What's with the 'Eighties' everywhere in SL?

The fitness craze basically started in the 80's

Olivia Newton John "Lets get Physical" video

Jane Fonda's 20 minute work out.

Health Clubs becoming a place where both men and women went to excersise all took off in the 80's

Perhaps for women, but not much that I can see for men. The only thing I've really noticed are some retro sneaker styles being available. Men's hairstyles these days are far more varied, so I don't think one could say specifically that 80s hair is in fashion for men.

the thing about fashion is no decade can claim it as it is regurgitated every 20 years or so. look how fashionable empire gowns became. bell bottoms made a comeback(shudders), as did swing fashions and the like. my mother never threw or gave her clothes away because and i'm quoting her: why? it will only be back in fashion in 10 years. and yes i have raided my mom's closet for clothes, and she was right. her pencil skirts and blouses were cool, even in the 80s.

to Kidd Krasner:
my older brother used to raid my dad's closet for his suits, and was declared best dressed in his HS. can you say Ducky?

Robert Smith..... *swoon*

There was a lot of indie stuff out there in the 80s that compensated for the Stock Aitken and Waterman. The Cure, The Smiths, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy, a little electronica from OMD.

I <3 the 80s!!

I'll pass on my High School years tho.

The 70s was ok (ugly but ok)


Signed.... A late 30s Resident

Um, no. "Ducky" doesn't ring any 80s bells with me, nor does it seem to be reinvented recently. Its usages as "fine" (Isn't that just ducky?) or "dearie" don't seem to be what you mean, and are much older. So what do you mean?

As for your brother, if he was wearing suits while the rest of the boys were in baggies and t-shirts, then sure he'd be the best dressed. If not, then what was it? Was it the pleated pants? Or simply that they fit right? I'm not sure what else would be distinctive about 80s men's suits that could be considered a revival now. Then again, I wasn't wearing suits much back then and certainly wasn't paying attention to suit styles.

Now if 80s era swim suits for men were coming back into style, I'd be ecstatic.

It's a film reference

colour!
in the 80s guys were allowed to wear colours outside of grey and navy.

Big toys/cartoons of the 80's:

Smurfs, My Little Pony (I still have all of mine!), Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, Tranzor-Z, GI Joe, He-Man (She-Ra is lumped with), Voltron, Thundercats, Shirt Tales, Care bears, Transformers, Centurions, Super Mario, Silver Hawks, and goodness knows how much more.

Of these, My Little Pony, He-man, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Transformers and very briefly Rainbow Brite have been recycled into the 'modern' versions. Waiiittt.. they never stopped recycling with Transformers.. just exported it Japan and brought it back repeatedly!

As I walk down the toy isle with my niece and son, I am forcibly reminded that I am old. My Little Pony hit 25 years old, same with the Care Bears, so anniversary versions were released. For the MLP, it was the original six ponies.. and I'd kill someone to have them.. although I do have some of the original release.

So, fashion alone isn't the only thing being recycled. When the toy/TV industries can't come up with anything original, they throw into the old favorites.

when was the last time they released an original movie? they are either remakes, adaptations of tv/comics, or rehashed scripts.

Technically, Transformers were imported from Japan, sent through an American blender, recycled, recycled again, spit back at Japan and recycled a few more times, then sent back to America yet again in movie form.

I worked at Toys R Us during the 1984 holiday season, and I had to field repeated calls from desperate parents who wanted to know if more Transformers had come in. Even worse, there were the ones who were there every day before opening, watching the place like buzzards, waiting to swoop into the store when the doors were unlocked. Luckily, no lives were lost that year in customer on customer violence.

I say three words that makes parents from the 80's shudder with the 'crawl in the dark and shudder repeatedly' level of fear... Cabbage Patch Kids. The rush for those must have set the future of all major toys.. For those too young to remember properly, Cabbage Patch Kids were the Tickle Me Elmos of the 80's.. except they didn't require batteries and came with a neat adoption certificates. I have exactly 3.

During that year I worked at Toys R Us, Cabbage Patch Kids were the OTHER must have toy. They were even more difficult to stock than Transformers. I started working there the Monday after Thanksgiving. Near the entrance, there was a sign which was used to track the backlog of rainchecks for Cabbage Patch Kids. On my first day, they were up to the middle of March.

We also stocked a knockoff item called Pumpkin Patch Kids, which resembled Cabbage Patch Kids. As expected, these things sat on the shelf. I guess the parents bought them, and destroyed the boxes so the kids wouldn't know that they were getting bastard toys.

That only worked so long as the kid wasn't smart enough to read the rump. That stupid signature was a dead give-away, which is what the CPK's makers wanted!

My parents wouldn't buy me the toys I really wanted.. Transformers, GI Joe, Voltron and Thundercats... Oh, well, my male friends had them and didn't mind occasionally playing My Little Pony in exchange. All was happy in my neighborhoods. Which, come to think of it, may have been what my parents had in mind...

And the 80's also gave birth to over scheduling children's lives... Or I should say, made matters worse. Soccer moms and SUV's. I am proud to say that I was free-range child!

I listen to Beethoven, does that make me 200+ years old? I like a LOT of the current Music, But that doesn't make me 17 either. There was a Lot of good music in the 80's and people like it, Same with the 50's, 60's, and (Tiny parts of) the 70's.

I don't think Style of Music indicates anything more than Taste in Music.

Angel.

Ducky was a character from 16 Candles....an 80s movie.. He dressed mainly from the 50's, rockabilly style with touches of the 30's. and by suits i should have said he would borrow pieces from them, jacket, tie, vest, pants.... sometimes he wore the whole suit. and noooooo unless they were those baggy surfer type shorts, i liked those ! but lord,if You meant speedos...X(
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summin up the 80's, movie quote style:

The Breakfast Club
Teacher- "What was that ruckus?" Brian- "What ruckus?" Teacher- "I heard a ruckus." Brian- "Can you describe this ruckus?"

"now your not foolish enough to think were livin' in a democracy now do ya buddy?" - Gordon Gekko-Wall Street

"Would you like to play a game?'-WOPR- WarGames

Thornton Mellon: What's your favorite subject?
Bubbles: Poetry
Thornton Mellon: Well maybe you can help me straighten out my Longfellow.-Rodney Dangerfield-Back To School

and my personal fave:

"Ah well, I attended Juliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard Busines School. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and I had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the Exorcist 67 times and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it. Not to mention the fact that you're talking to a dead guy!" Micheal Keaton- Beetlejuice

/me puts on my leg warmers, off the shoulder sweat shirt, and spandex pants teases my hair high, and throws on my LA Gears...

The 80's theme is definitely heavy in SL and I hate it. I respect others for enjoying a virtual 80's life - but it's not for me. I had enough of the 80's in the 80's. I'm from the class of 89', so I certainly experienced the RL 80's, but consider my tastes more late 90's early 00's - and try to live my virtual life accordingly...

Word Up! Colette

We've played the same 80s stream at the Shelter for the past 3 years.

The reason we selected it has less to do with any particular preference for 80s music - but rather that we were attempting to be cross-generational.

80s music is one of those genre's that isn't a complete turnoff to the largest segment of people. While I prefer trance & trip-hop myself, we seem to alienate fewer people by playing 80s music.

For the record, I graduated HS in 1989. Back then, I listened to Ratt, Motley Crue & Def Leppard

"...There was U2..."

There still IS U2, going strong in both RL and SL .
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I believe the pick in the music and cinematography was 60s, 70s and early 80s. There's a lot of kitschy stuff and significant decline in 80s (together with some very cool stuff). Nowadays I see lots of new talented artists, it's just that the music/movie industry has become literally an "industry" and it's very difficult for anybody to break through without compromising their uniqueness. Hopefully the evolution of the Internet will change this, the crisis in the music industry proves that, MTV should take a note .

I was an 80s metal chick...big hair (even by the standards of the day), serious eyeliner, and a lot of black clothing. I did not listen to pop music. I ABHORED 80s pop music. I was all about Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Death Angel, Suicidal Tendencies, and so on. I wished death upon all hair bands with their cheesey faux-metal. Hardcore, in other words.

Still, I find that I have a weird nostalgic affection for 80s music in general now. I still think a lot of it is crap, but I find myself enjoying it nonetheless. I suspect that's because, although I didn't voluntarily listen to most of the mainstream stuff then, it was almost always playing in the background, like the soundtrack to my teenage years.

I thought most 80s fashion sucked, even then, but I loved all those Brat Pack movies...don't tell the other metalheads.

LOL Annie. Yeah, we would have hated each other. I admit it, I was an 80's Pop Queen. Debbie Gibson was my idol..... I still have my big sweaters and stirrup pants tucked away in the closet.

Heh I was more into the Brit-pop new wave type of 80s music -- Duran Duran, The Cure, Adam Ant, The Smiths, this kind of thing. Some friends dragged me to an Iron Maiden concert at San Jose State when I was in college in the late 1980s and although it was interesting I didn't really relate to that subculture much.

Kinda funny to share...

I remember being 17, and reflecting on my parents hating the music I listened to. I couldn't believe they could be so closeminded, and not appreciate how good of music it was.

I tried to concieve (in 198 what possible sort of music my kids could listen to that would make me cringe. Nothing at all came to mind - except one. But that was a longshot - and there was no way it was going to really become mainstream anyway.

That something was rap