Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Okay, some of us Old Geezers aren't as old as the rest of you. What fads did you follow during the 1980s? I was one of the few to have a genuine Rubik's Cube. They were so popular that everyone was always out, and tons of cheap knock-offs hit the market (including a cute little one to put on your keychain). I also had a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer. About as powerful as a pocket calculator is today. Unlike most of the teenagers in school though I just never caught on to that Michael Jackson thing. I did learn how to Moonwalk though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 Yup, the first computer I was taught on was a Trash-80 (radio shack TRS-80). My first computer had an 8088 processor, and had a whopping 256k of ram. I bought enough dip chips to boost it to 640k. Never did understand the idjits that lowered their pickup trucks all the way to the ground..never did hop on that fad. There was a tall speed bump in the parking lot of the store I worked at when I was a senior in high school. Seemed like every other day a lowered nissan would get stuck on it. We would all jump into the bed to give them enough traction to drag themselves off the speedbump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 My first computer was an IBM PC Jr. Added a second, external floppy drive, bumped that puppy up to 640k with chips, and spent countless nighttime hours playing Flight Simulator. I was the envy of ALL my buddies~! Oh... and it ran Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect quite well, too. Teamed it up with a tractor-drive Epson dot matrix printer so I could work at home. Later added a 300 baud modem... Tall Cotton~! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 All things "preppy." Ray Ban Wayfarers, courtesy of Risky Business. Ray Ban Aviators, courtesy of Top Gun. Eddie Murphy being actually funny. 'London Calling' posters MTV Parachute Pants Oversized WHAM! tee shirts Oversized Frankie Goes to Hollywood tee shirts Levis 501 Jeans I could go on, and on. Guess who went to high school and most of college in the 80s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Russell Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 I was a school IT specialist then and when we upped the Ram on the IBM computers in the lab, I had to make a call to see what price it was it was selling at on that day...if my memory is correct it was around a hundred dollars to double our computers Ram from 2 to 4 and that is megabytes not gigabytes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okiepan Posted February 17, 2020 Share Posted February 17, 2020 I can't remember much of the 80s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Let's just say I was Urban Cowboy before Urban Cowboy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Franklin Ace 1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Crockett. Tubbs. Ferraris. Cigarette boats. Silk sport coats. Colored T shirts. Slip on canvas shoes with no socks. Bren Ten. Sawed off 12 gauge side-by-side. Smugglers Blues. The 1980's were Miami Vice, period. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cholla Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Wrangler Brushpopper shirts. Still have a few. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Don't know if it was a fad or not but who can forget music videos. Here's a "classic". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smuteye John SASS#24774 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 18 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said: Don't know if it was a fad or not but who can forget music videos. Here's a "classic". It wasn't all that bad. The mid 80's saw a Blues revival with ZZ Top's second career, George Thurgood, and the introduction of guitarists like the Vaughan brothers (Stevie solo and Jimmy with The Fabulous Thunderbirds) and Robert Cray. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 The early 1980s were a fun time for music, with all the synthesizers, big hairdos and colorful pop bands. It wasn't until the late 80s when rap music began to take over that it all started to sound like garbage. I also miss the days when MTV only played music videos and concerts, instead of nothing but shows about rebellious teens and leftist political crap like they did throughout the 90s. Are they even still on the air? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 This is something only those of us who lived thru the 80's knows about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 Yup, I had a Fisher dual cassette deck that ate quite a few of them. I also remember one night a local radio station broadcast part of a Springsteen concert. The reception in my room was pretty poor unless I held onto the FM antenna to eliminate all the crackle and hiss, so I had my tape deck recording it while I held onto that antenna for 45 solid minutes. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Member’s Only jackets acid washed jeans Reeboks parachute pants Sperry Topsiders HEAVY METAL! Compact discs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 One fad that did start that I liked, V8 engines started coming back into vogue after years of 6 and 4 cylinder motors. They started to go by liters though. A 5.0 in a Ford Mustang was actually a 302 motor but they sounded REAL good compared to the ones from 1974 and until then. Motors still had carburetors, distributor caps, rotor caps and points.....glad that changed. Beta and VCR formats came out. Now you didn't have to miss your favorite tv show or sports game/race. Set your VCR, make sure that the cable box (the one with all 36 channels) was on the right channel and tape away. Still had the problem of tapes getting eaten but it wasn't as bad a music cassettes. Satellite phones came out, same size as a WWII walkie talkie. Only the well off could afford them. Of, course they eventually turned into what we have today and continue to aggravate the hell out of everyone who has them or is driving in traffic with those who can't stay off of them. Saturday Night Live was still worth watching as were many tv shows on at the time. Now, not so much. Gas stations mostly all turned into self service. You could even go in and get a 4 year old egg salad sandwich in a blister pack type package. War between the cocaine gangs started being wage in the street with innocent people getting wounded and killed by gangs with illegal submachine guns. Eventually banks would have to report any cash deposits of $10,000 or more. Suffice to say, there was plenty of good things and fads that came out of the '80's but there were some things that would have been better off left there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 2 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: HEAVY METAL! oh yeah!!! \m/ Bring it on and set the volume to 11! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 30 minutes ago, Cypress Sun said: One fad that did start that I liked, V8 engines started coming back into vogue after years of 6 and 4 cylinder motors. They started to go by liters though. A 5.0 in a Ford Mustang was actually a 302 motor but they sounded REAL good compared to the ones from 1974 and until then. Motors still had carburetors, distributor caps, rotor caps and points.....glad that changed. The last vehicle I owned with a carburetor was a 1985 Chevy S-10 pickup. That carb was sealed so you couldn't change the idle fuel mixture and had a bunch of electric solenoids controlling it. On the positive side it had an electric throttle body heater so at least it wouldn't ice over and cause a stall like all my older cars did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 4 hours ago, Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 said: This is something only those of us who lived thru the 80's knows about... My Jeep still has one of those permanently jammed in its player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dantankerous Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Boom Boxes Big Hair (men AND women) The Breakfast Club MTV Satelite TV Sony Walkmans We also saw the end of the national 55 mph speed limit and the drinking age increase from 18 to 21, if memory serves. Affordable college tuition! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 On 2/17/2020 at 2:49 PM, DocWard said: All things "preppy." Ray Ban Wayfarers, courtesy of Risky Business. Ray Ban Aviators, courtesy of Top Gun. Eddie Murphy being actually funny. 'London Calling' posters MTV Parachute Pants Oversized WHAM! tee shirts Oversized Frankie Goes to Hollywood tee shirts Levis 501 Jeans I could go on, and on. Guess who went to high school and most of college in the 80s? 501 shrink-to-fits go back to the late '40s in my world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dantankerous Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Valley Girls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 17 minutes ago, Dantankerous said: Valley Girls! Like, gag me with a spoon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: Like, gag me with a spoon! Grody to the max. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Pete Rose retires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dantankerous Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 IROC Z Wearing untied or unlaced high tops. Leggings. Square headlight Jeep Wrangler Red Dawn. WOLVERINES!!!! Freddy Krueger Jason Voorhees Michael Meyers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Convertible mini trucks with high wattage sound systems and sub woofers Zima Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 38 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: Convertible mini trucks with high wattage sound systems and sub woofers I don't associate those with the '80s, for some reason. When I think think of vehicles, I think of the renewed pony car wars between the Fox Body Mustangs and the Camaros / Firebirds, with the turbo Shelby Chargers making them both at least take notice for a couple of years. With trucks, I tend to think of the 4x4 mini trucks, of the sort seen in Back to the Future. I'll admit I would still like a near mint Shelby Charger Turbo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 25 minutes ago, DocWard said: I don't associate those with the '80s, for some reason. When I think think of vehicles, I think of the renewed pony car wars between the Fox Body Mustangs and the Camaros / Firebirds, with the turbo Shelby Chargers making them both at least take notice for a couple of years. With trucks, I tend to think of the 4x4 mini trucks, of the sort seen in Back to the Future. I'll admit I would still like a near mint Shelby Charger Turbo! Those mini trucks were a California fad. Guys would take a Toyota or a Datsun / Nissan and chop the top, slam it (lower the suspension), paint them up like a Gypsy on psychedelic mushrooms and then install huge speakers in the bed with hundreds of watts of power to impress everyone around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 absolute dumbest waste of a pickup truck imaginable... thought so at the time and still think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyrel Cody Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 17 minutes ago, Crazy Gun Barney, SASS #2428 said: absolute dumbest waste of a pickup truck imaginable... thought so at the time and still think so. Agree 100% Had a classmate get his similar truck hung on a speedbump in front of Walmart. No we did not pull him off of it with our REAL trucks. Fortunately the tow truck driver felt sorry for him and didn't charge him anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 When I worked in a hardware store in the late 80s-early 90s a kid came in looking for some JB-Weld. Turned out he had a slammed pickup and inadvertently "slammed" it on a speed bump, and pushed in his oil drain plug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 5 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said: Those mini trucks were a California fad. Guys would take a Toyota or a Datsun / Nissan and chop the top, slam it (lower the suspension), paint them up like a Gypsy on psychedelic mushrooms and then install huge speakers in the bed with hundreds of watts of power to impress everyone around them. Ah, we got a bit of that, but I tend to associate it more with the nineties and later. Midwest must have been behind the curve on that one! That, and most of the guys were are still lifting their trucks around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 24 minutes ago, DocWard said: Ah, we got a bit of that, but I tend to associate it more with the nineties and later. Midwest must have been behind the curve on that one! That, and most of the guys were are still lifting their trucks around here. You mean, like... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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