The 1980s were wondrous time of bright neon colours, cult music, movies, iconic TV shows, and if you grew up in this era then chances are it's a time that makes you feel super notalagic.

Although 40 years have now passed (gosh that makes me feel old), the 80's and what it brought us are definitely not forgotten, as we see trends re-appear continuously from this great age in our interior styles, fashion, TV shows, culture and more. 

So let's take a trip down memory lane, and if you’re from a younger generation, you might be curious about this great decade.

Join us as we take a look at the 5 things that made the 80s the great.

1 - The Fashion
Now there may not be another decade that gets mocked as much as the 80's but give it it's due, it had punch. It was a time where fluorescent shell suits were the must have item, leg warmers and spandex were also 'in'. If you were of a certain age then crimped hair secured with a velvet scrunchie was the only look to have. Jeans had come through a transformation and now acid wash was the in thing, along with big shoulder pads (thanks Cyndi Lauper). Baggy attire was also of the moment with groups such as Run DMC popularising oversized gold chains and Adidas shoes to finish the look.

Whilst much of this hasn't made a comeback, we still see glimmers of the glorious 80's fashion in our high street stores today and there's no doubt it shaped the commercial fashion world.

2 - The Movies
The 80's gave us some of the biggest movies of all time and could also be deemed the Spielberg era as the classic ET, The Goonies and the epic Indiana Jones movies were released. Plus, the 80's were when Star Wars super fans were formed as the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were released.

It was also the era that brought us the PG rating  - allowing families to enjoy blockbuster movies together. It was actually Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that was the first PG rated movie 

Other glorious 1980's movies included; Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun,
Crocodile Dundee, 3 Men And A Baby and of course the cult classic Gremlins. 

3 - The TV Shows
Things were far from dull on the small screen too with shows such as Cheers, ALF, The Wonder Years, The A-Team, The Dukes Of Hazzard, and Knight Rider gracing our screens. 

In a time where streaming services were only a figment of Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings imagination, shows were seeing viewing figures of 15-18 million. Most shows today average around 4-6 million viewers, meaning they don't come anywhere close to the success of their 80's counterparts. That's perhaps why many of the networks today still show re-runs of all these 80's classics.

4 - The Food
One word - cereal. If you grew up in the 80's chances are you gorged on highly sweetened novelty cereals, complete with your fave cartoon or TV characters endorsing them and a freebie plastic toy inside. It was at this time that deregulation meant that advertising could be used to appeal to children so the big players made the most of it .

Incidentally, the 80's saw the launch of the MacDonalds Happy Meal. An 80's invention that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Nutrition wasn't really high on the agenda in the 1980's culture and being able to eat high sugar fun foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner was the norm. 

5 - The Music
Finally, no 80's roundup could be complete without mentioning the music. This decade brought us so much musical delight, not only from the iconic artists at the height of their careers, but the inventions and technology too. The mix tape was invented, there was no Spotify or Apple Music so compiling a list of your favourite tunes meant painstakingly sitting by your tape deck just waiting for whatever song you wanted to hear on the radio and then quickly hoping you had pressed the button quick enough to not get the DJ talking.

The launch of the Sony Walkman also meant that music became mobile and I for one remember my Dad sporting a rather funky bright yellow one on family holidays.

The music itself was varied - we had iconic pop and also the birth of hip-hop. It's impossible to cover all the goodness in just a short article but some firm faves were; Madonna, U2, Metallica, Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston and let's not forget possibly the most iconic artist of the decade Michael Jackson. 

Finally, we couldn't write a piece on 80's music without paying homage to Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight, deemed the pioneers of commercial rap as we know it, which we feel helped paved the way for two other artists that feature in our musical lyric prints; Dub Be Good to Me 'Jam Hot' and Blackstreet 'No Diggity' in the 90's - but that's a whole other post.

So that's it, a brief look at why we think the 80's were so iconic and great. If you loved the 80's and would like a little something to help that feeling of nostalgia fill your home then take a look at these prints that give a nod to yesteryear.

 

 

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