VHS versus Betamax: The Great Format War of Our Time
By Brad Williams Picture yourself at your local video rental shop in 1984 – you know the one, in the local strip mall between the convenience store and the dry cleaners, drab grey carpet and rows of wire shelves filled with propped up cardboard boxes. You head for the new releases to grab something for the weekend and are shocked to see a copy of The Empire Strikes Back, sitting all alone. You instinctively reach for it but stop...
Remembering the Sony Walkman
By Thomas Zizzo I still remember that birthday in the summer of 1982, getting this new device that was all the rage at the time, and how excited my parents were to give it to me. It was a portable stereo cassette player—the infamous Sony Walkman. My Dad was very excited and impressed about the fact that it was stereo sound, and that no one else could hear it thanks to the headphones. I remember too that my parents almost didn’t buy me...
Note Passing in the Eighties
In the 80s, we didn’t have texts or emails to send to our friends during school. Puh-leeze. When our history teachers were droning away about the Battle of Hastings and our minds were focused on anything BUT William the Conqueror, we had just ONE way to let get our message across that expanse of linoleum flooring. We passed notes in class. Here’s the J. Geils Band with their 1981 megahit, “Centerfold,” to help you remember the drill:...
80s My Little Pony and Today’s Bronies
By Julie Anderson Eighties girls will totally remember My Little Ponies, those hugely popular plastic horse figurines. The first herd of candy-colored toy horses was created in 1981. My Pretty Ponies were significantly bigger than My Little Ponies and were nowhere near as popular. In 1983, Hasbro’s My Little Ponies hit the jackpot with the elementary-age girl crowd. They were perfectly sized for little hands and little purses. We...
The Plasma Ball
By Julie Anderson Also known as lightning balls, plasma globes, or plasma lamps, plasma balls were one of the coolest home accessories of the 80s. (And they’re still pretty bitchin’ in my book.) A plasma ball is a clear glass sphere filled with low density noble gases. Inside the ball is an electrode that causes the gases to glow in flowing streaks of colored light. When you touch the surface of the ball, lightning bolts run from the...
Television Workouts of the 80s
By Julie Anderson Sure, fitness clubs were big in the 1980s, but plenty of health-minded individuals were busy with work and family obligations. It was, like, totally difficult to make it to your high-impact step aerobics class if you were slaving away from 9 to 5 every day and then had to go home to feed the kids. For lots of eighties exercisers, living room workouts in front of the television were ideal. Added benefits, of course,...
Mary Lou Retton
By Julie Anderson Okay, eighties kids, close your eyes and picture Mary Lou Retton’s face. Go ahead. Do it. Photo credit: Newsweek Archivist I bet you a gazillion bucks that you pictured her with a big, enthusiastic smile, right? Mary Lou Retton was the embodiment of the happy, healthy, bouncy female athlete in the 80s. Totally. Mary Lou Retton just radiated sweetness and energy, didn’t she? Dude – she STILL does: Retton was born on...
Best-Looking Celebrity Babes of the 80s
By Julie Anderson The dudes had their day in the sun, and now it’s totally time to give the ladies the spotlight. Like Totally 80s Facebook friends and Twitter followers responded enthusiastically to our poll and helped us come up with this list of gorgeous 80s girls. Models, actresses, and singers make up our comely crew, so check it out: did YOUR choice for best-looking female of the eighties make our top ten list? Number Five: A...
Like Totally 80s TV Catchphrases Quiz
By Julie Anderson Watch a little television in the 80s, did you? Remember some of the choice catchphrases from your fave shows? TV in the eighties was, like, FULL of memorable phrases that worked their way into our cultural lexicon. Take our Like Totally 80s quiz to see just how much you remember from those bitchin’ 80s shows, and then click on the answers’ links to hear the phrases in action. 1. At the end of the animated show G.I....
Best-Looking Celebrity Dudes of the 80s
By Julie Anderson Who was the most swoon-worthy celebrity dude of the eighties? Like Totally 80s asked our Facebook friends and Twitter followers. You guys totally came up with a hot, handsome handful of 1980s stars. Some found fame through the movies, some through television, and some made music that melted our teenage hearts, but all of these boys were totally FINE. Number Five: A FIVE-WAY TIE!! Andrew McCarthy We loved him as...
Taking the Plunge
By Julie Anderson The NESTEA plunge, that is. The hugely successful Take the Plunge commercial campaign for Nestea began in the 70s, so our older siblings and cousins knew all about it. (Random trivia – from 1978-1980, Six Flags St. Louis’s Log Flume ride was called the Nestea Plunge!) However, we 80s kids sure loved it as well. Taking the Nestea plunge was a favorite pool and lake game when I was growing up. The commercial campaign’s...
Handclap Games of the Eighties
By Julie Anderson Brrrrrrrrinnnggg!!! You close your fuzzy-kitten Trapper Keeper and stow it under your desk. Your second grade class lines up and thunders outside for playtime. The boys head directly toward the sharp steel seesaws, tetherball, and merry-go-round, those wildly unsafe and now-defunct playground structures we adored. And sure, dizzying centrifugal force and strangulation hazards were exciting, but if you were a girl,...
8-Bit Art
By Tibs Many art movements have come and gone through the years, most of which have been intentional, reflecting messages of the times. However, one movement stands out, for me, above all others. This movement was, until recently, not a movement at all. Simply, it was a representation of the limitations of technology at the time. I am referring, of course, to 8-Bit. 8-Bit arguably became famous with the introduction of third...
Double Dutch Much?
By Julie Anderson Double Dutch jump roping was totally cool in the early eighties. The basic idea is pretty simple: it involves two turners who hold one jumprope in each hand and get them swinging in opposite directions. The jumper then hops in the middle of the two swinging ropes and jumps both. According to skill level, the jumper might do tricksy foot moves or feats of gymnastics while simultaneously dodging and hopping the ropes....
