80's Children...

x-ray

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80\'s Children...

Apologies to US members as a lot of this post will only have meaning to those of us who spent our childhood in the UK

How much do you remember?

Hello children of the 80's. Read this, it will take you back but be careful 'cause it will also make you realise that you are now actually OLD!!

Um Bongo, Um Bongo, They drink it in the Congo

Friendship bracelets were ties that couldn't be broken.

You ever read Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Babysitters Club, Forever or Sweet Valley High.

You know all the words to "Ice Ice Baby".

You wanted to be on "Jim'll Fix It".

You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before he had plastic surgery.

You wore one of those slap-on wristbands at some point...or heaven forbid
one of those T-shirts that changed colour with heat (Global Hypercolour).

You had slouch socks and puff painted your own shirt at least once.

You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off".

You were upset when She-ra, Princess of Power and He-Man got axed.

You can remember watching Saved by the Bell.

You remember Madonna in her cone stage.

You knew "The Artist" when he was humbly called "Prince."

You even wore fluorescent-neon clothing... (if you can call it clothing!)

Not only did you wear fluorescent-neon clothing, but they were mismatched with fingerless gloves and toweling socks.

You could break dance (ok, you wished!)

You remember when Amiga was a state of the art video game system.

You remember M.C. Hammer.

You can still sing the rap to "Fresh Prince of Bel Air"....

You can remember when it was Jazzy Jeff and The fresh Prince and NOT just plain Will Smith!

You owned cassettes and 7" singles.

Video was new

You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins, ALF or ET lunchbox.

You pondered on why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.

My Little Pony, Gummy Bears and Transformers are familiar to you.

You had a Swatch Watch.

You believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"

You spent hours in the basement building and re- building Lego cities.

Big wheels and BMX's were the way to go.

With your pink (or blue) portable tape player, you sang to Kylie and Jason!

If you ever owned Rainbow Bright or Micro Machines.

If you ever made Ken fall in love with Barbie.

You drew smiley faces saying Aciieeeeeddd underneath them.

Sun Visor hats

Metal lunchboxes, Holly Hobbie, Masters of the universe, Rambo & Care bears were among the favourites .

If (eagle eye) Action Man ever slept with Cindy

You know what " Psyche" means.

Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.

You knew that Transformers were "more than meets the eye".

You wore a banana clip at some point during your youth.

The tune to rainbow haunts you still (Up above the streets and houses, rainbow climbing high, everyone can see it smiling, all over the sky. Paint the whole world with a rainbow).

You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good film.

You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living in space. (buck rogers)

You know what leg warmers are and probably had a pair.

You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.

You remember how popular Tiffany, Bros, Debbie Gibson & The whole Stock Aitken & Waterman experience was.

You stayed up late on Saturday nights to watch the hitman & her.

You religiously watched Grange Hill, and wanted to go to that school, despite the bullying & drugs.

You watched Gruey, Gentle Ben (with the ugly child actor), The Red Hand Gang (why did that child always get stuck in the window?) Sport Billy with the mary poppins bag, Jossies Giants, and what about the cheesy Tim Tyler who
sold his laugh to THE BARON the richest man in the world. This was one of the dubbed programmes

You had to change into play clothes after school.

You recorded songs off the radio with your boom box.

You quite happily sang the following words - THERE'S A VOICE, KEEPS ON CALLING ME. DOWN THE ROAD, THAT'S WHERE I'LL ALWAYS BE. EVERY STOP I MAKE,
I'LL MAKE A NEW FRIEND. BUT I'LL KEEP MOVING ON AGAIN, THAT'S HOBBO STYLE. MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN, UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON

Somehow you still know all the words to songs played on VH1's "Big 80s"

You can still sing 1 to 12 from the Pinball machine song on Sesame Street.

You wore those wide, colourful shoelaces.

You still don't like going in the sea because of Jaws.

Nightmare on Elm Street gave you real Nightmares.

You live in confusion, was Vicky the Viking a girl or a boy???

You remember Now compilations that had the pig on the front cover.

You never questioned why the A-Team were always imprisoned in places that had sufficient tools to build an armoured tank.

Dungeons & Dragons was your favourite programme.

You fell out with friends during heated arguments about the relative merits of Matt & Luke.

The boys did you prefer Kim Wilde or Sinitta?

Cerise pink, electric blue and banana yellow have featured in your wardrobe or make-up collection.

Everyone loved Scooby Doo, Thundercats & Spiderman. Everyone hated, Newrsound, Pat & Mick, Blue Peter & Jackanory.

All the boys had crushes on Charlies Angels, they also wanted to be spiderman, superman or be in the A Team.

You would watch Tony Hart for 10 mins without the faintest idea what he was up to, with the last 10 seconds it would all fall into place & would look fab.

You used words like fab brill, & cool.

Boys thought wearing a white shirt or t-shirt was cool.

Girls had crimped hair, boys had a spike.

You took the stickers off a rubik cube, as u didnt have the patience.

All Disney films began with the fairy castle & tinkerbell.

You would sit through Chips, Knight Rider, Who's the boss, T.J Hooker, Street Hawk, Whiz Kids, Moonlighting, Magnum p.i. The Incredible Hulk, The greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, Fame, Different
Strokes, Airwolf, The A Team and when things were desperate the Love Boat.

You changed your good school shoes with your trainers every day on the school bus.

You did the top toggle of your coat up around your neck without having your arms in the sleeves, and you knew you looked like a superhero.

Any film with the brat pack was in (Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Matt Dillon, Keither Sutherland, Tom Cruise, Ralf Macchio, Patrick Swaze, Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Julia Roberts, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, ) Such as The
outsiders, pretty in pink, St Elmos's Fire & The breakfast Club. Other favourites were Friday 13th part 1 to 167, National Lampoons Vacations, Porkys (mildporn for the boys) Topgun & Splash.

Your new winter coat was best used to demonstrate that your wings were like a shield of steel.

You threw your new school bag (head or puma of course) across the playground because it looked cool.

You still remember when the A-ha video was the pinnacle of modern technology and you can still sing all the words.

You really wanted to be a Goonie.

You owned an Etch a Sketch

Your best party dress was either a ra-ra or puff-ball skirt.

You have heard the words here's one I made early over 1000 times & for once you are not exaggerating.

You played Twister, You played spin the bottle!

You wondered why a popular kids TV programme told you to "Turn off your TV set and go and do something less boring instead".

You were shocked by the controversial plot lines in Degrassi Junior High.

You remember watching a house inhabited by a jester, a pantomime horse and a woman who sneezed, and thinking that this was perfectly normal.

You tried to convince your Dad to fit a strip of red lights on the front of the Capri so it looked like KITT.

You've ever seen a girl, a clown and noughts and crosses on your TV.

You've ever had more than 10 sweets in a 10p mix-up.

You hid behind the sofa whenever you heard the word "Exterminate!".

You could have got away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids.

Girls- You owned a pair of Pixie boots, generally worn with leg warmers.

Boys- You owned a pair of pale grey slip-ons, generally worn with white towelling socks.

Ooh, you could crush a grape!

You've ever held a chicken in the air or stuck a deckchair up your nose.

You wore legwarmers & tried to do the splits while jumping in the air while singing you were going to live forever.

You remember Fingermouse and Dangermouse (not forgetting his trusty sidekick Penfold!)

You know all the words to "Hey Mickey" (well, nobody knows past the first verse anyway).

You remembered Look In magazine, and when it was only 20p and Monster Munch when they were 10p. Polos were only 6p.

Your best mate had a Soda Stream at home and you were jealous.

Hide and seek in the park, the corner shop, Hopscotch, butterscotch, skipping, handstands, football in the park/street, Knock & Run, British Bulldog, Beano, Dandy, Twinkle, Hula Hoops, jumping in enormous puddles and
building dams

When 'Computer' Tennis, Pac-Man and Donkey-Kong ruled

You got up extra early, especially to watch Saturday Morning cartoons

You were occasionally allowed to stay up late for Howard's Way, Dallas, Dynasty or Minder.

Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.

Using the bed as a trampoline. Pillow fights. Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down made you have a fit of the giggles, being tired from playing.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.

You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas Eve.

You remember when 25p was decent pocket money and you'd reach into a muddy gutter for 10p.

You loved Captain Caveman & his teenangels, you would often shout Zowie.

You shouted at the tv, please don't get on the dungeons & dragons ride.

And at pantomimes, you put your heart & soul into shouting he's behind
you!!

You would play on your bike all day without ever needing the toilet or food.

Important decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
 

kakster

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Re: 80\'s Children...

I must confess to owning a dayglo Campri ski jacket. god the 80's were terrible.
 

Chris M.

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Re: 80\'s Children...

Eeeeeeh, a load of that takes me back! It all begain for me on April 2nd 1980 so the "decade that taste forgot" was my first experience of Life, the Universe and Everything!

And though most people think the 80s were the very definition of cheeze, I still look back fondly and wonder where it all went, and what the crap has happened to the world since? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

If any American operatives want any of those explained to them, er, well, don`t ask! You had to be there.....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Unicorn

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Re: 80\'s Children...

Most of that actually does apply to us Yanks. I thought those hypercolor shirts were cool.
 

LEDagent

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Re: 80\'s Children...

yeah...most of that does apply to me too.

Unicorn, i thought those shirts were cool too. But looking like you are constantly sweating, when you're not isn't very sexy. It didn't get me any cool points during elementary school either. But hey...it was the 80s.
 

Ross

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Re: 80\'s Children...

I *still* want to be a Goonie!!
Great list, I think I can identify with just about every one...scary..... Makes my 25 years seem like 50!

Ross
 

flownosaj

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Fayetteville, NC
Re: 80\'s Children...

Now, who's badmouthing my Swatch /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif

Best thing the 80's had going for it... wish I still had mine.


You forgot the most important one: You know that it takes 1.21 jigawats to get the flux-capacitor going...and you know what a flux-capacitor is. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif


-Jason
 

The_LED_Museum

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Re: 80\'s Children...

Remember when the Commodore 64 was hot {vulgar term for feces}, and everyone had to have one?
I remember recording songs off my clock radio with a cassette recorder before I got my first ghetto blaster.
Oh yeah...and playing "Breakout" on an Atari 2600 video game console, just before Colecovision and Intellivision consoles started showing up.
"Breakout" was a predecessor to "Arkanoid", an arcade game that ate quarters, and had a few extra goodies.
Oh yeah, and the 1980s were great years for arcade videogames. Games like Pac Man, Asteroids, Robot Bowl, Tempest, Zaxxon, Frogger, Bosconian, Gorf, Mach 3-D, Mr. Do's Castle, Dragon's Lair, Looping, Defender, Joust, Time Pilot '84, Food Fight, and many others ate up lots of quarters from people of all ages, but mostly from kids and teenagers.
 

flownosaj

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Re: 80\'s Children...

I've got some of those games on my Playstation 2. A "youngster" asked why I would have those crappy games on one of the most powerful gaming sysems and all I could do was shake my head... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif



-Jason
 

The_LED_Museum

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Re: 80\'s Children...

I have one of those Gameboy Advance things (my sister bought it for me for Christmas last year), and the only cartridge I have for it is Pac Man. And that's a game I never bothered to play in the arcades, so getting past the 1st or 2nd level *is* a big deal.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

A game from that decade I didn't learn to play?
SHAME on me!!! :toliet:

I have a Satan's Hollow (circa 1982) upright arcade game here at home, but I really want an Astro Blaster upright. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

kakster

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Re: 80\'s Children...

I want one of those Coffee table space invaders, but they cost a fair bit nowdays. Retro-gaming is the "in" thing amongst gamers.
 

LEDependent

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Re: 80\'s Children...

Oh I definitely had a Commodore 64 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I was also a big fan of the neon green shorts. (My g/f could blackmail me with the old pictures she's seen)
 

arioch

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maui,hawaii
Re: 80\'s Children...

[ QUOTE ]
The Led Museum said:
Oh yeah, and the 1980s were great years for arcade videogames. Games like Pac Man, Asteroids, Robot Bowl, Tempest, Zaxxon, Frogger, Bosconian, Gorf, Mach 3-D, Mr. Do's Castle, Dragon's Lair, Looping, Defender, Joust, Time Pilot '84, Food Fight, and many others ate up lots of quarters from people of all ages, but mostly from kids and teenagers.




[/ QUOTE ]

... Gyrus, Popeye, Star Wars, Sinistar, DigDug, Ladybug, Karate Champ(the predecessor to Mortal Kombat, Streetfighter, etc), Qbert ... the list goes on. I was a major arcade game addict. Kinda like how I became a major gun addict. Kinda like how I became a major flashlight addict ...

Addicted to being addicted. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
 

kakster

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Re: 80\'s Children...

Konami Hypersport! the original "bash-the-hell-out-of-the-buttons" sports sim. I bet that cabinet kept the arcade techs busy replacing the buttons. I broke my friend's BBC model B comp playing a similar game ( enter key succumbed to my frantic bashing and flew halfway across the room).
 

lightnix

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Re: 80\'s Children...

OK, I know it started in the 70s, but please don't forget...

Saturday,
Saturday,
Saturday,
Is TISWAS day.
Saturday,
Saturday,
Saturday is TISWAS,
Never a day to miss 'coz,
Saturday is TISWAS day !


Ah yes, who can fail to raise a smile at the memory of the Phantom Flan Flinger, doing the Dying Fly, The Bucket of Water Song, Compost Corner, The Cage, Spit the Dog and (of course) the lovely Sally James (woof), to name but just a few high points from that long-lost TV gemstone.

Those of you who havn't got a clue what I'm on about ( i.e. about 90% of the CPF membership) click here.
 

x-ray

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Re: 80\'s Children...

TISWAS

Today Is Saturday Wake-up And Smile

In the words of Michael Caine...Not a lot of people know that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

The_LED_Museum

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Messages
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Re: 80\'s Children...

[ QUOTE ]
kakster said:
Konami Hypersport! the original "bash-the-hell-out-of-the-buttons" sports sim.

[/ QUOTE ]
And who could forget Konami Track & Field? That was another "bash-the-hell-out-of-the-buttons" sports game. For awhile, you could cheat by using an Ace comb to bash the buttons even faster, then Konami came out with a retrofit "fix" (raised plastic guards that went around the buttons) that stopped that.

Oh yeah...then there was the Exerion conversion. I had to put one of those in a Donkey Kong cabinet, but didn't have a monitor polarity reversal circuit (needed for Nintendo games), so we had the only Exerion in town that had colored ships on a white background. And everyone else who played it thought it was supposed to come that way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I'm guessing that was 1983 or so. (I moved here in early 1985 I think).

I spent some time in the late 1980s working at Music-Vend here in Seattle, and saw a lot of video games and pinball machines. Williams F-14 Tomcat was probably my favourite pinball machine (probably because it had great music!) I'm guessing it came out in 1986 or 1987. Sega Afterburner Deluxe was a great video game, but probably because it had great music too. I'd spend more time with it in test mode (to listen to the music) then I did actually playing it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Same with that Sega motorcycle game with the funky cabinet shape - Enduro Racer II if I'm not mistaken. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Ahhh yes... the 1980s...
 

JOshooter

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Alaska
Re: 80\'s Children...

I'm 16 and can only remember 6 of those things.

Now my Etch e Scetch is my main computer.
 
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