* TRUE 80'S LOVERS,BANDS AND ARTISTS...
1980's RETRO MOVEMENT
*YOU ARE THE CHILD OF THE 80'S IF:*
* you know, by heart, the words to any "Weird" Al Yankovic song
* three words: "Atari" "IntelliVision" and "Coleco". Sound familiar?
* you remember the days that hooking your computer into your television wasn't an expensive option that required gadgets - it was the ONLY WAY to use your computer!
* a predominant color in your childhood photos is "plaid"
* you're pissed that you couldn't really participate in the 60's, pissed that you were a part of the 70's, think you wasted too much time doing stupid, meaningless things in the 80's, and still have no clue what the 90's are all about
* you took family trips BEFORE the invention of the mini-van. You rode in the back of the station wagon and you faced the cars behind you
* you ever dressed to emulate a person you saw in either a Duran Duran, Madonna, or Cyndi Lauper video
* the first time you ever kissed someone at a dance fell during "Crazy for You" by Madonna
* you're starting to dread your 30th birthday, and have even begun going into denial about it's possibility
* your hair, at some point in time in the 80's, became something which can only be described by the phrase "I was experimenting"
* you ever used the phrase "kiss mah grits" in conversation
* you wanted to be a goonie
* partying "like it's 1999" seemed so far away
* you know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer"
* you ever wore fluorescent (neon) clothing...
* you were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon
* you inserted the word "like" into, like, every sentence
* you wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish
* Punks actually "shocked" people
* you were shocked and horrified at the Challenger explosion (which you were probably watching in school at the time)
* you have ever called 867-5309
* this rings a bell: "and my name, is Charlie. They work for me
* you owned a Jordache anything, or you remember when Jordache jeans were cool
* you jammed to the Miami Vice theme and thought Jan Hammer was cool
* Guys: You remember when a guy piercing his ear was radical to the max, but did it anyhow
* Chevy Chase was really funny in those vacation movies
* You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off. Or even when he had those freaky eyes in "Thriller" at the end of the video
* you knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout
* you have seen at least 10 episodes of Fraggle Rock
* you could breakdance, or wished you could
* Poltergeist freaked you out
* You ever had to turn your wrist over to look at your watch
* you ever wore "Jellies"
* you had one arm covered in bangles - silver or jellie gummie style
* you know how to make "Friendship bracelets"
* you ever laid awake at night in a vain attempt to..."9, 10, never sleep again..."
* you used pink can AquaNet hairspray
* you had a jean jacket, jean purse or jean bookbag (acid-wash, of course!)
* you borrowed your Dad's shirts to wear over leggings with a black leather V-belt
* you used to wear booties (the socks with that funky pom-pom in the back)
* owned a jacket like the red one Michael Jackson wore in Thriller
* you wrote WHAM (or anything else) on your shoes
* you thought growing "a tail" was cool (that middle hair part in the back of your head)
* your ponytail was on the side of your head and you thought you were "hip"
* you didn't understand a song so you watched the video to get it
* you watch a video now & you're more confused after you've seen it
* you had mass quantities of toys and stuffed animals that pertained to tv shows
* you stood in front of the mirror for hours trying to get your hair perfectly feathered
* you wish every day off could be just like Ferris'
* you have seen a picture of or seen an actual Sega Master System
* you walked like an Egyptian
* you wanted to ride on Falcor
* you remember when it was cool to have fake cigarette candy and gum
* you had sunglasses with neon colored sides
* you wrote on your jeans
* you remember when computers were those small little things just used to type letters
* you remember when the Berlin Wall came down
* you remember Valerie Bertinelli before Eddie Van Halen
* you remember the Muppet Show and can sing the theme song
* you owned an Etch-A-Sketch
* E.T. phone home...
* you think the colors on this page are really cool
If you can identify with at least half of this list then you are a "Child of the 80's."
* LIFE IN THE 80S... *
To summarize, the 80's were both the money and women's decade. Shopping malls, which started to pop up in the 70s, were being built as fast as today's Starbucks. Gen-Xers got bit by the splurge bug and had to purchase whatever it had a recognized brand and display it on themselves, their houses, and the roads. Greed was good and yuppies were feeding off Wall Street and credit card companies. Shop 'til you Drop was the official motto. However, when the bubble burst and recession started, most of them had lost everything they've worked for and were immersed in credit debt.
Racially speaking, the 80's made the news with the Rodney King's beating, the subsequent acquittal of his attackers, and the riots at L.A. Furthermore, these were the years where Affirmative Action was being put to the test and it failed as many viewed it as reverse racial discrimination.
Another phenomenon that started in that decade was gentrification. This process involved yuppies and seniors moving back into the cities, buying condos or paying higher rents; thus driving poor people away from their neighborhoods.
The Women's liberation movement started in the previous decades, but it was totally put in practice in this one. Women ruled the music world and were carving a name for themselves in business and politics as well. Wives had left the apron at home, the children with their nanny, and now were dressed for success. Common terms to name male concepts were changed. The mailman was now the mail carrier, firefighters became firepersons, and mankind was changed to humankind. 80's Women had more independence, hard cash, and didn't need the husband figure by their side like their predecessors. These were the years when the 'traditional' American family suffered a major blow and the divorce rate fell through the roof.
Kids were in total Pacman heaven. They spent after school time by themselves, but they were compensated with toys and other things parents bought them without hesitation. Videogames kept them busy for hours. Cartoons, such as Transformers, Dinosaucers, Smurfs, Thundercats, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles filled their imagination and in the afternoons moms carpooled them to team sports activities.
* POLITICS & ECONOMICS *
The world was changing in the 80. The USA, under Reagan's command, waged the last battles of the Cold War, invaded Grenada and Panama, and had its presidential scandal with the Iran/Contra affair.
In Europe, the Iron Curtain was being dismantled. Communism was in its last breath, Dictators were being kicked out from power, the Berlin Wall torn down, and Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Things in the Middle East were as usual. Israel invaded Lebanon, Iran was starting its war with Iraq and the Ayatollah Khomeini was after Salman Rushdie's ass for his Satanic Verses book.
* Economics *
Here's the executive report summary: the economics in the 80's can be summarized as mergers, acquisitions, new billionaires, and junk bonds. Yuppies and Preppies were desperately seeking for the right job, the right address, the right clothes, and the right friends.
REAGONOMICS
DINKie Families (double income, no kids) was the new term coined for the newly married couples in the 80's. People had a lot of buying power. The average credit card holder had 7 pieces of plastic on their wallets that they used religiously. Everybody was in a shopping frenzy now that there were two incomes at the yuppie household. Reaganomics helped the rich, but destroyed the small businesses. Unemployment and downsizing were the words of the day. All of this, along with welfare cuts, resulted in more homeless than ever. Gangs, drugs, and violence roamed free in the big cities. Cocaine was the yuppie's drug of choice.
THINGS THAT SHOCKED US IN THE 80's:
~ The Exxon Valdez oil spill
~ The Chernobyl Reactor explosion in former Russia.
~ The Union Carbide insecticide plant accident in Bhopal, India where approx. 5000 people died.
~ The famine in Africa
~ President Reagan and the Pope's murder attempts.
~ The AIDS epidemic that mostly killed gays in the beginning, but which had a child's face when Ryan White became infected
~ The Challenger explosion
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred in the United States, over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC) on January 28, 1986. The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its flight after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The seal failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it filled, allowing a flare to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent attachment hardware and external fuel tank. The SRB breach flare led to the separation of the right-hand SRB and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter. The shuttle was destroyed and all seven crew members were killed. The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and recovery operation
The crew of STS-51-L
"WOCKA,WOCKA!"