The 80's were awesome

[zelticgar]

Trying to explain to the kids how cool it was growing up in the 80's. They don't understand. I try to explain world premier videos, roller skating, Joanie and Chachi, ET, The Goonies, Driving in my dads Pinto with no seat belt on, being a newspaper delivery boy, Devil worshipping rock bands,  Choose your own adventure... So many awesome times. This is the thread to talk about how awesome the 80's were. Lets hear it! 

 

 

[The Wedge]

Ah, to be 11 years old again and have McDonald's run their disastrous 1984 Summer Olympics When the U.S. Wins, You Win scratch off game!

We were swimming in free Big Macs, Fries, and Cokes all summer long.

 

[Free Northman Reborn]

The He-Man clip in that one episode of Stranger Things had me transfixed. The 80's were mind blowingly awesome indeed. 

[Swordfish]

Hypercolor t-shirts.

 

[Spockydog]

Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

The Blue Nile.

The Lost Boys.

 

[drawkcabi]

And thus the enchanted words were spoken and thusly so I am summoned...

You may not have known what you were in for when you made this thread but man the genie is out of the bottle now.

I can't post right now, but I will be back soon to regale all with the tales of the decade where a spoiled only child was doted on not only by parents with disposable income but a grandmother as well.

 

[drawkcabi]

We had a similar thread a while back:

 

This is what I said that time:

 

The 80's were a time of wonder, a time of magic. A time when anything seemed possible, anything seemed doable. However so much was also not instantly accessible, you either had to work for it or wait for it a bit (which seemed like work).

It began with the video game boom. There were consoles everywhere. Atari was the top dog though and what every kid wanted. There was the Atari VCS or 2600, but then there were the computer/video game consoles hybrids like the Atari 400 and 800. I had the 400 which was a superior video game console at the time (meaning Pac-man actually looked like Pac-Man) but an inferior computer. There was the Colecovision which I also had and there were expansion adapters for it that you could actually play games from the Atari 2600 on it. This would be like having an Xbox today and being able to buy an adapter to hook up to it and play Playstation games on it. There was the Intellivision, the Vectrex, the Magnavox Odessey^2, and a half dozen more.

There were video game arcades. Entering into one of these places in the early 1980's was like entering a new futuristic world. The lights were always kept dim to enhance the attraction of the flashing neon lights flickering from each individual cabinet. The sounds of all the electronic beeps, bleeps, and bloops were usually accompanied by 80's rock from a juke box that was blasting it's music from its speakers or it was piped in throughout. There was always a feeling of warmth emanating from so much electronics plugged in and bright vibrant colors flashing.

There were so many games. Some of the most fun ones were the sit down ones. You could imagine being in your own x-wing fighter on the infamous run against the Death Star, or be Captain Kirk in his chair on the actual bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

There were games like Dig Dug, Galaga, Centipede, Joust, Pole Position, Donkey Kong, but Pac-Man and the Pac-Man franchise was the mac daddy of them all. In the 80's to be dropped off at the mall on a Friday night and spend the time with buddies away from parental supervision, hanging out at the arcade, movie theater, and pizza joint, was the best thing in the world.

Then there was the television. Everything posters have been saying about Reagan is just about right. But here is one thing he did that made him a hero to me and so many other kids, though we didn't really know it then. In the 60's and 70's due to FCC regulations you couldn't have cartoons of toylines. Reagan deregulated that. So we went from cartoons like Scooby-Doo, Speed Buggy, Jabber Jaw, animated forms of live-action shows like Brady Bunch, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, and super-hero cartoons like Batman, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and Super-Friends (but no direct toy tie-ins) to Transformers, G.I.Joe, Robotech, Challenge of the Gobots, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, M.A.S.K. and many more. Some cartoons like Super-Friends which became the Super Powers Show finally got direct toy tie-ins. This gave way to the line everyone thought they were clever for using "half-hour toy commercials". But it was so much more. Because so many of these toys were futuristic or fantastic we were given a glut of sci-fi/fantasy stories on TV. Yes, much of them they were dumbed down for kids and they made you want to buy the new action figure or vehicle debuted, but it also inspired the imagination and sense of fun in a kid like nothing else!

Saturday morning was appointment television. You waited all week just for that time of morning where all 3 netowrks, all 3 of them, NBC, CBS, and ABC would show nothing but cartoons from 8am to noon. Thinking of how things are today where any show you could possibly want is instantly accessible, it just makes me feel like that feeling of Saturday morning anticipation is gone for good and makes me a little sad. We had Smurfs, Snorks, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Muppet Babies, the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Garfield and Friends, The Littles, The Puppy's Further Adventures, ALF, Turbo Teen, Mighty Orbots ,Blackstar, Thundarr the Barbarian, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, The Real Ghostbusters, Tarzan, Super-Friends, Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, Incredible Hulk, Space Stars (new adventures of Space Ghost, Herculoids, Teen Force Astro and the Space Mutts), Rubik The Amazing Cube, Pac-Man, Saturday Supercade (Donkey Kong, Frogger, Q-bert, Pole Position), new adventures of The Flintstones, Jetsons and other Hanna-Barbera characters, and repackaged vintage Looney Tunes in the form of The Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show and later The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show.

We also had shows on in the afternoon too after school. These times they were normally provided by local stations, not network affiliates and usually found on the UHF stations. These were shows like Transformers, G.I. Joe, Robotech, Voltron, Gobots, M.A.S.K., He-Man, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Thundercats, and SilverHawks. By then end of the decade you get into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Disney Afternoon (Ducktakes, Chip and Dale, etc.) and Tiny Toons. Batman: TAS, X-Men, Animanicas, Pinky and the Brain, and a new Spider-man were all around the corner in the early 90's.

Then, yes, we got cable! The excitement of seeing the cable providers install the new cable lines just left us with this feeling of anticipation of potential greatness that was coming. We got cable in 1984, before that I remember going to my half-brother's house in a different town and first being introduced to this amazing thing there. I remember having Disney Channel and Nickelodeon and with shows like Donald Duck Presents, Mousterpiece Theater, You Can't Do That On Television, and Dangermouse I was thrilled to see my afterschool programming extend all the way into the evening! No internet, so outside from a my dad taking me to a topless beach in Italy when I was 7, I got to see nudity for the first time in movies like Police Academy and Bachelor Party...and after my parents went to sleep I'd sneak out and record movies like Young Lady Chatterley on our Betamax then in the days after I'd show it to all my friends.

Which allows me to segue into VCRs! Back in the 70's and early 80's there were 2 competing brands. the Sony Betamax and the VHS. Betamax had superior quality but VHS tapes were bigger and could hold more. Since movies usually ran close to 2 hours, VHS was the better format for them which was a big reason they eventually won out. However we got a Betamax in like 1977. We were the first house on the block with a vcr. At first we used it only for recording off of TV, lots of prime-time specials and episodes of The Muppet Show. Also we had home movies we could watch on it. Then I discovered one of the greatest institutions the 1980's could ever offer. The video rental store. We had one in the same shopping center where my parents' restaurant was. At first I didn't use it that much. I'd always go and rent like 4 or 5 movies and I'd always have trouble getting them back on time and end up having to pay late fees. Also as the 80's went on, many video stores phased out Beta tapes to rent and the selection got smaller and smaller.

In 1987 I got my first VHS VCR and from that point renting a video became weekly event. Again it's the thing with being on the hunt, looking for something good and the endorphins released when you find that perfect video you want to watch that night and bring it home. Sometimes more fun than the experience of watching the actual movie. The best times were when school was out and I'd go in on week day, because on Friday night, NONE of the new releases would be available, ever. On a weekday night, it was like going into a completely different store. They had movies that had only come out 8 or 9 months ago!

Before renting movies became a thing, the only way to see a movie repeatedly was to wait for it to come around again at your local theater. The big movies would usually do that. I remember seeing Star Wars in 1980 which was 3 years after it came out. Other movies like Back To The Future, Gremlins, Ghostbusters I remember them leaving and coming back to the theater the next year. Other times you just waited a couple years and movies would end up on network TV edited and with commercials.

Also, once renting movies became more common, it still wasn't common to own movies. A VHS or Beta tape of an average movie was normally around $95.00 to own. Rental stores would buy the movies and get their money back from renting them out, but for most people a movie had to be really special for them to own. When Top Gun came out on video it was a big thing because they priced it at $27 and this was like the beginning of people buying to own their own movies as a more common thing.

Back to video games. In 1983 we had the video game crash. There were just so many video game consoles out and so many titles, so many third parties putting out crappy video games, and with the over-production of Atari 2600 ports of Pac-Man and E.T., both games that were big disappointments, Atari lost a lot of money and people thought the video game craze had been a fad that was now over.

The action-figure/doll/die cast metal toys became bigger than ever. When Star Wars came out in 1977 and kids demanded toys, it caused an evolution in children's toys. Before Star Wars the most popular toys for boys were the larger 8 to 12 inch dolls like the original G.I. Joes or the Mego dolls and playsets were basically cardboard cutout backgrounds with bits of plastic accessories here and there. After Star Wars Kenner changed things up with their ~4 inch action figures, vehicles, and playsets that were mostly plastic and had much more play value like the Death Star playset.

Then in the 80's G.I. Joe comes along with their new comic book series and new toy line related to it and changes things up again. Now the ~4 inch figures have even more articulation, you can bend their arms and legs! The vehicles and playsets are even more interactive and detailed and more fun!

However, G.I. Joe toys had to gain momentum in the early 80's, they were still competing with Kenner's Star Wars toys which ruled until Return of The Jedi stopped playing in theaters, and other toys that took off immediately. One was Mattel's Masters of the Universe line with He-Man, Skeletor and all those greats.

Then there were Transformers! That completely changed everything. After Transformers there were so many different companies bringing out their brand of configure changing toys, Gobots, M.A.S.K., Voltron, etc. So many different toys imported from Japan, almost all some kind of robot or space vehicle, and most having their own cartoon in Japan, though as a kid in the 80's I had no idea. The Transformers story is infamous, how they were 2-3 different toy lines imported from Japan and all imported by Hasbro to be one toy line in the U.S. with its own cartoon. The deal is also why we have a Macross Valkyrie as a Transformer toy, but the character looking completely different on the cartoon series and why genuine quality Robotech toys were so hard to find in the U.S. under that name, and the ones we did have like the Matchbox Robotech line, the Veritech fighter could not change modes, they were not allowed to make one that did.

But aside from instances like that, the late 70's and most of the 80's were a time when children had the greatest toys ever. This is my strongest argument, with or without rose tinted nostalgia goggles, for why the 80's were the best. When I was a kid and would bring my toys to school or to my parents' restaurant or wherever, the adults would look at them and say "I wish we had toys like these when I was a kid". I look at most toys for kids now and think "I wish they had toys like when I was a kid."

There was just an explosion of the coolest toys ever in that decade. All the die cast metal and Japanese toys, when Star Wars faded out G.I. Joe came up behind it and eventually became mega popular. There were also Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, but I really wasn't into them. I did have Rubik's cubes though. At least a dozen of them. Regular ones, pyramid ones, trapezoid ones, flat ones, mini ones, keychain ones...and I never solved any of them

I also had a Teddy Ruxpin, but was unimpressed, it never seemed to work right. By the end mid to end of the decade we had Laser Tag, Captain Power, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I wasn't as into toys at that point.

But throughout the 80's I'd have theme Christmases, like one year it would be a He-Man Christmas, the next year would be a Transformers one, then a G.I.Joe one. I remember the Christmases from 1983-1986 opening my new presents then going out and showing all my friends what I got and seeing what they got.

Then in 1986/87 things changed. A new player was on the scene, of a type most had thought were literally gone and buried. The Nintendo Entertainment System.

I was actually a latecomer to the video game landscape this time around. I remember after the crash of 1983 everyone thought video games were lame and no one wanted to talk about playing them or anything except the real hard core gamers. Then starting in 1987 I started hearing kids in school talk about this new video game, I had just started junior high and I was in 7th grade. Weirdos, I thought, who'd get so excited of video games? Zelda? What's that? Sounds stupid.

For my birthday in 1988 I got a Sega Master System, I wanted one because I saw you could play Monopoly on it and I thought that looked neat. I got that and a few games for it. I thought it was fun but nothing really great. Then for Christmas in 1988 I got a NES, I hadn't even asked for one, but I got it. I hooked it up and was introduced for the first time to Super Mario Bros. It was a (pun intended) game changer for me. I suddenly got what had got the attention of just about everyone else and once again I was deeply into video games. I started building my Nintendo library and by the next Christmas as the decade closed out, I got a Nintendo Gameboy and a Sega Genesis, both gave me hours and hours of great times.

I could talk so much more about the 80's but I guess I'll finish up with this post. There were other things I remember like I did feel like any day there would be nuclear war between the U.S. and the USSR. Anytime regular TV was interrupted with a "This is a special report" my heart would jump into my throat because I thought the next thing I'd see is a reporter saying nuclear missiles have been launched and stations would begin to switch to their emergency broadcasting systems. I remember the space shuttle Challenger exploding and that was the 9/11 of my generation. Things were just different after that. I remember watching on the launch of the first space shuttle into space, the Columbia, in 1981. I remember Reagan coming on TV talking about Nicaragua, then another time about attacking Libya. I remember the Iran Contra hearings and how it spoiled TV that whole summer, and I remember the Berlin Wall coming down.

I wasn't into fashion much, I thought sneakers with Velcro instead of laces were the coolest thing. I wasn't really into music, didn't get into that until later, I'm mostly nostalgic over music that was played in 80's movies. I remember sporting events, thought mostly NFL football. I remember the Olympics being a big thing too.

I remember no red M&M's because people thought the red dye gave you cancer.

I remember McDonald's introducing chicken McNuggets and they as with all their burgers too came in Styrofoam boxes and their paper bags were white. I remember "Where's the Beef" commercials, The Noid, Where's Herb? New Coke, Classic Coke, Diet Coke, Caffiene Free Coke, Cherry Coke, Diet Caffiene Free Coke, Diet Cherry Coke...

I remember EVERYTHING had a cereal!

[Jaxom 1974]

1 hour ago, The Wedge said:

Ah, to be 11 years old again and have McDonald's run their disastrous 1984 Summer Olympics When the U.S. Wins, You Win scratch off game!

We were swimming in free Big Macs, Fries, and Cokes all summer long.

 

Oh hell yes.

And Tron. /thread

[zelticgar]

Drawk - epic, so epic. 

When I think of the 80's i get visions. Not spiritual visions, Colecovision and Intellivision!  

[Swordfish]

Laff Olympics....

Stretch Armstrong.

Greatest American Hero

Man From Atlantis.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

1 hour ago, The Wedge said:

Ah, to be 11 years old again and have McDonald's run their disastrous 1984 Summer Olympics When the U.S. Wins, You Win scratch off game!

We were swimming in free Big Macs, Fries, and Cokes all summer long.

 

I member that. I've never loved Russians more.

[zelticgar]

Bonfire parties in the woods. We would burn tires! Tires! and no one even worried about getting cancer from it or that it was bad for the environment.

Alchohol was everywhere. We always had kegs but no one was 21. Everyone smoked and no one cared. 

After School Specials taught us how not to be Nazi's and that if you smoke pot you will probably end up getting a joint with angel dust slipped into it and will end up hallucinating and accidentally jumping off a building to your death. 

Dudley getting molested scared the shit out me. 

Weird Al and Doctor Demento

Old School territory Wrestling - all the Von Erichs died, Kevin Sullivan was a devil worshiper, Jimmy Snuka off the top of the steel cage. 

 

 

[drawkcabi]

30 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Oh hell yes.

And Tron. /thread

For shame. There is no end to talking about the 80's!!! And I'll prove it!

24 minutes ago, zelticgar said:

Drawk - epic, so epic. 

When I think of the 80's i get visions. Not spiritual visions, Colecovision and Intellivision!  

You made my Christmas by making this thread.

I got a Colecovision for  my 7th birthday in 1982. I remember my parents hooked it up the the 10" color TV in my room. It was on a cart that had had three levels. Top level: TV, middle level: Colecovision, bottom level: All my games.

I member the pack in game was Donkey Kong and also getting Smurf Adventure. I also got the 2600 adapter, I had an Atari 400, but there were games on the 2600 I always wished I could play and now I could. I got Pitfall, Superman, Emprie Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Spider-Man, E.T.  , Ms. Pac-man, Tapper, and Pitfall II (which was a damn ambitious game for the 2600!)

I member just waking up random mornings and seeing a new Colecovision game on the dining room table my mom had picked up for me. I member getting up one rainy Saturday morning and seeing the Turbo expansion pack. It was the steering wheel, gas pedal, and Turbo game cartridge. I went to my friends place two houses down, told him what I got and he came over right away abd we played Turbo all day.

The steering wheel console had a slot where you stuck the 2nd player controller into and used it as a gear shift. Member the controllers? A knob at the top for joystick and then a number keypad beneath. The gas pedal was a cool idea but kind of difficult, it would either keep slipping out from under our feet or our legs would cramp up. We ended up just sitting on the pedal to keep it depressed the entire time.

I member all the other Coleco games I received: Donkey Kong Jr., Carnival, Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Frogger, Frogger II, Bump n' Jump, Up and Down, Mousetrap, Mr. Do!, Mr. Do!'s Castle, and Burgertime.

 

How about this?

Member being dropped off at the mall and having to use a pay phone to be called and picked up? Only problem is you were out of money because you had to use your last quarter for one last arcade game. So you called home collect and your mom or dad would yell at you for costing them money. Eventually you figured out a code to get messages across so they didn't have to accept the charges and still know to pick you up.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

1 minute ago, drawkcabi said:

I member all the other Coleco games I received: Donkey Kong Jr., Carnival, Star Wars: The Arcade Game, Frogger, Frogger II, Bump n' Jump, Up and Down, Mousetrap, Mr. Do!, Mr. Do!'s Castle, and Burgertime.

Member Venture?

I member.

[drawkcabi]

1 minute ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Member Venture?

I member.

Oh yeah, I member Venture! Didn't have that one, but my friend did.

Member combat?

I member my uncle had that.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Just now, drawkcabi said:

Oh yeah, I member Venture! Didn't have that one, but my friend did.

Member combat?

I member my uncle had that.

It was like Arcade Dungeons and Dragons. Loved that game.

You mean Atari Combat? Pretty much everyone should member Comabt, as it was the pack in for most Atari 2600's.

[drawkcabi]

Just now, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

It was like Arcade Dungeons and Dragons. Loved that game.

You mean Atari Combat? Pretty much everyone should member Comabt, as it was the pack in for most Atari 2600's.

I member!

But member I never got a proper Atari 2600 console, just the Colecovision adapter that didn't come with a pack in game. So I only played it at my uncle's.

Member the 2600 joysticks? Member the thumb cramps? I also used those joysticks for the Atari 400.

I member my Atari 400. For that I had Pac-man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Astrochase, Popeye, Congo Bongo, Joust, Buck Rogers, Missile Command, Spy Hunter*, and 3D Tic-Tac-Toe. For it's cassette drive I had States and Capitals (still member the capital of every state!), Hangman, Clowns and Balloons, Zaxxon, and a program that taught the Italian language.

*Just saying the name Spy Hunter and the Peter Gunn theme starts playing in my head.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

1 minute ago, drawkcabi said:

I member!

But member I never got a proper Atari 2600 console, just the Colecovision adapter that didn't come with a pack in game. So I only played it at my uncle's.

Member the 2600 joysticks? Member the thumb cramps? I also used those joysticks for the Atari 400.

I member my Atari 400. For that I had Pac-man, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Astrochase, Popeye, Congo Bongo, Joust, Buck Rogers, Missile Command, Spy Hunter*, and 3D Tic-Tac-Toe. For it's cassette drive I had States and Capitals (still member the capital of every state!), Hangman, Clowns and Balloons, Zaxxon, and a program that taught the Italian language.

*Just saying the name Spy Hunter and the Peter Gunn theme starts playing in my head.

I had an Atari 800 with the proper keyboard. That machine was my introduction to Computer RPG's, so I'll always have fond memories of it. Ultima 3 was probably my favorite. I had cassette games as well. I think my favorite was Blue Max, which was basically a Zaxxon rip-off, only you were flying a WW-I biplane. 

I also had these big books of Basic Computer games that you could enter into your computer manually with the Basic Cartridge and then save to disk. Extremely time consuming, but pretty rewarding when you got one to actually work.

[Iskaral Pust]

As I said before in the other thread, this sentiment is very American.  Most of the 80s in Ireland and Britain involved recession, high unemployment, high mortgage rates, scolding over national debt, industries disintegrating as govt protection was removed, etc. Most families in Ireland weren't wealthy enough for Nintendos or the other stuff American kids remember, and those American Saturday morning cartoons didn't reach us until the mid to late 80s.  Nowhere except maybe Japan (at the peak of their bubble) had living standards like America during the 80s. 

[drawkcabi]

2 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

I also had these big books of Basic Computer games that you could enter into your computer manually with the Basic Cartridge and then save to disk. Extremely time consuming, but pretty rewarding when you got one to actually work.

I had the Basic cartridge but could never get any program to work. Put me off computer programming, if I had gotten one to work maybe I would have been more into it. As it was I didn't get my next computer until fifteen years later.