Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Eighties Revival Stops Here...

I didn't like the 1980s. If the technology had existed, I would have gone into suspended animation until the reappearance of sideburns. I had spent my childhood preparing for long hair, flared trousers and loud shirts and felt cheated when someone changed the rules before I'd started to shave.

I could have quite happily lived without Margaret Thatcher, Red Wedge, Cyndi Lauper, Live Aid, Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Filofaxes, Tiffany, Huey Lewis and the News, Ronald Reagan, Back to the Future, Phil Collins, Rick Astley, Dirty Dancing, highlights, Hooked on Classics, Lionel Richie, T'Pau, Mini Metros and the Green Goddess.

But I would have missed The Smiths.

If you're suffering from Eighties nostalgia (or False Memory Syndrome, as it's more properly known), here is a reminded of what it was really like, courtesy of a 1984 My Guy annual that I found yesterday:

The 1980s was the era of the sexy jumper. The Tehran morality police would surely approve of this girl's outfit

Every young girl dreamed of looking like a dowdy, middle-aged woman. This girl's wish came true

On the plus side, transexuals were able to blend in more easily.

A strange fashion for hairstyles that looked like bad wigs became very popular

Eighties hair is coming back for men, but oddly enough today's women aren't following suit. I can't think why

Are sideburns unfashionable again? I've noticed that when I've had my haircut recently, people ask me if I'd like them removed. Naturally I recoil in horror and steadfastly refuse. If I'm not careful, today it will be the sideburns; tomorrow, highlights and hair gel.

The 1980s stop here.
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4 comments:

  1. Jim Murdoch7:43 am

    I loved my sideburns in the seventies. By the eighties I was wearing a beard so there was never an issue. Not a great fan of the eighties I have to say but I do pine after the seventies. If there was a time in my life I could live over it would be from 1975 - 1980; it all went to hell in a hand basket after that.

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  2. Grey Area3:07 pm

    Picture number 1 has a special poignancy as the next image was Dave waving goodbye from the deck of HMS Sheffied.

    I totally concur with every detail of this post - the 80's were a terrible disappointment to me, after the thrill of the late '70s - and finally leaving home and moving to 'that' London in 82 - it was a decade of ugliness, misery, terrible music and very bad hair.

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  3. The Poet Laura-eate1:27 pm

    I loved the 80's and floppy new romantic hair.

    I found it cute that teenagers were dowdy unless they aspired to the funkiness of Mel and Kim.

    Better than dressing like prostitutes as so many do now.

    Not such a fan of sideburns I'm afraid - they may have suited Captain Onedin and Noddy Holder but I can't think of many other sideburn icons.

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  4. Unknown8:42 am

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