Defining a Decade
I’m not going to lie, I love ruining people’s fun, so here are a few things that made the ’80s not so awesome.
THE SATANIC PANIC
I mentioned this one in my last pick, but to elaborate, this was a widespread paranoia, mostly in the US but it spread to other countries including SA, that occult groups were abducting and murdering people and that all kinds of “demonic” influences were out to brainwash kids, including TV shows, toys and videogames. It all turned out to be rubbish, but I experienced it personally. My school was conservative and as a young nerd I’d get all kinds of hassle from other students and even the occasional teacher about my fantasy books, toys and computer games. On the plus side, the bullies were dumb enough to be scared of this stuff, so they left me alone.
THE VIDEOGAME CRASH OF ’83 Many people still erroneously blame videogame manufacturer Atari and specifically one game, E.T. The Extraterrestrial, for the Atari 2600, for the crash that nearly ended the global videogame market. In reality it was just one straw that broke the camel’s back alongside a saturated market of dodgy games machines with no quality control leading to consumer alienation. Still, out of the ashes rose Nintendo and eventually Sega, so it turned out alright.
MULLETS
Okay, this hairstyle has existed since ancient times and possibly even in pre-history for all we know, but the ’80s were the high point of the mullet’s popularity and a prime example of the bad taste of the era. COMPUTERS
I was one of only two kids in my school of 700 pupils who had a computer at home in the ’80s. As the decade dragged on it became more common. I often had to help out many of my friends’ parents in setting things up when multimedia and the internet came in — and that’s the point: ’80s PCs, a necessary step on the path to modern consumer technology, were clunky and cryptic and prone to failure.
SMOKING ANYWHERE
This could be good or bad depending on your views, but I remember a time when people walked around shopping centres smoking and could light up in restaurants. Hell, even the cashiers might have fags dangling out of their mouth. I remember some arcade machines had ash trays built in. Oh yes, those times existed. LS