History UsefulNotes / The80s

* NewWave became one of the signature sounds of the '80s, starting in the Britain in the '70s but really garnering popularity in the United States around this decade. Artists such as A Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, Talking Heads, The Buggles, and Depeche Mode garnered big hits.

* There was, frankly, a lot to fear in the '80s. The US was still at war, and getting nuked was a frighteningly plausible possibility. A string of post-apocalyptic movies helped keep the fear bubbling. The Chernobyl meltdown made people queasy about even peaceful applications of nuclear technology.

* [[UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal Metal]] was in, especially towards the end of the decade. As well as the mainstream scene which was focused on GlamMetal, there was a ''massive'' underground, especially in the United States and Germany. There were no {{MySpace}}, {{YouTube}}, or Metal-Archives at the time. Underground music circulated through fanzines (Kerrang! started in 1981 as an underground fanzine), compilation albums issued by record labels, and tape trading (how {{Metallica}} first got big). Tape trading was surrounded by a lot of rules and rituals that would seem completely alien to someone used to peer-to-peer downloading. Part of this was due to the limits of tapes--every copy ("generation") of a bootleg was inferior to the source it was copied from. Although subgenres started to coalesce towards the late 1980s, the sort of obsessive subgenre hair-splitting common among today's metal fans did not exist. Most of the underground bands made fun of glam ([[{{Megadeth}} Dave Mustaine]] called it "Gay L.A. Metal") but that was about it.

* "[[PaedoHunt Stranger danger]]" first began to appear in this decade, with parents concerned that their children could be abducted off the street by predatory pedophiles.

* There was also a new and terrifying plague: AIDS, whose etiology and pathology was unknown at the time. People were basically dropping dead, and no one knew why. No one even knew how it spread. At first the public lashed back at the groups hardest hit -- gay men and intravenous drug users -- as causing or deserving the disease.

* Coca-Cola and Pepsi were at each other's throats during the "Cola Wars", pulling out all the stops with their advertising. In 1985, Coke garnered [[{{Understatement}} quite a bit of controversy]] by reformulating their classic recipe, causing sales to plummet. They had quickly switched back to the old, marketing it as "Coca-Cola Classic", thus saving sales.

* [[UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal Metal]] was in, especially towards the end of the decade. As well as the mainstream scene which was focused on GlamMetal, there was a ''massive'' underground, especially in the United States and Germany. There were no {{MySpace}}, {{YouTube}}, or Metal-Archives at the time. Underground music circulated through fanzines (Kerrang! started in 1981 as an underground fanzine), compilation albums issued by record labels, and tape trading (how {{Metallica}} first got big). Tape trading was surrounded by a lot of rules and rituals that would seem completely alien to someone used to peer-to-peer downloading. Part of this was due to the limits of tapes--every copy ("generation") of a bootleg was inferior to the source it was copied from. Although subgenres started to coalesce towards the late 1980s, the sort of obsessive subgenre hair-splitting common among today's metal fans did not exist.

* [[UsefulNotes/HeavyMetal Metal]] was in, especially towards the end of the decade. As well as the mainstream scene which was focused on GlamMetal, there was a ''massive'' underground, especially in the United States and Germany. There were no {{MySpace}}, {{YouTube}}, or Metal-Archives at the time. Underground music circulated through fanzines, compilation albums issued by record labels, and tape trading (how {{Metallica}} first got big). Tape trading was surrounded by a lot of rules and rituals that would seem completely alien to someone used to peer-to-peer downloading. Part of this was due to the limits of tapes--every copy ("generation") of a bootleg was inferior to the source it was copied from. Although subgenres started to coalesce towards the late 1980s, the sort of obsessive subgenre hair-splitting common among today's metal fans did not exist.

* {{Atari}} and its [[{{Atari2600}} 2600]] system were leading the way during TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames in America, along with dingy arcades as everyone got PacManFever. Unfortunately, it was TooGoodToLast in 1983 with [[TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 The Crash]]. All it took was a Japanese company by the name of {{Nintendo}} and its [[NintendoEntertainmentSystem little gray toaster]] ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And a Robotic Operating Buddy!]]) to change it all back in '85. Mario and Luigi went on to become household names with ''SuperMarioBros'', and was the best-selling video game of all time until ''WiiSports'' (also made by Nintendo) stole its thunder in '09.

* Home computing was taking its first baby steps towards becoming a fixture of daily life. Computers like the AppleII, the {{IBM P|ersonalComputer}}C and the {{Commodore 64}} emerged, creating the first generation to know computers as something other than room-sized boxes used only for scientific purposes. Businesses started switching over from typewriters, schools started to build dedicated computer labs (see above), Apple made its famous [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhsWzJo2sN4 1984 ad]], and the area around San Jose, California began to transform into what we now know as "Silicon Valley". The first computer games were also developed during this era, and enjoyed great success in Europe, a market that was never as receptive to home consoles as North America was (during both the Atari and Nintendo eras).

'''Education/School:'''

* The "Satanic Panic" took off and reached its peak in this decade. Spurred on by alleged "true stories" like ''Michelle Remembers'' and ''The Satan Seller'' (both of which are now widely believed to be [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie fraudulent accounts]]), there was widespread fear among communities, churches, and even law enforcement and social services that there existed an underground network of devil-worshippers who kidnapped, abused, and sacrificed children and other "innocents" in order to gain power from [[{{Satan}} the Dark Lord]]. Your next-door neighbors could be conducting {{virgin sacrifice}}s in their basement and you wouldn't know about it -- [[YouCanPanicNow until they came for you and your loved ones!]] Some of [[ConspiracyTheorist the wackier theories]] alleged that the Satanists had [[GovernmentConspiracy infiltrated the government, business and the military]], and were using their resources to not only cover up their evil, but facilitate it. Hundreds of people saw their lives destroyed by [[WitchHunt allegations that they were Satanists]], with one of the most notable (and [[IfItBleedsItLeads sensationalized]]) incidents being the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial McMartin preschool case.]] It got to the point where even Procter & Gamble was accused of being Satanic due to their logo, which they had to change -- they later wound up suing the people who spread the rumors (which caused their stock to plummet) for $19 million.

* {{Atari}} and its [[{{Atari2600}} 2600]] system were leading the way during TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames in America, along with dingy arcades as everyone got PacManFever. Unfortunately, it was TooGoodToLast in 1983 with [[TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 The Crash]]. All it took was a Japanese company by the name of {{Nintendo}} and its [[NintendoEntertainmentSystem little gray toaster]] ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And a Robotic Operating Buddy!]]) to change it all back in '85. Mario and Luigi went on to become household names with ''SuperMarioBros''., and was the best-selling video game of all time until ''WiiSports'' stole its thunder in '09.
* Home computers, most notably the {{Commodore 64}}, were all the rage in Europe.

* Society was ambivalent about yuppies even at the time. It's true that the "self-made man" (read: greedy, rapacious bastard) was idolized, but yuppies were viewed in roughly the same way that the dot com millionaires of the '90s were: a class of smart, driven young men who made vast fortunes nearly instantly by trading on mumbo-jumbo that nobody else understood. They came in for plenty of ribbing as self-interested, too, much as hipsters are today.

* For a brief period of time, women, mostly teenage girls, could be seen wearing cut-off denim shorts over sheer tights with sneakers. Unsurprisingly, this look didn't last long, being considered SoBadItsHorrible even by [[BeyondTheImpossible '80s standards.]]

* {{Atari}} and its [[Atari2600 2600]] system were leading the way during TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames in America. Unfortunately, it was TooGoodToLast in 1983 with [[TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 The Crash]]. All it took was a Japanese company by the name of {{Nintendo}} and its [[NintendoEntertainmentSystem little gray toaster]] ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg And a Robotic Operating Buddy!]]) to change it all back in '85.

* "[[PaedoHunt Stranger danger]]" first began to appear in this decade, with parents concerned that their children could be abducted off the street by predatory pedophiles.
* The "Satanic Panic" took off and reached its peak in this decade. Spurred on by alleged "true stories" like ''Michelle Remembers'' and ''The Satan Seller'' (both of which are now widely believed to be [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie fraudulent accounts]]), there was widespread fear among communities, churches, and even law enforcement and social services that there existed an underground network of devil-worshippers who kidnapped, abused, and sacrificed children and other "innocents" in order to gain power from [[{{Satan}} the Dark Lord]]. Your next-door neighbors could be conducting {{virgin sacrifice}}s in their basement and you wouldn't know about it -- [[YouCanPanicNow until they came for you and your loved ones!]] Some of [[ConspiracyTheorist the wackier theories]] alleged that the Satanists had [[GovernmentConspiracy infiltrated the government, business and the military]], and were using their resources to not only cover up their evil, but facilitate it. Hundreds of people saw their lives destroyed by [[WitchHunt allegations that they were Satanists]], with one of the most notable (and [[IfItBleedsItLeads sensationalized]]) incidents being the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial McMartin preschool case.]] It got to the point where even Procter & Gamble was accused of being Satanic due to their logo, which they had to change -- they later wound up suing the people who spread the rumors (which caused their stock to plummet) for $19 million.

* {{Atari}} and its [[Atari2600 2600]] system were leading the way during TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames in America. Unfortunately, it was TooGoodToLast in 1983 with [[TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 The Crash]]. All it took was a Japanese company by the name of {{Nintendo}} and its [[NintendoEntertainmentSystem little gray toaster]] to change it all back in '85.

!The Fear
* There was, frankly, a lot to fear in the 80s. The US was still at war, and getting nuked was a frighteningly plausible possibility. A string of post-apocalyptic movies helped keep the fear bubbling. The Chernobyl meltdown made people queasy about even peaceful applications of nuclear technology.
** The corollary to all the Cold War fear was that, when the Soviet Union collapsed like a pricked soap bubble at the end of the decade, there was a huge sense of relief and hope for the future.
* "[[PaedoHunt Stranger danger]]" first began to appear in this decade, with parents concerned that their children could be abducted off the street by predatory pedophiles.
* The "Satanic Panic" took off and reached its peak in this decade. Spurred on by alleged "true stories" like ''Michelle Remembers'' and ''The Satan Seller'' (both of which are now widely believed to be [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie fraudulent accounts]]), there was widespread fear among communities, churches, and even law enforcement and social services that there existed an underground network of devil-worshippers who kidnapped, abused, and sacrificed children and other "innocents" in order to gain power from [[{{Satan}} the Dark Lord]]. Your next-door neighbors could be conducting {{virgin sacrifice}}s in their basement and you wouldn't know about it -- [[YouCanPanicNow until they came for you and your loved ones!]] Some of [[ConspiracyTheorist the wackier theories]] alleged that the Satanists had [[GovernmentConspiracy infiltrated the government, business and the military]], and were using their resources to not only cover up their evil, but facilitate it. Hundreds of people saw their lives destroyed by [[WitchHunt allegations that they were Satanists]], with one of the most notable (and [[IfItBleedsItLeads sensationalized]]) incidents being the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial McMartin preschool case.]] It got to the point where even Procter & Gamble was accused of being Satanic due to their logo, which they had to change -- they later wound up suing the people who spread the rumors (which caused their stock to plummet) for $19 million.
* There was also a new and terrifying plague: AIDS, whose etiology and pathology was unknown at the time. People were basically dropping dead, and no one knew why. No one even knew how it spread. At first the public lashed back at the groups hardest hit--gay men and intravenous drug users--as causing or deserving the disease.

!Technology
* Society was ambivalent about yuppies even at the time. It's true that the "self-made man" (read: greedy, rapacious bastard) was idolized, but yuppies were viewed in roughly the same way that the dot com millionaires of the 90s were: a class of smart, driven young men who made vast fortunes nearly instantly by trading on mumbo-jumbo that nobody else understood. They came in for plenty of ribbing as self-interested, too, much as hipsters are today.

!Fashion
* EightiesHair tended towards the big and foofy. This was true for men, too--though never as big as women's hair, men's hair was longish by today's standards, and buzz cuts were extremely rare. Especially in the early 80s, fros (afros) hung on from the 70s. Side ponytails and big neon scrunchies were popular among little girls and teenagers. Crimping irons with swappable plates were a must-have, including [[http://i54.tinypic.com/rhjvo4.jpg some]] that did not work at all as intended, unless you turned your hair into a sheet of hairspray and then didn't move.
* Jeans weren't baggy--they were worn as tight as possible.
* "Preppie style" was big in the early 80s. Mostly this manifested itself as polo shirts, often striped, ideally of the "Izod" brand, whose logo was a little embroidered crocodile. (They are NOT "gator shirts"; Izod Lacoste shirts got their name from French tennis player René Lacoste, whose nose gave him the nickname "Le Crocodile". He put a crocodile on his shirts, and it took off from there.)

* For a brief period of time, women, mostly teenage girls, could be seen wearing cut-off denim shorts over sheer tights with sneakers. Unsurprisingly, this look didn't last long, being considered SoBadItsHorrible even by [[BeyondTheImpossible 80's standards.]]
* Given that skintight jeans could be very hard to get on or off over one's feet, some styles had zippers at the back of the ankle. While not terribly widespread, this hung on into the early nineties, until such tight jeans fell out of style.

* ''Flashdance'' in 1983 popularized off-the-shoulder [[http://www.liketotally80s.com/images/flashdance-poster.jpg sweatshirts]], usually with the collar ripped off.

* EightiesHair tended towards the big and foofy. This was true for men, too--though never as big as women's hair, men's hair was longish by today's standards, and buzz cuts were extremely rare. Especially in the early 80s, fros (afros) hung on from the 70s.

* Tights could be worn as casual wear instead of trousers. You pulled up your (multiple pairs of) socks right over the bottom of the tights. Legwarmers were optional but popular.