Why Are You A Child Of The 80s?

This is one page of many, check out the intro at Child of the 80s where you can add your own memories as well.

This page currently edited by: RetroGuyDK. Past editor: MereBear22, Banasy


Born in '67 means graduating in '85-"We are the World" was sung at my graduation and I got a flat-top the day before(very Annie Lennox of Eurythmics)I used to hang out with some older kids in my jr. year so that ment going to clubs that allowed 18 and over. I smoked clove cigaretts and danced to gothic music before it was labled as such. I was 'too shy, shy, hush hush eye to eye' and 'Hungry like the wolf' and I would 'stop the world and melt with you' cuz 'everybody wants to rule the world' I saw Duran Duran at the Forum in LA and afterwards met Lionel Ritchie in front of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel..We thought that is where Duran Duran was staying. I refused to wear neon, "just say no to day glow" was me and my artsy fartsy friend's saying. We would ditch school and go to Bob's big boy for coffee and talk about how the D and D kids were so weird. We were soooo cool...
From: JamiLeeNa

hi everyone! well i guess i'll start with when i was born. in 1980 exactly. i am a true CHILD of the eighties, and i'm proud of it. i have such fond memories that i often reminisce (sp?) about. i was the only girl, the youngest for quite a few years,and i lived in the country. my exposure to the culture of the times was a mix of what my older brothers loved and adventures outside following them around, things my parents thought were great, and a few things a girl would like back then. my brothers had all the toys from shows like g.i.joe, he-man, care bears, transformers, voltron(everyone's fav and still my fav today), teenage mutant ninja turtles (i still have the movies), that i thought was cool because they did.i always found a strong, smart, willful girl to identify with in all those shows. i loved my little pony, cabbage patch kids(i still have my collection), strawbeery shortcake, barbie and jem and people(my toys) and she-ra of course! i was her for halloween one year. all of us kids loved the shows our prents loved, like married- with children, golden girls, macgyuver, star trek, a show about a cop named hammer and his obsession with his gun, family ties,alf, etc. doing anything outside was the greatest. one time we were running around in the hole my dad had dug in the ground to sart building our house in and i got stuck in a small plot of quicksand and had to take off my shoes to get out of it. my brothers and i climbed my grandmothers tree and played baseball in her front lawn ( one time my oldest brother split his pants down the crack of his ass chasing after the ball, he he) and it was always my cousin and my second oldest brother vs me and the oldest one.exploring in the woods wasn't ever scary, our dog followed us everywhere and riding 4-wheelers and bikes was the coolest. we flew kites in the field up the road and swam in a pond or lake near the house. well either that or went sliding down a slip-n-slide or jumping through a sprinkler ( which was always ice cold).family parties were always fun! people actually interacted and got crazy instead of just sitting there making conversation. i played house all the time with my cousin and we often made up games like rolling down hills and keeping a volley ball up in the air as we hit it at each other( its tougher than you think.) believe it or not i actually have a vague memory of my family going to the movies to see star wars the empire strikes back. i remember being so excited to go see back to the future 2 in the theatre with my family. as i gotolder and met more people other than my family, i got a little more exposure to the world. i went to sleepovers, learned how to fold the bottoms of my jeans the "cool" way, and how to curl my bangs up and over and "glue" them into place with hairspray. i remember one year almost dying with happiness because i had gotten a crimper for christmas. i was the only one in my school at the time who crimped her hair and everyone was jealous. i loved neon and black together, and skirts over leggings. i also got really jealous of my cousin when she got a pair of spandex for her b-day. half the kids in my class had slap braclets going half way up their arms and would constantly take them off and snap them. we played 7-up in music class and parachute and chop suey in gym class and dodge ball at recess( that ball hurt). my oldest brother took karate, the next oldest played soccer and i threatened the boys in school at recess with my metal tipped "cool" boots. They looked like something madonna would've worn. in 1989 i stayed up to watch the ball drop and said goodbye to the eighties. my earliest years were spent in a decade of idealism and rebelliousness. where everything always turned out all right in the end, everything was dramatic, and teenagers stuck together and rebelled against overly authorative and unfair adults, and could pull anything off( come on we all remember what i'm talking about). cartoon characters had special powers and destinys and fought evil with flare. to this day i still believe everything will turn out alright in the end and that i too could pull anything off if i really try. well, this is my version of the eighties. i hope you made it all the way through!
From: karisa

o.k. did anyone know that the toys from the 80's are antiques? when i saw a smow white telephone in and antique shop a few years back selling for $100 i went balistic.think about it, if you had to choose between the toys from the 80's and the toys now, yes they would be valuable cuz the toys now are crap. I was born in march '79 so the 80's ARE my memories. the music was good ( well atleast i thought it was cuz thats all i knew), the cereal was the best, and the cloting was interesting. did anyone wear the long sweater with the belts and tights besides me? and the guys seemed to be the cutest during that time. i was in love with corey haim, river phenix(R.I.P), jud nelson( i dont know why), robert downey,jr., NKOTB (jordan was my "baby daddy"), george micheal, nick rhodes from duran duran, micheal jackson, and many more i cant think of right now. the most vivid memory of the the 80's was watching MTV for the first time and believe it or not i can remember the video i saw. it was micheal jackson's " dont stop till you get enough". freaky aint it?!?! another very vivid memeory was when i was 6 and my 1st grade class went to watch the lauching of the space ship "challenger" on television in the schools t.v. room. i can remember us all watching and when it burst into flames the teachers screaming and i looking at my teacher with her hand covering her mouth and asking if that was suppose to happen. she shook her head and began sobbing. that was one of those times in your life when you say i can remember where i was or what i was doing then a moment like that happend. well on to a much lighter note, my favorite movies were "once bitten" with a then unknown named jim carry, "the goonies", "ghost busters", "revenge of the nerds", and yes, "the breakfast club". if you watch the beginning of the movie anthony micheal hall starts off with the date and time the movie takes place... well MARCH 24th is my birthday!!! Who can say they have a movie that acutally is set on their birthday and they acually mention it? i have alot more movies i love but i cant remember them all at this time. "Trading places".. theres another one!! i loved all the t.v. programs but i wish nickolodeon would play the old sheery's dept. store, you cant do that on television, dont just sit there, and pinwhell. i am 21 but i will watch the hell out of some pinwell. this is all i can say right now.. to all the 90's babies i have 3 words "YOU MISSED IT!!"
From: Erica

I was born in '77, and I was definitely a child of the 80's. My brother and I would never leave the house when Thundercats or Silverhawks was on t.v. All my friends had "Get in Shape Girl" sets. Jelly bracelets, charm necklaces, jelly shoes, Converse and hightops. I pined away for a Cabbage Patch Kid but had to settle for a No Name Kid instead. Bonkers candy was one of my favorites. My parents bought pop in glass bottles, not cans, and I dressed up as Punky Brewster for Halloween. I thought wearing frilly socks with high heels was cool. My brother and I would sneak downstairs late at night to watch Elvira and the movie Fright Night. Return of the Living Dead gave me nightmares for months. I was desperately in love with Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Kirk Cameron. Me and my brother shared a Greyskull castle and the He-Man and She-Ra figures. Superman was my favorite superhero. We owned an Intellivision (cheap Atari) and played Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for hours on end. We also had a Commodore 64 and played the Summer and Winter Games, Zork I & II, Montezumas Revenge, DigDug, Frogger, Pole Position and BC's Quest. I had mile high hair when I was older, and wore a side ponytail in the earlier 80's. Me and my friends made a band and tried to be like the Bangles. Breakfast CLub, St. Elmo's Fire, Sixteen Candles- the "Brat Pack." I collected My Little Ponies and had a Peaches and Cream Barbie. I had a Strawberry Shortcake doll and my sister had Apple Dumpling. I loved Jem. Nickelodeon wasn't available in every city, but I loved You Can't Do That On Tellivision and the original Double Dare. I had a crush on Sean Astin in the Goonies, and I've watched Stand By Me a million times. I have many more wonderful memories, but I better stop before I take up the whole site. Thanks for the trip back on memory lane!
From: VestaJade

sadly, i was born in 1982. i've always wished i could've been born about a decade sooner, and then i could've been a teenager in the 80's. the 80's rocked!!! i do vividly remember a lot about the music and mtv even though i was so young. some of my earliest memories are of watching wham! and duran duran on mtv. duran duran are the greatest band ever, even now! i remember listening to falco's 'rock me amadius.' what an awesome song! rap's really gone downhill since then. and who can forget dead or alive? more importantly, who can forgive limp bizkit more what they did to george michael's 'faith'? i loved the care bears and my little pony and sheera. i wore giant plastic bangle bracelets and leg warmers. i always wanted a pair of jelly shoes, but my mom hated shoes made out of plastic (currently almost every pair of shoes i own are made out of plastic) i also currently wear clothes reminiscent of the 80's. i don't care if it's not cool anymore, i will wear acid washed denim, one giant earring, fingerless gloves and duran duran t-shirts, and i will love it. i regret every minute of the 90's. long live the 80's!!! did i mention that duran duran is the best band ever?
From: white lines

the 80's were definitely the greatest! and i agree with whoever said that history repeats itself....HOPEFULLY WE'LL GET THE 80's BACK!! dude...do any of you all remember these? they were my faves: unico(the little unicorn japanimation), popples, carebears, today's special(with the manican that came to life with his hat), the sea prince and the fire child(another japanimation), my little ponies, FLUPPY DOGS!, she-ra & he-man, all the awesome shows on nickelodeon like 'you can do that on television' and the good shows on nick at nite like 'mister ed' 'patti duke' 'make room for daddy' ETCETC! man the 80s were definitely the best! i would give anything to go back!!
From: Erika

I remember the best thing about the 80's was my hair style. Any of you remember the RATTAIL. I had one. Already had long hair in late 1982 when I seen this kid at a football game with a tail. He was from the town that played our team and I chatted with him for a moment and I asked what kind of hairstyle was that he had. He was I guess 12 and I was 7. He told me that it was the rattail. He said he got his long hair cut in to the tail that was about 6 inches down his back I guess. it was so cool looking then. I asked my parents if I could get a haircut like that boy and they said yeah why not. I did and I kept the tail till I was a senior in hight school. In 7th grade it was almost all the way down my back and I loved it long. A lot of my friends had long tails too. Now having 2 sons of my own they seen photos of me with my tail and they want to grow rattails too and I'm gonna let them. The cartoons they watch is on the Boomerang channel that has all the ones that we grew up with and some from the 60's and 70's too. They are gonns grow up to be great kids too. An oh yeah on TNN they show all those shows we greo up eith. Alice, Waltons, and Rockford Files.
From: LP

the 80s was a carefree time.. being born in 82 i got to experience things like fraggle rock, the muppet babies, never ending story- it really never ended!, my little pony, strawberry short cake, care bears, smurfs, gummy bears (bouncin here and there!), new kids on the block... all that was my child hood. i remember the spandex and the double shoe laces, big socks, and tying my shirt in a knot in the corner, wearing a high pony tail, and my hair all to one side. keds & la gears. watching the shirt tales, and get along gang on the weekend listening to CASETTES! lol... do they still make them? jk. it was a great time, and times have changed so much its incredible!
From: Michele

I loved the 80's, and most people who were born then or grew up during the 80's love it also. Then again, of course we loved it, it was our childhood. What's not to like about it. You got up early on saturday mornings to watch school house rock *humming the song about the bill going to congress*, munched on whatever cereal had the coolest athlete on it or offered the best toy, fought with your brothers and sisters over which network to watch. Eric,my brother, wanted G.I joe- samantha, my sister, wanted scooby doo- i think she had a crush on *thinking of his name* the blonde dude- fred right? and i always wanted whatever was on abc. Of course we watched G.I joe- The oldest one wins. if he didn't get his way he'd knock sam off the couch. hehehehe she broke her teeth one time.Okay I got off the subject. Being a kid back then rocked- I honestly don't know if I'd want to be a kid growing up in the 90's. Just being a teen in the 90's was hard. Besides the toys aren't as cool as they were, the cartoons are all the same. Whatever happened to shirt-tails or the get-a-long gang. I read that someone mentioned those USA cartoons. I loved those, I liked the commercials *singing-we'll be right back* remember "cut it out"? on nick, loved skina-marink, had to watch my "pin wheels" before heading off to kindergarten. Couldn't leave home without my strawberry short-cake lunchbox. That rocked. I lived for my purple plastic sunglasses that had the slits in them (remember those?) and those puffy denim skirts and of course the wonderful colorful reebock high-tops. I had a green pair and an orange pair. Loved the socks that were silver and said merry christmas. Alvin and the Chimpmunks were my heros. Couldn't go a month without watching both Breakn' movies. Love that Electric Bugaloo. I lived for family trips (wow i lived for everything *S*) and fighting with my siblings over who got the back seat in the rented aero star- I awlways ended up sleeping on the floor between two seats. Remember being the youngest kid? fun huh? okay I know that not everyone was the youngest, someone had to be older. I remember pestering my oldest sister Adina-she's 11 years older than me, so she's 31 now. She had that huge hair, and all that make up, she used to type on her typewriter (you were cool if you had a typewriter) "I love Mark,I love mark" over and over and we'd peek into her room and make gagging sounds. She'd scream "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM" and we'd run away giggling but not until after we snatched the paper that said I love Mark and run around the house gagging and holding the paper like it was a snake. hehehehe G.I joes and transformers were THE toys to own. The A-Team was awesome. Hulk Hogan was our hero. Had to watch the re runs they ran of Donna Reed and Mr. Ed on Nick at Nite. God bless Nick at Nite, I love watching Facts of Life marathons. SOoooooooooooo cheesy and that's what made the T.V shows back then so great. They weren't really trying to be realistic, it was just feel good. Caramel Popcorn balls rocked. And if you didn't show up at the slumber parties with a alf doll or one of the Popkins (the furry animals-had a cartoon- cool roll into a ball) or a pound puppy then you just weren't cool. Everytime you went to the mall you ran to Sears at breakneck speed. You didn't worry about guns and all this bomb shit, all you had to worry about was making sure you tucked extra lunch money in your sock and that you weren't seen kissing your mom good-bye when she dropped you off at school and the only violence you worried about was someone sticking gum in your hair,tripping you on the stairs, the bully threatening you, or a teacher hitting your hands with a ruler so you would pay attention. I don't know if I'd want to be a child of the 90's. Perhaps it is the same. Instead of G.I Joe you'd pretend to be *wracking brain* never mind- I have no clue. Magic Markers rocked, Growing Pains, the Cosby Show, Mr. Belvedere, Family Ties were awesome and there was always a video store closing down because the owner copied tapes and went away to prison for a few years for being baaaaaaaad.hehehehe well at least that happened to the guy that owned the video store we always went to. Hmmmm well this all probably didn't make sense. Anyhow, I love this website. Only site I know that I can just spend hours and hours just reading. I was up all night in a chatroom at chathouse.com and a bunch of us were discussing things of the 80's. The night before that we talked about the movies like Fame , Fastforward (love that show), and Sing (waiting patiently for my copy in the mail, one more week- *happy dance*) so we've been feeling very nostaligiac- I spelled that wrong. Too bad there wasn't hooked on phonics in the 80's or was there? hmmmmmmm oh well I loved the 80's. Then again when you're a kid and growing up of course you love it, but what matters is looking back and seeing everything about the 80's . Not just the shows and the clothes and the toys. We talk about how bad the 90's are/were but the 80's were just like other decades, it had the good, the bad, the ugly. I am a child of the 80's and I will always be proud of that.
From: Summer

I was born in 85' and I remember a lot of the cartoons and toys. Especially the cartoons, they were the best. I used to watch Jem, the Carebears, Ninja Turtles, Fraggle Rock, My Little Pony e.t.c. All the 90's cartoons are a lot more violent and a lot less interesting! I'm only fifteen but I love the music too. It's "real music" unlike rap and all the other stuff they put out in the 90's! Even though I missed half of the 80's, I think it was the best decade ever.=)
From: Kara

I loved the 80s, although only recently realised it! Born in '81 I consider myself to be a true 80s child - born in and be able to live and remember the decade (just!). Style was not important and all there was to do was play - usually on my Spectrum or atari and the BBC computers with the gorgeous square 2d graphics. I remember my sister & I dancing around and singing along to Shakin' Stevens and my sister's mates all with the huge coloured hair and Ford Capri's! Knightrider was a must for Saturday afternoon and I STILL want KITT. while the morning was catered for by flourescent Timmy Mallett ("We're Wide Awake!") and he'd always start his stories with "When I was young & you were even younger". A decade of pure freedom and idealism...... COME BACK!!!!!
From: Dave C

I would like to put my two cents in for the 1980's :) I was born in 1981 but i feel like that was the best decade for everything..from music to movies to clothes. I was an all out 80's girl. I still am as a matter of fact. I still listen to Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses, Duran Duran, and so many others. I have the denim jacket with all of the band buttons on it. I watched She-Ra and wanted to be exactly like her. "The Great Muppet Caper" was my favorite muppet movie. "Sixteen Candles" is the best movie EVER made and the music will always be the best ever produced. I was like most wearing neon, wearing socks with dress shoes and watching "Star Search". To tell you the honest truth, as i write this comment about the 80's i find myself thinking more about the music than anything. The 80's were when Michael Jackson had the top hit and he actually looked half way desent. When big hair ruled the rock bands and the love ballads that they sang grabbed you by the heart and pulled at your heart strings. When you went to the music store to by the latest record and i mean the big thing that you put on a record player. I just wanted to say what felt about the 80's and how much i loved it. It was my childhood and it was great!
From: Melissa M

The 80's rocked. Think about it if you were born in 1980-1982 it was the the best time of your life, money didn't matter, and you would never get in trouble. I use to come home every day and play an atari for a long time, and then watch cartoons after that until supper. Monday nights I would watch Fresh Prince of Bel-Air..(the good old days). Every Wednesday and Thursday night I would go down to my aunts Pizza shop, and eat food. We use to go out to our camp on every weekend, or go up the river to my parents friends camp. We use to catch frogs, and throw rocks at ducks, it was fun. The 80's was defiantely the best.
From: Jen

Hey everyone - Thanks for the memories!! I was born in '71 so the 80's was truley my formative DECADE! How can I forget using Dep in my hair, and wearing Ton Sur Ton and Guess (and buying it all at the MGA annual sale). Remember Gemco and Fedmart?? Were those stores just in CA? The cool kids had Colecovision the Atari 5200 - I tried so hard to match the pieces and win one from McDonald's! Juice boxes and "Fun Fruits" were a great snack. I spent all my allowance on silver jewelry ("bangles") and black rubber braceletts - as many as I could buy from the rock 'n' roll poster and candy store in Westwood. They also sold those "RELAX" T-shirts (based on the "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" song) in black and white and neon. I loved listening to Hall 'n' Oats, the Go-Go's, Berlin, Missing Persons, Duran Duran, Juice Newton, and Quarterflash on the a.m. radio station "The Mighty 690" while sitting in my bedroom surrounded by Magnum PI and Miami Vice posters. Those were the days! This weekend I'm going to re-live all of this at an 80's party w/my college friends. I'm off now to go thrift-store shopping, and I have a feeling that the things I buy will NOT just be worn once for this party! The 80's will hold a special place in my heart FOREVER!
From: Karen

the 80's yay!!!. i was born in 78 so i am late 80's child. but i loved the 80's. everything was florescent. you had no explanation for anything--things jsut happened and well you went with the flow. the 80's were a time to just sit back relax and do what you wanted to do. i was reading some posts and the moveis were the best. the breakfast club such a classic. i havent seen a movie in a long time where i can just lose myself in it and say afterwards wow , great movie. the 80's were a time where we were trying to find a ppart of life we lost for a while. seomwhere we all wanted to just get along and somewhere we wanted to be cool. some how or antoher things just happened. i am a child of the 80's i wonder if we will ever go back.....
From: randi

I wasn't going to say anything at first because I'm 15 and figured I was too young, but when I saw that other kids my age had written in, I decided to go ahead and write. I was born right into the heart of the Silicon Valley in 1985.Man, was that a happening place. Right smack in the midst of the computer explosion. Needless to say, I've been on a computer since I was about 3. I've seen desktop computers evolve from what they were in the late 80s to what they are now. But enough about that. I have to say that I reeeeeeaaaallly agree with what everyone's said about TV so far. The cartoons I remember sitting in front of as a little kid were always interesting,even though I wasn't really into most of them. However, I was a huge Ninja Turtles fan at about age 5 (which, I confess, was in 1990, but the 80s hadn't disappeared yet) and there was a group of boys I hung around with at school and we'd play Ninja Turtles and we'd all fight over who got to be Michaelangelo. I always ended up being April (grrrrr). Then there was this girl who was obsessed with going to Florida and meeting the guy that hosted Double Dare. Then there was...NINTENDO. Does anyone here remember NINTENDO? I'm talking the classic NES here.I got hooked when I went to my cousin's house. Oh, I LOVED Super Mario. The game ruled and I was a devoted fan to the TV show (as devoted as a 5 year old can be!). I also liked that Legend of Zelda TV show they had on there, but I don't remember too much of it now. Then there was this other show, about this guy who got pulled into his TV while playing NINTENDO and ended up in a land full of video game characters...Anyway, one of my other favorite shows from the 80s was Jem. I discovered that when I was 7.I had just moved to Massachusetts and was at this video store and saw it and decided it looked cool, so I asked mom to rent it and from then on, I was hooked. I wanted to be like Jem. I wanted to get the tapes and dolls, but by the time I'd discovered the show (1992), they didn't make that stuff anymore. (sniff sniff) All of the other 80s shows I've seen, like Voltron, Thundercats, and Robotech (another good one!) were on Cartoon Network at one time or another. It gives me a good feeling watching that stuff and realizing that at one time there was actually interesting stuff for a little kid to watch on TV. Most of the cartoons that I see now and fall in love with turn out to be from the 80s. Coincidence? I think not. My latest thing has been 80s music. I have downloaded a lot of 80s songs (most of which are New Wave) off of Napster. I've recently converted these songs to .wav and burned them to a disc. My all-time favorite 80s artist is Madonna, whom I became a fan of in 6th grade when I got her album, titled Madonna, at a yard sale. Yes, she has a lot of 90s stuff, but I like her 80s stuff better. I've committed all the words to her songs practically to memory. I've recently moved to Houston, where they have this station that's new that plays all 80s music all the time. I'ts called The Point. I hear some of the best songs out there that way. You know, I think for Halloween I'm going to be a valley girl, just for the heck of it. I have to research what they wore, though, so I get the costume accurate. Speaking of fashion, I remember, at 5, thinking that at 16, I was going to have the most crimped hair, wear the biggest sweatshirt, the dangliest earrings, and little white Reebok sneakers. Didn't happen. Fashions changed, and now, on the verge of 16, I'm wearing huge, flared pants and little t-shirts. But I've seen a lot of people in my school district wearing jelly bracelets and those Atari t-shirts. Anyhoo, if the 70s can make a comeback, the 80s most definitely can. Just keep praying. Anyway, I've gone on waaaaaaay too long and I am TIRED. Catch ya all later.
From: Kate

Yes, I definately can understand how we all feel about the 1980's. It was the best time I can ever remember. I myself was born on September 12th,1983. Today is Feb.18,2001 I sell my soul to the devil to go back to those "good times". I miss all the music from that decade my favorite groups are no longer around some of my fave groups were: A-ha, Cutting Crew, The J.Geils band, Culture Club, The Eurythimics, Devo, Lisa Lisa, Wham, Blondie, and the man who made the 80's himself Michael Jackson. Not to mention the movies, Sixteen Candles and Top Gun which still remain to be my favorite movies. I honestly don't think there will be another time as great as the 1980's were ever in my lifetime all I can do is dream.
From: kimberly

I was born in 1984, early enough to say i am a child of the 80's. It seems the 80's are returning with the familiar show Littlest Hobo, and maybe some of you have never heard of The Fraggles are back on TV. Even at school this week we are having an 80's old school day. I can't wait. This site is great! Keep up the work Kate Saint John,NB Canada
From: Kate Butler

I always get strong feelings of nostalgia when I think about the eighties. Born in 1980, some of my most fondest memories are from the 80's. Thing just seemed more positive, there was a overall positive look on life during the eighties. Whether it was playing Nintendo or collecting Garbage Pail Kids, the toys of the eighties seemed more innovative then the toys of today. I remember watching Indiana Jones over and over again.
From: Brian K

Born in '82 :) Guess I in the 'me' generation... but I havta say I loved being a child in the 80s. Cartoons were much more awesome!
From: Sasha

This is one page of many, check out the intro at Child of the 80s where you can add your own memories as well.