Hankering for the ’80s
I’ve been cruising down memory lane lately. One day while searching through photographs at some site (yeah yeah really killing time vs. writing, I know), I found this awesome print that took me right back…
Oh my God if that doesn’t scream the ’80s I don’t know what does!! It’s by Patrick Nagel. He also did the Rio cover for Duran Duran. I, of course, was an obsessed Duranie (I was gonna marry Roger, the drummer. And listen to this - I married a drummer the first time around and my current husband shares the same birthday as…Roger!!! OMG!!!). Nagel died in the early 80s - I guess he smoked like a train and drank like a fish. He decided to get healthy and went to work out - aerobics. He dropped dead on the street right after. Crazy!!
And don’t even get me started on the models. I wanted to be each and every one of them. Cindy Crawford, Elle MacPherson, Paulina Porizkova… And I subscribed to Elle magazine when it first came out - such an ’80s fashion magazine.
Ashely Richardson on the left - LOVED HER!! Wanted to be her. I’ve already decided if I ever become a lesbian, I want a blonde chick. I’m a fan of blondes. (Um, yeah, now I’m talking about being a lesbian - I’m losing it)
Such an ’80s pose, straight out of Elle!! I love it.
Okay, let’s just say it. The ’80s rocked! The music (and not that Dixie’s Midnight Runners crap you always hear, the good obscure stuff is what I’m talking about), the fashion, the makeup, the hair!! Yeah!! I miss those times. They were good times.
So share your memories of the ’80s. Let’s reminisce! Tell me your favorite band, your favorite TV show (Moonlighting!! Miami Vice!!), your fashion icon, whatever. Let’s stroll down memory lane together.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 am
I’ve got to admit that I was a kid in the ’80s… so my memories involve the REAL Care Bears, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Strawberry Shortcake (none of this creepy big-headed, shrivelled body remake SH$! they’ve got now).
My mother was (and still is) a “cool mom.” She started watching MTV because the neighbors thought it was a corrupting influence. “Um, the reason they burn things in the video is because the song’s called ‘Blaze of Glory,’” I remember her telling one anti-Bon Jovi mom.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:16 am
LOL! Wow the 80’s stuff you remember is a trip! My 80’s page would’ve had jelly bracelets, Wham, leg warmers, and Cabbage Patch kids on it!
But then, those things were my focus in the 80’s. I loved Duran Duran too. And that’s crazy about the drummer. How horrible!
Those are great pics! That cartoonish one is almost erotic!
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:17 am
Kate I was a kid in the 80’s too! I hit middle school right when the 90’s came about.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:31 am
rasta Ok, don’t rub in how young you all are. I loved the 80’s. Madonna became hip in the 80’s, Cindy Lauper, Bon Jovi, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire
loved that. Rob Lowe was so hot in that. The Brat Pack, ya know. Tights, legwarmers, and skirts, shoulder pads (yuk! Nothing like looking like a Mac truck), Jordache jeans (Brooke Shields endorsed them), Polo shirts (I mean the craze of girls wearing the boys shirts because they didn’t sell them for girls, yet.) Oh, and Footloose and….TOP GUN! 
I could go on… but I’ll spare ya’ll.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:38 am
Ok how could I forget St Elmo’s Fire?? Every time that movie is on TV I watch it. It drives my son crazy - but I love it! And Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles!! The bus scene in Sixteen Candles? I rode that bus!! LMAO
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:39 am
The Breakfast Club has the best dance scene EVER in a movie. Bonus points because it was completely useless.
I love Anthony Michael Hall’s character. The flare gun bit… so incredibly sad, and true, and funny at the same time.
The ’80s was also the heyday for The Best Fantasy Movies Ever. I’m not talking Harry Potter. I’m not talking Lord of the Rings. I’m not even talking Star Wars.
It’s all about Ladyhawke, Willow, and Princess Bride, people. ESPECIALLY Princess Bride.
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:40 am
The 80’s are some of my fondest memories. The movies are still some of the best. I loved Ladyhawke and Princess Bride. Anthony Micheal Hall in 16 Candles was fantastic.
I still listen to Hair Bands. I love Poison, GNR, Cinderella, and INXS.
But fashionwise, WTF was I thinking. Did I actually wear turquoise and fuschia? With crimped hair? And pumps with anklets. I must have because my mother can produce photograpic evidence to prove it.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:43 am
My entire teen years were during the 80’s too and I felt pretty ripped off! I’ve always preferred sixties and seventies music and clothing, and favored them both during most of the decade. In college, I used to bring my own James Brown tapes to parties rasta Thank heavens rap and house caught on eventually
I do fondly remember Sun-In, spiral perms, pointy shoes and purple eyeliner
Jen
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 am
I loved the 80s. Anyone remember the movie Less Than Zero? Gawd, I had the biggest thing for James Spader! And The Lost Boys. Still love that movie. My music ran more along the lines of Metallica and Anthrax, but these days I’ll listen to anything 80s. :P
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:23 am
I turned 10 in 1980..so all my formative memories are really there–and sometimes stuck there.
These are a few of my favorite things:
80’s movies (John Hughes was a god)
Metal Ballads (*sigh* Something about those bad boys sining love songs with all that hair really got me)
TV: Family Ties, Growing Pains
“Luke and Laura”
Princess Di’s wedding
bangs (thanks Aqua Net)
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
You know, I’ve never seen St. Elmos Fire or The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles (ducking the tomatoes) It just never happened!
Sigh.
I loooove The Princess Bride. No more rhymes and I mean it.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
YEAH, general hospital…which I snuck after school to watch. remember Max? and the earthquake? Luke and laura?
movies and music…the 80’s were the BEST decade for both. Ladyhawke, hello? fantasy anyone? willow and val kilmer, right? Let’s not forget SNL when it was actually funny…
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 am
Gwen we are the same age - I turned 10 in 1980 too!!!
I loved Family Ties and Growing Pains! Remember Boner? OMG
And Less than Zero!! Ever read the book Lori? It’s better than the movie!!
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Madonna. I would send hours practicing her dance moves in my living room. I was always kinda dirty. Burnin’ Up was my favorite. I can still picturing her writhing around on that dark street…sigh. Guess I love blonds, too.
There was once a time I could recite The Breakfast Club verbatim. Seriously, it was sad. Now I just remember little lines, like: “Eat. My. Shorts.”
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Oh, Gwen, Aqua Net played such a large role in my childhood it’s become part of my official bio.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
LOVE the 80s!!!
My mother blew a gasket when I cut the fingertips out of some ancient pair of lace gloves to dress like Madonna.
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Okay, I had to share this pic from last year when I lived out my Madonna fantasy and went to her concert.
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/trashywriter/meandJen.jpg
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I had already graduated from college and was in the workforce. Favorite 80’s bands were Blondie, Berlin, Guns and Roses, Depeche Mode, and Def Leopard. Favorite singer was Pat Benatar (her videos were dreadful, but not her fault). I still think she can wail! Rock on Pat.
I have some savory memories from that time period, so thanks for the trip down memory lane.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
The 80s were ages 3-12 for me (born in ‘77) but even though I was a kid (not a teenager), I still have some great 80s memories…Cabbage Patch Kids, Strawberry Shrotcake, Care Bears, Madonna, Michael Jackson, this one boy in my 2nd grade class doing a head spin at my birthday party and my dad getting afraid he’d crack his head open and his parents would sue us…
Good times…
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
John Hughes movies - why don’t they make them like that for MY kids? Sixteen Candles was the best. I still say: What’s a happin’ hotstuff? all the time. Long Duck Dong: a man for all seasons.
When I tell my kids we used to wear jeans so tight they had zippers on the bottom so we could get them on, they do some major eyerolling and put on their pants that hang halfway down their butts. Thank goodness we don’t have to deal with big 80’s hair anymore, what a pain!
Jon Bon Jovi and Matt Dillon, God’s gift to teenagers. [insert drool here]
August 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Loved the 80’s! Wham, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Rara skirts, leggings, eyeliner, Lady Di collars, Dynasty and Dallas. Pretty in Pink, Sigh, great days
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
It was my time-I went to college, got married and had my first child (89), all in one decade. I had the big back combed gelled hair, the Madonna black lace thing going on, the fluorescent colored clothes, the “Frankie says “Relax” T-shirt-not all at the same time but you get the picture!
I loved Duran Duran, The Cure, The Breakfast Club
I saw Queen, Dire Straits, The B 52’s, Rush, Bob Geldof, The Stranglers, Haircut 100 etc etc
good times…
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I have to admit, my sophomore year of college, my favorit concert was Huey Lewis and the News! It was great!
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
God Yes!! THE 80s!!!! Heaven!!
Footloose, GOONIES!! oh the most wonderful movies of ‘our’ time where made in the 80s!!
Life was spectacluar in the 80s! I wish I could go back! legwarmers, MULLETS (go ahead groan it’s ok I still like them! LOL) and of course the hottest selling band of the century (they have the stats to prove it lol) ALABAMA!!!!
Plus my dad and grandparents were alive–life was good.
August 23rd, 2007 at 1:13 am
I love that pic, Feisty!!! LOL. And Goonies. OMG GOONIES!One of my all time favorite movies. Sigh. HEEEEEEEEY YOOOOOOOOU GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
OMG! Ok One move..and one movie only FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF! HELLOOOOOOOO I even rented it and made my mom watch it. I love showing them “the classics”
Big hair, gaw i wanted straight hair so bad! Hair bands (I hart Poison and Jon Bon!), and I hate to say this but that was George Strait’s heyday and this is Texas so country music was real big in the 80’s for me.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:51 am
I even rented it and made my mom watch it.
I did NOT smoke crack this am. THat should have been…I made my kids watch it.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:54 am
My memories: At school there were Madonna-wannabes, skaters with Flock of Seagulls hair and eyeliner {cuties}, parachute pants and dayglo green lace.
My sister had Nagel posters on her wall, Movies: Princess Bride, Goonies, Footloose, Flashdance, Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club.
PRINCE-I loved Prince.
television: Moonlighting, Remington Steele, Facts of Life {there were actually quite a lot of awesome shows}I watched Solid Gold
and tried to dance in my living room, and MTV {though I was retro even then-and spent most of my television time watching old movies.}
And did I mention I loved Prince?
I’m having a lot more fun now than I did in the 80’s-and we certainly dont wear as much makeup lol-but there were a lot of good things too.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
YOu know what’s really funny? A lot of the shows I watched in the late 80’s and 90’s are back on now and my kids watch them (Fresh Prince, etc.)