Just as a counter to the 90s thread, time for some of us older heads to dredge up things they miss from the 80s. (I was aged between 3.67 and 13.66 years of age at the time), so unlike my 90s list this stuff is childish as I was a child.

1. My bright red triangular shaped Philips moving sound walkman from 1986 and those cheep ass headphones that always snagged your hair. And the tapes that went with it - Solid Gold Hits 87 and Record Breakers 88.

2. My trampoline, with no spring guards or walls (I had a lot of fun on that shit)

3. Laser Guns (We used to spend hours shooting each other with those things), Lazer guns rocked.

4. Smurfs (I had at least 30 of them) and built houses for them out of Torro (A cheep ass Kiwi substitute for lego), and Star wars ewoks

5. 2 cent lollies and 20 cent mixtures

6. Soap on a rope and those red plastic band hat things

7. The Cosby show and Young Doctors

8. Michael Jackson Thriller and Bad albums on Vinyl and those posters every kid had in their bedroom (I had the one of him kneeling with the panther) and my brother had all this Star Wars stuff.

9. Those pens you could use in the bath and draw on each others bodies

10. Garfield and care bears

Sorry Prince is not on the list, I didnt get into him until the early 90s

Great to hear what yours are

sooooooo many things!

I remember I had a pair of pastel pink canvas Lee jeans, that I would team up with a white peasant shirt and a coral necklace also my blue denim stretch jeans and lemon coloured belt I can't remember the brand now! grrr sure it started with R and had a triangle logo similar to Guess.

My smurf collection - I would get a new smurf each time I lost a tooth (LOL I wrote that before I read your post )

Making my barbie dolls perform in their all-nude SkyNudies Revue, to which my sister and I composed all the music

The pranks! LOL

Putting notes into every door stopper in the house which detailed a long and complicated treasure hunt - the prize being a final note with our names and phone number. Would you believe, one day when I was an adult home visiting my parents, my mum answered the phone and it was a kid asking for Thin Lizzie and Charlie G I nearly DIED!!!!!!!!

Putting sea jellies into exhaust pipes

Making cookies out of mud to put in my sister's lunchbox OH! and once I made her a string sandwich - poor thing, she is still traumatised.

Having nothing to eat all day but chicken-in-a-biscuit

Spraying my barbie doll black with metallic automotive paint which never dried

That time the bubblegum machine malfunctioned and emptied itself into my plastic shopping bag

The weird red velveteen jumpsuits my grandma sent us one year from europe that were so comfy but we wouldn't be seen dead in outside our home

Prince featured for the last 7 years of the 80s for me, and it was in a BIG WAY. I miss my bedroom with Prince wallpaper. My dad wouldn't come into my bedroom because he told me Prince was a poof (and my dad a homophobe obviously)

I used to have a black and purple metal walkman knock-off that I LOVED SO MUCH!!!!

I miss going to Allen's music store with my dad to buy a steel string guitar, that was a very special day - I still remember the way the inside of the guitar case smelled.

I miss going to Hungry Jacks all day with my friend Angela who drove vintage cars, when we were supposed to be in class.

My 80s were awesome, they had it all, Lego, sex, Macintosh SEII, audio visual presentations set to Art of Noise

I guess I couldn't stop at 10...

1. Roller skating. I was inspired to do this thanx to the movie Xanadu (hey, i was 8 yrs. old).

2. Collecting Smurf merchandise. I have a Smurf fetish even though I'm a 39 yr. old male - lol.

3. Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Burger Time, Atari 2600, etc...

4. Apple IIe computer. Mine was just like the one they had at school.

5. Sony Walkman.

6. My huge ghetto-blaster with dual cassette decks and CD player.

7. Going to the local waterslide with my friends and cousins in the summer and hearing all of the current hits on the loudspeaker.

8. Columbia House & BMG Music Club. I ordered tons of tapes & Cd's from them under multiple accounts with different names. Even my dog & cat had accounts!!!

9. My Swatch fetish (still have it).

10. Watching The Facts of Life, Solid Gold, Gimme A Break, Saved By The Bell, Silver Spoons, MTV, Hot Tracks, Friday Night Videos, Soul Train, etc on TV.

11. Casey Kasem's weekly top 40 countdown on the radio on Sundays.

12. Kangaroos, Nike, Rebok and LA Gear shoes!

13. Aerobics. I used to watch shit like 20 min workout and joanie geggin's "Morning Stretch" on tv while I would workout to it as a kid.

14. Saturday morning cartoons / shows. I loved Superfriends, Smurfs and Pee Wee's Playhouse.

15. Honda Scooters. I had one when I was 12 yrs old in 1985. Loved the hell out of it.

16. Going to Chucky Cheese and Showbiz Pizza.

17. My little Kodak disc camera. It was my first camera and I would snap tons of pics with it circa 1982.

18. Going to the movies with my friends to see stuff like: Gremlins, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi, Ghostbusters, E.T., Childsplay, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Goonies, etc.

19. Going to the Dairy Queen after little league games. I was a lousy player but I was always motivated to eat a banana split blizzard after the game.

20. VCR's and going to the video store for movie rentals. I would always rent Xanadu, The Goonies, Purple Rain, Under The Cherry Moon, Laura Branigan: In Concert, Flashdance, etc and watch 'em over and over. Sometimes would sneak back in the "adult section" and peek at the XXX movie boxes. Wow, what an experience that was!

20. Garbage pail kids, stickers, Rubik's Cube, Simon, Uno, ripped sweatshirts, acid washed jeans (god those were tacky), Jolly Ranchers, etc., etc.

1. Actually loving Prince's music.

2. Tinted hairgels

3. The Smiths

4. no cellphones

5. Billy Oceano on the radio

6. Saturday Morning Cartoons

7. Ephedra and Andro

8. How amazing orgasms used to feel

9. Cheers (television show)

10. Skinny dipping

i'm a 90's kid,m but I was born (and semi-raised) in the 80's (1985), so, let's go:

1.My grandparents/my father/the house of my grandfather

2.Big hair and extreme clothes without assholes making jokes about it

3.My first VHS (I think Jaws was the first movie I ever saw), and the 80's cassettes of my sisters

4.Second half of the 80's music, specially Madonna and Prince (or 80's music I discovered during the early-90's)

5.Comics and teen-oriented books I read (slowly, lol) 5 or 6 years before the "right" time, lol

6.The wild enthusiasm after the fall of the Berlin wall (yeah, I remember it, even if I didn't understand its importance at that time)

7.Kindergarten (I have vivid memories of it)

8.My first CASIO watch

9.Masters of the Universe, old-school Dragon Ball, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Alf, old-school Pressing Catch

10.Mattel and its huge catalog of toys

[Edited 7/12/12 8:03am]

Hairy dicks and balls. No shaving and not even trimming. Doing so was considered feminine.

Music that was actually good.

Radio before monopolies with live DJs and no computers playing the songs.

TV shows that were actual shows and not reality bullshit.

The Prince and Rick James rivalry.

Chinese food that was actually Chinese food and not watered down and Americanized for the rednecks in the area who later discovered it and complained that it tasted "funny".

Pizza from restaurants rather than delivery places. Pizza from the restaurants looked like the picture in the advertisements with the cheese that would stretch. Delivery places don't care if they skimp on toppings becuase they've dropped the pizza off already and aren't there to get cussed out once you see how skimpy the pizza is.

Restaurants that were dark and dimly lit with candles on the tables instead of being lit up like a baseball field like they are today.

Smoking any and everywhere in public.

Relatives and friends that were still alive back then.

1. my JVC beatbox with the double cassette and equalizer

2. my '81cutless supreme ls ltd

3. big hair skimpy clothes bitches

4. REGONOMICS

5. BEASTIE BOYS music

6. LL COOL J's first album

7. SLEDGE HAMMER

8. the san francisco tourist scene

9. BEATBOX MUSIC

10. THE TRUE DEATH OF DISCO

Is there gonna be 15 things you miss about the 70's???

kpowers said:

Is there gonna be 15 things you miss about the 70's???

most of them weren't even walkin in the '70s

so i guess you can breath a sigh of relief

I don't think I miss a single thing from that wreched decade!!

Seriously, I can't think of anything.

KingBAD said:

kpowers said:

Is there gonna be 15 things you miss about the 70's???

most of them weren't even walkin in the '70s

so i guess you can breath a sigh of relief

well that would be one of my 15 things

1. My strawberry shortcake collection

2. Obviously Prince!

3. MTV being about MUSIC videos!!!

4. Ettiene Aigner! I used to rock anything Aigner!

5. My Blondie poster in my bedroom

6. 80's Madonna

7. Panama Jack t-shirt

That's about all I can think of!

kpowers said:

Is there gonna be 15 things you miss about the 70's???

I'm awaiting for top 20 things folks miss about the '60s...

[Edited 7/12/12 14:27pm]

Anyway because I was only a baby during the '80s, here's the only things I missed about it:

Dad recording music videos (which he still does) but in this case he had me around his lap when he was doing it.

Riding in my Hot Wheels jeeps.

My first dog.

Seeing Rhythm Nation.

----

That's about it.

kpowers said:

KingBAD said:

most of them weren't even walkin in the '70s

so i guess you can breath a sigh of relief

well that would be one of my 15 things

Actually I was very slow in walking due to my Aspergers Syndrome, but there is a photo of me walking in November 1979.

I was'nt planning the 70s as I was between - 6.33 and + 3.66 years of age and generally my earliest emories date from the early 80s. All I can remember from 1979 was swallowing a lead pencil and being given 4 cents for being good by the nurse when I was having leg surgery after breaking my leg after learning to walk in 1979.

All of the music, all of it and Solid Gold

Rainbow Brite

Viewmaster

Sequins

Cabbage Patch Kids

1. That feeling whenever there was a new Prince project out.

2. MTV when it was good

3. Everything about 1984.

4. A relatively carefree life and the fact I'd not yet made any life-altering mistakes

5. Saturday morning cartoons

6. The novelty of video game arcades

7. Hanging out with my dad and, admittedly, my younger brother

8. Long bike adventures with my friends

9. My first job -- at a very popular wrecka stow

10. The free time and inspiration to spend hours drawing, painting, etc.

[Edited 7/12/12 18:41pm]

Z Cavaricci pants.... oh wait I don't miss those. Shit I think I just got the contemporary version of them from g-star. My girlfriend made me do it.

• Recording music off the radio to any cassette I could find, sorry dad.
• Getting beat up
• Getting strong
• Fighting back
• Not getting beat up anymore
• being excited about hearing a new prince album for the first time
• pretending i didn't love duran duran
• baggy trousers
• being afraid to kiss girls but doing it anyway, when i could
• school holidays

1) Vinyl records (and record stores in general)

2) Video arcades (I know they still have them, but they're just not the same)

3) Hanging at the mall all day on Saturdays

4) The excitement of a new Prince (or associate) album

5) Friday and Saturday nights flipping back and forth between MTV, VH1, TBS, and USA for music videos (and NBC on certain Saturdays for WWF Saturday Nights Main Event)

6) $1 movie theaters with double features like Purple Rain and Krush Groove...or Beat Street and Breakin'

7) Going to McDonald's every Friday night with my dad for a Happy Meal

8) Dodger Stadium with my dad (especially when Fernando Valenzuela was pitching)

9) Jack Murphy Stadium (now 'Qualcomm') in San Diego (where we live) with my dad, watching the Dodgers beat the Padres

10) Going to the comic book store

I forgot to mention the Starlight Drive In (where I first saw PR) and the Raiders winning the Winfield Cup.

I agree with many of these -

Madonna in the 80s (loved her in the 90s too).

MJ

MTV music video

Drive in Movie Theatres

packets of chips that actually had the right weight in them and not just air

Fruit and Vegetables that tasted like real food grown in the dirt and not a laboratory somewhere

Decent solid cars (not plastic bumper cars)

21 Jump Street (TV series)

Decent movies you could go and see

Going to a music store and seeing Vinyl covers still

Music magazies that were good to read and not full of advertisements everywhere

People were more decent to one another & "thank you " & "Please" used much more

But progress has been good too -

Front Loader Washing Machines

DVD Players / Recorders

And the WWW

1) the music: including watching music videos and radio stations were diverse

2) the tv shows: too many to recall

3) living near all my friends

4) playing outside (high jump, jump rope, biking, roller skating, kickball, four square) and going to friends homes for hours to play video games and watch videos. Taking the bus from one end of the city to Fisherman's Wharf while listening to tapes on the walkman.

5) eating all types of junk food before acid reflux, lactose intoleration, cavities and other health concerns kicked in.

6) enjoyed spending time with relatives before they started passing away in the late 80's and on

7) church picnics (huge attendance, great fun and food, and perfect locations)

8) hanging out at bowling alleys and playing with random kids, and spending dad's quarters on video games.

9) pink knickers, chinese shoes, hairclips with colorful strings

10) everything was cheaper!!

Timmy84 said:

kpowers said:

Is there gonna be 15 things you miss about the 70's???

I'm awaiting for top 20 things folks miss about the '60s...

I've already started my Top 100 things I miss about the early 1800's.
It'll be here before you know it.

1. Concert tickets that didn't cost a year's worth of wages.

2. Working at the mall with all of my friends.

3. High energy R&B music without any of that boring hip-hop bassline that has overtaken it now.

4. First seasons of must-see Thursday nights on TV.

5. X-Men Comics drawn by John Byrne.

6. Super Models like Cindy Crawford & Paulina Porizkova with shapely bodies, unlike the skinny, boyish figures of the past couple of decades.

7. Watching MTV emerge (that is, before I realized that it would become the great big evil entity that it was in the late 80's & thru-out the 90's).

8. Watching dizzidecazz get beat up.

9. Battle Of The Planets/Gatchaman.

10. Going to org-invasions where almost everyone tried to look like Prince & instead looked like rejects from Ready For The World.

1) Boom Boxes

2) Walk Man

3) Colorful clothes

4) "Dynasty"

5) the great music

6) MTV in the 80s (because they actually showed music videos!)

7) an abundance of "teen movies" like Breakfast Club and Porky's

8) R&B was still R&B (before hip-hop and New Jack Swing took over later in the decade)

9) Atari,Pac-Man,and video arcades

10) breakdancing (no,I couldn't do it (lol) but it was alot of fun to watch)

Visionnaire said:

Timmy84 said:

I'm awaiting for top 20 things folks miss about the '60s...

I've already started my Top 100 things I miss about the early 1800's.
It'll be here before you know it.

I'm so putting Napoleon on it