![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Long Live the 80’s!
May. 2nd, 2013 12:41 pmWell ya, like totally! I was like soooooo a child of the 80’s, fer sure!
(And yes, for a while there, I really DID talk like that).
Inevitably, as an adult, most if not all of us tend to wax nostalgic and look back fondly upon those days when we were young and (given the relative filters of older-age), care-free. And I think it not unreasonable that most of us think that ours was just THE generation to beat. Well, in my case, I really don’t think that being an 80’s child was the ultimate generation…
…I KNOW it!
While going through my paces yesterday at the gym, I couldn’t help but see it all around me. In all directions, I saw people dressed in the, ehem, “newest” style – dayglow workout clothes. Everywhere, I saw guys in their new neon safety orange or tennis-ball green sneakers, and young gals in glowing hot pink off-the-shoulder shirts. And child of the 80’s that I am, all I could think was Flashdance and Frankie called. They want their child back before dawn.
But hey, if the 80’s is coming back, I’m all over that! Seriously. Even as hokie as some things may seem and feel nowadays, I still believe that that was the last decade in this country that really had such a pronounced and definitive style – not to mention staying power. And sadly, it was really the last. Anybody that studies fashion or trends has at least an inkling of what the 20’s were like. You picture the flappers and the speakeasies. The depression age of the 30’s… the conservative flips and fashion of wartorn 40’s… the juxtaposition of conservative versus American rebel styles of the 50’s, the hippy flower-children of the 60’s, the leisure suits and polyester of the 70’s, and the birth of punk and new wave of the 80’s. But then… what? In the 90’s, they just simply gave up on anything… including bathing. I still don’t have a clue what the heck the first decade of this new century brought us (if anything), and still haven’t seen anything new until this retro style reappeared. And its reappearance makes me happy!
Coincidentally, as I stepped aboard the elliptical and turned on the TV, what appeared on AMC but the Breakfast Club. Oh My God! That movie was like so TO-tal-LY my movie! In one way or another, I identified with every character – good and bad. I loved all the Hughes movies, as he really tapped into the angst that was being a teen in the 80’s. I think in many ways we had just the right combination of things that really made us different. We were on the verge of some serious technological breakthroughs and we knew it. The concept of “Future Shock” was really written for us. We didn’t necessarily know what the world of the future would be, but we knew it was coming – FAST! And while we weren’t sure how much things would change in a relatively short amount of time, we at least knew that the changes would be fast and furious. At the same time, we were probably the last generation to really be born out of war that was so close to home. Hell, the 40’s brought us WWII followed by Korea, followed by Vietnam. And the country shifted from being “We’re the good guys who were the victims” to seriously questioning our own government and our own involvement in other country’s affairs. Mine was, I believe, the last generation to really know and understand The Fear of the Cold War. Every day, we all were aware that the bomb could come down any time, from any direction. And fear was always an underlying reality. And it played into everything from literature to fashion to music.
Yet one thing that I find most fascinating about the 80’s is its staying power. Madonna climbed her way to fame in the 80’s, and is still one of the richest and most influential figures in the entertainment industry. Yet, I remember distinctly as she missed getting the Grammy for Best New Artist to another gal named Cyndi Lauper. Gee… whatever happened to her? Well, after taking to acting, it was just earlier this week that I read about her new Tony nomination for writing the score to Kinky Boots currently on Broadway. Of course, she’s up against fellow nominee, Tom Hanks. Gee…. Where did he come from? Oh yah, that gender-bender comedy from 1980, Bosom Buddies.
Heck, even watching the Breakfast Club cracked me up. Ah… Emilio Estevez. He was so pretty! Of course, later 80’s movies would introduce us to his younger brother, Charlie Sheen – the current KING of f#*$’ed-up-overpaid-entertainers who until recently starred in a sitcom with Jon Cryer, whom I will always think of as “Ducky” from Pretty in Pink, who starred opposite of Molly Ringwald who was also in Breakfast Club. My, my, my, such a wonderful full-circle. Where’s she nowadays? Starring on TV still.
I am happy and proud to be part of the “I want my MTV” generation, which has morphed into the “I want my MP3 generation.” And yes, many of my MP3’s happen to be old classics that, frankly, just don’t seem all that old. They are still catchy, still energetic, still keep my heart pumping, and are still much better than much of the crap that has come along since. Oh sure, there are some exceptions. But I gotta admit, I think Florence + the Machine would have fit along right next to Souxsie and the Banshees perfectly.
All things age. But not all things become classic. History will judge…
Here I am in my senior high school portrait, taken somewhere in 1985...
So does this mean I'm now fashionable again?
(And yes, for a while there, I really DID talk like that).
Inevitably, as an adult, most if not all of us tend to wax nostalgic and look back fondly upon those days when we were young and (given the relative filters of older-age), care-free. And I think it not unreasonable that most of us think that ours was just THE generation to beat. Well, in my case, I really don’t think that being an 80’s child was the ultimate generation…
…I KNOW it!
While going through my paces yesterday at the gym, I couldn’t help but see it all around me. In all directions, I saw people dressed in the, ehem, “newest” style – dayglow workout clothes. Everywhere, I saw guys in their new neon safety orange or tennis-ball green sneakers, and young gals in glowing hot pink off-the-shoulder shirts. And child of the 80’s that I am, all I could think was Flashdance and Frankie called. They want their child back before dawn.
But hey, if the 80’s is coming back, I’m all over that! Seriously. Even as hokie as some things may seem and feel nowadays, I still believe that that was the last decade in this country that really had such a pronounced and definitive style – not to mention staying power. And sadly, it was really the last. Anybody that studies fashion or trends has at least an inkling of what the 20’s were like. You picture the flappers and the speakeasies. The depression age of the 30’s… the conservative flips and fashion of wartorn 40’s… the juxtaposition of conservative versus American rebel styles of the 50’s, the hippy flower-children of the 60’s, the leisure suits and polyester of the 70’s, and the birth of punk and new wave of the 80’s. But then… what? In the 90’s, they just simply gave up on anything… including bathing. I still don’t have a clue what the heck the first decade of this new century brought us (if anything), and still haven’t seen anything new until this retro style reappeared. And its reappearance makes me happy!
Coincidentally, as I stepped aboard the elliptical and turned on the TV, what appeared on AMC but the Breakfast Club. Oh My God! That movie was like so TO-tal-LY my movie! In one way or another, I identified with every character – good and bad. I loved all the Hughes movies, as he really tapped into the angst that was being a teen in the 80’s. I think in many ways we had just the right combination of things that really made us different. We were on the verge of some serious technological breakthroughs and we knew it. The concept of “Future Shock” was really written for us. We didn’t necessarily know what the world of the future would be, but we knew it was coming – FAST! And while we weren’t sure how much things would change in a relatively short amount of time, we at least knew that the changes would be fast and furious. At the same time, we were probably the last generation to really be born out of war that was so close to home. Hell, the 40’s brought us WWII followed by Korea, followed by Vietnam. And the country shifted from being “We’re the good guys who were the victims” to seriously questioning our own government and our own involvement in other country’s affairs. Mine was, I believe, the last generation to really know and understand The Fear of the Cold War. Every day, we all were aware that the bomb could come down any time, from any direction. And fear was always an underlying reality. And it played into everything from literature to fashion to music.
Yet one thing that I find most fascinating about the 80’s is its staying power. Madonna climbed her way to fame in the 80’s, and is still one of the richest and most influential figures in the entertainment industry. Yet, I remember distinctly as she missed getting the Grammy for Best New Artist to another gal named Cyndi Lauper. Gee… whatever happened to her? Well, after taking to acting, it was just earlier this week that I read about her new Tony nomination for writing the score to Kinky Boots currently on Broadway. Of course, she’s up against fellow nominee, Tom Hanks. Gee…. Where did he come from? Oh yah, that gender-bender comedy from 1980, Bosom Buddies.
Heck, even watching the Breakfast Club cracked me up. Ah… Emilio Estevez. He was so pretty! Of course, later 80’s movies would introduce us to his younger brother, Charlie Sheen – the current KING of f#*$’ed-up-overpaid-entertainers who until recently starred in a sitcom with Jon Cryer, whom I will always think of as “Ducky” from Pretty in Pink, who starred opposite of Molly Ringwald who was also in Breakfast Club. My, my, my, such a wonderful full-circle. Where’s she nowadays? Starring on TV still.
I am happy and proud to be part of the “I want my MTV” generation, which has morphed into the “I want my MP3 generation.” And yes, many of my MP3’s happen to be old classics that, frankly, just don’t seem all that old. They are still catchy, still energetic, still keep my heart pumping, and are still much better than much of the crap that has come along since. Oh sure, there are some exceptions. But I gotta admit, I think Florence + the Machine would have fit along right next to Souxsie and the Banshees perfectly.
All things age. But not all things become classic. History will judge…
Here I am in my senior high school portrait, taken somewhere in 1985...
So does this mean I'm now fashionable again?
