Let’s Talk About the Early 80s (1 Viewer)

had my first non-babysitter kiss
everything else is kind of a blur

why does it have to be non baby sitter. I had a hot baby sitter. Well she was really my sisters baby sitter because I was old enough to not need one but not responsible enough to look after my sister. It was the greatest reward for being irresponsible ever.
 
why does it have to be non baby sitter. I had a hot baby sitter. Well she was really my sisters baby sitter because I was old enough to not need one but not responsible enough to look after my sister. It was the greatest reward for being irresponsible ever.
well it was the first kiss my parents didn't pay for
that's important developmentally
 
Good responses guys.. I dont know how i could have been foolish enough in the OP to not remember the fact that MTV started in the early 80s.

That only two things I haven’t seen mentioned (maybe i missed them) that were sort of revolutionary things in the early 1980s were:


- Raiders of the Lost Ark

- The Rubik’s Cube
 
If there are 3 things associated with the early 80's where music and culture intertwined (as they usually do), off the top of my head, I'd say there are 3 seminal moments:

The official welcome of the Vietnam vets and the release of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A.
The official welcome came about in 1982, marked by a parade. And while the Born in the U.S.A. track wasn't released as part of an album until 1984, the song was originally written in 1981, and sang by Bruce in concerts. This, to me, is what started our love affair with everything military.

Music officially comes out of the closet.
Another "official" moment, but following the pioneers of the 70's, like Village People, Sylvester, etc... music came out in the early 80's, with anthems like Diana Ross' I'm Coming Out and Michael Jackson's Why. Gay became mainstream, with acts like Depeche Mode, Erasure, Culture Club, topping the charts. And it wasn't like Village People when most of the U.S. didn't realize they were gay, or didn't want to talk about it or admit it.

Rap became mainstream.
The release of Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight missed the 80's by a few months, and it was considered a disco track, which was dying by then... but then Blondie released Rapture in 1981, which became the first song ever with rap lyrics to reach #1 . This was followed by After The Fire's cover of Der Kommissar in 1982. 4 years later, Madonna takes the Beasty Boys on tour as her opening act, Run DMC covers Aerosmith's Walk This Way, and like they said, the rest is history.



Good post but i just have to say- in re to Blondie, i do still enjoy most of her/their music.. but to this day , when Rapture comes on, i have to change the channel.. the ‘rap’ contained within it is so cringe-worthy, so horribly executed, that it’s like the proverbial nails on the chalkboard. . I wont even give it a pass for being just being ‘early’ to the game, because Rapper’s Delight by the SHG was considered by most to be the first rap , and still eminently listenable to this day.. Rapture would be okay f there was an edited version without the rap part.
 
Good post but i just have to say- in re to Blondie, i do still enjoy most of her/their music.. but to this day , when Rapture comes on, i have to change the channel.. the ‘rap’ contained within it is so cringe-worthy, so horribly executed, that it’s like the proverbial nails on the chalkboard. . I wont even give it a pass for being just being ‘early’ to the game, because Rapper’s Delight by the SHG was considered by most to be the first rap , and still eminently listenable to this day.. Rapture would be okay f there was an edited version without the rap part.

Yeah, I was more of a Tide is High guy. Not really a fan of Rapture. I don't hate it, but i like a lot of other stuff better.
 
well it was the first kiss my parents didn't pay for
that's important developmentally

well now you have me wondering if my sisters baby sitter thought that was what they were paying her for.

Stumped GIFs | Tenor
 
The early 80's were transforming for me in many ways. In 1980 I went away to college at University of Maryland College Park where I experienced the world outside of the small-town to which my dad moved us in 1974. There were many experiences I never would have had back home, and swore I was never going back to to Salisbury. Well, as they say "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans"

My father was diagnosed with cancer in 1983 and passed in 1984. The me who returned to Salisbury in December 1983 bore very little resemblance to the me who left for College Park in August 1980. I looked, thought, acted and talked differently, and had lost my tolerance for the small-mindedness I felt was so pervasive "back home." It took some time for the bitterness of my forced return to evaporate.

For me, the early 80's was defined by the music to which I was exposed at Maryland. Bands like the Psychedelic Furs, The Damned, Siouoxie and the Banshees as well as Billy Idol and U2 all played on campus before becoming mainstream. We went to almost every concert at the old dump Capitol Centre in Largo Md. I was tripping at the Frank Marino/Robin Trower show, and watched the notes tumble out of the speakers :hihi:

I took many trips of both road and acid, I smoke weed, drank moonshine, and went to happy hours where we slammed $1.25 pitchers. I also had classes with Boomer Esiason and met Ronnie James Dio after a Black Sabbath concert. Boomer was intelligent and fun, Dio was simply the most engaging, down-to-earth celebrity with whom I've ever had any contact.

There were also the events like the taking of the hostages in Tehran and the US defeating the Soviet Union in Olympic Hockey. The hockey game was seen as a huge boost to the national pride after the ignominious loss in Vietnam, and the Iranian hostage situation.

-ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel
-Mount St Helens--watch a time-lapse of that event and understand the power of Nature
-The launch of the space shuttle Columbia
-Falklands War
-The bombing of the US embassy in Beirut--a buddy of mine was a Marine and survived the blast. His story is harrowing.

Interesting times, and like most of my co-conspirators, I remain grateful to this day that social media and cell phones weren't around to document for posterity all our missteps :hihi:

I had a number of friends (and my wife, BIL and SIL - before we met) that went to UMD back then. I'm thinking you definitely knew about the Vu...I actually met a girl there who had just graduated from UMD and had a good job, we had a long distance thing for almost a year....

My son is a recent graduate.....
 
I don’t know if you noticed, but they’re back. We went to an LSU game last season and I noticed all the sorority girls wearing them. Even worse, they’re ridiculously high, worse than the 80’s...

Yeah, I have. My daughter and her friends wear them and I ridicule them.
Sad.
 
I had a number of friends (and my wife, BIL and SIL - before we met) that went to UMD back then. I'm thinking you definitely knew about the Vu...I actually met a girl there who had just graduated from UMD and had a good job, we had a long distance thing for almost a year....

My son is a recent graduate.....
We all probably tripped over one another.

Ohhh yes, the Rt 1 divefest...The 'Vous, The Cellar, and the Backroom. Happy hour started at 1pm Friday and went 'til...Sunday. Everyone bought the $1.25 pitchers (these were the big 72 ouncers, not the wussified 48's you see now) and walked around drinking straight from the pitchers--no cups. When you left the Vous and staggered back to campus, there was an alcove in between the buildings where you went to...let's just say it was referred to as the vomitorium, and had a smell I didn't experience again until Bourbon Street.

Then there were the campus parties where they pulled the beer trucks right between the dorms (LaPlata Beach) and you tapped off the sides. Three 12oz cups for a dollar.

Given the above scenarios, what could possibly go wrong? :hihi:

Ask your son if he's a turtle. The correct response is "You bet your sweet *** I'm a turtle"
 
Last edited:

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom