The Eighties
The Eighties had alot of conformity, much like the Fifties,
although there were many people that went for an odd
heavily-make-upped look with multi-colored hair-dos. The
Iran-Contra Affair happened. The Vietnam Memorial Wall in
Washington DC was dedicated to all of the veterans of the
Vietnam War.
The preppy look with valley girl accents was very popular
during this time, complete with sweaters thrown over the
shoulders. All of the cool rocker guys had boom-boxes.
Everyone was playing with their Rubik’s cubes (which I cannot
beat unless I take the stickers off!!) New Coke made a nasty new
entrance and was soon replaced by the original recipe. Video
Games such as the Atari 2000 along with Pac Man gave the kids
something new to do to waste their time.
In Sports hockey began gaining popularity with one of the
best known players of all times, Wayne Gretsky. Don Mattingly
and Pete Rose were big names in the area of baseball. The
immortal Michael Jordan, idol to many aspiring basketball
players today began his awesome career, as well as football great,
Dan Marino.
The wreckage of the Titanic which is now a major motion
picture, was found by special submarine vessels. Tragedy struck,
however, in 1986 when the spaceshuttle Challenger crashed
killing all of the members on board.
Music was moving along quite nicely and we got many great
songs from that era. This was also a great time for technology in
music. The compact disc was developed which revolutionized
the way we listen to music. MTV premiered which lead to the
mass-production of music videos and new filming techniques.
Michael Jackson, who debuted as a young boy with his brothers
in the Jackson 5, made and is still making millions with his
songs. One of his most famous is "Thriller" which was also
made into a movie-like music video. Girl pop artists such as the
"fun girl" Cyndi Lauper and bad girl Madonna debuted. Pop
diva Whitney Houston made big-haired success with her early
songs. Culture Club, led by Boy George, were also a leading
group in the girl pop genre(well, maybe just pop in general. Boy
George has a "chameleon" way of changing between male and
female.) Graceland was opened to memorialize the life of Elvis
Presley, King of Rock (whose daughter Lisa Marie later married
the King of Pop, aforementioned Michael Jackson), while the
idolized John Lennon was shot and killed by a deranged "fan."
Tom Cruise, known for his good looks, was in a few movies
during the Eighties such as Top Gun and Rain Man. E.T. was a
sad saga about an alien life-from that ended on Earth. It also
showed the movie premier of Drew Barrymore. Actors and
actresses such as Kevin Costner(who later starred in a movie
with Whitney Houston), Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Arnold "I’ll
be back!" Schwarzenagger, and Tom Hanks, who will probably
always be remembered for his role in the Nineties movie, Forrest
Gump, made their debuts.
The television shows of the time centered around family.
"Family Ties" made Michael J. Fox, Justine Bateman, and
Meredith Baxter-Birney very popular while "The Cosby Show"
gave us a hilarious look at the antics of Bill Cosby. " M*A*S*H"
made it’s tear-jerking grand-finale while Tom Hanks starring as
a cross-dresser in "Bosom Buddies" made us laugh. One of the
biggest questions of the decade was "Who shot JR?" from the
down-south drama, "Dallas". Talk shows, such as "The Oprah
Winfrey Show" became VERY popular which has led to such
trashy-but-funny shows like that of" Jerry Springer."
The most important part of the Eighties, in my opinion, was
the cartoons. There were some of the greatest cartoons of all
times on such as "Thundercats,"" The Smurfs", "The Chipmunks",
"Wheeled Warriors", "He-Man", "She-Ra"," Lady Lovely Locks",
"Transformers", and" The Snorkels."
All in all the Eighties is a time we would all like to forget.
From the big hair to the bright make-up, it is a time our children
and grandchildren will make fun of us for, for years to come.
My Links
here is one about growing up in the Eighties....
here is one on the wonderful movie, Fame!!!
here is a really good one with a list of all the fads and stuff from the 80's....it DEFINATELY brings back memories!!!
this is a good one that has alot of good tv and music info...
this is one for the greatest cartoon EVER!!!....Thun-Thun-Thundercats....Hoooooooo!
