The decade that declared "I want my MTV" leaves us full of nostalgia for its fashion, full hair, and killer music.
1982.awkward family photos Typical kid's birthday.reddit An 80s picnic in Central Park.All-That-Is-Interesting All-That-Is-Interesting Matching acid-wash outfits.vintag.es A premier men's hairstyle: the mullet.vintag.es If this family doesn't scream "80s", then nothing does. reddit 1983.periodcult/tumblr 1989.80stimewarp/tumblr Early 80s road-trippin'. reddit Seen in an airport in the 80s. reddit 1987.reddit internet k-hole/tumblr internet k-hole/tumblr 1989.reddit eightiess/tumblr internet k-hole/tumblr Kids in this family were issued Michael Jackson "Thriller" jackets at birth. awkward family photos Mini dresses and hot dogs.Vintag.es MTV hits the airwaves in 1981.reddit New York, 1984.reddit Caroll Spinney, the original voice and puppeteer of big bird and Oscar the Grouch in the 1980s. reddit 1982.reddit There's just a lot going on in this photo from 1981.reddit 1985.All-That-Is-Interesting A festival in Pasadena, 1980. Barack Obama happened to be in this photo. reddit Halloween, 1985.reddit This 80's couple are married, middle-aged parents now.Imgur awkward family photos Scenes from an 80s mall.superbestario/tumblr PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images awkward family photos A 1984 shoot for the Herman Miller Furniture brochure. Susan Wood/Getty Images a group of punks. Peter Turnley/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images Virginia Turbett/Redferns/Getty Images The Jazzercise Center in Penington, New Jersey, 1989. George Tiedemann/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images The King's Road, London, 1984. Paul Hartnett/PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images Tailgating and waiting for the Springsteen show. Ebet Roberts/Redferns/Getty Images Jamel Shabazz/Getty Images At the National Mall, Washington DC, 1980. Clarence Gatson/Gado/Getty Images Why doesn't the baby have a sparkler? Hold my cigarette ... oh, never mind. I've got this. reddit 1983.awkward family photos 1981.reddit hot80s-blog/tumblr All-That-Is-Interesting
55 Vintage 80s Pictures That Will Make You Laugh And Cringe View GalleryThe nostalgia for the 1980s refuses to go away. People love the retro vibe of shows like Netflix's Stranger Things and ABC's The Goldbergs. Maybe people long for the simpler times of their youth; before cell phones and computers took up most of everyone's time. These vintage 80s pictures bring us back to the times of leg warmers and boomboxes; of malls and jazzercise.
It's a strange thing to miss the days when you were afraid to wander too far away from your tape deck radio and consequently not hitting "record" on your favorite song on time. Ditto goes for the VCR and your favorite shows. However, there is a certain magic that happened in the 1980s; one that Hollywood still strives to recreate and that we still miss.
80s-Style Entertainment
"So many of our greatest moviegoing experiences were actually experienced in our house, on VHS," Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer reported. "These were the films that were on our shelves, that we would watch ... These were the movies we grew up on. It became a part of us."
Indeed, it seems that if you lived through the 80s, the decade will always be a part of you. The sheer imagination and fun behind the blockbuster films E.T., Back To The Future, and Ghostbusters is still being emulated today.
Music was another crucial part of the decade, which these '80s pictures show in all their hair metal glory. There was punk, post-punk, new-wave, synth-pop, hip-hop, hair metal, and even those who still clung to disco. There was a fashion subset for everyone, as these 80s pictures will show. The 80's remains one of the most baffling decades when it comes to fashion.
Weird Fashion Trends In 80s Pictures
For a preteen in the 80s, fashion meant jelly shoes, charm necklaces, sticker books, and Caboodles. This also meant copying Madonna — spandex, lace skirts, half-shirts, and crucifixes.
As for the rest, anything baggy or with geometric shapes was the utmost in fashion. These 80s pictures show that the muted harvest color craze from the 70s was well on its way out and replaced by — what else — neon.
The later in the decade it got, the bigger and more permed the hair became. Guys even permed the back of their mullets. Hairstyles in this decade, as these 80s pictures will show, have to be some of the weirdest — and that doesn't even account for the 12-inch mohawks that some punks sported.
80s Politics
Reaganomics was the keyword of the day, politically speaking. Ronald Reagan was the president of the U.S. for most of the decade — from 1981 until 1989. As with any president, he had supporters and he had opponents. Things like the Iran-Contra affair certainly sullied his reputation but as a whole, Reagan left office a popular president.
Who can forget first lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" campaign? As the 70s ended, all the drugs once deemed as recreational were now looked upon with disdain. However, the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 80s still raged on.
When the Berlin Wall fell and opened Germany's borders on Nov. 9, 1989, so too did the Cold War come to an end as the divide between communists and western democracy came together. Indeed, the hope at the end of the 80s was a sort of global reunification, and it is perhaps this hopefulness that we are so nostalgic for.
Or, as these 80s pictures show, it's indeed just the fashion we miss.
After this look at vintage 80s pictures, check out this gallery of 80s metal aficionados. Then, take a look at these celebrity school photos that the stars probably don't want you to see.
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