The 80's were awesome

[DunderMifflin]

If only there were some fashion and hairstyles that were gauranteed to still seem cool throughout the end of time.

In 60 years how different will dubstep and disco really seem. My guess is theyll both be seen as hard drug fueled night club scenes with awful fashion and awful hairstyles.

[drawkcabi]

Growing up my parents had a '76 black Cadillac 4 door sedan, black leather interior even when I was twelve years old I could lie across the back seat with my feet touching one end and my head barely touching the other and without scrunching up in the least. All my friends called it "The Limo".

They also had a '74 silver Lincoln Continental mark something 2 door with silver leather interior and sunroof (that I could never open because mom - and dad's - hair would be mussed). They also had a '79 Dodge maxi van, 6 reclining seats, a sofa in the back that transformed into a bed, and a CB radio. We always took the van on vacations to places like Ocean City, MD, Atlantic City, NYC and Pennsylvania.

My dad had a thing for antique cars too, we a 1920's Buick and also a Rolls Royce from that decade. Also a nineteen sixty-something Thunderbird metallic blue, white interior. I loved going for rides in the Rolls, one main reason because the steering was on the right so I'd be five years old and we'd be cruising down the highway and I'd be sitting in the seat where the driver usually sits. Never wore seatbelts.

My grandmother who lived with us until I was 10 had a '72 Plymouth Satellite, canary yellow with orange reflectors, black interior. That was a fun car!

In 1986 my dad totaled the Cadillac (the first of 3 he totaled, all Caddy's) and we got an '86 black and silver Chrysler 5th Avenue 4 door with silver leather interior. Very close to Mike's car on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. After having the Caddy and even the Lincoln (which we gave to my brother) I remember feeling so cramped in that car.

[Cadiva]

23 hours ago, zelticgar said:

From the US I recall feeling like things in Europe were a little darker. The eastern block was feared but it was not as close. In western europe it seems like that tension was inescapable. I really don't have a sense for how it felt other than what I picked up from the little media I paid attention to. 

I will say that from what I do recall the two biggest influences that I felt coming from Europe were from music and fashion. It seems like we took our lead in those areas from the artists coming out of the UK pretty heavily.  I feel like the US was probably more influential in Movies and video games. 

Oh absolutely, there was real fear of the Soviet Union and the other Communist countries. My Sports Editor went on holiday to the then Yugoslavia and because it had journalist on her passport as her occupation she and her family were followed by men in dark suits/cars wherever they went.

I remember vividly when the TV Show Threads aired on the BBC in 1984, it was about a nuclear strike on Sheffield and it was absolutely terrifying, it was done as a drama documentary and everyone was shit scared and it was all we talked about the next day at school. 

People were genuinely scared of the "commie under the bed" and thought the Conservative Government were saviours. In the North of England where I grew up, Yorkshire specifically, unemployment was rife, the Miner's Strike caused untold suffering across great swathes of the county which even now, almost 40 years later, still have an effect. As a teen the 80s were amazing, but as a young adult they were scary and depressing and involved lots of shortages and going without. I was 12 before we went on a holiday abroad and it was for 10 days to Majorca in October because it was cheaper! My parents saved up months for us to go.

The anti-AIDS public service announcements were also truly shocking and terrifying, designed with the single aim of scaring teenagers from ever having sex at all and firmly putting the blame for it on the gay (as it was at that time) community. They were horrendous.

[Jaxom 1974]

Let's also not forget that the 80s were last gasp of when game shows were really something.  There heyday may have been the 70s, but they were still so much fun through the early 80s...

[drawkcabi]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 10:09 AM, Jaxom 1974 said:

Let's also not forget that the 80s were last gasp of when game shows were really something.  There heyday may have been the 70s, but they were still so much fun through the early 80s...

"Come on big bucks, no Whammy!"

[Jaxom 1974]

5 hours ago, drawkcabi said:

"Come on big bucks, no Whammy!"

Exactly.

[all swedes are racist]

On 12/13/2016 at 10:09 AM, Jaxom 1974 said:

Let's also not forget that the 80s were last gasp of when game shows were really something.  There heyday may have been the 70s, but they were still so much fun through the early 80s...

Totally. Kids today have no idea what they missed out on

[zelticgar]

6 hours ago, drawkcabi said:

"Come on big bucks, no Whammy!"

I always wanted to pull that big handle on the "Joker's Wild".  The Gong Show was also pretty big in my house. 

[Jaxom 1974]

I loved Card Sharks and Match Game...

[DireWolfSpirit]

They had this thing called Soul music back then 

 

[Kairi]

Has anyone mentioned Thundercats?  Lion-O was the love of my teenage life.  

Hysteria - Def Leppard is the first album that took hold of me.  I think Appetite for Destruction came not long after.  

Great thread.

[TheMightyKC]

RIP Alan Thicke.  "Sharing the laughter and the love" - you will always be my "TV Dad".  Love you, buddy