80's Pop Culture - Freeze-Frame Radio

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

80's Pop Culture

firefly · Now, with 50% more Fire!

I loooved Pop Rocks!

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

The Worm, The Robot, The Windmill, it's all here.

Break dancing has its origins on the streets of New York, well before the 80's, but as it made its way west, pop culture took over. What talent show didn't include somebody doing the moonwalk, the worm, the robot, and the windmill? Yikes!

The early 80's De Lorean, most recognized for its roll in the 80's trilogy Back to the Future, was an interesting ride. The company, falling on hard times, basically folded after its founder, John De Lorean, was jailed for drug trafficking (production of the car ended by 1983). The stainless steel body and gull wing doors make the De Lorean unique, and a real collectors item. No, they did not all come with Flux Capacitors.

Dungeons and Dragons became an obsession among some in the early to mid 80's. Some games took weeks to complete, and some crazies out there actually took the game so seriously, a few people ended up getting killed over it.

Most of you remember Max Headroom from his TV commercial and talk show cameos, but he was actually part of an 80s sci-fi, punk TV series that hit US airways in 1987. S-s-s-so c-c-c-cool.

In the 80's, especially the early 80's in the midwest, friendship pins were a big deal, boy or girl. Taking a safety pin and decorating it with small beads, the recipient of the friendship pin would clip it onto his or her shoe. The more the merrier.

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

Based on the song Valley Girl by Moon Unit in 1982, the entire idea satirized the attitudes of rich girls who couldn't stay away from the shopping malls around San Fernando Valley, California. Phrases such as "gag me with a spoon," totally, gnarly, like, and whatever. Like, they were so totally awesome, fer sure.

The Brat Pack was a group of young 80's actors often appearing together in films. Although the list of actual members might be up for debate, many will agree it included such heavy weights as Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Demi Moore, Alley Sheedy, & Andrew McCarthy. There were many more.

In junior high, if you didn't own a Trapper Keeper notebook, then you were to shades lighter than cool. They came in all types of colors and designs, many with pictures of things such as cars, landscapes, and animals. You can still get them, even vintage ones, which tend to sell for more than you would think. Click the classic Trapper Keeper above and see for yourself. If nothing pops up, keep checking back. They are some what rare.

The Spike was one style of hair popular in the 80's, as was big hair, long hair, and even the occasional Mohawk. See the spike in this old Duran Duran album photo?

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

firefly wrote:

I loooved Pop Rocks!

I STILL love Pop Rocks! {{lol}}

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

Popular 80's slang:

Airhead, as if, awesome (totally), bad, barf bag, bitchin', bogus, chill, chill pill, don't have a cow, dork, dufus, dweeb, fag, fer sure, fresh, gnarly, no way (way), heinous, homeboy, hoser, like (gag me with a spoon), McFly, nerds, no sh*t Sherlock, poser, preppie, psych, queer, rad, rush, scuzzbucket, slamdance, spaz, stoner, stud, sucks, take off (to the Great White North), to the max, valley girl, way cool, whatever, wild thing, yo, and yuppie.

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

Stereotypical Eighties Cliques

Hacker (a subset of the nerds group)
The geeks had their own language, and it was rarely verbalized. Around the time that Wargames reached mall movie theatres around the world, the BBS scene had given rise to a whole new class of speech. Mostly this subset relies on misspellings of common words, some extremists would actually substitute every o in their words for zeros. The required equipment for this type of person seemed to be a Commodore 64 which was the machine of choice for teenagers who didn't know better.
The Jocks
This crowd consisted of the athletic geared people in any school. Most of them prayed for scholarships if they wanted to go onto college, most that didn't get them, ended up working in less than glamourous jobs. Jocks generally had their own events (athletic in nature of course) and could be seen at most popular group functions as well
The Losers
These were generally the type of people who were rebelling against any authority figure they could. They generally spent their time cutting classes, and had awful academic performance. They rarely were invited to parties, but were known to show up anyways. They sometimes threw their own, but mostly they would just find a good hiding place for small drinking parties for the members of their group.
The Nerds
Also known as "the geeks". Mostly filled with students of higher academic pursuits, they were generally lumped into one catch all category. Some in this group could actually move into other groups, such as the popular group or the jocks, but would still be labeled as that particular groups nerd. Hackers, when actually at school, would fall into this group as well, since most tended to be the academic sort (at least in computers and math). Generally their outward appearance set them off from the rest of any group since they were never dressed quite like the rest of the groups.
The Outcasts
Generally someone who didn't dress like everyone else was dressing, and had a little fashion sense would easily fit into this group. This was the group with the most artistic inclinations, and tended to be the type of people who weren't real interested in going to a kegger. This group usually remained low key and could almost go unnoticed. Unlike the the nerds, this group didn't require academic performance to be of high standards. Usually though, members fell into the middle of the road academically though.
The Popular Group
This was generally the crowd that came from middle and upper class families and consisted of people who generally were well liked by most groups except those that they came in direct contact with. Generally they gravitated towards the jocks when it came to invites for parties, and some people were generally considered to be members of both groups. In California valley girls were also included in this subset, in the "Valley" of course. Outside of it, they were tolerated, though not always considered to be acceptable. Since nationally, the Valley Girl phenomenon lasted a short period, most imitators generally fell in line with the rest of the popular group.
Rapper
As rap music gained popularity, so did the parlance surrounding them. Mostly fans of rap music could be found talking like this. This is real unfortunate when it's a skinny white loser in a mall who thinks he's cool. Anybody who doesn't grow up in the 'hood shouldn't talk like this without risking looking like a poser.
Skater
Typically this is someone who actually skates. Emphasis is on the word "dude" which is used a lot like the word "like" is by valley girls. Slang is mostly skating related. Depending on the region of the country and their attention to clothing, they could be considered a subset of other groups as well.
Surfer
Typically this is someone who actually surfs. I've rarely seen imitators of this type. Mostly limited to California, received wide recognition when Sean Penn's character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was introduced. Slang is mostly surfing related, which dates to the sixties for the most part. Generally considered to be a subset of the loser group since their academic standing was sub-par due to excessive hanging time on the beach.
Valley Girl (a subset of the popular group)
Popularized by the Frank Zappa song of the same name with his daughter Moon Unit. Before this song, it was a regional dialect limited to the "Valley" in California. Afterwards however, teenagers across the country were unfortunately imitating (or at least attempting to). Watch the movie of the same title to get a good solid look at a "Val" in action. The pre-requisite to being fluent in Valley-speak, would be a lobotomy and Daddy's credit card. The word "like" is often repeated and has several different meanings depending on the context in which it is used.