I hate to say it, but the 1980's weren't that bad...

[Taverner]

I mean, sure you had Reagan. You had Bush I. You had Jerry Falwell and the 'Moral' :eyes: Majority.

But you also had the results of Eno. Brian Eno. Everything he did in the 70's came to fruition in the 80's.

You had Repo Man.

You had Twin Peaks.

You had a Democratic Majority in both houses.

Theocracy hadn't turned into the juggernaut it is today.

Camaros were cool.

You could make someone a mix tape.

You could make a mix tape off of CD's.

The cassettes were translucent, so you could see the inner workings. How fucking post-modern is that!

Synthesizers moved past the Moog days and started doing some real amazing shit.

I bash the 1980's a lot, because at the time it seemed soulless. I came of young age in the 1970's and I wanted that level of freedom. I demanded it dammit!

But in retrospect, the freedom then was better than the 'free-dumb' we are offered today.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Camaros are still cool nt

[Texasgal]

3. Bitchin' CAMARO!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBio5LwNHQ4

[sakabatou]

21. Bitchin Camaro

Go to 1:57-2:12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htfJQt-KSuY

Watch the whole video. It's funny as hell.

[flvegan]

2. They resurrected automotive horsepower in the 80's.

[AllieB]

4. I was in high school and early college in the '80s

compared to today, we had it pretty easy. I worked my way through college, and with scholarships and loans could afford an apartment and my tuition. Most state schools these days are not within reach of the average student.

And yes, music was great: Minor Threat, the Pixies, Husker Du, and so many other influential punk bands. It was certainly a fun time to be young. Now I'm pushing 40 and go to bed at 10 PM. :-(

[two gun sid]

5. I still thought the 80's sucked...

We had Reagan and Bush I. Supply-side economics made a come-back from the '20's. Boesky said, "Greed is good."

I got to implement Reagan's insane foreign policies. I invaded Grenada in '83. I helped train the Liberian military for their future civil war. I resupplied the Contras and blockaded Nicaragua in '84-'85. Then, in '86 I got to observe the Iran-Iraq War up close. Along the way I got dysentary, ring worm, drank water with fuel oil in it, had countless bouts of NSU and the clap twice.

Fuck the '80's. Reagan was criminally insane and we elected him to the Presidency twice.

But, yeah, there were a lot of good punk bands. I really liked X. I'm still in love with Exene Cervenka.

[elshiva]

6. I love cassette tapes.

I still have hundreds of mix tapes. :) :hug:

[EstimatedProphet]

7. Philip K. Dick died in 1982.

[Arugula Latte]

8. You had The Smiths, The Replacements, Echo, The Jam, Violent Femmes

World Party, Oingo Boingo, Squeeze, early REM, Lloyd Cole, etc. etc. etc.

Plus, I was younger and cuter.

[Left Is Write]

22. I was definitely younger. A lot younger.

I somehow managed to have a 23-inch waist, even after giving birth to my first child.

I could get away with electric blue eyeliner and jeans so narrow I had to remove my feet to put them on.

*sigh*

[Arugula Latte]

23. I recall getting measured for my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding in '89

and I had a size 24-inch waist.

That was well before I had my first baby, and I'll never see 24 inches again, that's for sure, no matter how many crunches I do.

[Left Is Write]

9. The 80s were a time...

...when nobody thought twice about mullets.

:D

[Deja Q]

18. 1985...

:scared:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. You had big hair, shoulder pads and leggings.

A dark age in fashion...

[Left Is Write]

11. Leggings were okay. Those enormous shoulder pads...not so good.

I can remember owning some of those brightly colored blazers with huge shoulder pads. Those jackets hung so badly on almost everyone who wore them. We wore them with leggings and leather flats and huge plastic earrings.

I remember wearing stirrup pants tucked into ankle boots, the outfit topped off by a long sweater with an asymmetrical collar. I wore my alligator shirts with the collars flipped up circa 1982-84, and pastel-colored bandannas as belts. I also had two Members Only jackets - one black, one cream.

There were a few peplum suits in my closet in the mid-late 80s when I was working a "real job."

[Taverner]

13. You do know you could pay for your kids' college by selling those vintage threads

Seriously!

[Left Is Write]

15. Maybe, if I still had them.

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. Ripped them pads out of every outfit

My shoulders are wide and straight enough all by themsleves

Shoulder pads...bad fashion all the way 'round

Totally FUGLY!

[Radical Activist]

24. I can't believe some of the 80's styles are popular again.

Oh man was that one ugly decade.

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. I had a lot of fun and many life changes in the 80s

ahhhh....to be young again...and maybe make a few different choices...

[BarenakedLady]

16. Totally awesome!

Tubular even.

[npk]

17. I was mostly stoned during the eighties

So I loved that decade.

[Wapsie B]

19. 80 - 83 wasn't too bad.

Coming of age, my first taste of real freedom. All in all some of the happiest times of my life.

[foxfeet]

20. I still hate the '80s

Sorry to rain on the parade, but it seemed like everyone I knew was dying of AIDS. I quit counting at 50 in 1985. Sometimes it still surprises me that people die of anything else.

Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves. Somebody, somewhere must have enjoyed those years.

[Radical Activist]

25. What horrible music. Especially the synthesizers.

The 80's has to be the only decade of the 20th century with music I truly detest so much.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

26. The 80s rocked

Everything about them -including what you said in your OP

FWIW, my country didn't have Reagan. The first three years of the 1980s we had a conservative Prime Minister whose political ideology was nevertheless somewhere to the left of President Clinton's and then we had a center-left Prime Minister for the rest of the decade. And most of our state governments were progresive at the time as well

[Danger Mouse]

27. Reagan is responsible for everything we're suffering through right now.

Fuck the 80's.

[madrchsod]

29. it started in the 70`s when the us steel forming industry

went to south korea and taiwan. i lost my union steel forging job to south east asian countries. rockford ill lost thousands of workers who made fasterners...

reagan`s "boys in the basement" finished off what was started in the 70`s

[Danger Mouse]

30. It wouldn't have happened without Reagan and the neocons. SImple as that.

They finished the job, but it had to be them to finish it.

[madrchsod]

28. i actually did`t do as bad in the 80`s as i am now

i had my own business that did fairly well and unemployment for almost two years. by 88 i found work in a steel mill that had great benefits and wages but the chinese killed of that steel mill.

i`ve been through the 70`s and 80`s melt downs and this is only getting worse

[Hangingon]

31. We got the kids through high school and college in the '80s

Stared our empty nest period. Tough decade but great things happened for us.