Watching the series from CNN which goes through pop culture of each decade. Was thinking what has been the best decade and why?
For me it’s easily the 80s. Born in the early part of the decade and feel lucky to have lived through that growing up. Going to see Back to the Future as it’s just come out in cinema, A-Team on tv on a Saturday evening, and musically I still love hard rock/soft rock. The rock ballad period is now critically panned but there’s no better collection of songs in my view.
Few selections from the 80s
Movies
The Empire Strikes Back
Indiana Jones (Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, didn’t see Raiders for a long time after the 80s)
Back to the Future I and II (the future scenes in the second one was an incredible experience in the cinema..hover boards ffs)
ET
Goonies
Rocky III and IV
Top Gun
Ghostbusters
Gremlins
Beetlejuice
Batman
The Karate Kid I and II
Big
Neverending Story
Spaceballs
Police Academy
Scrooged
Labyrinth
Superman I and II (General Zod was particularly good)
Harry and the Hendersons
I would add The Shining, Terminator, Die Hard and any others I didn’t see until much later as they weren’t an eighties experience.
Music
Much of these I heard via two older brothers favourite artists
A-Ha (older brothers band)
Iron Maiden (as was this)
Guns N Roses (most of these hard rock bands eldest brother listened to)
The Police
Phil Collins
Def Leppard (Hysteria was the first album record I bought)
Bon Jovi
Heart
Poison
Queen
Whitesnake
U2
Cyndi Lauper
Michael Jackson (“Smooth criminal” was the first record single I bought)
Dire Straits
Slightly more embarrassing now I bought Jason Donovan’s Ten Good Reasons album. Can’t think of any reasons now why I did (he was great as Scott though).
Have vague recollections of Live Aid but not enough to stick it in. Only years later appreciated how great Freddie Mercury was. Certainly remember it’s offshoot Sport Aid which was in 1986.
TV
Saturday mornings BBC had a kids show called Going Live (was three hours of mayhem).
A-Team
Knight Rider
McGuyver
Airwolf
Family Ties
Disney’s Gummi Bears
Talespin
Chip n Dale Resue Rangers
The Smurfs
ThunderCats
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Different Stokes
You Aussies produced great stuff too.
Crocodile Dundee (both films, first film everyone knows “that’s not a knife”, but the second also produces a classic when the aboriginal fella shouts, “if Mick want his clothes back he can climb down there and get him bloody self”)
Neighbours, every bit as big as the two dominant soaps (EastEnders and Coronation Street) here in the UK...that Scott/Charlene storyline was everywhere, Daphne dying was probably the first time I saw death on tv.
Home and Away was also great back then. Bobby, Flathead
Henderson Kids. What a cracking show this was. A younger Kylie appeared in this if I remember right.
I’d add Mad Max 2 but didn’t see it the during the decade. Midnight Oil, Men and Work, loved their stuff later also
The sport side I missed out on as I didn’t start following Liverpool until the decade was over...which is a shame as we dominated the 80s, Aussie Craig Johnston was a major player for us during it too. Do recall Mike Tyson fighting Frank Bruno though, plus Ben Johnson cheating, Flo Jo cheating. In Rugby league I didn’t follow St Helens until later also.
