Why Are You An Eighties Fan?

This is one page of many, check out the intro at Why I Love The 80s where you can add your own memories as well.

This page currently edited by: stingr22. Past editor: Junior


Well, I've never experienced life in the 80s, since I was born on 1991. But I enjoy the 80s when I watch 80s movies, listen to 80s songs, such as Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, and wearing 80s clothes such as leggings, etc. I love the 80s, they were so cool!
From: Crystal

It was a time of harmonistic music, sythesizers, Moogs where you could sing about anything, political, love,.... a CAR and get away with it. The type of dancing...soooo wonderfully spastic, even a nerd could dance and have a good time. Oh, how I love my Psychedelic Furs, and Adam Ant!! I want my 80s BACK!!
From: Elaine

Can anyone please please help.......I saw a documentary a few months ago on the television, can't remember the channel. It was about an 80s musician who was trying to make a comeback with a hit record. The song was a mega hit, not sure if it was a one hit wonder or not. He was on the television performing the song, a little embarassing now as he isn't what he used to be. He went through a very rough time with drugs. He now lives in a flat, which he had just moved in to, after living with his mother for some time. I really wish I could remember the song and the musician. The song was fantastic, an electro sound. He had, and still has, very dark, spikey hair, leather gear and wears black eye makeup.It was around the same time as Boy George, Marylin, and so forth. Please can anyone shine anly light on this ....I would be so grateful. Many thanks.
From: Kathleen

I consider myself a Child of the 80s. I was born in 1982, and grew up watching those great cartoons of the time. The ones that I felt impacted my childhood the most were Care Bears, The Get Along Gang, and My Little Pony. Not only did I watch these cartoons, I also had toys and books of these cartoons, too. I still have my childhood Care Bears and Care Bear Cousins, and my Get Along Gang plushes as well. And thanks to Ebay, I've managed to find Popples and My Little Pony once more. In my opinion, Saturday morning cartoons of this decade were worth getting up early for. I'm somewhat of a "Cartoon Connosseur" and most Saturdays these days, I sleep in. Cartoons were much better back then than they are today. I'm also a retro-commercial junkie, and those 80's commercials were really great.
From: Erin

I was also born in 1972 and feel I got the best of both worlds. Old enough kid in early 80s for all the cool cartoons and toys, young teen in mid 80s for all the cool music and movies, older teen in late 80s to fall in love with Guns & Roses and Skid Row. We had it all, didn't we? Why am I so wrapped up in that decade lately? It seems lately when I'm at work and a good 80s song comes on I almost want to cry. I have three daughters now and even though my oldest is 10, she still loves that Bowling for Soup song because she says that's me. I say that's me too. Maybe it is a safety issue. My mother has since passed away, my father has Alzheimers. Maybe it was the security of that time. A country song talks about "Back in 85, when everyone I loved was still alive". I think sometimes that sums it up for me. Plus it was just a really cool time to be a kid and be alive. At least I think so.
From: Michelle

I was born in 1986, and I think I am a true child of the 80s because I was born in the 80s!!!!!! I think you are a child of the decade you were born in!! Ha ha!! I think the 80s were the best! My boyfriend was born in 79 and so he just missed it and he's mad about that lol!!
From: LISA-JANE

OH MAN! Where do I begin? I was born in 1983- the year of the Cabbage Patch craze. So I definitely consider myself a Cabbage Patch baby because I collect them (I have 70). Aside from that, what was so great about the eighties? Everything! The movies were awesome. I remember watching "Back to The Future", "Adventures in Babysitting", and "Karate Kid" (all coincidentally starring Elisabeth Shue). The TV was great also. Some of my eighties faves were: "The Facts of Life", "Different Strokes", "Who's the Boss" and "Family Ties". The Brat Pack was also cool. Especially Molly. Love the Breakfast Club. My favorite musical group was New Kids on the Block. I also wanted to be Paula Abdul ('kay so that was early 90s). I remember being into Strawberry Shortcake. I also remember just having an overall sense of awe at just how cool the teenagers back then were. I wanted to be older. I mean, I started liking NKOTB when I was only four!
From: Crystal

WOW! Almost everyone on this site, who has written a comment got to grow up in the 80's. Well, let me just tell you, you are lucky! I would do anything now to have grown up in the 80's. I was born in '89, in may, that means that I only got to leave out a half a year in the 80's. But because of that year I feel that I have a special connection to the 80's. I have come to really like and appreciate the 80's and the people who lived in it. True there were things that people did that they probably shouldn't have, but there was a lot more. I am jealous of the styles! Everyone in the 80's were so free, and had their own style, created their own style. In my day as junior in high school things are a lot different, or they seem that way. As I was reading on one of the comments of another person on this site, she said that you could actually see the boy's butts, and now you have to go to a wrestling match just to see that usually. I hate the style of most of the boys now, they are so grundgy and baggy, and just so unattractive in their styles. I think that if I was in high school in the 80's I would like the way the boys dressed a lot more. Plus everybody in my day just copies other generations styles and words, we aren't original, we can't create anything on our own. Everyone just seemed so much more care free in the 80's, and I think that that would be good for people now, to just sit back and relax, watch saturday morning cartoons, and listen to a little of WHAM. I also love 80's music, I can name almost any song from those days. The music rocked back then. I can kind of remember things from the early 90's that were still like the 80's. Like Nintendo-that was awesome, Ninja Turtles all the way. I remember my grandma had nintendo but we didn't, so it was such a treat to go to her house to play it. I also remember watching Care Bears, and loving them. I watched "Saved by the bell" and that was like my favorite show in grade school, I don't know if it was out in the 80's, but it was a show set in the 80's. Oh and I used to have a ton of My Little Pony! They were the best. So to all you out there that got to spend even a little while in the 80's I am jealous, and I wish that I could have been there in your place, I would of had a blast!
From: Kileigh

I was born in 1985 which makes me a child of the 80s. I wish I could have been born 10-20 years earlier. I'm into the 80s metal scene. The so-called "emo" crap is out. I am a true 80s metalhead. I like the hair bands like Motley Crue, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Slayer, W.A.S.P, Dokken, Ratt, Iron Maiden, Quiet Riot, Loverboy, Ozzy, Manowar, KISS, Twisted Sister, Voivod, Poison, Anthrax, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Metallica, Over Kill, Stryper, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Testament, , Kreator, Exodus, Metal Church, Dio, Pantera,Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Scorpions, Alice Cooper, Keel, Van Halen, D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, Tesla, Winger, Kix, Great White, Frehley's Comet, Guns n Roses, Armored Saint, Celtic Frost, Venom, Motorhead, David Lee Roth, Mercyful Fate,Alcatrazz, Autograph, Helloween, Krokus, Thin Lizzy, Cinderella, Warlock, Skid Row, Savatage, Slaughter, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, Yngwie Malmsteen, Hanoi Rocks, Kingdom Come, Nelson, Lita Ford, White Lion, Damn Yankees, 38 Special, Agent Steel, Grim Reaper, Zodiac Mindwarp, Flotsam & Jetsam, White Tiger, Fates warning, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Malice, Laaz Rockit, Sodom, and many more. I dress like an 80s metalhead today with the spiked and studded leather jacket, tons of chains, and the denim vests with the band patches and pins and the vests also have patches that say "Made in the 80s". Another reason I like the 80s because TV was better. There was no need to have hundreds of channels on your TV because network TV/basic cable was worth watching. There were more sitcoms than dramas, no reality shows poisoning the airwaves, Nickelodeon was worth watching, actual Saturday morning cartoons, MTV was playing videos and had metal instead of the mindless garbage that's there today, and commrecials weren't constantly overplayed. People were more caring and not self centered.
From: Billy aka the80shairmetalfan'05

I was teenager in the 80s. I got into the goth and punk scene. I'm also glad of bands like Coil, Psychic TV, and Swans. It was a very exciting time and I loved LPs and EPs. Music had a vibrant fantastic and dark underground at that time which may be impossible now, because the internet, which I am writing on now, makes many undergrounds visible before they can ripen into art.
From: Blue

I was in my twenties during the 8's, and I fell in love with the era. This was the time when Wham! and Duran Duran set the charts on fire with their fantastic music. The New Romantics were the 'in' thing and everyone dressed with 'Pizzazz' in mind. Yes! I definitely wish I was back in that era again, just so that I can re-experience the culture and this time, savour it bit by bit. I had missed so much of that decade, as I was busy trying to find and hold down a full-time job then. *Sigh!* I'm still a Duran Duran and Wham! nut. ;-)
From: Supernerd

Reply to Kathleen on the intro page 'why i love the 80's'. I think you are talking about Steve Strange out of Visage and the song was Fade To Grey. Hope this helps!
From: slick

I was a teenager of the 80s...I think the 80s marked me in so many ways...from the clothes, music, thinking and even work development. I have a bar called "St. Elmos Bar", trying to recall the moments lived from 1985-1989...from toys, newspapers, photos, movies, and all that socked the 80s youth that time. The 80s was a generation of freedom to speak, to think and to express the soul in a variety of ways. Its funny how that decade is returning in some ways. Best Regards!
From: Maurice

I love the 80s beacuse of the music and my wife loves it because of the styles. My last son was born in 1990 and never experienced the 80s but right now he's listening to all kinds of 80's music!
From: Eric

I was born Jan 1974, so I remember part of the 70s and all of the 80s. My school years were the Reagan/Bush years, 1981-1992. I remember when Atari came out, Pac-Man, watching MJ Beat It on TV, reading the newspaper about USSR, Reagan, and nuclear missles. The music was much better on the radio then. I loved MJ, Hall & Oates, Bruce Springsteen, Police, Cars, Laura Branigan (RIP), Huey Lewis & the News, Men at Work, Madonna, Whitney, Dire Straits, Phil Collins, Genesis, even older stuff like CCR and Elvis because my dad (died Mar 1986) had a huge collection of records. We auctioned them off on ebay some time ago. Also, I have memories of the "old" Dorney Park and Wildwood, NJ amusements-they were great in the 80's, there were more scary (haunted house type) rides and none of this "xtreme thrill ride or tallest coaster" crap like 90s and today. Also in the 80s things were more carefree, none of this liability and lawsuit stuff that has hurt some of my hobbies, amusement park haunted house rides and steam trains, especially mainline trips on freight railroads that seemed to end after the 80's. Well, now I have computer cames to simulate those things, Train Sim and Trainz to simulate virtual trains and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 to simulate virtual parks and haunted house rides. And plenty of websites about my favorite subjects, trains and amusement parks.
From: Robert

Does anyone remember those Hubba Bubba "GumSlinger" commercials or O.G. Readmore commercial breaks between the Saturday morning cartoons? I turned 7 in 1980. Saturday mornings were an event back then. You would wake up at the crack of dawn to watch Tennessee Tuxedo and Herculoids. I remember days of my mom cleaning house and vacuuming and me hiding between the temporarily rearranged furniture watching "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and "The Apple Dumplin Gang." Things just felt different back then. It was cool to go to the ballpark and have Big League Chew in your pocket. You could meet your friend down the street and trade baseball cards or play "war" in the woods all day. Your bike was your best friend. Ronald Reagan was about the coolest president ever. A movie star for a president (not that any of us that young really knew his history) but it was cool nonetheless. The music back then was always more upbeat. MTV back then actually played videos. Fashion meant owning Panama Jack shirts or Ocean Pacific. Times were so easy it seems. Wish I could go back sometimes.
From: Scott Haven

I was born in 1977 so I was around for the whole decade...unfortuately I don't remember anything before 1982:) I remember my mother and aunts being glued to the TV on Friday nights watching Dallas-now I love watching that show more than my mom does. I don't really care for anything that is current. I like the old stuff like The Golden Girls and Designing Women, but the cartoons from the 80's are something that I remember fondly. I was a huge fan of She-ra and Jem. Debbie Gibson was my favorite singer and I remember going to my local mall to get a glimpse of John Stamos! Those were the days.
From: Laurie

It's all about the music<3
From: Jourdee

I would love to go back to the 80's in a heart beat. I was born in 1976, and will turn 30 this year, so I remember when music, TV, movies were good. Remember when you would get up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons like The Littles,Smurfs, Kidd Video,and when you listened to the radio there were so many good songs on not like the music of today? I find myself listening to CDs mostly because the music today sucks. And don't get me started on how awesome the movies where then. I have started my own 80s collection of movies. Belive me, if I had a time machine I would go back to what seemed like such a simple time. But maybe that was because I was a kid..but anyway I will continue to be an 80s child to the end..
From: Tammy

I really miss the eighties...I was born in 1970, but only came outta my shell in 1983...Man Oh Man...The Breakfast Club, Top Gun , St Elmo s Fire....Bruce Springsteen , Depeche Mode, U2 and off course learning how to drink and get pissed...getting laid for the first time..Oh and of course Wham..and the pool parties..the cool money for nothing video from Dire Straits...Friends getting killed in car accidents...fighting with my folks all the time..But heck..the parties were good and I was always right...!!!rubik cubes were a bitch...I was one of those who took of the stickers...
From: Mike Alexander

This is one page of many, check out the intro at Why I Love The 80s where you can add your own memories as well.