The 80s – a glorious decade, celebrated even by youngsters who weren’t alive at the time, and haven’t experienced it firsthand, wish they were.
When you think of it, it was full of those weird and great fads in bright colors and made out of jelly-like shoulder pads, koosh balls, and so many more interesting, colorful gadgets and fads. Some of them were even dangerous. The 80s were special with their crazy toys and interesting fashion choices. It was a time of great pop culture, including the best movies and music ever recorded. It was a time of big important historical events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Chornobyl nuclear reactors crisis. Ronald Reagan was elected U.S. President in 1980 and he succeeded in challenging the spread of communism, while Mikael Gorbachev was elected as the leader of the Soviet Union, which eventually ended the Cold War.
It is still associated with great memories and nostalgia, so let’s look at 6 best things from the 80s that were very popular and bring us great memories:
6 Best Things From the 80s That Bring Us Great Memories
1. Jelly shoes
They were a delight to wear, especially for girls and they came in so many colors and styles! And you wouldn’t spend a dime on it, although some glittering ones were more expensive.
2. Hair Crimping
Hair was sprayed in different colors and it was a complete match with 80s disco style and with all those neon clothing colors with whom you were get noticed for sure! This hairstyle was also paired with leg warmers and large earrings to complete the whole look!
3. The Fluorescent Clothes
When you think of 80is fashion, you think of the fluorescent pinks and greens, high-top basketball sneakers, jeans with big belts, and everything was vibrant and so bright that your clothing looked like a light source. The punk style introduced by singers like Cyndi Lauper was so popular that everyone would wear big blouses with giant shoulder pads on them.
4. The TV Shows
You would not miss any TV show, so some days in the week were must-watch nights and everyone was talking about it. Some of the most popular shows were: The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Dynasty, Miami Vice, etc..
5. The Video Games
Commodore 64 hit the market and all the kids loved it until one Japanese company Nintendo did not show up and released the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, which changed the game industry forever. It became best selling console of all time. Some other popular games were Pac – Man, Tetris, Mario Brothers, and others.
6. The Mix Tape
The 80s put in just one word – that would be a mix tape. Spotify, Mp3 did not exist and if you wanted to record music, you had to wait near your tape deck for your song to start so you could record it. You could even copy different tapes and make mixes. They were a visible element of youth culture.
What Was Cool And What Did 80s Kids Collect?
Starting collecting things was very popular in the 80s, and it became part of people’s identity. There were so many things to collect, especially for the kids, and almost all of them had these things in their own personal collection:
Rubik’s Cube
Every kid was obsessed with it, but few of them managed to solve it. Kids carried them everywhere they went, hoping to find the right color match. It rests on being popular even today, and still, it is difficult to solve it.
Slap bracelets
It was put slapping on your wrist, which sounded cool, and that is why these bracelets are popular even today. Every kid just felt like a superhero wearing it, and these accessories, although not very attractive, were theatrical.
The Smurfs
They have their own TV cartoon show and their own toy line, so everyone was watching it and collecting these small blue figures. They are still popular today and even coming to theaters and sold in toys stored on eBay.
Game Boy
This game was an immediate success for Nintendo; more than 1 million pieces were sold in the first week after the release, and it was packed with Tetris, one of the most popular games then. As a plus, it had a battery life of 30 hours which was a real craze.
Star Wars Figurines
It was Kanner who began releasing the first figurines in 1978 and then 10 years later, and the series continued to be released by another company Hasbro. They are purchased today for astronomical prices as rare items.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Ninja Turtles started as comic series and continued as cartoon series that became a big popular craze, so everyone was collecting their figurines. They became the third-bestselling toy figures ever at the time, behind GI Joe and Star Wars.
Stickers and posters
Stickers and posters were put on all walls, mirrors, and books, and of course, there was no point in painting your bedroom when all walls were full of posters!
Some kids made cool things like:
Learning the Moonwalk
Every kid on the planet learned how to practice Moonwalk, the signature move of Michal Jackson, trying to be a superstar and show themselves directly on the TV.
Listen to music on Walkman
Walkman revolutionized listening to music and it was nothing as trendy as listening to your favorite songs as a kid on your Walkman with your friends or just alone in your room.
7 Things from The ’80s That No Longer Exist
There are many things that 80 kids grew up with, but kids today cannot identify with:
1. Floppy Disks
Computers do not have any disk drives anymore, so floppy disks became history. Every child will be bewildered if he comes across these today!
2. Roll of Film
Nobody ever gets their photo films developed in a photo-developing place. Does anyone remember those blurry photos that you wanted to delete?
3. VHS Tapes
Everyone was very excited to watch a movie on their VCR recorder, and there were shops that rented video cassettes. All of us who watch on a VCR recorder remember the first movie we watched; mine was Dumb And Dumber with Jim Carry.
4. Brick Game (Hand-held video game)
A popular game that can improve your mental ability and you can play for hours featuring hundreds of different Tetris games, it is seen as retro today.
5. Big Hair
80с were a decade of big hair. And everyone was spraying and teasing their big hair, and styling products were so strong they resembled industrial glue.
6. MTV Playing Music Videos
MTV still exists as a music channel, but it is not popular as it was in the 80s. it was an enormously powerful trend and if a band had a video played on the channel, they would gain immediate success overnight.
7. Rotary Telephones
In the 80s rotary telephones were the only way to contact our friends and people needed to rotate a digit with their fingers to make a call which made the whole process very interesting, but we have mobiles today, so these phones are real history.
7 Fashion Items That Were Considered Cool In The 80s
1. Side ponytails
Ponytails came out on the sides of the head. These unusual hairstyles are now gone forever.
2. Leg Warmers
It was the time when everyone’s calves were freezing! It may sound awkward, but everyone loved leg warmers, and they were very stylish and came in so many different colors!
3. High-Waisted Jeans
In the 2000s the jeans were so low, but in the 1980s, on the contrary, they were very high! But, thank goodness the fashion always comes back…so have high-waisted jeans in the fashion stores back again!
4. Leggings
One of the best things from the 80s was the leggings that came with all that aerobics craze. Jane Fonda, who was very famous in the 80s, wore them perfectly and the perfect color for them was neon, of course.
5. Animal Print
All those giraffe and zebra clothes with different animal prints were just so trendy that everyone was wearing them. The strange thing is that they were popular in menswear as well.
6. Lace accessories
It was Madonna who introduced lace clothes on stage and in her music videos and very part of clothes started to be made from lace, starting from leggings and tops to headbands.
