I was born in '72, so I am definately a child o' the 80's...and man what a time it was. I still am made fun of at work and by my own husband (born in '68) for never really coming out of it. I was everything in school from the "Bow-Head" preppie, to the wanna be "skater". I had big hair, wore jellies, bangles, and the pretty multi-colored "twistie" necklaces that looked like pearls...remember those?! Cybil Shepard made them famous playing Maddie on Moonlighting. I had the legwarmers, the headband, the rad new-wave records, and a little book on how to speak "Valley", fer shur. My clothes consisted of everything from balloon shoes, "parachute" pants, the black/red Michael J. jacket, to the extreme Neon colored socks, skirts, and shirts...and don't forget to wear the before-mentioned without that big, clunky belt! Yes, I miss the 80's, and still daydream of the "Me" generation of "excess". Most of the CD's I own are all hits from the 80's. I mean who can go through life without at least owning 1 CD with Safety Dance on it?!? And I got my computer start from playing around on the BBS, and now we have this internet thing...Who knew? I came home from school and played my Atari 2600 and Intellivision before I could relax enough to attempt homework. But alas dudes and dudettes, I have gone on long enough. So I will leave by saying "later dudes" and don't forget to hang up your Izods.

That article made me laugh. I mean, because you are a boy, you forgot all about Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite. They were honestly the coolest girls around! And what about Punky Bruster? You can't forget her! Whenever I read this, I went back in time to sitting on my bedroom floor playing Atari with my sister and always crying because she won only due to the fact that she was older than me. We'd always play with our My Little Ponies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. But whenever we were done, we always sat down and watched Carebears. Whenever I look back, I remember having a Garbage Pail Kids sticker on my bedroom door that wouldn't come off until my mom painted over it. That broke my heart. After watching Star Wars, I was terrified of anything green because I thought that Yoda was going to eat me in my sleep. Well, the 80's were obviously the best and I don't care what anyone says because the 80's will come back. Just like the 60's and the 70's!

I'm also known as STUCK in the 80s. The 80s for Me were about RUSH, Max Headroom, Breakdancing, Movies, Hanging with the Rockers, & so MUCH more! I'm Still a Diehard RUSH fan (Rock'N'Roll), Max Headroom (I have All of the Episodes, U.K. Movie & American, even all of the Max COKE Commercial Ads), as well as Still being Labled as a Rocker. Haha! I don't mind being called "Stuck In The 80s" since it was a GREAT time! We had the BEST Music "Like, For Sure!", & the most fun. You could Rip your Jeans & call yourself a Rebel. In the 80s the BEST 2 Computers were also made (AND STILL widely Used!) Commodore 64 & Amigas!! I'm a Die-Hard AMIGA Fan to this VERY Day. So in essence the term "Geek" still lives with me even though I'm 34 now (soon 35). I honestly believe it's when people had the MOST fun. Hell, it wasn't about JUST the Music but DANCING to whether it was Soft Cell, RUSH, Whodini or whatever. There wasn't any pressure; we ALL Loved different kids of Music. BUT 80s RAP MADE SENSE. It was ALL about Dancing, or trying to come up MOVES that you could Dance to.. Maybe even Beating other Crews. We all had fun & weren't trying to Blow the Speakers out of a Car or to ANNOY other people. Of course some of us wore the Freakest Do's! They call them Hair Bands now, but we were trying to find someone to identify with. Clicks were a BIG thing back then, too. I didn't care about Clicks which in turn labeled ME as a Geek or a Nerd, or, or... ;) I remember many shows, sayings, actions, & all of that from the 80s. It was "The Best Time Of My Life" & I LIKE being Stuck in it. The 80s ROCKED! I'll sum up for now with something Montel Milliams said about a year ago on his show, "What is this? I like this Music..." & it was Soft Cell - Tainted Love. Now, Who controls what you See?? ;) TO ALL WHO Love The 80s, & were Born or Grew from it.. BLESS YOU ALL! :) RUSH RULES TO THIS VERY DAY!

I wrote an essay from this site. It was never meant to be read by anyone, but it is what I wrote immediately after seeing the "80's Lyric Quiz." Most famous cliche from the time? "E.T. PHONE HOME"! :) 7/24/01 Today while I was looking at a list of popular songs that were out in the 80's, I thought, `where was I in the 80's'? As I recognized the songs, it brought back some memories, but some introspection as well. I remember being in junior high school listening to some of those songs in my room, going to school or after school. "I found a picture of you- oh, oh, oh, woah-oh." A picture came to my head recalling that song. A picture and a feeling of a 13-year-old girl in adolescent transition. It was a lonely feeling. There was the world I faced at school, kids my age doing the same thing, but I recalled a sense of being very alone, too. Trying to become myself. Although I was a teenage girl in junior high school, as a teenager I was very removed from my parents. These songs seem more familiar to me than they were. At that time, popular music was comprised of a lot of British pop groups bringing in a new sound and new themes. They were from a different pop culture. That sound combined with a new-wave or punk movement. The 80's were the age of excess. It seemed as if anything went. I remember craving a freedom portrayed by pop culture and in every 3-minute song that drifted from the radio. "I'm on the hunt, I'm after you..." In "Hungry Like the Wolf", Duran Duran created an image of a wild man on the chase for an elusive and dangerous wild woman. Then there were glamorous images, like that of Tina Turner in a video, long brown legs balanced on high heels. She strutted in "What's Love Got to Do With It", spiky golden hair framing her face as she sang the words with a jaded straightforwardness. I longed to dye my hair green and join the movement. When I dreamed that my freedom from adolescent problems and failure to fit in was somewhere out in the wide world, in the crazy anonymity of big city streets, I connected with Pat Benatar's words from "Love is a Battlefield." "We are young,/Heartache to heartache, we stand." As runaways and prostituted dancers escaped their oppressive pimp in the video, I was there. In the finale there was triumph as they gathered in the street in the dawn in tattered tops and miniskirts, executed the last dance step, hugged each other and drifted toward separate destinations into the cityscape. The introduction of the music video in the 80's ushered in a new dimension for the music business. It helped artists and directors market themselves, and gave the public a direct view of what the song was about. Teenagers like me ingested these ideas. Videos and music started to influence fashion, jargon, and attitudes. Who could resist identifying with Madonna's sassy street-waif image in "Like a Virgin", "Lucky Star", "Borderline", and "Crazy for You"? Her music started in NYC clubs and that sound merged with the more commercial pop trends. Madonna pranced, danced, and rolled about in black lace, headbands made of used neon stockings, fingerless gloves, and spiked boots. She was freedom and self-assertion personified. Michael Jackson added his own brand of style to the 80's overall spirit of unconventionality and yes- gimmick-y trendiness that were part of its charm. Gerri curl falling over his eye, moonwalking in leather jackets and ankle-length black pants, Michael left an unmistakable mark on the decade. Youth, sexiness, freedom, and rebellion, all common attractive themes in culture and media of any period, were tinseled during the 1980's, when synthesized sounds and glitzy video images made current music more pop than ever. Later on in high school, I was a little more secure, perhaps, and I remember music being a little more seductive then as I grew into dating and baring my own legs in miniskirts. Prince would bring a mysterious yet carnal daringness that fueled songs like "Darling Nikki", "Purple Rain", and "Little Red Corvette". Rap was becoming mainstream with pioneers like Run DMC; back then it was still party music. Along with the sexy strains of Prince, rap and breakdancing, we grew up on mid-eighties variety including the coming-of-age anthems "Control" by Janet Jackson and "My Prerogative" by Bobby Brown. Only later was I to mature enough to understand the smoky rhythms of Sade, who emerged from Europe with "Smooth Operator" and her signature smoldering uniqueness. Although still in the throes of self-discovery, I had begun to tune out what I didn't like and view the spectrum of music available from a distance. Immersed in the busy-ness of late adolescence, fantasy and running away weren't so tempting. I had grown up dancing furiously in the mirror to "What a Feeling" and pretended to wow audiences in pink tights and black leotard to the "Fame" album. I had longed to join the world of color, freedom, and changing trends that propelled the early 80's. In the late 1980's, an identity more firmly in place, I had left those tendencies far behind, as the decade gave way to its successor of Generation X-ers, political rap, techno-house, gangsters, and pop divas.

I was born in 1972 and found a lot of the music that grew out of the late 70's to still be my favorite even today. I agree with several of these personal accounts that I often feel saddness that the 80's passed me so quickly. What I miss the most about that decade was the color! The music was colorful as were the hairstyles. Everything that came out of the 80's was loud and extreme. If I compare musical groups like Devo, Oingo Boingo, Duran Duran, Men at Work to what I hear today, I yawn from boredom. Everything sounds the same now adays. Rap was tolerable and fun when it was Run DMC, Grand Master Flash, and The Fat Boys. Now it's not fun but angry. As with anything, it is easy to romanticize something many years ago but not everything was peaches in the 80's. I prefer to remember the culture and style I still admire today and hope something that felt like the 80's happens again. I look back to the 90's and the feelings are just not the same.

Man, how I miss the 80's!!! I believed I could be Daisy Duke and Wonder Woman all rolled into one. I had every care bear, smurf, my little pony, california grape, etc... I also remember living in Fla. and watching the challenger go down. So many things happened in the 80's, but I do believe that growing up then had to be the greatest experience of my 27yrs. It was so simple then, no wonder I miss it soooo much!!! And I just knew I would marry Kirk Cameron!!! We need to bring back the music!!! 80's ruled!!!

my big thing in the 80's was debbie gibson. i just recently got a debbie gibson picture disk. im sure if cost someone a pretty penny. i was muppet obsessed... my favorite was sam the american eagle.. but we named my dog scooter. i had the muppets record. i listened to it until it became on big scratch. i had a rainbow bright doll... and starlight.. the horse... i still remember for some reason.. what he smelled like. today i uncovered my first barbie doll. you cant beat the barbie doll. i never had a snoopy snowcone maker but i hear that they still make them and i plan on picking one up... but i did have some neat thing that makes strings of playdoh. i had my little ponies.. but my favorite was the sea pony. and does anyone else remember rub-a-dub doggy? i remember the whole commercial.and i still have him. i am wearing a she-ra shirt right now.. and it is all cut up. i also have a cute alf shirt. it used to be pajamas. the pajamas had footies. i liked footies. i still sleep with my pillow person every night. and there was one moody blues video on mtv that was so scary that i couldnt sleep for weeks! i wore gitano... i crimped my hair... i wore side-ponytails... i had purple converse high tops...and you didnt.

It's so funny to see people saying they love the eighties when they were BORN in the eighties. How can you love something you can't really remember. I was born in 76, so I remember all of the 80s. I've thought about it for a while and I have finally come to what I would have to say is the number one best thing to come from the 80s. GHOSTBUSTERS. The 1984 movie. Not the cartoon (which is ok) and definitely not the horrible gut wrenching sequel (slumming it there). Everytime I watch that movie I laugh. Not just once or twice, but the ENTIRE time. My family finds is disturbing that lines have been dedicated to memory and between my closest friend (of course, a TRUE child of the eighties)and I entire conversations can be made with just quotes. It's not just a "cult" thing either. I remember seeing Ghostbusters in the movie theater the first time and LOVING it. It was just a little scary and very funny and even though I was only 8, it stuck with me. I remember sitting there with my cousin (we used to play ghostbusters by turning off all the lights in the house, putting on our gremlins back packs and chasing ghosts--hidden stuffed toys--with flashlights) and when the earthquake threatens to destroy our fearless heroes, he was TRULY scared. Ghostbusters was the first movie I ever saw more than once in the theater, something that was odd then. I had a Ghostbusters t-shirt, the white one with the thick decal and the red 3/4 length sleeves. I remember being SO envious of my sister's Ghostbusters stein she won in high school. Sometimes I wonder what happened to that mug. What's kind of sad is seeing the things we loved so much on places like ebay. In true eighties spending style, we're rushing to re-purchase (at any cost?) the things we once had. There are lots of great things from the eighties, like strawberry shortcake and transformers (I still have mine, I don't think I can part with them), cabbage patch and garbage pail kids, but nothing (in my mind) can ever match Ghostbusters. The memories of Ghostbusters aren't of buying up all the merchandise vomitted out by the studios like today's movies make, but just enjoying it and using our over-flowing imaginations to LIVE the movie.

I consider anyone an 80s child if they were born anywhere between 1976 - 1986. Bascially if you were at the ripe age group where you were motivated to wake up early on Sat. Mornings / Weekday mornings to watch cartoons during the 80s, you are an 80s child. Anytime before 1976 -- too old. After '86 -- too young to enjoy the rest of that decade! To sum up the 80s for me: MUSIC: Pop music ruled...it was tuneful, tonal & catchy. Rarely repetitive... lyrics and music seemed more meaningful than nowadays. Tiffany, Paul Young, Bangles, Dirty Dancing Soundtrack e.t.c. Television: (Sit-coms, Drama) ... it was wholesome...a tad bit cliché...hip and modern yet conservative...adventurous...explored issues that developed into the ones being explored during the 90s. Television (Animation, Children's programs)...extremely wholesome & high quality...toy companies ruled...the networks actually cared about Saturday mornings...the quality and market for children's programming seemed more of a worthwhile investment...stories full of clichés...definitely an unique & irreplacable decade in terms of children's entertainment.

I tried to explain to my eighteen year old sister what my life was like growing up -- then I saw this. This was IT. I copied it and sent it to her, and she thought it was corny -- but I told her come and talk to an eighteen year old 7 years from now when she is 25, and they will say the same thing to her. It was my life -- and many others -- but it doesn't hold a lot of weight for those who didn't live it... but it sure does for me.. and it always will.

hey i'm not an 80's peep and i'm only 12.I don't know about the fashion in those days but i just renember the G.I.Joes and transformers and all those cool toys my brothers used to play with.i still got a autobot dude and he's one of my favourite toys. There used to be cool ninga turtles and even batman was better then he is now. all the lego was so cool and now it's just little space men with big guns. the comix were lots better and a lot of the music was heaps cool. I wish they would make toys and things like they did in you peeps days cause most things are stupid now especially lego and spiderman ^_^ leafkid

I am one of those people who missed a lot of the decade, but I still consider myself an 80s child - i mean, hey, I was a child at the time. I was born in 1983. So my formative years were in the 80s. I spent my whole life wishing I was older so I could have seen more of it. But anyway. The things I remember about the 80s are He-Man, the Ghostbusters movies and cartoon, Ninja Turtles, You Can't Do That On Television, that Mathnet on Square One thing, Astroboy, The Smurfs, Punky Brewster, all that kid type of stuff. I was also influenced by tons of the movies, like Ghostbusters, D.A.R.Y.L. (obscure 1985 movie), Flight of the Navigator (obscure 1986 movie), K-9000 (obscure 1989 movie). I envy all of you guys who were old enough to remember everything. THis site rocks, by the way.

Thanks for the memories. Yep, there's lots of people out there who are like me. They miss the eighties too. Yoiu could actually listen to am radio and like at least half the shit that was playing since it actually related to something; You could watch MTV and not have to go "O-man" and switch it to another channel everytime some down assed pop shit gets played (because pop was good back then). Even better, if you grew up in Canada, you could watch the Pepsi Power Hour on Much Music every Thursday night and just totally blow your mind. Hell they's play a lot shit from Motorhead, Anthrax, Queensryche, Helix, Celtic Frost, Metal Church, Lee Aron, Anvil, Voivod, etc. Or you could watch Super Channel and catch the soft-porn shit after your parents went to bed. 'Fast Times at Rigemont High', 'The wild Life', 'Terminator', etc... Fuck! Those were the good old days man. The good tunes on the radio instead of all this techno shit and so called 'alternative shit' that all sounds like Kurt Cobain all over again. I hated the nineties. For ten years I wouldn't touch the radio, wouldn't watch MTV and wouldn't go to a tech if I could avoid it. Those ten years went by me without even a single memory except that some dudes started a fad copying bell bottom jeans from the seventies. Even when we had wars in the eighties (Afghanistan, Falklands, etc) it was sure as hell to us and the whole fucking world who was right and who was wrong. I figure that we should all go back to wearing tight jeans (no belts), a T-shirt and running shoes like back in the eighties. It was simple, it looked cool and was comfortable. Nowadays, all you got is a bunch of kids dreein' up in baggy clothes and listenin to 'Backstreet Boys' and that kind of shit. So I let off a bit of steam. But I can't watch MTV no more without wanting to "blow up the video", I can't listen to the radio cuz all I hear is a bunch of shit, I can't watch HBO cause they play about eight programs daily, I catch watch CNN because they repeat the same shit eight time a day. God damn! The nineties sucked so much that they are non-existence to me. It's like I had to skip ten years of my life. Don't know what the thousands hold for us. Thanks for the space to aleviate my frustrations. Doug

Oh my god! do I remember the 80s growing up.Just wish i would've been old enough then to go to all those 80s hair band shows. Guns'N'Roses were awesome.But yeah I totally remember waking up and watching the snorks,jabberjaw,the smurfs,and scooby doo and more. My favorite movie was Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal but there are still more movies.Oh yeah, a popular one-- Howard the Duck. And I remember those little plastic thingies that you pulled one side of ur big t-shirt to make it tight and in that tacky 80s fashion. But I miss the 80s.I totally remember boy george and his Karma Chameleon .I used to crimp my hair too...that was a big fad.I miss being younger . It was lots easier young and i think the musicians were a lot better. Don't really care for the new age of music all this pop and rap rock but thats my opinion.Well KISS ruled too through 70s 80s and 90s.Best show I've ever gone to. I'm gonna cut my hair up in the short layered top that u can make poofy and the thinner long pieces . You know that 80s fashion.spiky-ish looking top and bleaching all and have under layers and some tips framing face in blk. but the blonde will be soon changed to hot pink. I'm happy 80s hair came back.Just thought I'd share my plans since they are related to 80s and I'm excited.Well just wanted to say something back and think of my childhood days 'cause your article totally made me happy and gave me mental pictures of me watching those cartoons and everything so familiar.

In a weird way I think the beauty of the 80's was that we were all afraid of nuclear war...that kind of made everything else seem not so bad. I gotta agree with the comments about fistfights...it was great to get the snot beat out of you, take karate, then still get the snot beat out of you but by the bully AND his friends and not just the one guy! Ha! Being born in '76 I vaguely remember the U.S. not competing in the 1980 Olympics, the then USSR pulled out in '84 to get back at us...it wasn't until '88 we had a chance to beat their butts in gymnastics...remember Mary Lou Retton? Remember not wearing a seat belt in a big ugly station wagon (ours was a Dodge Aspen w/ thick burgundy bumper stripes)? Remember your first microwave? VCR? Remember using the pause button for the first time to check out the naked girl in the shower scene in the video your friend had? The precursor to internet porn, hahahaha! Remember your first remote-control TV? Remember "North Shore"? Guys who hit puberty in the 80's will ALWAYS go ga-ga over a woman in leotards, leg warmers, and a head band...oh yeah, and a sweatshirt torn on on shoulder, hanging off so you could see the bra strap underneath...gotta go, I need to take a cold shower!

I remeber the '80s I was born in '75 but hey I was five in 80 I love all the old school punk sorry I was not into new wave or anything but I just wanted to say that '80s punk rock was the best so F.O.D. you bloody new schoolers.

I graduated from high school in '87. "Stairway to heaven in '87!" was the phrase written on all the bathroom walls. But I was TOTALLY IN LOVE with Duran Duran for four years straight, plastering every single inch of wall space (including the ceiling) in my room with their pics from Teen Beat magazine, which I purchased faithfully every week for, I think it was $1.75. Hard to remember now, 'cause I paid in quarters (I was a video arcade junkie.) I STILL know all the lyrics to ALL the songs on EVERY DD album. Yes, I bought the greatest hits CD of The Fab Five the minute it hit record [not CD :-)] stores. I saw them live at Madison Square Garden, NY (where I'm from)...I think it was 'in 85. Quick: how many James Taylors are there in musicland? Other faves: The Police, Depeche Mode, Culture Club, The Eurythmics, U2, A Flock of Seagulls, Billy Idol, The Bangles, The Go-Gos, The Clash, Cyndi Lauper, Pet Shop Boys. Most punk. Anything New Wave. Any band whose name was a euphemism. Any '80s band who's name started with "The." (Remember "The The?") I admit---I'm also a 70s kid. So I have my fair share of, yes, funk, disco, and Lord help me, a Carpenters CD [it was a slightly embarassing trip down memory lane.] I have the nerve to own a Donna Summers album. No, not CD. Album. Don't shoot me now. I remember 1984 (the record, the book AND the year, thank you). '84 was an UNBELIEVABLE year for music. It was the the year of "Thriller." It was like nothing else the music world had ever seen before. We've never seen anything like it since. It was also the year of The Police's "Synchronicity," which I still have, both in album and CD form. (By the way, how many of you out there are spending your future kid's college tuition trying to convert all of your albums, and more importantly, all of your TAPES, to CD format? Never mind all that MP3 stuff...) And then a sassy chick really exploded on the scene, exuding a new sexuality so many of us girls secretly admired, even if we might have publicly disdained her dress code. Madonna. I kept dancing to her all throughout college. I wanted to be a material girl. And I just wanted to have fun while I was at it, too. (I thought that "Material Girl" was a rip-off of Cyndi Lauper. Still do. But Madonna is the one I love to hate, and you KNOW I have "The Immaculate Collection," right? Right next to His Royal Badness. Or is it The Artist Formerly Known As Prince? Or is he back to that wacky symbolcraft stuff? >wink, wink!<) By the way, Tiffany runs circles around Brittany Spears. Period. For that matter, so does Taylor Dayne. LIVE-AID WAS THE FIRST and best of all. Every year when I hear "Feed The World/Let Them Know It's Christmastime" on the radio, I crank it way up. I have the LP, but it's too precious to play...T.V. Junior high. I remember going over to my friend's house every day after school to watch GH (General Hospital). It was '82-'84. Before Scorpio had grey hair. Back when Rick Springfield was still on the show (he's 51??) Back when the Quartermaines were such perfectly evil and wonderful jerks. I missed the famed Luke and Laura wedding. But I remember when Demi Moore was not yet a superstar, and was "the cool chick with an almost halfway decent feathered haircut who was a REAL alto." Does anyone remember the "Where's Laura" episodes? The bad dude was David Grey, wasn't it, with his creepy, but oddly sexy grey, flickering eyes? Yikes...Remember when it was O.K. to hate lawyers, even though we ALL knew we'd either be one, marry one, or do both? (By the way, remember L.A. Law? Dallas? Falcon Crest? Dukes of Hazzard? Hill Street Blues? Anything on PBS? Hart to Hart? Barnaby Jones? Cheers? Saturday Night Live (with the late greats Gilda Radner and John Belushi? Remember Coneheads? Probably another decades overlap, bear with me, I was born in '69.) Remember all those RE-RUNS? Remember when a T.V. show theme could become a hit tune and win Grammys? Do you remember when people even CARED about the Grammys? Uh huh, thought so! I aspired to find some way of punching Alex P. Keaton out---and I love Michael J. Fox . I was a Square Peg-head. And, yes, I held my breath when producers inaugurated a new vision "of the continuing mission" that chronicled the voyages of a certain spaceship, whose totally cool, brand-new crew boldy went where no sequel T.V. show had ever gone before. Star Trek: The Next Generation, 9/1987. Wow. What a show. Took me through the first year of college and beyond. Remember Bugs Bunny on SERIOUS re-run for, like 21/2 hours, on Saturday mornings? I remember trying to like the Thundercats for ages. I finally gave up---but I still watched that show faithfully like the worst cartoon junkie I was. I hated Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony. I wanted Hello Kitty stuff. I had a Snoopy lunchbox in which I stored my Star Wars bubble gum cards for years. I hated the Smurfs. Including the theme, no, especially the theme. I loved, loved, loved Scooby Doo (but I associate it with the '70s half of my life), along with Dastardly and Muttly and Speedracer. By the way, I wanted to kick Scrappy Doo...I never solved the Rubik's Cube but I defeated Space Invaders. I sucked at Asteroids and hated the Star Wars game. I lived at my local pizzeria, which had video arcade games. Yep, the ones with the quarter slots. I recall the second and third incarnations of the "Pac-man" family: "Ms. Pac-Man" (on which I ROCKED; I wore pink, a color I look terrible in, in her honor), and the failed, but interesting, "Jr. Pac-Man" with the very weird, never-ending, scrolling screens. All time fave: anyone remember Q*bert? (I wanted a stuffed one sooooo badly.) Or Time Pilot? Or the helicopter rescue one who's name I can't recall? (Yes, along with the insult of ever-so-slight short-term memory loss, the added injury is that other young people are already calling me "ma'am." I am afraid. Very afraid.) I remember Moon Zappa. How truly frightening. (I guess in space no one can hear you scream after all...where Robocop when you need him?) ;-) In high school, I did not relax. I did it all. Went through a Judas Priest heavy metal-faze that still makes my mother shake her head in horrified wonder to this day. (I have the nerve to have the record "Defenders of the Faith." Not on tape. LP.) I wrote song lyrics on my jeans (mostly Duran Duran). Then I went punk-ish (still lovin' DD the whole time), but I wasn't allowed to mess with my hair. Got into reggae instead (yep, still lovin' DD). And I still wasn't allowed to mess with my hair! So then I went back to the '60s/'70s, and did a quasi-art-chick thang. Became quite adept at, among other things, putting on lip gloss on a moving bus (remember flavored lip gloss, ladies?!?). This all didn't quite work, but it was really, really fun. I recall that we really didn't take ourselves too seriously at all in those days...I drank a lot of Slice. I really drank a lot Mountain Dew. I gulped down Gatorade, and had the nerve to chew the gum, too. I turned up my nose at Dr. Pepper (then grew to like it AFTER it was cool). I sneaked Pepsi. I did not drink Diet Coke. I feared for my mom, who used to drink that nuclear reactor sludge run-off, Tab, until she discovered Diet Pepsi. "I'd like to buy the world a Coke." I love Coke. Classic Coke. I knew New Coke was a loser-joke before I clapped eyes on it, and detested the very thought of Clear Coke. Anathema! Coca-Cola is DARK. Period...I chewed Starbursts, sucked on Jawbreakers and Gobstoppers, munched on Snickers, and sucked down Reese's Pieces/Peanut Butter cups like they were going out of style. (Then I did a TOTAL '70s backflip and started eating Mounds. Yikes.) I vaguely remember when Combos came out, and I got WAY sick on them (rediscovering Pringles along the way.) Haven't touched either of them since '92 or so. I remember being terribly confused when Doritoes became "flavored" and I couldn't find the regular 'ole Nacho Cheese chips anymore. I tried them all anyway. McDonalds. >sigh< I admit, I switched to Burger King, then to Wendy's. But I missed my Filet-O-Fish and came back home. I remember the failed-utterly-only-to-be-rejuvenated- in-the-year-2000-after-Y2K McRib sandwich (which I had loved!) I have the nerve to own the 16-oz. glasses of all the McDonalds characters: Ronald McDonald, Grimus, The Mayor, The French Fry Gang, even Grimus' St. Patty's Day uncle, who's name slips me. (That's another late seventies phenom, but it marks the beginning of the McDonalds "collect-'em-all-throughout the-'80s" toy craze.)...The Reagan years. A decade or so that I completely lost track of after he started nodding off at Joint Chiefs of Staff meetings. Making fun of Dan Quayle is still extremely fun ( "It's a terrible thing to lose one's mind, " his TOTALLY backward statement of "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," is a personal, all-time favorite), but it's only fun with people who can remember that far back. Iran-Contra still confuses the heck out of me after all these years (whatever happened to Ollie North, anyway?), partially because somebody, somewhere started calling the whole thing "Irangate." And the 'Star Wars' policy? Whatever..."Hey, Mr. President, dude, it's just a MOVIE." I forgot about the movies. The line-up is wack-y! Yes, I collected the Star Wars cards, yes, I lusted after Luke Skywalker, and yes, I thought Han Solo was cute and totally obnoxious. I was Darth Vader for Halloween for something like six years in a row as a child, and felt it was a sort of a neighborhood "duty". I grew up to LOVE Harrison Ford like no one's business. Saw all the Indiana Jones movies except Temple of Doom. Can't pick between him, Sean Connery and Patrick Stewart, though they're all old enough to be my grandfather...I begged my mom to let me go to The High School for the Performing Arts ("Fame" school.) I was convinced I was the next Jennifer Beals. Yeah, right. I was sent to Science instead...What was it about those 80s movies? They kept the magic suspended for you: E.T. (yeah, I still cry), Gremlins (yeah, I still howl), The Never-Ending Story (yeah, I still like it, even if I still don't quite get it), The Dark Crystal (yeah, I still love it, even if the heroes still look like Chatty Kathy dolls). The Indiana Jones series, the Mad Max series, the entire Star Wars trilogy, those terrible Star Trek movies you love to hate (out of fierce loyalty, I continue to go)...they kept the magic waiting for you. And they weren't constantly blowing up everything, either. There was room for humor (Ghostbusters, Spaceballs), smart-alecky-ness (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High), awkwardness (The Breakfast Club. Yeah, I was an outsider, and changed my look about fourteen times trying to fit in. I never did, and it didn't matter. I still had friends who were just like me---different.)...It all kind of ends for me at about '93-'94ish with the music. At Nirvana. I really just can't go any further with the whole pop-'and/or-but/not-if/then'-rock scene/or the-somewhat-alternative-to-whatever-it-is-scene/or the-pseudo-folksy-without-the-substance-scene/or the-totally-incomprehensible-and-indistinguishable-rap/hip-hop/rave/techno/electronic/acid scene/or the-'just-sing-and-don't-write-your-own-stuff-or vice-versa'-singer/songwriter scene". As for movies, I haven't seen a 'movie' in quite a while---I've long since moved on to foreign films and international music. I fully recognize that a new generation has to have a new music, a new style, a new stance that's all their own. I applaud that---but, somehow, I feel like they're being robbed of that fuller thing that we had in the '80s...the movies, TV (yeah, I totally remember watching Friday Night Videos before the days of MTV). The bad hair days. Scrunchies. Side ponytails. Jeans jackets. (You KNOW I had leg warmers. [Dancer wannabe.]) Neon sweaters. Skinny ties on boys with skinny ponytails, or longish sideburns, or flatops like Max Headroom. Or the-sweeping-bang-but-it's really-a-glorified- drooping-cowlick look. Ultimate frisbee. Hacky-sack. Friendship bracelets. The youthfulness and carefree-ness...despite AIDS...and an increased awareness of worldwide famine...and assassination....and the Challenger explosion, which I will never forget. i was in the 10th grade. Sitting in Chemistry class, no less. Our emotions were shattered---science had utterly failed us. Worse still was the night John Lennon was murdered. That was the sixth grade for me. I remember it all too well...That was no weird science, no being blinded by science. That was all too real. A last thought: we "teen '80s" people are getting older, and time is making us bolder (Stevie Nicks rules!) Another generation is coming of age, which means we're really quite grown now. Let's remember the good, champion the best that the '80s decade had to offer, and bear witness to its sorrows, too. Let's take a look at our teen days, revive all that we can that was so magical and cool, and above all, accepting of the "different", about it. And then let's make something totally new out of that for our kids and their kids to grow up with and cherish. "...never say good-bye..."

God, I was so in love with the 80's! I remember so much about it. There was the TV shows. Family Ties, Facts Of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, Full House, Golden Girls, Small Wonder, and that's just the sitcoms. There was the great dramas too, like Dallas, Dynasty, L.A. Law, so on and so forth. I remember how I still watched Kids Incorporated even when I was in 10th grade. I loved that show! I would show my mom my videos of it, and she would make me outfits like Stacy's, since I thought she had an amazing fashion sense *L* I also tended to drift toward the fashion they had. I remember how I would always have to have pegged jeans and bright neon T-shirts. I always loved the style of wearing bike shorts underneath a skirt. I also used to crimp my hair. When you look at pictures of me from my 10th grade year in 1988, you immediately think "80's child" *L* And there was the music too! Go-Go's, Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Culture Club, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran (I had a crush on Nick Rhodes), Gloria Estefan. And then there's the toys! My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite. And of course you can't forget Barbie. I still have the complete collection of Barbie and The Rockers in their original boxes. AND... you can't forget the movies! Gremlins, The Goonies, Troop Beverly Hills, Breakfast Club, Sweet Sixteen. Ferris Bueller was my favorite movie in 7th grade. My friends and I would have slumber parties and watch it over and over. I think that for all of us kids who got to live our lives in the 80s, we were completely lucky. We had the time of our lives and loved every minute of it. If I had a time machine, I would take my daughter back to the 80's and show her what a blast I had when I was a teen.

Ahh The eighties. A decade I will always hold dear to my heart. I made my debut in August of 1979. I was sitting in my high chair when I noticed the tv was on and this amazing new thing called MTV came on in August of 1981. My life was changed forever. The next few years were the best I had ever experienced. I grew up in Waterloo, Iowa so we didn't have much exposure to big city culture. I wanted to grow up to be like Princess Diana. I longed to be Jessie's girl. Rick Springfield was so cool. I would go over to my neighbors house and play atari and ride bikes. My best friend and I would bounce on Pogo Balls for hours and then go tease her older brother Bobby. On Tv I remember Family Ties( who could forget Alex P Keaton)Who's the boss, Full House, Growing Pains(the scene where Mike was dancing on the couch to Scritti Politti's Perfect Way),Charles in Charge, Punky Brewster, Facts of life, webster, Different strokes, Silver spoons, and the Hogan Family. I remember hearing Thriller for the first time and then seeing the video and all those dead people dancing. I moved to a different house in 1985 and my next door neighbor Natalie had about 57 barbie dolls including a Ken Doll who came with a outfit like the one Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller video. I remember seeing a cassette tape on her table that said I love rock and roll on it. I spent a lot of time at her house. That was there were I heard Tiffany for the first time. Natalie and I would have sleepovers and dance and sing to I think we're alone now. I was over at her house one day in may of 1987 and she had her radio on and that was when I heard the New kids on the block for the first time. I loved Jordan. We watched MTV alot and I can still see those 5 gorgeous men sailing on that boat in the Rio video. I am not ashamed to say that I love Duran Duran. I would spent countless hours with my cabbage Patch kid. My favorite 80s musicians are Genesis, The Police, Madonna, Bananarama, Duran Duran, New kids on the Block, New Edition, Menudo, Miami Sound Machine, Hall and Oates, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Prince and many more. Ferris bueller and Dirty dancing are two of my all time favorite movies. I can speak some of the dialogue from them because I have seen them so much. Can you remember a time when Ricky Martin was just another cute guy in Menudo and not some international superstar(he is not so bad now either)I remember where I was when the Challenger exploded and when the Berlin wall came down. I can not say many things about the 90s because they didn't phase me. They didn't have a profound impact on my life like the 80s did. I am glad that some of my favorite things from the 80s are coming back. I love the 80s and I know I am not alone in this notion. I am a child of the 80s and not ashamed to say it

hello!...i was born in 1981...too bad i wasnt born before that! anyway, i can still remember some stuff from the 80s....like my cousin had a he-man sword that light up and also a thundercat sword!...we used to play transformers...i was always bumble bee i think he's name was, that small yellow car.We'd play legos and built the "back the future" train time machine. I watched care bears. My hero was rainbow brite! My friends and I used to act out the rainbow brite scenes in the playground at lunch time, I was always rainbwo brite..and I was so happy when i found and bought this 2 rainbow brite videos at woolworths a few months ago. I remember playing with my aunt's rubik cube thinking "what the....?". I dont know about u guys, but do u remember that 'mascots' for kentucky fried chicken?...that little chook and that fox wearing a top hat? and i also remember that the mascots for mcdonald's were not only birdie, hamburglar, grimace and ronald.There was this big mac mascot as a policeman and a cheeseburger mascot wearing a purple suit.Mac and Me was a pretty cool movie. I wanted to be in the beverly hills teen cartoon.My other cousin used to collect cabbage patch kids and garbage pail kids trading cards and she's still got them! My older cousins were into "menudo". I had a crush on ricky martin when he was in it and I was only like 6 or something.I had a lime green wrist slap band and a pair of reebok high tops with those velcro things.oh yeah, and that thing from karate kid 2 i think, that little drum thing. Late 80s i became obsessed with garfield! and had garfield shirts, dolls etc! Our dog was even named Garfield!...the list goes on with my 80s memories!...80s rock!....