The 80s, myth and reality?

[Zombie_61]

When did MTV cease to be a thing? I remember always having MTV on when I was getting ready for work or classes. Then one day people stopped talking about MTV and it disappeared from our radar.

Couldn't have ended fast enough. To me MTV was the television equivalent of the "Top 40" broadcast on the FM radio stations on Sunday mornings; garbage music made for the masses that had zero appeal for me. Then MTV became soap opera shows for the truly dumb masses, and by then they had already lost me. At this moment I couldn't tell you if MTV was living or dead, and I don't really care either way.

 

[Trenchfriend]

The Buggles were wrong. Good old Radio wasn't killed by commercial tv. Producing radio programm is so much cheaper than the tv crap.
Our german MTV equivalent VIVA failed very soon and DSL internet came also up.

 

[Turnip]

The 80s will end soon in Europe.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Couldn't have ended fast enough. To me MTV was the television equivalent of the "Top 40" broadcast on the FM radio stations on Sunday mornings; garbage music made for the masses that had zero appeal for me. Then MTV became soap opera shows for the truly dumb masses, and by then they had already lost me. At this moment I couldn't tell you if MTV was living or dead, and I don't really care either way.

My theory of cable evolution postulates that all cable channels/streaming services, all other things being equal, will inevitably and inexorably, become identical. All those niche channels from the first big cable boom of the '80s have evolved to dispense the same type of lowest-common-denominator slop. All those news channels that popped up in the 90s now dispense identical shrieking swill, differingly only slightly in the amount of peroxide applied to the heads of the hosts. And is there any real difference in the various streaming services that pop up like worms on the sidewalk after a summer rain and end up the same way?

 

[Trenchfriend]

And the funny thing is, that our german free-tv channels went downhill long before Youtube era, because advertizing market simply went downhill after 1995.

I guess, that directly correlated with spreading internet-connection after privatization of our German Federal Post in 1995.

 

[Flyhalf Keith]

One thing I can say positive about Music in the 80s is it gave us, for an all too brief time, The Smiths.

 

[Zombie_61]

My theory of cable evolution postulates that all cable channels/streaming services, all other things being equal, will inevitably and inexorably, become identical. All those niche channels from the first big cable boom of the '80s have evolved to dispense the same type of lowest-common-denominator slop. All those news channels that popped up in the 90s now dispense identical shrieking swill, differing only slightly in the amount of peroxide applied to the heads of the hosts. And is there any real difference in the various streaming services that pop up like worms on the sidewalk after a summer rain and end up the same way?

This has, for the most part, happened in the Los Angeles County/Orange County areas of southern California during the last 10 or so years. Before that, you could tell which station you were listening to simply by tuning in because of the songs/bands they played. Lately, I don't even recognize the names of most of the bands, and all of the music sounds too similar to necessitate a determination between bands and I just don't care. Yes, apparently I got old while I was at home trying to take care of my late wife, but my statement still stands--I just don't care about these "new" bands because they all sound alike.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Imagine living in the 80s, but one century before...

K.M.H = Königin-Marien-Hütte, Cainsdorf/Zwickau

FK & Co. = Falkenroth, Kocher & Co., Haspe/Hagen

 

[Turnip]

Yes, that would have been great. An average life expectancy of 35 years, no social insurance, no labor protection laws, children working in coal mines and mills of all imaginable branches, disabled persons starving in nursing asylums…good old times…

 

[Jon Crow]

The 80s was over the top. Hairstyles epitomized this. Lots of teased hair, "high" hair that had to be nearly shellacked with hair spray to stay in place. I crimped my hair a lot (the crimper tool gained popularity then). Neon colors were in. Parachute pants. Hair bands where the guys wore more makeup and used more hairspray than most women. The mullet hairstyle for men was in - and my, was it ever ugly.

It was an era of excess, of drug use and the ultra rich. I've never thought about it before, but as Lizzie said, it was a lot like the 1920s. Oh, and let's not forget the Cold War! Until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, Russia was THE ENEMY. And the movies really hammered it home. Rocky 4 where Rocky goes to big bad Russia to fight Dolph Lundgren who was hopped up on steroids; Red Dawn where the Russians attacked America and a group of high school teens became a resistance group.

All that being said, I'd take the 80s over the 70s any day. I was born in '75 and I look at the culture of the 70s and am glad I escaped the majority of it. I don't like the music or the movies or the fashion of the '70s at all. It depresses me.

The Netflix show Stranger Things is set in the '80s and it gets everything right.

I was born 1967 so believe me I remember the 70s haha those horrible high waist flared pants and star jumpers brrr the the 80s happened, I'd prefer that to 70s