What were the 80s like?

[flowerwild]

I’m nostalgic for a time I never experienced.

That explains why the local offie was so popular then. It was the whole floor of a Georgian house that was divided into flats.

I got given a Madonna cassette album when I didn’t really like her, for Xmas from my stepdad.

Less was being sold but we didn’t seem
to have as much stuff when I was a teen. Or if we did have stuff it was stored really neatly.

It doesn't matter. We heard about the crimes when they happened, we read the horrible details during the trial. It contributed to the toxic atmosphere of the decade. A lot more people died in the mass fires and drownings and crushes and plane crashes, but the awareness of very dodgy individuals was part of the vibe.

Terrible blue snotlike hairgel that went rock hard if you were caught out in the rain!

I was 16 in 1980 so was an "important" decade for me when I took a lot of exams and mainly grew up.

It was an interesting political time with Margaret Thatcher as PM. She wasn't doing well at all at the start with all the cuts she made to rein in public spending and the inevitable consequences of that. Then Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands which pretty much everybody had no idea even existed let alone were a British colony up till then. Nobody apparently had seen it coming and the foreign secretary resigned over his departments cock up. Thatcher decreed 'over my dead body' despatched the navy ships down there (took them over 2 weeks to arrive I think) The Falklands Conflict as it was known for many many years changed everything. Along with the military who took part, thatcher came out a hero and there was a big change in how the country as a whole felt about itself - proud to be British kind of sums it up. I just remember listening to Radio 1 one morning and hearing them play the National anthem on the breakfast show - just because - and I certainly remember feeling very proud of how those soldiers sailors and aircrew who were more or less my age had conducted themselves.

I just think that event changed EVERYTHING and has to be factored in when talking about Britain in the '80's.
Otherwise, Great music, my personal favourites were The Police, but Midge Ure's Vienna was and remains a hairs on the back of the neck favourite. Fags were really cheap I do remember that.

Good I think. I was 16 in 1990 so the 80s covered much of my childhood.

Music was really good. I also kind of liked it there was less choice of TV and radio channels - everyone listened and watched the same things, so in that way there was a sense of joint experience which seemed quite exciting.

There were lots of old ladies who had perms and had their hair set every week (I worked weekends in a hair salon). In fact all age women generally had perms! Only gel, mousse and hairspray for styling products. (Egg whites early 80s if you were a punk).

People seemed to have more physical hands on hobbies than I notice now. Shops were busier. Smoking everywhere.

Very laid back attitudes to parenting. School really survival of the fittest but that could just of been my school. No anti bullying policies or pastoral care. It didn’t really matter what grades you got however generally speaking. Jobs were available for all. Even really low A level grades you could still get into uni (for free).

Women very much seen as ‘lesser’ than men perpetuated by the media. Gratuitous boobs in newspapers, films everywhere. Racism everywhere.

No smartphones.

So nobody wasted so much of their time on that.

Better things to do.

No personal computers for most of the ‘80s or internet.

Computing was very much a thing at the beginning of the 80's but unrecognisable to how it is now.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 to name but two that I tinkered with between 82-84. Our generation learnt basic programming skills.

I was 4 in 1980, lived in the North East of England. We were well off but it was very depressing with the miners strike and Thatcher. Also disasters/terrorism - zeebruge ferry disaster, Hillsborough, Bradford fire. Lockerbie and the Brighton Bomb

Positive
Good children’s TV and Dallas, TV ads that became huge like BT ology and Nescafé . Everyone watched the same stuff like the snooker and Torvill and Dean, Top of the Pops etc
I was at an age to love the Royal wedding for pretty dresses and carriages

Not much communication from abroad so calls to and from relatives at Christmas and birthdays were special and expensive.

Great music
Ropey fashion
Riots
Racism
High unemployment
High interest rates
House prices out of reach
Hillsborough

I was a schoolgirl and would wash my hair, dry it upside down with mousse in, then I used gel and finally hairspray. Loads of make up.
Fashion was very fun and I read just 17 and smash hits, cover to cover. I was always in the Kings Road looking at the shops or I met friends and read a lot of books. Everyone watched the same few music TV programmes.

You made a tape of an album for your friend, you would cut out the pic of the artist from a magazine and stick it on the blank cassette and write each song on the back in felt tip.

Travelling the UK to Northern soul all nighters the planning would start on Wednesday, where we were going, how to get there,get hold of amphetamine to sustain us through the weekend.it definitely was a lifestyle and an escape from mundane jobs and bleak politics under thatcher.

Has anyone mentioned Fame? The TV series, leg warmers, the grey marl skirts with the logo embroidered on… People going mad at school for The Kids From Fame and the soundtrack albums. Footloose and Flashdance too. Early 80s dance movies were a big thing!

Talking of hair, shampoo was either for dry, greasy (oily) or normal hair, and you used to wash your hair twice with shampoo. I don’t remember conditioners being such a big thing then.

Fame was fab. It was so different and fresh.

I bloody loved Fame! One of the best things about the early '80s. Two years ago I finally made it to where it was filmed outside (which was actually a church, not a school)

"Jobs were available for all"?!!

Err, nope.

I honestly wonder if I single-handedly caused the hole in the ozone layer with all the hairspray I used.

😆
I liked ' hair gel ' and hair clips that had little bows on them. God knows why and the hair gel had a strange texture to it. I dread to think what they used in products in the 80s .,
( 'sun in 'was popular too)

The 80s was harsh. Harsh fashion, politics and music! I don’t feel nostalgic for it at all.

@gegs73

Jobs for all ???
Not where I lived.
I just checked the unemployment rate in the 1980s
In 1984 the rate was 12.9% a record high.
This year's rate is 4.4%

@Ted27 I think you'll find that was because from blair onwards they fiddled the figures to not include disability etc and alot more on that benefit. There are 5m on out of work benefits now and 3m then.
Anyway loved the eighties, i left school to work in a bank 1986 (aged 18) along with about 20 other young people - the place was bustling. I think there was alot more camaraderie and community then (less loneliness), partly because of rise of smartphones, less human interaction, all watching same TV then etc. More unity than now despite what documentaries show. A sense of hope.

Great for me as I was in my 20s, so lots of partying, boyfriends, gigs, first proper job, bought my own house in my mid 20s.

But also a time of many disasters (Hillsborough, Herald of Free Enterprise, Space Shuttle etc), Thatcherism (I wasn't a fan), AIDs, nuclear war seemed likely, if not inevitable. Also time wasted seeking a phone box that worked - when my landlady wouldn't trust me to use the home phone (bxtch), I spent evenings driving around to find a phone so I could sort out my social life - if it worked, there would always be a queue.....

Talking of social life, you’d arrange to meet at the pub/cinema etc at 7pm in Saturday, and plans rarely deviated.