What were the 80s like?

[flowerwild]

I’m nostalgic for a time I never experienced.

I left school in 1985. I remember the music, the endless variety of music. Working for £23.50 a week, ice skating three times a week. The nuclear threat rumbling in the background, the Berlin wall coming down, the miners strike and Hillsborough disaster. Band aid and Frankie says relax. Wanting a ra ra skirt but never having the self confidence to wear one.....yazz the only way is up!!! 🤣🤣 Wearing risque dresses and nearly falling out of them when I danced too energetically 🤣🤣

It was called Talkabout. You had friendly moderators who’d sometimes let you swap numbers as that wasn’t really allowed then.

CB Radio, I never had this but my best friend Carole did, she did tell me her “handle” but I’ve forgotten it.

Hitchhiking was considered safe and done a lot. I’ve read a book on the Wests and they think a lot of their victims we don’t know about were hitchhikers.

I was 26 in 1980, living and working in London and having a great time, clubs, fashion, music, restaurants. I was carefree and nothing bothered or worried me. It was a pretty hedonistic time, my boyfriend was a musician and the parties were fantastic. At the end of the decade in 1987 I was 33 and about to go to university as a mature student - with a full grant, no student loan to worry about.

That was me .

I think economically it was hard. Lots of unemployment. But culturally it was brilliant. As a teenager I felt part of a 'tribe', we were all into new wave/end of punk/ new romantics music. I remember 'Dare' by the Human League playing in my friends original mini which we crammed 5 into. So many concerts and bands playing live, no ticket master (hooray!), just queueing up at Birmingham Odeon ticket office and paying 3.50 for a ticket. Fag's on the dance floor, burn holes in clothes, 50p for a pint of cider!

A real mix of really rub down poverty and flashy extravagance

early 80’s was extremely depressing late 80’s for many life had improved immensely for others they had been left behind and often living in worse situations

but mid 80’s onwards I think for many they felt optimistic

We were never ever asked for ID in our local pubs.

My mum got so mad one day about it she stormed into the local one with a photo of me in my school uniform (I’d had my hair permed by then though so it was out of date!) the landlord spun her a line and then told me later on my mum had been asking for me but it was ok, he’d still serve me!

God, that takes me back. They’d have served a baby in a nappy wearing a plastic moustache. And we used to go drinking with our teachers.

I got married in 1981 aged 22. We had both lived with our parents, paying 25% of our wage as 'keep', until our marriage as 'living in sin' was still just not done (one of my friends got pregnant at the same time we got married and she 'had' to get married to her boyfriend). We had saved for 2 years for our house deposit, Our mortgage offer was 2.5x dh salary (£6k) and 1x mine (£4k) and our house cost £20k with 16% interest which, with the 'rates ' (Council tax) was my entire salary. We were so poor!
But by mid 80s we had had significant pay rises, a drop in interest rates and we were childless and quite well off! We had an XR3i, fab clothes, holidays abroad. It was a time of the poll tax, miners strikes, riots, AIDS, homophobia, Thatcher, Live Aid. Women were gaining parity with men in employment ts &Cs, but maternity pay and conditions were well behind our EU contemporaries. Women could still be asked whether they planned to have children at interviews, or about their menstrual cycle and if it might impact on their work performance.
But if you were employed, healthy, young, had a house - life was good!

Fun and grim. I was at university so lots of great nights out, living off not much money but it was normal so you weren't comparing yourself to everyone all the time. Also no social media. Great music. You could be a gender non conforming woman without thinking you might be a man. Grimness included lots of poverty, the miners strike, racism, sexism. Getting lost because no sat nav. Hanging around waiting for people because no mobile phones.

Depends who you were. I was a primary school kid so for me it was great. Not so good for my parents though scraping to make ends meet. I seem to remember the weather was good in that we got proper seasons. Bonfire night was cold. Christmas was colder. Summer was hot. It was better only having kids programmes on at set times as you were more likely to go and play or be creative. School was fun as we didn’t do SATS. Teachers had more freedom. My primary school teacher taught me to sew and how to wrap presents!

From my best friend I knew when I was in my mid 20s she grew up in Coventry.

She made a lot of her own clothes (still had a silver mini skirt she’d made then) and had lots of jobs including in supermarkets or other shops. She did say there was poverty and her dad once presented them with rabbit pie and their pet rabbit was gone…

Lots of the community where she worked worked eg at the local Jaguar factory as they were a big employer. I’m sure eg Bourjois had their factory out near where I lived which was 20 mins drive to Croydon. Never worked there but they were known to be strict eg with tea breaks.

The art teacher in my girls secondary school before I got moved school, he was regularly taking out 15/16 year old pupils to the pub in his lunch break and dating them. Ugh he was vile.

Dole queues, political activism and the squatting scene.

Early 80s, grim, but great music!

You couldn't really get asked about your marriage plans in 1985 as I was asked if I had a boyfriend by one interviewer, and the other interviewer (both male!) drew a sharp intake of breath & quickly moved on!

I feel sorry for those who didn't experience the 80's - the time of my life.
Music, nightclubs ,dancing, fashion ,culture ,makeup .
A time of great excitement ,discovery ,originality and even though sometimes tough i think there was a sense of hope.
It was a carefree time for me and everything was so much simpler.
There was money about and consequently the shops were amazing, quality was far better than now also.
The cost of living was not how it is now things were more affordable looking back i don't think we were ripped of from all directions like we are now -poll tax aside !
As a young female i felt equal to men and that i could do what i wanted , i could go on and on all those that lived through it know what i mean ! just the best time ever and i miss it.

Peaceful! The biggest difference between the 80s & now is that back then, there were farrrrrr less people around and of course, considerably less cars. It was peaceful.
Nobody had their heads stuck in devices and if you wanted to communicate with anyone, you had to actually call or go see them.
You could turn up at friends' homes (or call them randomly) unannounced and it was perfectly acceptable. Nobody freaked out because you didn't book an appointment to call or come round!

I would give absolutely every single thing I own, just to go back for one day.

Ok so from a person born early 80s perspective... Space raiders were 10 pence. This and this only is what I took from the 80s and often think about current day.

SOME teachers put their feet up on desks and ignored you for the whole lesson and sang pink Floyd songs.
We ran around on the road and didn't die, hardly any cars. Always played on the actual road.
You went to the doctors and there would be lots of different rooms with doctors in. Not just one locum and that's it.
You got walloped for being naughty. Seemed everyone did.
We had a car with no seat belts and would squeeze people in to sit on knees.

Fucking Amazing!

Music, we had Blondie, The Specials, The Beat, Japan, The Cure, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Prince, Madonna, Wham, Michael Jackson, Heaven 17, Human League, Bauhaus, The Smiths, Culture Club, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Kate Bush, and so many others. Top of The Pops was required viewing with an audience of 13 million weekly.

Going to see bands was much cheaper. I went to see Culture Club at Leicester Polytechnic in 1983 and the tickets were £1.85!

I loved the 80s. I was 18 in 1985 and had the time of my life.

I was a teenager in the 80’s and my memories are; fantastic music, terrible fashion (although quite reasonable at the time), my old Nike trainers that felt like they were out of Back to the Future, electric blue mascara and eyeliner! Not to mention the shocking permed hair!!

Loved every minute though! Although I don’t miss the old dial phones - could never call anywhere in a hurry 🤣.

I also don’t really miss the fluorescent colours that were ever present.

There was dog shit all over the pavement. Some of it white. Lots of flies and bluebottles consequently.
There were parks where you would nearly always see a flasher.
Everyone had a perm.
The bread was absolutely crap.
Findus crispy pancakes were amazing.
VHS video tapes and cassette tapes.
Woolworths and Our Price. For pocket money spends and stolen pick n mix.
Most people still dressed like it was the 70s.
Pizza Hut was amazing.
The McDonald's chicken sandwich was introduced to the UK in 1989. It became my staple order for two decades.
The air was really dirty even though there were much fewer cars.

Positives

Summers were proper! It was sunny for 6 weeks and all the kids would play out.

The neighbours all looked out for each other and weren’t scared to get involved if something wasn’t right.

You could rock up at the council and request a council house much easier

Roller skates 🛼

Public transport was good

There was no such thing as a snow flake.

There was more respect for teachers, the police, adults in general and you’d shit yourself if you’d been out of line incase you got a bollocking.

Negative

Most people smoked