I love the ’80s

Obvious post, right? Most know I’m a sucker for that totally tubular time (I’m also a big fan of alliteration). Where does my love for this pulsating pit of pop culture come from? Where do I begin? The music, the movies, the fashion, the toys, the vernacular? I could give a full dissertation for each category, but let’s just hit the highlights, shall we?

Look at what we did for entertainment. Those were the days… Go to the arcade, rollerskate, play your Atari or Nintendo (after blowing the dust out, naturally), walk with your walkman, or go out and ride your bike. Other awesome toys included Garbage Pail Kids, Care Bares, Cabbage Patch Kids, Strawberry Shortcake, Glo-Worms, Jem and the Holograms, Barbie, Lite Brite, Mr. Potato Head, My Little Pony, Slinkys, Transformers, dancing flowers, scratch and sniff stickers, trapper keepers, WWF wrestlers (back when it was cool), and many more. I know I’m leaving out a lot, but we must move on.

The movies. Oh yes, the movies. I can’t count the number of times I currently surf channels and feel no need to move on once I spot an ’80s flick. Any brat pack movie is golden to me: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and St. Elmo’s Fire melt my heart.

Let’s honor the comedies. The Princess Bride. My all-time favorite movie of any decade. It has everything. “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...” and some of the most memorable lines. “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” “Inconceivable.” “As you wish.”

Other comedic hits include Beetlejuice, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Revenge of the Nerds, Teen Wolf, Caddyshack, Big, Weird Science, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Police Academy, The Secret of My Succe$s, Raising Arizona, The Goonies, Weekend at Bernie’s, Labyrinth, A Christmas Story (everyone’s holiday favorite), Coming to America, Howard the Duck, The Naked Gun, Ghost Busters, Little Shop of Horrors, and of course Back to the Future.

For the drama-lovers: Say Anything, Footloose, E.T., Rain Man, Mystic Pizza, The Lost Boys, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cocktail, Dirty Dancing, Moonstruck, Lean on Me, Stand by Me, Dead Poet’s Society, Mannequin, and our beloved Karate Kid.

I’m not much of an action buff, but can pay homage to Star Wars, 48 Hours, Batman, Die Hard, Rambo, The Terminator, Crocodile Dundee, Robo Cop, Road House, Top Gun, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Scarface. More in the category of horror, I’ll include Friday the 13^th, Halloween, and Gremlins.

Television was really super during the decade. Remember back when remotes didn’t exist and you as the youngest child functioned as the clicker? “Maria, go turn the knob to Cheers.” Other network nuggets include Doogie Howser MD, The Facts of Life, Cosby, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Alf, The A-Team, Family Ties, He-Man, Knight Rider, Fraggle Rock, Full House, Roseanne, Smurfs, MacGyver, My Two Dads, Quantum Leap, 21 Jump Street, Charles in Charge, Saved by the Bell, She-Ra, Who’s the Boss, Thundercats, Sesame Street, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls (Betty white is now a national treasure, by the way), The Incredible Hulk, Baywatch, In the Heat of the Night, Jake and the Fat Man, Different Strokes, Designing Women, and The Wonder Years.

Stemming from movies, television shows, and commercials came a lot of catch phrases. For instance: Say it, don’t spray it. No duh/doy. Eat my shorts. Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. Cool beans. I know you are, but what am I? That’s my name, don’t wear it out. Smooth move, Ex-Lax. Take a chill pill. Bitchin’. As if. Gag me with a spoon. Where’s the beef? No way. Way. Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout Willis? Just say no.

Music. Fasten your seatbelt. I apologize for not getting everything, but this is an expansive category and I just don’t have the space nor the energy to get every tender morsel. Keep in mind that some of these bands/artists did not originate in the 1980s, but did heavily contribute to the cause. Here we go:

Journey, Bruce The Boss Springsteen, Madonna, Cindi Lauper, The Beastie Boys, A-Ha, Tom Petty, The Cars, Bananarama, B-52s, Blondie, Huey Lewis and the News, Eddie Money, Culture Club, Bobbie McFerrin (Don’t Worry Be Happy, I had the pin), Eurythmics, Talking Heads, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Rick Springfield, Twisted Sister, Heart, Whitesnake,  AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Hearth, The Go-Go’s, Chicago, Flock of Seagulls, Survivor (Eye of the Tiger was #1 on Billboard when I was born), Wham, Pat Benetar, Kim Carnes, George Michael, Queen, Joan Jett, Kenny Loggins, Def Leppard, Guns ’N Roses, Bryan Adams, Tears for Fears, Men at Work, Michael and Janet Jackson, Peter Gabriel, The Police, Robert Palmer, Styx, Rush, ZZ Top, U2, Soft Cell, The Village People (Y.M.C.A. hit in 1980), Tina Turner, Warrant, and Poison.

Really, I could go on, but you get the point. Musically, I think the ’80s really are a definitive decade. The majority of today’s crap can’t hold a candle to standards that were set at the time. Lyrics meant something, songs became anthems. Need I cite Don’t Stop Believin’ and Born in the U.S.A.?

I think my love for the 80s comes from idolizing my older sister Lainie. She was chronologically blessed. Having been born in 1982 (one of the babies of the eighties), I was only in single-digit ages during that delicious decade. Lainie, however, had the luck and privilege of being a teenager at the time. I can remember watching her get ready for school, dances, proms, going to the mall, dates, all the classic teen stuff. Her room was a treasure trove for 80s fashion: pastel pink hair crimper, blue eyeliner, tight acid-washed tapered jeans, leg warmers, suede boots, paint-splatter shirts, stirrup pants, neon sunglasses, spandex, single gloves, fanny packs, L.A. Gears, banana clips, bangles, and basically anything you needed to impersonate Madonna.

I remember always wanting to be in her room. Naturally being annoyed with her little sister, she’d lock me out and just turn up her music to drown out my whining. My favorite is when she’d play the Beastie Boys to get the job done. You DO have to fight for your right to party when you’re 6-years-old and your ultra-cool 15-year-old sister shuns you from coolness. I have no hard feelings whatsoever though. I have a plethora of fond memories of her crimping my hair, playing dress-up with me (I was always the doll), contemplating sneaking me into a high school dance so she could get out of babysitting me on a Friday night, and fixing whatever our mother did to me to make me look nerdy (mullet, plaid pants, etc.).

So as I wind down in my nostalgia, I think about how someday we might look at the current times as just a snapshot of pop culture. iPhones will become Ataris, digital cameras will be relics like polaroids, tapered and skinny jeans will be classified as the same old things, Justin Timberlake is old school just like Steven Tyler, and shows like 24 and Lost are shown in syndication as often as Saved by the Bell and The Golden Girls. No matter how old the new gets, I know I’ll still be cheerleading for the 1980s. I vow to make sure “today’s youth” know where their new age cool came from. And if they don’t get it, I pity the fool.

Rocking it in 1987

Still rocking in 2007 (please note the Jem shirt)