I miss the ‘80s. That decade took place while I was
aged between 5 and 15 years old. A strong argument could be made that it was
the best decade ever for pop culture. Sure, most people I guess look back on
their childhood/early teens and have fond memories and sometimes Father Time
taints those memories with nostalgia and gives them an even sweeter taste than
they originally had. One thing is for sure: The 1980s was a special decade.
Just look at what’s going on in the film/TV/music industry right now.
Everything seems to be a throwback to that beloved decade. From new TV shows
with a retro vibe like “Stranger Things” to the current talks of a “Magnum
P.I.” reboot, to the Synthwave music movement that is here to stay (inspired by
Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter’s music), to all
the movie sequels based on ‘80s properties like “Blade Runner 2049” and the new
“Star Wars” films. The ’80s are back in a major way. But there’s nothing like
the real thing, the genuine article. I’m talking about going back to the source
and enjoying what was really made in the ‘80s.
It was the best time in any era to be a kid when it
came to cartoons. Us boys had He-Man, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while the girls had Jem, She-Ra, Strawberry
Shortcake, My Little Pony and dozens more. TV shows were colorful, light, and
so much fun; this was the decade of Miami Vice, The A-Team, The Dukes of
Hazzard, Magnum P.I., MacGyver, Dallas, Dynasty, Cheers, Night Court, Family
Ties, Full House, Married With Children, Growing Pains and a slew of others
that would go on to become all-time classics.
It was also the decade that put video games on the
map, first with Atari 2600 and ColecoVision with their classic straightforward
games like Asteroid, Centipede, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong moving forward
to the birth of Nintendo and Sega with Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Mega Man,
Contra, Double Dragon, Castlevania, Altered Beast, After Burner, Tetris, and
Out Run to name only a few. As an avid comic book collector, it was the best of
times, smack in the middle of the Bronze Age of comics, enjoying all kinds of
crossover comics and big event limited series like Secret Wars, Crisis, the
birth of The Punisher, Chris Claremont’s legendary run on the X-Men and mutants
revolutionizing the comic book industry, DC heroes being given a very first
reboot, including John Byrne’s revival of The Man of Steel, and many
independent comic book publishers saw the light of day during that era.
Some of the fondest memories of my life stem from
watching baseball; our beloved Montreal Expos had the best team in all of
baseball from 1981-1983 and if it hadn’t been for a cruel twist of fate, they
would’ve won the World Series. My hometown of Montreal, which no longer has a Major League Baseball team
since 2004, had one hell of a run in the ‘80s up until 1994. Not to mention all
the various baseball cards that came with a stick of gum and the sticker
albums; it seems baseball card collecting was one of the biggest trends growing
up in the ‘80s and would go on to reach new heights in the ‘90s when collecting
cards in general became a hot topic.
As a young boy discovering the wonders of music and
the video clips of MTV (MuchMusic here in Canada), it was pure magic to witness
Pop/Rock artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner,
and Phil Collins come into their own. Rap music was taking flight with the
Beastie Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy, and Run DMC. New Wave took the world by
storm with Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, New Order, Tears for Fears, A-Ha, Soft
Cell, Simple Minds and a plethora of others. Hair metal/bubblegum rock was at
its best. The lyrics might not have meant much but they made up for it in style
and pizzaz; bands like Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, Skid Row, Bon Jovi,
Ratt, Whitesnake, Cinderella, Twisted Sister, and Quiet Riot were the
soundtrack of my youth. The arrival of more heavier-sounding bands like
Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer were a taste of things to come and are still
around today. It was also the era of teen bop and boy bands: Tiffany, Debbie
Gibson, New Kids on the Block, and New Edition. Find me a girl who grew up in
the ‘80s who didn’t have a poster of the New Kids on the walls of her bedroom!
What left the biggest mark on me though were the
movies. No other decade is responsible for more of my favorite movies. Where do
I start? The Star Wars phenomenon really took off like a rocket in the ‘80s
with the release of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”
accompanied by more toys and licensed merchandise than anyone could buy in a
lifetime. Same goes for the Superman craze of the ‘80s, to a lesser extent.
There were all kinds of amazing fantasy and sci-fi films like “Blade Runner”,
“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”, “The Thing”, “The Dark Crystal”, “The
Neverending Story”, “The Last Starfighter”, “Tron”, “Labyrinth” and two tons
more. Some of the funniest comedies ever came from that decade as well, from
the teen comedies of John Hughes with “The Breakfast Club”, “Ferris Bueller’s
Day Off”, “Pretty in Pink”, and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” to what I like
to call the Eddie Murphy Factory (back when he was in his prime, he was killing
it!) with “48 Hours”, “Trading Places”, “Beverly Hills Cop”, “The Golden
Child”, and “Coming to America” along with two filmed shows of the best
stand-up comedy gigs of all-time with “Delirious” and “Raw.” Fun genre-bending
movies like “The Goonies”, “The Ghostbusters”, “Weird Science”, “Howard the
Duck”, “Gremlins”, “The Back to the Future Trilogy” to more adult-oriented/frat
gems like “Stripes”, “Caddyshack”, “Porky’s”, “Police Academy”, “Heathers”, and
the “National Lampoon” movies. The ‘80s was the Golden Age of horror films with
the slasher craze in full swing helmed by “Halloween II”, “Friday the 13th”, “A
Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Child’s Play” and a bunch of knock-offs (many of
which went on to become cult classics in their own right). It also spawned
horror classics like “Re-Animator”, “Hellraiser”, “Fright Night”, “The Fly”,
“The Lost Boys”, and “Poltergeist” to barely scratch the surface. You had a lot
of music-driven movies like “Fame”, “Purple Rain”, “Flashdance”, “Footloose”,
and “Dirty Dancing.” More than any other actor, Tom Cruise pretty much had a
small industry to himself with the string of hits he had in the ‘80s: “Risky
Business”, “Top Gun”, the lesser-known Ridley Scott fantasy classic “Legend”,
“Cocktail”, “The Color of Money”, “Rain Man”, and “Born on the Fourth of July”
all contributed to solidify his superstar status. Other films in various genres
come to mind that are staples of the ‘80s for which you’d have a hard time
finding someone who isn’t aware of them like “Scarface”, “Platoon”, “Wall
Street”, “Fatal Attraction”, “Robocop”, and “Die Hard.”
Perhaps most of all when it comes to movies, the
‘80s will be remembered for the onslaught of action movies and the dawn of the
age of VHS. Straight-to-video movies were all the rage and The Cannon Group
became a giant purveyor of ninja/martial arts and B-movie flicks. Sylvester
Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Chuck Norris became legends in the ‘80s.
Arnie went from “Conan the Barbarian” to “The Terminator”, blowing up the bad
guys as Alyssa Milano’s dad in “Commando” to fighting a space hunter in
“Predator” to dabbling in comedies like “Twins.” Sly continued his successful
“Rocky” series, defeating Mr. T and Ivan Drago, and then he became the iconic
“Rambo”, Marion Cobretti in “Cobra”, went to jail in “Lock-Up”, and also
dabbled in comedy with Dolly Parton in “Rhinestone.” Chuck Norris, the
unkillable, God-like hero whose celebrity status is legendary nowadays thanks
to thousands of funny memes floating around the Internet started out the decade
with the great ninja flick “The Octagon”, rescued Vietnam POWs in “Missing in
Action”, got his Texas Ranger freak on in “Lone Wolf McQuade”, fought a Michael
Myers-type evil in the under-rated horror film “Silent Rage”, saved America
from a Russian invasion in “Invasion U.S.A.” and rid the world of terrorists in
“Delta Force.” The ‘80s also saw a revival of the Bruce Lee craze from the
‘70s, introduced North American audiences to Jackie Chan, saw the birth of
Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Jeff Speakman, went through the ninja
craze with Michael Dudikoff’s “American Ninja” movies and Sho Kosugi’s string
of classic ninja flicks “Enter the Ninja”, “Revenge of the Ninja”, “Ninja III:
The Domination”, “Pray for Death” and half a dozen more.
It was the decade of BMX bikes, where skateboarding
peaked in popularity, everyone had a Rubik’s Cube, owned a Speak & Spell,
played Pogo Ball, knew someone who had a Teddy Ruxpin, rolled their eyes at the
Cabbage Patch Kids, were disgusted with the Garbage Pail Kids, had fluorescent
shoe laces on their sneakers, wore the most colorful clothes and hairdos you’ve
ever seen, we’d all rather forget the Mullett, the Reebok Pump shoes were
selling like hotcakes, you couldn’t go out without crossing paths with someone
listening to music on one of those yellow Sony Walkman, Jordache jeans were
giving Levi’s a run for their money, arcades were always packed, Nintendo
introduced Game Boy and changed the face of hand-held gaming, we all clicked
away on our Polaroid cameras, the infant age of home computers had just begun,
and last but not least, cassette and VHS tapes were responsible for millions of
hours of memorable music and movies.
I’m sure I forgot a lot of stuff. These were some
of my favorite memories/things from the ‘80s. Hardly a week goes by where I
don’t miss that magical decade as I’m constantly reminded of it by the music I
listen to, the movies I watch, the memories that are forever etched in my mind.
I’ll always look back on it with a child’s eyes and heart, maybe with a little
too much nostalgia, but it’s all good and it doesn’t hurt anyone. Whenever life
gets too much to handle, I think back to that enchanted childhood I had and it helps
make things a little easier. I’m very grateful to have been an ‘80s kid. I
wouldn’t trade it for all the money in the world. What about you? Are you a
child of the '80s? What do you remember/miss the most?
