choices in denim wear and corduroy.  And the great boots!  (Sometimes worn with leg warmers.)

I think I know these people.  ;D  ;D  ;D


Were they your friends?

Were they your friends?


It was a joke, Howard.

It was a joke, Howard.



Well, I'm laughing.  ;D ;D ;D


Cat

Well, I'm laughing.  ;D ;D ;D


Cat


We all knew people who looked just like that back then. 

We all knew people who looked just like that back then.


Yeap, the middle part and the John Oates mustache.