Oh, man. That is such a broad statement. Let's narrow it down a bit! Do you mean music? Politics? TV? Cars? Toys? What are you curious about?
I was in middle school to high school, turning 18 in 1990. I was also in a small town, so other's experiences may vary. The 80's were... dull, from what I remember. Gas was super cheap, cars were bland (what they did to the Mustang and Charger...*shudder*), and music was kind of in-the-middle. Fashion was all over the place, and it seemed like no one had a focus as far as social interactions were concerned. Then there was the Challenger disaster. And Reagan-omics. Transformers, He-Man, GIJoe, Thundercats, Inspector Gadget, Smurfs, WWF, GoBots, Dukes of Hazard...
It was basically the last time where the overwhelming majority of people trusted the government. To get much more into it would break the rules as far as politics. It was awesome as far as the amount of unity in the country. In a lot of cases it sucked if you looked closely at what actually happened. I grew up in the 80s in a fairly rural area. I remember in 86 when the US bombed Libya - my buddies and I used to drop rocks into the local cow trough to "bomb Libya" and the sediment at the bottom came up to resemble an explosion. At the time the use of force was considered a big deal but by today's standards it was commonplace if not trivial.
The 80's were my kid years, pretty much exactly (3-13 yrs old) so to me they were a decade of wonder and awesomeness: great kids shows and toys, the later Star Wars movies, the early years of Nintendo/Sega, early(ish) years of home computers (TRS-80, Atari ST), Big Wheels and BMX... Conversely though, being a kid means I was pretty oblivious to politics and world issues, and everything I do remember is pretty tinted in nostalgia. Except the Challenger disaster. That I do remember as we watched it in the school library and I remember some of the teachers crying.
I remember that too. My kid brother (8 at the time, don't ask, my parents believed in minimal parental supervision) was home alone sick that day and he called my mom and told her what happened; she didn't believe him at first. I remember at school they wouldn't let us watch it live because they were afraid of the exact eventuality that happened. It was such a different time from today. Back then you didn't really know what happened untill you went home for the day and watched the nightly news.
It was a more civilized time. People did not freak when they saw an unsupervised kid. People were much less likely to take offense at every little thing. Cartoons showed on Saturday mornings. hair was big.
Cartoons, music and movies were awesome. You could say what you wanted without anyone getting all butthurt like they do now. Food and drinks were better too. And let's not forget the fashion. I suggest you watch the CNN series on the 80's.
For some real 80's action check out Commando, Robocop, Aliens, Predator, Terminator, Batman. Also the best shows Magnum P.I., Knight Rider, A-Team, Air Wolf.
Well for me i was 5yrs in 80' and 14 in 89' but what i remember was we had good times in life back then as well bad times just like we do know. But one thing to remember at least for me though as a kid was life was simpler for me in the 80's and that is what i miss so much from back then. Compared to today though it's a hustle and bustle and it sucks but that is life though. Movies where great and alot of those movies i own know. Music was just awesome cause mtv ruled the air waves on tv as well headbangers ball was on Saturday nights from 11pm till 2am sunday morning and i would sit up and watch it all to catch all the metal music vids that i could not catch during the day and Ricky Rachtman was the host. Cartoons ran on Saturday morning from 7 or 8 am till 10 or 11am depending on where you lived but of corse transformers changed the game in cartoons cause it got big quickly. I lived in a small town so not much ever happened. Renting nintedo games from friday night till sunday and having friends over to try and finish that game on the weekend. Those where some times growing up in the 80's and Christmas was going through Sears catalogs and jcpennys to circle everything you wanted but never got lol. Anyway i think it was just different but you had to have been their and the last thing i remember was the berlin wall falling in 89' and then new years eve came then 1990 came which is a whole different story.
