Here’s a reality check nobody asked for: the beginning of the ‘80s is as far away in time as is the year 2068. Yeah, time flies when we’re doom-scrolling cat memes.
So, why not celebrate it with a trip down memory lane with the help of Totally Awesome 80s, an Instagram page that shares all things ‘80s (with a little bit of ‘70s and ‘90s sprinkled in between).
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So, Totally Awesome 80s is an Instagram page (Facebook as well) dedicated to celebrating one of the most iconic decades of the last century—the awesome '80s, mixed in with a little bit of the '70s and the '90s.
The page was created back in mid 2018 and has since then posted nearly 8,000 bits of content and amassed a following of 325,000 people.
It’s hard to explain what made the '80s such an iconic time period.
On an objective level, it was the decade that gave the world MTV and CNN, some of the first instances of personal home computing with IBM and Apple, and the first mobile phone, Motorola DynaTAC 8000X.
It was also a decade of great tragedy with the NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor #4.
But the thing folks talk about the most is the sound of the '80s—its music scene.
Many consider the nostalgia that '80s music creates to be the strongest out there with numerous artists coming back to cover popular songs and sounds from the decade.
One commenter speculated that the '80s was a careless and fun decade. Considering modern day stresses imposed upon new generations, looking back to a decade whose fashion and music sound carefree, it becomes a nice escape for the younger generations.
Taking a break from riding all over the place eating Ding Dongs that came wrapped in aluminum foil, drinking Tang and battling tanks on Atari 2600 before taking off on another adventure!
I show my age by confessing that I knew the names of all the songs these lines came from straight away
There’s also the idea of having parents who listen a lot to '80s music, instilling an interesting sense of nostalgia for their kids as well, even if they didn’t live through it.
Others speculated that it could just be history doing its cyclical thing again. Those who grew up in the '80s are now becoming primary producers of pop culture. Considering all the '80s franchise reboots, Stranger Things and the like, they all come from people who grew up in that era for the people who grew up in that era.
For non-Americans, that's Parental Guidance content rating.
This idea of revivals is further supported by another commenter, who explained that the '70s saw a huge '50s revival with the TV show Happy Days and the movie Grease. Then there was a '60s revival in the '80s with The Doors, The Who, and the like filling entire stadiums. Apply the paradigm far enough and you might just be able to explain why “old” things are hip again.
But that’s just music. Think of the remaining part of pop culture that happened back in the '80s: the Master System, NES. and Atari 7800 all came out in the early part of the decade; Polaroid reached peak popularity during this time; shows like Full House, The Transformers and Duck Tales were huge back then; movies like Back To The Future debuted during the '80s. The list goes on.
Your momma is so stupid/fat/lazy...[insert random offensive insult here]...battle it out, everyone laughs, and we all play dodgeball or G.I. Joe until the street lights came on.
I was amazed when I got to junior high and we had this option EVERY DAY!
I started at a new school, 7th grade, in 1979. Had the school lunch the 1st day AND NEVER AGAIN. It was terrible. And I also say, people who say "sex is like pizza, even when it's bad, it's pretty good" haven't had enough sex or pizza
My son (born in 2011)will only eat pizza if it's School Pizza from his elementary school.
For several years we had octagon pizza, but it was nearly the same. It also came with a choice of mystery meat.
I liked the Mexican pizza at school, then I tried ordering it at Taco Bell and being disappointed that it isn't even the same thing... Now I like the taco bell one, but I miss the school one!
Anyone else remember the crispy peanut butter dessert with the thin chocolate layer they used to serve? Before everyone and their dog had peanut allergies?
Compared to most of what they served this was Michelin rated.
The closes we get to those now are those Totino pizzas in freezer at the grocery store
I've never seen that brand. Around here we have Ellio's.
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I was a lunch lady at my kids school, there were beets in the pizza sauce.
WE never had pizza when I was a kid. There was a cafeteria, but my family always had home-packed lunches.
I always asked for the middle piece, still do on thin crust pizza. lol
It was my absolute favorite…I legit sighed with happiness when I saw it!
I love square pizza. In fact I make it for those special nostalgic days.
We ate ours with either French or Ranch dressing for dipping, and a side of fries for a completely nutritious meal.
I never understood it. Soft, mushy pizza with ranch dressing the consistency of water.
Oh, heck, I don't remember the 60's but I don't think we had this.
And it fit perfect in the rectangle slot. Chocolate milk and pizza. Weird mix.
Ours were so bad that little kid me thought I just didn't like pizza for a while.
Our school made horrible pizza. But fights would break out on pierogi day! We would pay kids that packed their lunch to go get more pierogies. They were insanely good.
To this day I've been craving one of the "mexican" pizzas from school
i'm older than this. the best lunch was friday: spaghetti, applesauce, cinnamon roll. YUM!
This and the hamburger patties that were dripping with grease being taken out of the pan.
Well, that’s that. If you enjoyed this article, we have plenty more where that came from. Well, not there per se, but the '80s! And you can always check out the Instagram page.
And if you don’t feel like going back in time any more, then why not stay in the present and share your takes and stories in the comment section below!
Why do I feel like driving a drop top 5.0 Mustang all the sudden?
Time Magazine: "The Red Brick Road is supposed to lead travellers from Quadling Country to the great Emerald City. However, in the movie, the road is shown ending up at…Munchkin City Hall."
I watched Sesame Street before there even was an Elmo... And Oscar was orange!
The hole in the ozone layer thanks you for your contribution, hair spray.
anyone else try to find adult content no matter how scrambled the picture was? you got super excited when you thought you sorta kinda saw something.
That's a Honda ATC 90. Fun as hell but basically banned after too many people kept dying on them.
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The title made me laugh as I do remember my childhood phone number and I use it with variations as a password
When I caught my son messing with the router a few years ago, I changed the password to my old phone number from when I was eight. I'll never forget it, but he would never think of it.
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I just started re-listening to some of my favourite’80’s music, eurythmics, police, talking heads, Alison moyet and Kate bush, to name a few. It was a great decade for music
I still remember my parents phone number, (and my childhood best friends' number too. Now as for my own number....NOPE! 😜🙂
As a teen, I could relate to half of these. The other half I knew about but couldn't relate to. I think all the other kids in my school wouldn't even know what a phone book is.
The title made me laugh as I do remember my childhood phone number and I use it with variations as a password
When I caught my son messing with the router a few years ago, I changed the password to my old phone number from when I was eight. I'll never forget it, but he would never think of it.
Load More Replies... I just started re-listening to some of my favourite’80’s music, eurythmics, police, talking heads, Alison moyet and Kate bush, to name a few. It was a great decade for music
I still remember my parents phone number, (and my childhood best friends' number too. Now as for my own number....NOPE! 😜🙂
As a teen, I could relate to half of these. The other half I knew about but couldn't relate to. I think all the other kids in my school wouldn't even know what a phone book is.
