It was the decade of decadence. It was about glitz and glamour as well as baubles, bangles, and beads.
Elizabeth Taylor dropped in for Luke and Laura's wedding. Lady Diana became the People's Princess when she married Prince Charles. Nighttime soaps like Dallas and Dynasty ruled the airwaves. Margaret Thatcher ruled the United Kingdom. Tom Cruise felt the need for speed. Gordon Gekko taught Wall Street whiz kids that greed was good. Cyndi Lauper showed her True Colors.
When did all this take place?
We can only be talking about that terrific time period – the unforgettable eighties.
Here are twenty-one ways for you to verify that you belong to (or belong in) the 1980's.
1. Breakdancing on the sidewalk looked like fun. Now it just looks like you might break something.
2. You know that Molly Ringwald was an original cast member on Facts of Life. (Now you're singing both of the show's theme songs.)
3. You remember paying by the minute for long distance telephone service and you can still hear the tune from the phone company commercial when they encouraged you to "reach out – reach out and touch someone."
4. You had at least one of the following: a Cabbage Patch Kid, My Little Buddy, a Missing Link puzzle, or something with a Star Wars logo on it.
5. You remember a lot of headlines about the Human Genome Project, which was a complete mapping of human DNA. You also remember how this was supposed to lead to the eradication of disease.
6. You were tuned in the exact moment that thousands of radio stations across the world played "We Are The World" at the exact same time. (Now, you're singing it!)
7. Your first album was a vinyl 33 and you laughed at your parents because they wanted to play 45's and 8-track tapes.
8. You know who Oliver North is and why he was in the news.
9. Someone on your street or neighborhood sent his or her life savings to a later discredited televangelist.
10. You laughed at the Golden Girls on television and now you wonder when you and you're friends became the Golden Girls.
11. You know that "glasnost" means openness or transparency and "perestroika" means economic restructuring.
12. You and your friends made fun of the "I've fallen and I can't get up" lady. (The fictional woman was named Mrs. Fletcher and the product was the LifeCall emergency service.)|You and your friends made fun of the "Where's the beef?" commercials for Wendy's starring Clara Peller.}}}
13. You inserted "like" liberally and unnecessarily throughout your sentences. Like so, "Like, that was, like, the hardest test we ever had. So after class, I was all like asking the teacher and she was like it wouldn't have been hard if you had studied. Then I was like is that like wicked rude or what?"
14. You know that "Back in St. Olaf…" was the beginning of a very convoluted story.
15. You joined a protest or gave an interview to a local media station demanding that New Coke be shelved and original Coca-Cola be brought back.
16. You remember a time before cable television and satellite channels.
17. Your parents were afraid you'd cut yourself putting on a snap bracelet.
18. You were inspired by Sally Ride, the first female astronaut.
19. Going to the video store to get movies about Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and Michael Myers took up a lot of your time.
20. You loved the opposite sketches and green slime on You Can't Do That On Television.
21. You wore out your thumbs playing video games on any or all of the following consoles: Atari, Intellivision, Sega, Nintendo, and Coleco.
Would you like to read more 1980's information? Visit Matthew W Grant's 80's list and see how much you remember about your favorite decade.
