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Oh----that commercial reminded me of another eighties blunder---the guys getting a perm on the back of their mullet cut.

240024105_58ecbe3192.jpg?v=0

240024105_58ecbe3192.jpg?v=0

 

I worship alf!!!!!!!

The decade was a mess to live thru, do we really want to rehash it here on UO?   :evil:  :evil

 

Dude, I loved the 80s so much that I've denied for 18 years (Oh c'mon, it can't be that long, can it?) it has ended.

 

It was a largely peaceful, prosperous decade when there was great music (I argue that 1986 had some of the best music of any year) ranging from serious to fun tunes. There were lots of new techno toys (personal computers, VCRs, Walkmans, home video games, CD players, camcorders, cable TV and, of course, the Swatch watch!). With all those toys, it was the decade when it became cool to be a nerd (celebrated by the 1984 movie "Revenge of the Nerds"). It was the decade when the cold war seemed to get worse in the early 1980s, but then thawed by the end of the 80s. I cried tears of joy when I saw the Berlin Wall come down. And, as a football fan, the Cleveland Browns were mostly awesome team to watch in the 80s.

 

Of course, the best decades are often characterized where we are in life. The 80s started when I was 13, so it ended when I was 23. I was in college for the last half of the 80s, and discovered lots of things about myself back then. It was a great time to be a young adult, aside from the AIDS scare. It was a great time to go to clubs, a great time to hear music and a great time to grow up without much else to worry about in the world.

 

To me, it was a decade when anything seemed possible.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Who remembers those "Skidz" clothes?  The brand centered around tshirts with that "slippery when wet" yellow road sign and checkered or plaid jams.  In Cincinnati they were sold at Van Leunan's, which meant a short walk away was the gun department and there was a bunch of mulch stacked outside on pallets (skids?!).  Oh, and a Ticketron desk by the check-out lanes. 

 

Solo_Skidz_smaller.jpg

 

 

the 80s had a lot of great music... though it tends to be grossly misrepresented today by silly 1-hit wonders and kitschy novelty hits (Banarama, "Relax", etc.)

 

I do hate the way 80s music went overboard with the loud drum machines... real drumming... made by humans... certainly took a back seat after the huge drumming advancements of the 70s (technique and especially production)

Who remembers those "Skidz" clothes?  The brand centered around tshirts with that "slippery when wet" yellow road sign and checkered or plaid jams.  In Cincinnati they were sold at Van Leunan's, which meant a short walk away was the gun department and there was a bunch of mulch stacked outside on pallets (skids?!).  Oh, and a Ticketron desk by the check-out lanes. 

 

Solo_Skidz_smaller.jpg

 

 

 

Don't forget to put on your LA Gear sneakers with your skidz!  LOL

the 80s had a lot of great music... though it tends to be grossly misrepresented today by silly 1-hit wonders and kitschy novelty hits (Banarama, "Relax", etc.)

 

I do hate the way 80s music went overboard with the loud drum machines... real drumming... made by humans... certainly took a back seat after the huge drumming advancements of the 70s (technique and especially production)

 

oh no.  Bananarama was all that.  Franky goes to hollywood was amazing.  Pet shop Boys, ABC, Culture Club, but we could do without rick ashley and cathy dennis.  The music great the videos sucked!

Can those of you born in the 80s accurately define these words which were invented/reinvented while you were being conceived? .........

 

Airhead

As If

Awesome

 

Bad

Barf Me Out

BBS

Bimbette

Bitchin'

Bite me

Blitz

Bodacious

Bogus

Book

Boss

Boy Toy

Bunk

Burn Out

 

Chillin'

Chill Pill

Chill

Cold

Couch Potato

Cowabunga

 

D.I.N.K.

Deck

Def

Dexter

Dickweed

Ditz

Don't Have a Cow

Doobie/Doobage

Dork

Down

Dude/Dudette

Dufus

Dweeb

 

Eat My Shorts

 

F*ckin-A

Flamer

Fly

Fresh

Fugly

 

Gag Me With a Spoon

Generic

Get Bent

Get Rad

Get Real

Glam

Gnarly

Goober

Grodie

 

Hacker

Hardcore

Harsh

Head Banger

Heavy

Homeboy/Homegirl/Homey

Hood

Hoser

 

I'm Sure/I'm So Sure

 

Jams

Jock

 

Kick Ass

Killer

 

Lame

Legit

Like, oh my God!

 

Major

Mall-maggot

Mash

Mint

Mondo

Most Definitely

Motoring

 

Narc

Nerd

New Wave

No Can Do

Noid

Noob

No Shit Sherlock

No way!

 

Outrageous

 

Pac-Man

Pegged

Poser

Posse

Preppie

Primo

Psyche

 

Ralph

Rappin'

Raw

Righteous

Rippin'

Road pizza

 

Schweet

Scoshe

Scumbag

Shit happens

Shiz Nits

Shredded

Slamdance

Solid

Space Cadet

Spaz

Stoked

Stud

Sweet

 

Tagging

That's the Ticket

Totally Awesome/Bitchin'/Grody/Rad/Tubular

To the max

Tubular

 

Val

Veg

 

Wannabe

Warped

Waste-oid

Way

Whatever

Where's the beef?

Whoa

Wicked

Wig/Wig-out

 

Yello

Yo

Yuppie

 

Za

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

Airhead - bonehead/stupid/superficial person

 

As If - LA Valley girl sarcasm - the equivalent of "like hell" or "yeah, right"

 

Awesome - Great, fantastic

 

Bad -  good.

Barf Me Out - Never heard this but I'm guessing grossed out

BBS - Be back shortly? Internet slang? lol

Bimbette - Is that a west coast version of bimbo?

Bitchin' - synonymous with awesome

Bite me - General derogatory remark towards someone who p!ssed you off.

Blitz - Getting high

Bodacious - Awesome, but I think it's from the 70s.

Bogus - Fake; bunk

Book - Leave?

Boss - Another word synonymous with awesome. "That's boss".

Boy Toy - Some guy you're screwing on the side for fun.

Bunk - Bogus, fake.

Burn Out - This probably has to do with smoking weed

 

Chillin' - Hanging out

Chill Pill - As in "take a chill pill" "Calm down". A literal chill pill would probably be a valium

Chill - calm down

Cold - desensitized. You're as cold as iiccee, you're willing to sacrifice our looovvee. Or whatever.

Couch Potato - Lazy person that watches tv all day or stays indoors.

Cowabunga - Uhh.. I remember that from Ninja Turtles. I think it's just something that gets you excited. I don't know

 

D.I.N.K. - Dual Income No Kids. A model that sets you up for a great financial future.

Deck - Punch

Def - definitely?

Dexter - Nerd probably

Dickweed - Douchebag

Ditz - Airhead

Don't Have a Cow - Made popular by Bart Simpson. "You're overreacting".

Doobie/Doobage - Joint

Dork - Inept nerd or someone obsessed with an unpopular hobby

Down - "with it", on the same page, supporting you.

Dude/Dudette - Man, woman

Dufus - probably the same thing as a dork

Dweeb - Scrawny dork, pushover.

 

Eat My Shorts - general derogatory phrase

 

F*ckin-A - "Hell yeah"

Flamer - Someone who openly flaunts their homosexuality, perceived to be exaggerating stereotypical homosexual behavior/mannerisms. Richard Simmons for example.

Fly - "Cool"

Fresh - "Cool" "hip" "in style"

Fugly "#$%@ing ugly"

 

Gag Me With a Spoon - What I say when I hear Bill Cunningham on the radio

Generic - Probably means fake.

Get Bent - Getting drunk but it might mean getting high too.

Get Rad - Not sure. Probably means "don't be a square".

Get Real - "be serious"

Glam - Glamour I suppose

Gnarly - Higher in the hierarchy of awesomeness compared to radical.

Goober - Someone who laughs about everything, doesn't take things serious.

Grodie - Not sure.

 

Hacker - Someone who illegally accesses information on your computer.

Hardcore - Extreme

Harsh - Cruel

Head Banger - Someone who listens to heavy metal. They bang their head.

Heavy - Something unreal; insane; hard to believe.

Homeboy/Homegirl/Homey - A friend you "hang out" with, usually a close friend.

Hood - Ghetto/neighborhood. Or someone who is from the ghetto.

Hoser - Never heard of it.

 

I'm Sure/I'm So Sure - Sarcasm; "yeah right".

 

Jams - Songs

Jock - Athlete. Unless it's "jocking" in which case, if a girl is obsessed with you and likes you, she's "jocking you".

 

Kick Ass - Basically means awesome

Killer - Awesome

 

Lame - Boring

Legit - Can mean "cool" or real.

Like, oh my God! - Like oh my god, I know right, like totally, duh. Phrase used more to make fun of the way stereotypical rich girls in LA talk.

 

Major - Major league/big time/extremely/very

Mall-maggot - Probably the same as a mall rat; someone who goes to the mall a lot and wastes their life.

Mash - I think this means to have sex. It's also a boring show from the 60s or 70s.

Mint - Another word for "good". Mint condition.

Mondo - I don't know. It sounds like something a surfer would say.

Most Definitely - Affirmative

Motoring - Root word is motor so it must mean riding in a car.

 

Narc - A snitch.

Nerd - Dork

New Wave - Synthesized electronic sounding music.

No Can Do - "I can't do it"

Noid - I'm not familiar but sounds like paranoid.

Noob - Newbie, amateur.

No sh!t Sherlock "What you just said is already blatantly clear to me and I am offended because I feel that you're undermining my intelligence".

No way! "That can't be true".

 

Outrageous - Unbelievable

 

Pac-Man - A popular video game in the 80s.

Pegged - To have someone pegged means you already have them figured out. You know their motives.

Poser - Someone who is fake

Posse - Crew, clique, group of close friends, gang.

Preppie - Someone who is rich, has an all-american look, well mannered. The archetypal prep is probably a White Anglo Saxon Protestant.

Primo - Marijuana and cocaine rolled in a joint (I don't know this from personal experience)

Psyche - "Just kidding"

 

Ralph - I don't know this one :(

Rappin' - Talking nonsense

Raw - Having sex without a condom.

Righteous - "awesome"

Rippin' - Ripping on someone can mean making fun of someone but I don't think that was around in the 80s and it's probably regional.

Road pizza - Road kill

 

Schweet - Sweet

Scoshe - I don't know :(

Scumbag - Dirt bag/ @sshole

sh!t happens - "What can you do about the situation? You might as well move on"

Shiz Nits - "Cool". Not a very good slang word.

Shredded - Really high, or ripped/defined muscles.

Slamdance - I don't know.

Solid - Excellent

Space Cadet - Spaced out, in your own world.

Spaz - clumsy/inept/hyperactive person

Stoked - Means you're excited about something.

Stud - Alpha male

Sweet - Awesome

 

Tagging - I don't know this one :(

That's the Ticket - "you got it right"

Totally Awesome/Bitchin'/Grody/Rad/Tubular - Words used to express how great something is.

To the max - To the extreme

Tubular - This is the dumbest slang word ever invented. I think it just means cool.

 

Val - I don't know what this means

Veg - lazy

 

Wannabe - Someone who is fake, trying to be something they are not. Going through an identity crisis.

Warped - Skewed perspective

Waste-oid - Someone who is worthless?

Way - Response to "no way" meaning "yes, it's true".

Whatever - "I don't care"

Where's the beef? - Wasn't this a commercial? Sounds like it has a sexual overtone.

Whoa - "Wow"; surprised.

Wicked - "very; really; extremely"

Wig/Wig-out - Go crazy, act weird.

 

Yello "Hello"

Yo - "Hey"

Yuppie - Young Urban Professional (usually white, liberal, living in the inner city). Cultural anthropologists theorize that they are the sons and daughters of hippies.

 

Za - I don't know

 

I learned most of those from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I am surprised this hasn't been mentioned, but would the 80s be without the proliferation of music videos and MTV (Yes---this was the time when the M in MTV stood for Music)?  The 90s brought us the Real World which began the decline of the music video.  I still remember that day I saw a quirky new cable channel open with an astronaut planeting a flag on the moon followed by the song "Video Killed the Radio Star".  It was a powerful moment.  Although not quite as powerful as waking up in the weee hours of the morning and watching Prince Charles and Diana get married.   

Notable 80s moments

How could any of us, especially the gay folks forget, "who shot JR Ewing"?  The biggest cliff hanger in TV History.

 

And everytime I see this, I think of my Aunt and mother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gsvj5OIZsbA&NR=1

 

Thriller by Michel Jackson

Battle of the Network Stars

The Beverly Hills Diet was introduced

SNL was funny and you didn't go out until it ended!

We only had three TV networks. CBS rulled the early 80s with Dallas, 60 Minutes & the Jeffersons.  But NBC ruled the late 80's with the cosby show, the golden girls & Miami Vice.

 

the NBA had the Lakers/Celtics series and the 49'ers ruled the SuperBowl

Prince ruled the charts, Whitney Houston was "sweet and innocent" like Rob and Bobby Brown had his perogative.  Ricky Martin was Menudo.

Fatal Attraction was a fierce movie!!!

 

 

 

 

 

I forgot about the Reagan assassination attempt in '81

Can those of you born in the 80s accurately define these words which were invented/reinvented while you were being conceived? .........

 

Airhead

As If

Awesome

 

Bad

Barf Me Out

BBS

Bimbette

Bitchin'...

 

As a person who spent the entirety of his teens in the 1980s, I can say that 90% of these words, used in conversation, would've resulted in a thorough and unremitting ass-kicking (in the most non kick-ass way).

"Pet shop Boys, ABC, Culture Club, but we could do without rick ashley and cathy dennis."

 

BANNED FOR LIFE!!!!

 

maleficent5.gif

 

Sugar, Rick and Cathy, were one hit wonder remixes.  I loved their first songs, but they were no Eurythmics.  Now that was a fab-u-lous group

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDv_US-1a7U&feature=channel

 

or Dead or Alive

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHm-k5rRcww

 

Andrew, do the bangs look familiar?  KOOW is this gay enough for you?  he he he he he :laugh:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYb83KM4at4

 

I LOVE THIS SONG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P6I4pT_tVA

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, Cathy Dennis had a few good songs (say otherwise and I'll stab you in the eye with a rusty fork), but she really found success as a songwriter - "Toxic" by Britney Spears, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue, and recently "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry.

 

And yeah, I guess aside from "Never Gonna Give You Up", I'll concede that poor Rick didn't do much else.

Not born in 80s but I was young

 

jams: brightly colored shorts, longer than most 80s shorts

 

heavy:  serious, deep or interesting (see Back to the Future)

 

noid:  cartoon mascot for Dominos pizza, his goal is to un-freshen your pizza before it arrives.  Dominos defeats him.

 

pegged: pant legs rolled up tightly at the bottom

 

slamdance:  precursor to mosh pit

 

that's the ticket:  pre-80s expression of agreement

 

to the max:  equivalent of 90s "extreme"

 

tubular:  cool or awesome, as in totally tubular

 

various expressions involving barf or gag:  disapproval or disinterest

 

way or mondo:  very

Actually, Cathy Dennis had a few good songs (say otherwise and I'll stab you in the eye with a rusty fork), but she really found success as a songwriter - "Toxic" by Britney Spears, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue, and recently "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry.

 

And yeah, I guess aside from "Never Gonna Give You Up", I'll concede that poor Rick didn't do much else.

 

And I'll return the favor by stabbing you in the (x) with a rusty knife!  :wink: 

 

I'll give you Cathy song writing success, since I live for "cant get you out of my head" and the fact that boring beyonce copies her left, right and center.

 

 

Candidate for Cheesiest song/video of the 80's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhoJWL0Tjnk&feature=related

 

 

Every straight teen boys wet dream video series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXzTmoIcDAU

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fub8EXoMShc

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gudEttJlw3s

 

Best sample of 1991:

 

 

You want 80s gay? I got your 80s gay right here:

 

>You want 80s gay?

 

Not particularly. 

 

 

What I don't like is that all discussion of pop history tends to just make fun of stupid stuff.  Hard to believe MTV used to actually play stuff by people who could actually write their own songs, then play and sing them.  Play this for today's MTV crowd and they'd doze off (or rather start text messaging some other idiot) after the first bar: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e3Wu8lP0WE

 

And from one of the best concert films of all time, Roy Orbison's 1988 show at the Coconut Grove, a few months before he died:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV2Ue7f1u7w

 

I swear Bruce Springsteen is the Jimmy Buffet of New Jersey. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You want 80s gay? I got your 80s gay right here:

 

 

OH dear.  That wasn't gay! 

 

This is gay!!  You kids born in the 80s & 90s cover your little beady eyes.

 

Those boys don't even see Miss ONJ.  LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQXECBdPgEA

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_eSnmYv0KA

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyl5DlrsU90&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHfoIfo_7A

 

Daning Football players + dancing wildboys  + a wind machine = GAY

 

Now lets include a video by a real queen featuring one of the judges from danicing with the stars

 

Don't start me on Depeche Mode

This started in 1989...

 

saved-by-the-bell.jpg

 

 

All my friends were ogling Heather Locklear and then there was me staring at Adrian Zmed...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlIu05rdOf4

 

Why did every cop drama intro have to have at least one flying car?

 

 

 

 

OMG.  I totally forgot about that "intro"

 

You need to add sister Network CNN

 

James Earl Jones gets paid so much money for saying THREE WORDS its disgusting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4uDH6_NxbE

 

Always loved Duran Duran.  Simon LeBon and John Taylor were soooo GLAMTACULAR!!

One quote:

 

"Excuse me, are those Bugle Boy Jeans you are wearing"

 

I did eventually graduate from the Levi's 501s.

It seems it was more fun to be gay than strait in the 80's.

Yes and no - yes because there was so much of an over-the-top mentality to anything and everything in pop culture. It was also an incredibly frightening time as well - when AIDS hit, it was initially called GRID - Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease, because of the alarming amount of gay men who contracted HIV (and why a Cleveland club would ever name "The Grid" is beyond me). It used to be that someone could screw around and hope they didn't catch a nuisance STD; all of a sudden, sex became potentially lethal. 

All my friends were ogling Heather Locklear and then there was me staring at Adrian Zmed...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlIu05rdOf4

 

Why did every cop drama intro have to have at least one flying car?

 

 

Haha, there's a channel on rabbit ears in Germany that shows '80s action shows all day long (and topless phone sex commercials all night). Hunter, Knight Rider (of course), Hart to Hart, T.J. Hooker, Airwolf, The Fall Guy, Simon and Simon. All dubbed in German.

Even for straight kids.  Looking back it was a little alarmist given that we were only in HS (and really, can HS kids have that much whoopee?)  But I do recall nasty rumors circulating in HS that gave many of us just enough pause to make better decisions.

 

I loved PM Dawn.

This video acts as a handy guide to everything wrong with the 1980's.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KD1EQMevRA

 

(Totally tubular Nietzsche reference).

 

I love that song! I always thought that band was called Atlantic Starr, but I was wrong.

 

Overproduced Freebird is just brilliant.

 

I wish Elvis could have covered Freebird on the Old Grey Whistle Test drenched in reverb and with a huge eagle on the back of his tasseled leather jacket. Also with shots of falcons and '79 Trans Ams interspersed.

Yes and no - yes because there was so much of an over-the-top mentality to anything and everything in pop culture. It was also an incredibly frightening time as well - when AIDS hit, it was initially called GRID - Gay-Related Immunodeficiency Disease, because of the alarming amount of gay men who contracted HIV (and why a Cleveland club would ever name "The Grid" is beyond me). It used to be that someone could screw around and hope they didn't catch a nuisance STD; all of a sudden, sex became potentially lethal. 

 

I agree.  I remember when the "just say no" campaign came out.  I had a friend die from "spinal meningitis" although we figured out it was AIDS.  They kept saying it was related to  him working at Sammy's with raw fish.  Nobody at the Clinic new why he was sick.  I went one day after work and they said he died.  It was horrible.  There was no real name for it then or people referred to it as GRID.

 

I remember when my straight up asked me if I was having sex with men.  Thank goodness I was a virgin at the time.

 

MayDay, you might not have been living in Cleveland, but the GRID was open before AIDS hit hard.  They moved twice, from west six to west ninth (i cant remember the exact locations)in 95/96 when it started to blow up in 96/97.  That was also a very tough time for gay bars especially Black/Latin.  All the clubs and book stores in the warehouse district moved.  The books stores were raided and "the working" boys and girls were taken off the streets. 

 

There was Keys, Isis, Petraka, Numbers, Becky's, Porky's, Mr. Henry's, Traxx, The World.  You could pick a night in Cleveland and party until 4AM.  HIV/AIDS changed all of that.

It was said they did it to clean up downtown, but it really came across as "clear out the gays" as most of the clubs were in prime locations that some people now reside in.  If you kids only know what the Metropolitan Cafe and XO were before they were restaurants. you wouldn't eat there.  :-o

 

If you were "known" to have HIV/AIDS back then it was the equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter.

^

The Germans seemed to like US cop shows. 

 

@@@@

 

Early '80s stuff coming from the UK had a lot of political references.  I don't know if they really had an agit-propo intention or it was the fad at the time. 

 

But yeah, Dead or Alive...Youthquake was a great album.  So was that Bronski Beat album (the first one).  I dont know if it got airplay here, but it was pretty popular on the radio in California.  Jimmy Somerville ended up doing some good dance stuff w. the Communards.

 

The band I like a lot from the era was Joy Division/New Order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing I remember about the 80s is watching the fall of the Berlin Wall on the BBC in Thetford, England.

That happened in the second-to-last month of the 80s. You missed a lot.

That happened in the second-to-last month of the 80s. You missed a lot.

 

 

Yeah thats true, but in my defence, I wasn't born till Sept of 81 and we lived in Panama from 83-86. There was only ONE English station at that time! lol

That happened in the second-to-last month of the 80s. You missed a lot.

 

 

Yeah thats true, but in my defence, I wasn't born till Sept of 81 and we lived in Panama from 83-86. There was only ONE English station at that time! lol

 

We need to check your papers!  Where in panama?

That happened in the second-to-last month of the 80s. You missed a lot.

 

 

 

Yeah thats true, but in my defence, I wasn't born till Sept of 81 and we lived in Panama from 83-86. There was only ONE English station at that time! lol

 

We need to check your papers!  Where in panama?

 

LOL I was born in Ft. Irwin, California. We lived on base housing at Ft. Davis. My parents OTHER child was born there!

 

That happened in the second-to-last month of the 80s. You missed a lot.

 

 

 

Yeah thats true, but in my defence, I wasn't born till Sept of 81 and we lived in Panama from 83-86. There was only ONE English station at that time! lol

 

We need to check your papers!  Where in panama?

 

LOL I was born in Ft. Irwin, California. We lived on base housing at Ft. Davis. My parents OTHER child was born there!

 

 

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  :wink2:

Panama to Roundtown, interesting.

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