Do you miss the '80s?

[heroic_decepticon]

I was just sitting here listening to track after track of songs from the 80s.

I close my eyes and see the 80s flash before me, so close, so vibrant; I can feel the 80s sunshine on my face, I can almost touch it.

Then it dawned on me.

I miss the 80s.

I don't miss it because I think or I know I miss it.

I feel that I miss the 80s.

Maybe its because like Randall said in Clerks II, 'it was a simpler time, it was a time when I know that I still had the world ahead of me'; or maybe it's because things were so much better.

I feel I share a bond with people who grew up in the 80s, a bond like no other, because of the things, songs, TV, cartoons that only we experienced back then - He-Man, MASK, Centurions, Ghostbusters, Spiral Zone, Transformers, Silver Hawks, Visionaries, Ninja Turtles, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Galaxy Rangers, GI Joe and more (this just off the top of my head).

No, things are in no way bad now; and I still have the world ahead of me (I'd hope); but, I just miss the '80s.

[Tober]

Everything began or ended in the 80's...

Robotech, Starblazers, Astro Boy, Transformers, Patlabor... Anime came crashing into my life and allot of my time is still spent around the legacies of 80's anime.

Music - Joy Division/New Order, The Cure, REM, The Smiths, Depeche Mode... The 80s started with electronic music and ended with Rap, possibly the last true creative venture into new musical territories.

Movies - Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner, Alien, Betty Blue, Terminator... Star Wars opened the door for no-brainer Sci-fi/fantasy action movies. Conan, Rocky, Predator, Rambo, Excalibur, Bloodsport, Back to the Future... TnA movies... 80s schlock.

Technology - Internet became publicly available, color TV, VHS/Beta machines, IBM, Macintosh, 3D gaming, printers, Microsoft, Apple, Atari, Commodore 64/Amiga, 2D/3D apps.

Dungeons & Dragons, my Indy 500 Mountain bike, model kits and Star Wars, Transformers and MASK toys.

It's like everything since has just been a tribute. I hear Lady GaGa is touring here soon...

Yeah, Star Wars and allot of 80s new wave and goth started in the late 70's... but that was kinda like pre-80s to me.

[5FDP]

I wish I was back in the 80's. I have very fond memories of growing up - my house, my friends, my family, the music, toys I played with, and movies I liked to watch.

One of my favourite times was going to see my God Parents and playing Transformers with their son while the 'grown-ups' played cards in the dinning room. After we had finished playing, we would sit and watch The Last Starfighter over, and over, again.

*sigh*

There's always something I hear or see that makes me feel 'homesick' for the 80's.

Surely some government somewhere has invented time travel by now??

[Bartrim]

Yes I miss the 80's. A simplier, happier time of cartoons and toys before life got ruined by the rampant hormones of teenage years.

[1AZRAEL1]

I was too young to remember the 80's

[dirge]

Rainbow Brite FTW!

[kup]

The 80s was great because back then they weren't afraid of trying out new things. There was a massive explosion of creativity which they have continuously been exploiting to this day.

The 90s was more like a progression of the 80s. Many awesome concepts introduced in 80s such as cartoons were refined in the 90s with more mature and wide reaching stories and better developed characters. 80s cartoons suffered from having very kiddy and formulaic stories despite the excellent character concepts and awesome worlds they inhabited.

[heroic_decepticon]

Music - Joy Division/New Order, The Cure, REM, The Smiths, Depeche Mode... The 80s started with electronic music and ended with Rap, possibly the last true creative venture into new musical territories.

... and Guns n' Roses, Metallica, Pet Shop Boys, Milli Vanilli, New Kids on the Block, Kris Kross... and Boy Meets Girl (woohoo)

Movies - Star Wars trilogy, Blade Runner, Alien, Betty Blue, Terminator... Star Wars opened the door for no-brainer Sci-fi/fantasy action movies. Conan, Rocky, Predator, Rambo, Excalibur, Bloodsport, Back to the Future... TnA movies... 80s schlock.

Completely agree with you there. Man, you even mentioned Bloodsport, that's a classic in its own league. heh. And the Tim Burton Batman movies too I'd add.

Dungeons & Dragons, my Indy 500 Mountain bike, model kits and Star Wars, Transformers and MASK toys.

Robotech RPG, Battletech, Marvel Super Heroes RPG;
stunt bikes, roller blades (ok, this was pushing 90s), basketball, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkeley...; F1 - Ayrton Sena; Tennis - John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl...

Rainbow Brite FTW!

Strawberry Shotcake, Cabbage Patch Kids, Teddy Ruxpin...

Everything began or ended in the 80's...

Amen.

[GoktimusPrime]

Ahh the 80s...

What would you do if I sang out of tune,

Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song

And I'll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends

Rainbow Brite FTW!

[Lord_Zed]

Yeah the 80's had their moments, but a lot of that love for the 80's is just nostalgia.

I remember fondly all those 80's cartoons, but looking back some are pretty crap. The truth is back in the 80's I was watching them for the first time, and everything was new and exciting. Had I grown up in the 90's I'm pretty sure I would have the same fondness for the nuances of that period. Now I'm older and have seen more, heard more, read more It's harder to find something new and fresh.

The 80s was great because back then they weren't afraid of trying out new things. There was a massive explosion of creativity which they have continuously been exploiting to this day.

The 90s was more like a progression of the 80s. Many awesome concepts introduced in 80s such as cartoons were refined in the 90s with more mature and wide reaching stories and better developed characters. 80s cartoons suffered from having very kiddy and formulaic stories despite the excellent character concepts and awesome worlds they inhabited.

There was a massive explosion of creativity, but also the a surge in capitalism, greed, mass consumption culture pretty much starts in the 80's (although Star Wars Helps kick it off in the 70's). Everything had to be flashy and showy. Cartoons were churned out by the numbers to sell toys to kids. The idea of soulless Holywood Blockbuster (as continued today by movies like ROTF) appears in the 80's. And let's not forget that Wall Street film and Gordon Gecko's enduring utterance "Greed is good"

I think there was a bit of a backlash in the 90's where everyone said the 80's were to bright, flashy and shallow, so they said lets make things dark and more mature.

I admit there's something really appealing about that vibrancy of the 80's though, everything is full of life if perhaps empty of mind. I mean it all looks a bit tacky these days and it's as if I long for the days that I could enjoy corny 80's shows, movies and music without feeling somehow guilty.

And so far no one has mentioned 80's cop shows. Pretty much every show involved car chases, shoot outs more car chases and guys with indestructible hair. Hardly any of that investigation stuff that modern shows all seem to be about.

I can't help but think a lot of the 80's can be described as so bad it was good!

And what's with that hair?