80s Holiday Gift Guide
Hey 80s lovers, do you know it’s Christmas time at all? We do! Once again we’ve rounded up some of the some of the most totally awesome gift ideas for the 80s fanatic in your life. Pac Man Heat Change Mug Let’s kick this off with a gift item featuring a classic character that any 80s fan would be glad to get! This cool mug features the Pac Man video game screen where the star of the show, Pac Man, reveals himself once your hot...
The Mask Makes It — Halloween Costumes of the 1980s
There was so much to love about Halloween in the 80s. The horror movies, the free range trick-or-treating, the candy (I’m looking at you, Mr. Bones), mild fears about razor blades in apples (never happened), and the costumes. The costumes were the best of all. When I think back to one of my favorite Halloween costumes of my childhood it wasn’t the homemade costumes that my grandmother spent hours painstakingly putting together for me....
Stairway to Heaven and the Last Dance Desperation
Donna Summers may have sung about the “last dance, the last chance for love,” but personally, the soundtrack to all of my “last chances” in the 1980s involved not the Queen of Disco but the moody strings of Led Zeppelin. For me, Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” was an essential song of the 80s — which may seem weird, since “Stairway” is definitely not an 80s song, and in fact, is barely even a 70s song. (It was released in 1971.)...
Q&A with with Susannah Gora, Author of “You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation”
If you love the 1980s — and if you found your way to this website, you probably do — you MUST read Susannah Gora’s 2010 book, You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation. Gora was first inspired to write the book when she was a sophomore at Duke University. She says she was sitting in her dorm room with her friends, watching one of the John Hughes films...
Q&A with Dave Kinzer, Author of “The 80s Music Compendium”
I just had the pleasure of reading the new book by Dave Kinzer, “The 80s Music Compendium” that released in paperback this week (Sept 13). Dave Kinzer, a music teacher, sought to find new ways to teach music structure and theory to students in a way that would hold their interest longer than say Bach. As an avid fan of 80s music, he turned to the treasure trove that is the catalog of Hot 100 hit songs from the 80s. He...
6 Toys Teens of the 80s had in the 70s
Before we were teenagers in the 80s, before Aquanet, MTV, new Coke, and bomber jackets took over our lives, we were babies and little kids in the 70s. My memories of the 70s are a little blurry, mostly triggered by FM radio songs and my early school pics (polyester leisure suit, anyone?), but one thing that takes me straight back are the toys. Let’s take a trip back a little further than we usually do on Like Totally 80s to the time...
Freedom Rock
Television shows of the late 70s/early 80s were slightly obsessed with the past. Think Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley. These were shows we could all watch together as a family about sock-hops, make-out points, and water skiing over sharks – stuff everybody did back then, right? That nostalgic obsession extended to our everyday culture in the 80s as well. I remember 50s dress up day in school (poodle skirts!) and the return of the...
Happy Birthday, John Stamos!
There are a handful of ‘80s celebrities who look just as good today, maybe even better, as they did back in the day. Think Rob Lowe, Robert Downey Jr., or maybe this guy, who happens to be celebrating his 52nd birthday today (August 19): John Stamos. 52 never looked so good. It’s hard to do a then-and-now piece on this guy because John Stamos never went off the radar (and for that I am pretty grateful.) He’s of course best known as...
We Got the Beat – Teen Beat and Tiger Beat Magazines
I’ve always been big on magazines. I love lip gloss magazines like Glamour and Cosmo, magazines with photos of beautiful food I will never make or eat like Gourmet and Food & Wine, and magazines that keep me up to date on all the important news of the day like US Weekly or In Touch (don’t judge: they pass the time nicely while getting my hair done.) As a teenager, I loved my Sassy and Seventeen magazines, of course. But as a...
Return of the Original – Original New York Seltzer
There were so many 80s beverages that made an impression on my young life – think about how many metal cans of Hi-C’s neon green Ecto Cooler you put in your body. Or the novelty Crystal Pepsi (IT’S CLEAR!) and the betrayal that was New Coke. But there was one fizzy 80s drink that kind of defined the 80s. It was not your average soda. It was cool, refreshing, and came in a little glass bottle. And, I was so excited to hear that it is...
Q*bert Fever!
When I was younger there were a few choice video games that I was drawn to when I hit the movie theatre, pizza parlor or especially, the arcade. Sure I loved Donkey Kong, Asteroids and what seemed to be every girl’s game of choice – Centipede. But there was another little character just as important in my life as everyone’s favorite, the star of the show, Pac Man. He was little, orange and had a little weird snout. He was an excellent...
The July 4th Bike Parade
I guess it is the nature of traditions that they stay around and get replayed year after year, but it is still comforting to realize all over again that something that meant something to you as a kid hasn’t gone completely away. The 35 years that have passed since the start of the 80s have seen truly phenomenal change, particularly in the areas of technology and its impact on our overall culture. With all that change, it gives me an...
Remembering The Far Side
I always loved reading the Sunday comics; it was a little ritual every week: my dad pulled out the sports section, mom clipped coupons, and I lay on the couch reading the comic section. Sure, I loved Garfield, For Better or For Worse, Blondie, and Bloom County was cool. Cathy bugged me even back then with all of her bad dates, self-obsessing and “ACK’s!” But the comic that I really liked, the one that always made me laugh out loud was...
The Sweet Smell of Youth — Love’s Baby Soft
Before the days of Colors by benetton, before Liz Claiborne, and waaay before the very mature, very overpowering Obsession obsession, pre-teen girls of the 80s everywhere were spritzing this on their wrists and behind their ears: Love’s Baby Soft was the “it” fragrance to have sitting atop your dresser – it smelled (and still smells) like . . . well . . . youth. The powdery and pretty scent came in a rounded pink bottle with a big...
We Got the Colgate Pump!
Are you ready for your mid-week 80s earworm? No, it’s not a song that spent ten weeks at number one on American Top 40 or the theme song to The Facts of Life. It’s a commercial you probably thought you’d forgotten (watch below). But now that you hear it, you totally didn’t forget it – am I right?!? I came across this little nugget around two weeks back and it’s still going through my head on a loop. While it didn’t chart in the...
