Monday, April 09, 2007

Children of the 80s.


I recently wasted an entire afternoon reading "you were a child in the 80's if..." lists all over the Internet. Below, I included some of my favorites and added a few of my own. The most comprehensive (and VERY long) list can be viewed here.

...You and all your friends discussed elaborate plans to get together again at the end of the century and play 1999 by Prince over and over again.

...You ever dressed to emulate a person you saw in either a Duran Duran, Madonna, or Cyndi Lauper video.

...You ever owned one of those embarrassing crimping irons.

...You remember when Banana Republic only sold safari clothes.

...You actually thought the KISS song Lick it Up was about brownie batter.

...You attended birthday parties at Showbiz Pizza Place.

...You wanted your first car to be a Pontiac Fiero...just like Ferris Beuller's sister had.

...You wanted to be on Star Search.

...You wore a banana clip in your hair or one of those slap on wrist bands at some point during your youth.

...You yearned to be a member of The Babysitters Club, and tried to start a club of your own.

...You dragged your mom all over the mall looking for stirrup pants. Every store was sold out in your size.

...You own any cassettes.

...You remember and/or own any of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut.

...You enjoyed riding in the hatchback of your mom's Datsun.

...You ever had a Swatch Watch. If you had 2 or more, you wore them all at once.

...You had a collection of Smurfs figurines.

...You collected stickers, which were kept on their backings on display in a photo album. The scratch-and-sniff stickers made you sick, and the "puffy" stickers were like gold in trading circles. You dreamed of owning a sticker store when you grew up.

...You wore jelly shoes...even if they made you feet sweat.

...You were warned about eating Pop Rocks and drinking Coke together.

...The girls' bathroom at your school reeked of AquaNet.

...You thought growing "a tail" was cool.

...You thought the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak was scary.

...You remember when Saturday mornings on ABC were NOT all Disney cartoons.

...You carried one of those brightly colored purses that had looked like a duffle bag. It came with a miniature version of itself that was used as a key ring/change purse. I believe I had a blue one.

...You remember when McDonald's sandwiches came in styrofoam boxes.

...You appreciate the simple fun of the original Super Mario Bros. Nintendo Game.

...You used to expect green slime to fall on your head if you said "I don't know".

...You have watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and said "Hey that's the guy from Reading Rainbow".

...You remember when cable TV became available in your neighborhood. It was a banner day.

...You know that the higher the ponytail the cooler it is.

...You put on pink eyeshadow thicker than a hooker in an effort to look cool and "adult".

...You remember that before Toys-R-Us, there was Lionel Playworld and Toys by Roy.

...You wore Dove shorts...even if your underpants did peak out the bottom.

...You played Chinese jump rope at recess.

...You watched hours and hours of the USA Cartoon Express.

...You know the significance of 'Dare... Double Dare... Physical Challenge'.

...You remember thinking you were cool if you wore your bookbag on only one shoulder.

...Your favorite show on MTV was Remote Control.

...You thought it was so cool when cars won on The Price is Right had an actual retail price five digits long.

...Your Domino's Pizza was delivered by a guy driving a Chevy Chevette emblazoned with the company logo.

...You ever watched music videos on Night Tracks.

...You ever wore parachute pants.

...Your mom watched PM Magazine.

...You have casettes that have little blips every few songs because you recorded them from 8-tracks.

...You know what a paddle controller is.

...Your family's first VCR was a top-loader with a wired remote. The remote quit working after a few months.

5 comments:

ChristopherM said...

Clearly from that picture you were one of the cool kids and probably wouldn't have hung out with me, Miss Sassy! But still, I have to comment on two things:

1. Somewhere I still have videotapes where I recorded entire blocks of not just "Night Tracks," but "Night Tracks Dancin'!"

2. The only fight I've ever been in was in 8th grade over a cassette tape. Madonna's "True Blue" to be exact. A bully pitched it across the room away from me when the teacher was out of the room, and I shoved him over a row of desks. I took those cassettes seriously!

Anonymous said...

Val- I'll have to say I was popping out babies in the 80's. My daughter was born in 81.
You were/are just the prettiest young lady. I love the hairbow.
I have a picture of my daughter with a swatch watch or two on her wrist and I think I have a bag of discarded cassettes still in my attic. My daughter went thru more stirrup pants. She was a tomboy-liked to play soccer- Remember the "New Kids on the Block"? Wasn't that from the 80's or was that early 90's? That's how I blackmail her now-She still has nightmares from the movie Gremlins. I know she was little when that came out. I didn't mean to scar her.
My son was born in 89 so he was more of a 90's kid. You have a really good memory! Denise

Ms. Val said...

Christopher: Oh, you flatter me so. But no, I was most definately NOT one of the cool kids. They were all decked out in the latest offerings from Esprit, Forenza, and Benetton. I nice clothes, too, but not in great volume. I was more of a wannabe. That picture was taken on one of my better days...and shortly before I got braces.

My favorite of Night Tracks was the one where the Bateman's hosted.

Also, I was still buying my music on LPs and recording them onto blank cassettes. That way if my Huey Lewis tape got left in the car and melted, I could make another.

Denise: Thank you. That was one of my better school pictures. I wasn't dare going to post the one from 8th grade! NKOTB got big around '89 so they were both 80's and early 90's. I was in high school by then so I didn't listen to much of their music. At that point, my preference veered toward the classic rock station.

My 80's nightmare movie (also one of my favorites) was Poltergeist. If newly-built tract homes could become haunted, it could happen anywhere.

Menchie said...

OMG! Yes on the stickers and the Aqua Net! this was quite a trip down memory lane... and I so totally rocked on Super Mario.

But I didn't look as good as you back then...

Ms. Val said...

Menchie: I found about 10 sheets of old stickers a few weeks ago. Some were iridescent unicorns and fish. Other were kittens, flowers, hearts, and stickers from the Gremlins movie.

Funny thing about that picture: I'm wearing more makeup there than I have in the last five years combined.