To ask you to tell me about the '80s?

[Trulyatraditionalman]

I was born in Dec '89. I absolutely love '80s music, and the way it is depicted in films and TV makes it seem like it was the most amazing decade.

I'd like to experience the '80s through your memories

I was born in 1974 but in different country in East Europe.
My childhood was lovely and my teen years were nice too.
We were not allowed to listen western music- only occasionally they play some British or American song on the radio.
I remember on Tuesday there was a program in radio where they would play 4 local songs followed by 2 foreign songs- I was always waiting for these two songs so I could tape them.
I was always heavily influenced by Western style- music or fashion.

Bands like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys were still big in our country.
You could not freely buy an western music album, I remember one of my friend had a LP of Madonna - some relative brought it to her from West and she borrowed to everyone so we could make tapes and listen to it.
We always found a way to listen to foreign music.
Same was with movies. I remember watching Terminator in 1990 in my friends flat- we did not understand as it was in English - it was a poor copy someone made but we were so happy that we could watch it.
There was a Lambada mania - all girls learned to dance this dance ( not me)
Also Dirty Dancing- I remember first time watching in the cinema in 1990- everybody got absolutely crazy.
Remembering Cutting pictures of a singers and actors from western magazines..
The Summers were lovely and hot, sitting outside with a ice cream.
Winters covered with thick snow and temperatures around minus -15-20.

@Gwenhwyfar

"Children were seen and not heard, teenagers were expected to either go to university (if you were one to be proud of) or leave school and get a job without doing A levels, there was no inbetween. "

That's really not true. The in between was 'tech' or technical college.
A levels were indeed seen as a prep for university rather than work so it's true that it didn't make sense to do them and then just stop.
Is that different now? I know they do AS levels so more subjects and a broader education?

I've never heard of technical college, we didn't have any where I lived. At least not with that name, they had FE colleges but it was all A levels or courses like BTEC Business Studies or Health Care.

ProfYaffle I think also how you experienced things depended on where you lived.
I left a norther town which was pretty grim and where nothing happened at the very beginning of the 80s and even though I only worked in a basic office job the possibilities were out there and it was a completely different way of life in London.
The places to go and see and do were beyond anything I had ever experienced.

I don’t think I gave a thought to nuclear Armageddon and I think other events passed me by because I didn’t have a tv or spent any time reading a paper or staying in.
My flat was for sleep, shower and storage

What a brilliant thread - thanks OP! I was 13 in 1980 so lots to say but will come back later.

I remember walking down nice shopping streets on the look out for free food. Dressed nicely you could gatecrash a lot of art gallery or different shopping events and be greeted with a never ending supply of champagne and vol au vents or smoked salmon titbits.
Always remember that if you timed it correctly after work if you went to the top floor of the Hilton on Park Lane and sat down having ordered a cola they would bring round cooked things and serve them at your table on side plates. The best were massive mushroom vol au vents which really filled you up.
I don’t think I bought food for the whole of the 80s

@Trulyatraditionalman

I too like other posters have good mostly,very sad memory of the 80s
Period time.

I rember with my best friend in secondary school coming to my house and in my bedroom pretending we were like Madonna singing along to her popular hit records at the time, with our hair brushes as fake miks.

Also rember being into the sad French Piorot clown stuff,such as a musical toy porcelain clown constanly moving around to eerie sad slightly creepy music.
Also having the sad French clown Durvert/or bedspreed and matching curtain like this too.

School discos in the assembly with a teacher shining a torch checking nobody getting up to mischief of snogging someone.
Also to be allowed to go to school discos having to have a 2 tins of food for the school fair later on.

I rember watching Live Aid massive concert and Freddie Mercury queen band memorable act mind blowing .
I rember street games like A Ba Boo etc.

Food was mainly meat and two vegetables and fresh pasta was unheard of unless you found a specialist delicattessen and paid through the nose for it.
The people with different cultural backgrounds who you mention being considered 'lesser' weren't eating meat and two veg. Just saying.

@Trulyatraditionalman

I rember we only had 4 or 5 TV channels then in 1980s .

Such as Only and Fools horses comedy must see popular TV viewing
Also The Two Ronnie's TV show must see viewing too
Surprising at times this comedy show was ahead of its time looking back, especially with one comedy sketch on Gender/identity politics !

Also there was must see viewing TV show even Morecambe and Wise.
And Up Pompeii with Frankie Howard Comedien.

There was Very popular Grange Hill TV viewing about a secondary school often dealt with controversial themes that hit the headlines..
Such as a teacher /pupil relantship of a 6 former.
And a beware of anything to do with drugs campaign that started off cause of a character from TV series this campaign event ended up being so successful it went to America

I rember we only had 4 or 5 TV channels then in 1980s

To have more than 4 channels in the 80s in the UK, you must either have lived in an area that had a local cable TV network or have been a very early adopter of Sky Satellite, which launched in 1989. Channel 5 didn't come along till the 90s.

@Trulyatraditionalman

I also rember very popular TV show series by Ronald Dhal Tales of the unexpected .

They still show re runs of this series 40 +yrs later.

Ronald Dahl wrote Grown up quiky stories for Adults and his short stories TV adaption caught the publics imagination it was ledgendary TV .

(Think of Op
Of Black mirrors Netflix TV series
Well Tales of the unexpected TV series was similar ,but it was forerunner to Netflix TV series.

I rember sodastream drinks machine in my house.

And the ra ra fashion puff ball skirt
The shell suit with Weird Loud Colours blazing over them.
Worn by Notorious DJs such as Jimmy saville on popular Music show Top of the Pops.

Also rember Whicker's world TV popular show.series.on expats living abroad in various places abroad.

Also rember Arthur c.Clarke's world of strange Powers very popular TV series.
Seriously spooky interesting TV series on Parnomal .

Also Sky at Night TV series extremely popular TV series event .

Still ongoing TV series even to today.
It had a iconic eccentric Famous Old school Presenter A national Treasure uk one.

@CaptainMyCaptain

Food was mainly meat and two vegetables and fresh pasta was unheard of unless you found a specialist delicattessen and paid through the nose for it. The people with different cultural backgrounds who you mention being considered 'lesser' weren't eating meat and two veg. Just saying.

I'm sure they weren't but this thread is about our own experiences and my experience is that other people considered those from different cultural values as lesser.

It wasn't my view but it was certainly the view of others. I remember teachers saying they felt sorry for a girl in my year (one of my friends) who was "half cast" - their offensive words not mine - because of it and how "nobody would want their son to marry her".

They made such an issue of it whereas to us she was one of us as was a girl from a different background who was also one of our friends. To us they were part of our social group and we didn't have those racist views towards them and wouldn't have come across any ideas of racism if the teachers and, in some cases, parents hadn't mentioned them.

I remember channel 4 starting, the music:

DAH DAH dada!

I think we only had 3 channels for most of the 80s. We were one of the last tv regions to get channel 4, and that was around the time I left school in 85.

@ImsorryWilson

I remember channel 4 starting, the music:

DAH DAH dada!

Oh, yes! And I remember Central replacing ATV which was around the same time - a weird white exploding globe suddenly replaced the rather scary ATV 'eye' logo. Obviously that only applied if you lived in a certain ITV region - there were far more ITV regions in those days and they each had their own, usually animated, ident.

Music shows,,,,The tube? And another one filmed in Newcastle ?

I'm sure they weren't but this thread is about our own experiences and my experience is that other people considered those from different cultural values as lesser.
I thought it was about the 80s generally. I appreciate that it isn't your personal view but dismissing a large chunk of the population and what they ate is quite 'othering'. I say this as someone who was an adult (25 in 1980) and was the white mother of a mixed race child.

@Trulyatraditionalman

Thanks for doing this as a thread Post op.
Much appreciated,a trip down memorary lane to escape shit Covid times !

I rember there was a water shed TV guide that once it turned hit 9pm all Adults programmes not suitable for children could come on.
Basically it was a guide to warn parents with younger children it was better more suitable for children to be their bedtime before 9pm.

Mary Whitehouse was devout christian stallwort of the community who saw herself as the chosen moral leader/guide/sage of keeping christian values upholding against Adult themes TV films and tv series in the uk.!

Think of the christian comedy famous of the life of Brian.film by Monty Pthyon fame.
This film Mary Whitehouse wanted to Ban.
As she felt and others like minded thought it was blasphemy against Christian church ethos being under attack.!

Also Controversy TV drama popular series By such as Brown eyes and Pennies from Heaven popular TV series .
By Dennis Potter
Got the Mary Whitehouse Experience too.

Also there was a very popular amongst teenager girls at that time !
It was called Flowers in the Mist by Author Virginia woods,
It was had very dark themes and it was a Gothic best seller book.

It was one of those books/TV series
That you were never quite sure whether it was really based totally on real life disturbing events or it was a mixture of real life events and a writers vivid imagination etc.

Very disturbing intriguing controversial story lines that captured the imaginations of teenager girls.

And it was a ongoing saga,with so many twists and turns, didn't need to watch TV soap series like eastenders as this disturbing,psychological drama book of Virginia Andrews had so much twists in it you didn't know what to expect.

At the start of the 80s, I wanted to marry Dusty Bin, by the end I had moved on to Simon Le Bon ended up with Mr Blobby

"I've never heard of technical college, we didn't have any where I lived. At least not with that name, they had FE colleges but it was all A levels or courses like BTEC Business Studies or Health Care."

Yes, I think they were actually called FE colleges by the time I was 16 and had A levels as well, but before that they were 'tech'. I think maybe I'm just a bit older/more old fashioned than you.

I was 20 in 1984.
We grew up eating lots of curry, rice & pasta in our household, even in the 70's. It really wasn't unusual.

When I left uni. with a Biology degree ( red brick) a lot of my friends found it really difficult to get jobs. In contrast with what a lot of other people are saying here.

OMG Virginia Andrews!!! Dodgy AF but utterly compelling.

At the start of the 80s, I wanted to marry Dusty Bin

Ooh, so did I! My parents even bought me a little plastic Dusty Bin of my own. Those were the days!

The Falklands war, awful fashion, ugly hair and nondescript music (on the whole). That's what I remember!

@Trulyatraditionalman

Anybody rember Jackie Annual Books for teenagers and the Body shop when Anita Roderick was still around then?
And how ahead of her time she was such as creating iconic envorimently aware skin care ,hygiene products etc based on a lot of the time on traditional indigenous stuff, and helping indigenous Communties projects to help themselves initiatives etc.

At that time anybody interested in envorimental issues,was perceived as being eccentric (quiky ) very alternative ,Radical etc.

Think of Prince Charles cause he was into this envorimental awareness in 70s/80s .
He was seen as being a strange character cause of being outspoken on envorimental themes and of course talking to his plants to soothe and to encourage them to grow.

"Fame, I'm going to live forever!" (TV show about an American drama / dance school)

Findus crispy pancakes

Casual sexism / page 3

Seatbelts became compulsory late 80's

In my first office, you could smoke at your desk. In cinemas, the left side was for smokers. And the back of a plane

Interest rate for my first mortgage 15.8%