Come with me back to 1984...

[LadyOfTheCanyon]

I don't know whether it's simply nostalgia or whether as you get older you are able to see the past more clearly, but I was 14 in 1984 and I was simply in love with Eden by Everything but the girl ( massively underrated album!) The Unforgettable Fire by U2, The Smiths first LP had just come out, Brilliant Trees by David Sylvian- Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Coke and the commotions, Hatful of Hollow (remember waiting outside OurPrice in Hammersmith for that one!)

I was wearing DMs and dyeing my Levi's black because I couldn't find any in the shops, cutting sleeves off my brother's shirts and buying studded belts from Kensington Market. Taping The Tube on Friday nights before going out to meet my friends.
Free festivals in London Parks in the summers, saw so many great bands between 84-86. The Pogues, The Men they couldn't hang, The Boothill Foottappers, The Style Council, The Frank Chickens, The Communards...

Was just thinking about those years and wondering what other people's memories were of those years... no judgement here !

I was 11 and started secondary school. I feel for you by Chaka Khan and I just called to say I love you take me back to that time.

I feel for you is a fantastic song - thanks for reminding me - going to look that one up now!

I was 16 and sat my O levels that summer. After the exams I went to stay with my older brother in Reading, there they were trialling cable TV and he had MTV, oh the excitement!!! I watched music videos all summer
Flock of Seagulls
Billy Idol
Cyndi Lauper
Prince
Bronski Beat
Bryan Adams
They we’re some of my favourites. But I was heavily into The Cure and The Smiths too.
Then Came Lloyd Cole and the commotions, I saw them live as Rattlesnakes climbed the charts. I still go to watch Lloyd but he’s in his own these days. I’ve seen him about 7 or 8 times now.

1984 what a year!

So glad you have great memories of it! Oh Lloyd Cole ( heart emojis all round!) I was deeply in love with The Edge from U2 around this time. I still have a soft spot for him ( and indeed all middle aged men with goatees as a result)

I was 8. Walked myself to primary school and came home for lunch - usually tinned macaroni cheese with Pebble Mill on tv . Then I walked back for the afternoon before walking home alone . It was quite a way , including main roads .
I had to do PE in knickers and vest if I forgot my PE kit and we had lessons with music and we had to pretend to be trees blowing in the wind and things like that .
I had a special party dress which was long to go to friends’ parties . Roller discos were brill .

I turned 18 in late 1984. I was still in 6th form. We had a radio/ cassette player in the common room constantly on. Oh, those 80s tracks.. so many..there seemed to be so many genres, and it didn't feel like identikit music.

I spent Fri evening at the cinema. I saw The Karate Kid when it came out. I'm having my nostalgia trip with Cobra Kai.

I was 4 years old & it was my last summer before primary school. I got a wooden boat from the Galt toy shop in the high street and we used to go to Woolies for jelly sandals.

Marks and Sparks had big black security cameras on the ceilings that looked like Daleks & we got a brand new Austin Metro.

we got a colour TV (Sony trinitron) that my parents still have. 2 years later we got a CD player.

I was 22 and had already been married a year. I liked pop, and he liked heavy metal. What a mixture of tastes that turned out to be!

I wasn’t interested in music in 1984; still more into kittens and ponies and riding my bike to play at friends’ houses.

But 1985 arrived and BAM, hormones, the Take on Me video hit me between the eyes and everything changed overnight. Good times.

I'm a year younger than you, also grew up in London. You were one of the cool, big girls I was a but scared of.

I still listen to Lloyd Cole and EBTG though!!

Jelly sandals! Had forgotten those. I spent a lot of time trying to look like Madonna in cut off tops and lace gloves

And weirdly Dh who was 17 that year but growing up in South Africa, was into exactly the same music as me. Because of apartheid and the boycotts they couldn’t see UK bands live. When he moved to the UK in his mid 20s the first person he wanted to see was Lloyd Cole!!

The men they couldn’t hang!!!! I feel I must know you!

I was 14 at the end of 1984, so a similar age to you, OP. I think I hit the going out a year or so later, but I remember The Men They Couldn't Hang and The Pogues as early first gigs! Back to 1984 and we were listening to Madonna Like A Virgin and Prince Purple Rain. Jelly shoes and lace gloves were very popular!

I was obsessed with Wham and George Michael and made a scrap book with posters from Jackie and Smash Hits - still got it !!!

Also fluorescent socks - one pink, one green

1984 saw the last free midsummer festival at Stonehenge.

The Police toured for the last time, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released Relax. The year finished with the BandAid single

Young Ones and OTT on the telly

LA Olympics

I had baby pink slightly higher than ankle boots and a white leather jacket and skirt that I bought from Petticoat Lane.

Band Aid was about to happen

You weren't anyone if you didn't read Smash Hits.

Pixie boots, leg warmers and studded belts. I think puffballs were a wee bit later

I wasn't even a twinkle in my parents eyes!

But they bought my childhood home. Can you imagine, a 3 bed semi in a nice suburb on one civil

I was 6. Mum's phone was beige and had a dial. It could only be used after 6pm. So after dinner my mum would ring Gran sitting on the stairs. My gran had a telephone table and a book of numbers in her hallway.

My mum would get her hair permed by a friend. It stunk the house out.

Everything was boiled to death or cooked to leather!

My dad worked, mum stayed at home to look after me and my brother. She was getting ideas to do open university by then. She left school at 15 with no qualifications. Money was always tight.

We were allowed 10p of penny sweets from the shop on the way home. I cannot confirm nor deny extras were procured at no extra cost.

I went to Glastonbury in 1984, Elvis Costello and The Smiths played there. I also got married in 1984 and it was about that time I went to the free festivals in London that you mentioned OP