by ElectronShak on 3/29/22, 7:41 PM with 66 comments
I was born in 1995, but I wish I'd experienced the 80's. I'd like to know was it like for HN'ers who were there at the time.
by cmollis on 3/29/22, 8:13 PM
by mattl on 3/29/22, 7:46 PM
Case in point, there's a scene in a supermarket with a bunch of breakfast cereals from various pop franchises. That never happened in reality. In reality, the same cereal would be repackaged for whatever was the hot movie/brand at the time.
This is somewhat sent up in this video from UK's The Adam and Joe Show. https://vimeo.com/347912488
by khedoros1 on 3/29/22, 9:36 PM
I've also always been interested in technology. I remember using some variant of Apple II in school (Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and such), an IBM PCJr at home (a pack of Sesame Street games, Alleycat, and some others I don't remember well enough to identify). This was obviously before the internet was typically available in homes, and before the first web browser...I do remember using Prodigy on my grandfather's computer around the time (text-only, over a 2.4kbps modem). To me, one of the stark differences is that computers weren't so embedded and essential in people's lives.
by joezydeco on 3/29/22, 7:44 PM
The 80s did have lots of interesting things going on: new music, video games, crazy fashion.
We also had a mysterious epidemic (AIDS) and overhanging threat of nuclear war. Oh wait, we still have that.
by olliej on 3/29/22, 10:18 PM
For many people the 80s were not good - the CIA was introducing crack to finance itself (and arguably targeting destabilizing black america), AIDS was killing thousands while significant portions of the world were celebrating the "gay plague" or GRID (Gay Related Immune Disorder), Police still routinely targeted LGBT clubs, being fired for being gay or trans was legal, etc
by vavrek on 3/29/22, 9:31 PM
In that place and time, the 80's were mostly a very fun and exciting bunch of years to be a child, with the crazy hippie 60's/70's mentality of the adults crossing over into a new "cleaner" era of exploding fresh technology and intelligent comic vision.
Records became cassettes. Being able to record our own sounds and listen to music on mobile devices for the very first time was totally amazing. The first personal computers arrived, which were equally incredible, although quite mysterious and complex.
Atari 2600 and the video game revolution hit, with all of us hooking up our new joystick machines to parents big Zenith televisions, while dumping quarters into arcades.
The arrival of the VCR was a breakthrough in being able to watch movies at home, GOOD movies such as Star Wars, Breakfast Club, Blade Runner, Dark Crystal and countless other great films from the time, many of which we saw in theater.
Really cool new music was coming out regularly, from bands like Depeche Mode and Oingo Boingo. MTV arrived and was extremely bizarre and brilliant, at first.
The environment was less toxic and people were far less paranoid in general. We spent endless sunny days riding bikes, swimming in rivers, climbing trees, building forts, go-carts, and causing silly mischief, without any threat of watching cameras. We could make prank phone calls in the middle of the night without any worry about "Caller ID." ;)
We were afraid of the "nuclear war" propaganda constantly pouring out of the 3 mainstream TV channels (PBS was relaxing) and some young friends committed suicide. Yet, the Space Shuttle launches were inspiring and we felt that America was genuinely dedicated to freedom, democracy, and justice. This illusion was eventually crushed, for me.
The 80's officially died in a wave of hip-hop, rap, awful "butt rock," bad films, and a sudden appreciation for general stupidity. The inspiring momentum of what felt like a positive movement seemed to fall apart suddenly with corporate consolidation of media, commercialization of everything, and a darker, harsher, lifeless cultural attitude.
Been missing that bright 80's era, ever since.
by jshaqaw on 3/29/22, 9:32 PM
Other than that it had the same ups and downs as any other time.
by jjgreen on 3/29/22, 7:42 PM
by Blackstrat on 3/31/22, 1:20 AM
by echlebek on 3/29/22, 10:36 PM
Source: I was born in the 80s
by amichail on 3/29/22, 8:12 PM
by p0d on 3/30/22, 6:38 AM
by Nextgrid on 3/29/22, 8:18 PM
by gladiatr72 on 3/30/22, 2:57 AM
Other than that, the 80's were shit. The economy tanked. Rural America embraced Reaganomics during the campaign. Didn't turn out to be such a good deal for most of us, BUT...
We Gen-X rats were fed Superior Bullshit.
The 80's had the Star Wars Project. It is worth looking up--basically, we (the US) ran a (supposedly) successful con on the Soviet Union. Around $61 billion dollars was spent to incite a false tech race with the hope of siphoning Soviet resources into research that neither country had a hope of viably creating. The Reagan admin's winning card was having the money to cover the bluff (that money was doled out on legal contracts with not-altogether-clear film footage of some pieces of in-flight ICBM interdiction tech being dropped every few years).
How much that project contributed to the end of the USSR? Dunno. But it was cool!
Oh, and the Internet was wee. Most nerd comms were done by way of "borrowing time" on one of the corporate X25 networks (chat with a few primitive bulletin-board type systems) or by BBS. I don't know if that actually contributed to the 80's un/pleasantness, but they were fun (as long as you could dodge the bill).
The 80's might also have been the last complete decade that no one was arrested for letting their kids play outside by themselves.
by yazmeya on 3/29/22, 10:51 PM
by 8jef on 3/31/22, 2:14 PM
by codingdave on 3/30/22, 2:28 PM
Sure, video games and MTV were new and fun. Computers were new. But aside from that, it was different decade with different styles, but the day-to-day life was the same. Go to school, hang out with friends, have dinner with family, maybe watch a little mork & mindy on channel 57, and go to bed.
by Randolf_Scott on 3/30/22, 3:19 PM
Well, back in the 80's all you had to do to worship Satan was play your record backwards. Now it is so much more of a ritual.
Back in the 80's I felt like the year 2000 would be the epitome of tech, but now I have no hope for floating skate-boards.
Back in the 80's I had protection for my hair-do, but now my hair stands vulnerable to all forces of nature.
by nobodyandproud on 3/29/22, 10:47 PM
Japan in the 1980s was booming and would’ve been magical.
In the US, the 1980s was a sort of economic rebounding from stagflation and high oil prices of the 1970s.
The crack epidemic, the renewed “war on drugs”, nuclear war (“the day after” was a big deal), blatant racism, terrible American cars, and high interest rates?
I don’t miss those at all.
by anamax on 3/29/22, 9:15 PM
by ed-209 on 3/29/22, 11:28 PM
by akeck on 3/30/22, 12:49 AM
by stuaxo on 3/29/22, 11:26 PM
Growing up in the 80s in the UK I remember a lot of grey and beige TBH.
by tamaharbor on 3/30/22, 1:52 AM
by maremmano on 3/29/22, 9:21 PM