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 17 studying for A levels at a girls' school in London and, like others, studying '1984' for Lit. We went to see the film version with John Hurt and Richard Burton that was released that year. Saw Lloyd Cole and the Commotions at Hammersmith, went out to dance at Camden Palais and shopping in High Street Ken. Loved The Smiths, Lloyd Cole, Cocteau Twins, The Associates and all indie, slightly literary bands. Retro vintage fashion from Cornucopia (never forgotten) in Victoria; style icons Audrey Hepburn, all things Brideshead, a young Helena Bonham Carter in 'Room with a View' London in 1984 was just so amazing!

I pretended to like Frankie Goes to Hollywood because my friend Jackie loved them and I wanted her to think I was cool.

I had another friend who was obsessed with Nick Heyward.

Like a pp I also had the First Now that's What I call Music LP for christmas.

I had short hair too and used to use a lot of product to get the flick right. (scraped back on one side and floppy and flicky on the other). I used to shop in Chelsea Girl

I was 19 and it was the best year. My friends and I went out so much, snogging boys, dancing, just being silly, having fun. I look back fondly at 1984! I remember hair gel being new around then, and crimpers. Sewing feathers on my jeans and making clothes on my mums machine. Happy days they were.

I'm so sorry that time was so hard for you. The Miner's strike was my first introduction to politics and the music and ideology of the time has genuinely shaped my political leanings since then. Seeing what so many communities went through at the hands of the Tories... I think it's partly why I have such a strong connection to the music of the time.

I was at high school and loved Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus and Japan. Just getting into being a bit of a goth as well. Alas, no bands ever played in our remote Scottish town so we just had the TV, the radio and our local untrendy but friendly music shop where we could order records. We covered our hair in hard rock hairspray and it still wasn’t enough to resist those damp sea breezes. Anyone remember Rimmel black cherry lipstick? It was the perfect goth vamp colour.

I had left school and started at college. Living in Hertfordshire and listening to Capital Radio through the night. Deeply envious of anyone living somewhere which had some life to it.

Hair crimpers! I'm so glad I don't have too many pictures of me at the time.

I was 6 in 1984. Can remember my sister being massively into Madonna and her and her friend dressing me up as her, lace gloves etc. I had white jelly shoes and gold star deeley boppers and think that was the year of my prized hand me down blue ra ra skirt. My sister got Smash Hits mag and I stuck her band stickers e.g. Wham, Culture Club on my door without really knowing which band sung which song. I was more into Care Bears. Brother liked The A Team and Star Wars figures. We all watched TV every day after school, from playschool to Grange Hill, regardless of our age. Sister had a disco for her birthday with my Dad spinning discs on our record player at the church hall! Remember seeing Madonna on Top of the Pops with pink hair. And I remember someone with punk hair walking past my house, in west country suburbia. And everyone having perms or crimped hair. Or banana clips. And not really liking Diana' hairstyle. Hair obviously made a big impression on me in 1984!

Oh my god - exactly this for me too! My room was plastered in posters too. I was 11. I remember buying the make it big album on tape with my pocket money. I was obsessed!

I had big hair that I styled with a Braun styling brush that took gas canisters.
I had a mini mouse reversible sweatshirt and loved it !
Pixie boots,a jelly shopper bag and a perfumed rubber collection ( eraser)
My brother had an Atari games console collected original Star Wars figures.
I read smash hits , Jackie and just seventeen magazines.
Great times !

I turned seventeen in 1984 and featured in the Jackie Annual of that year.

My friend and I decided, during a French lesson, to write to Jackie for a makeover each and they said yes! We spent the day with a make up artist in Grafton St, Central London. It was fab!

My friend featured in a Weekly magazine. (The annual itself was published late 1983, but I'm guessing it still counts, OP.)

Hair was everything in 1984. I remember asking my mum if I could dye my unprepossessing mousy hair black and being told in no uncertain terms what a bad idea it was.

I was 15 in 1984.

Every month we had a Radio 1 disco in our town that was the absolute must not miss event.

I met my first boyfriend there and lost my virginity that summer whilst Lionel Richie played along. I wrote about it Judy Blume style on my diary which my utterly vile younger sister and her friends found.

I worked in a petrol station and often filled up cars with 2 or 3 star petrol because my head was elsewhere.

I was 16. Spent most of my time in the Warehouse & Phono in Leeds. The Goth/punk/alternative music scene was a major part of my life. The smell of burning, crimped hair is a fond memory.
It was the year of my O levels, which I scraped, probably due to my focus on extra-curricular activities!
I'm now a very staid 54 year old Probation Officer, with 3 teenage/young adult children, but they were best of times.
Thanks OP for starting this thread. I love a nostalgia trip

I would go back there in a heartbeat- but Russia much less dangerous then - sorry just saying

I had a 1 year old baby, we were gradually doing up our new house, and I was back at work part time. Because it was difficult to get to my place of work, I ventured into driving properly having done very little since passing my test two years earlier. Still in the same house now, but it's expanded a bit with an attic room and a small extension. I was so busy I was fairly oblivious to pop culture.

I had a flat No to a perm!

I was 22. Newly graduated and working in my first job. DH and I got engaged in Christmas that year and were married in 1985. I loved the 80's so much. I went from age 18-28 and had such fun. The 90s was all about children but the 80s was about music, clubs, friends, social life and setting up home with my wonderful DH. Ah the memories!

I was 20, working as a shorthand typist. I still lived with my parents but my boyfriend had just moved into his own flat. I drove a little mini which I could use evenings and weekends but my mum used for work .

I remember going on 3 holidays that year - two with girlfriends and one with my boyfriend . One with a friend was an 18-30s in Majorca .

I had bleached, permed hair and in the summer I remember wearing a lot of pastel colours - including going out in the evening in shorts with a jacket with pushed up sleeves and stiletto shoes.

Music wise I loved Style Council, George Michael / wham, OMD. Culture club . Thomson twins. I can remember at Christmas Band Aid, Wham Last Christmas and FGTH being the top 3 songs .

Ra Ra skirts!!!

Fame on TV? LeRoy and Bruno?

and this beauty

My dad was out of work. Money was tight. I walked home from secondary school for lunch and listened to classical records borrowed from the school music department at lunchtime.

Fashion and pop music passed me by. (Autistic teen not that I knew it)

@LadyOfTheCanyon
oh I was 14 too - and near Hammersmith - I remember buying How Soon is Now on 7" at that Our Price - but was in Ealing more

Billy Bragg, Cold War, CND, Everything but the Girl, Unforgettable Fire, anarcho punk, DMs, leggings, old man cardigans and coats, hair crimpers, crazy colour, two tone, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, King Kurt.... it was when I started to figure out who I was and to be confident in what I liked

I was 15 in the April. Had my first proper boyfriend and life was full of laughter. Went on holiday to Cornwall and Tenby - always allowed to take a friend. Was particularly fond of a pair of white dungarees worn with a red T-shirt.

Listened to whatever radio one played! Didn't develop my music taste until the next year.

I was 3. Gran and grandad lived in the flat downstairs and grew rhubarb in the garden. I’d go and sit in their kitchen and eat rhubarb dipped in sugar.

The year that changed my life! I did my year out in France - The Cure , Peter Gabriel, Serge Gainsbourg, cigarettes and getting very, very drunk on Pernod and black current.