Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Remember when you used to remember the '80s?

I have a huge wave of term papers breaking against my shore, so blogging will be light for the rest of the week.

In the meantime, here's some '80s nostalgia!



Fond Republican memories! Reagan ruled. All the pop stars looked like closet sisters (see above). The Woodstock Generation discovered greed. All the kids wanted to be Ivan Boesky. Jerry Rubin went Republican. Abbie Hoffman killed himself. AIDS was killing off the gays. Greed and piety rose up and kissed one another on all the TV evangelist shows. Liberals were as scarce as whooping cranes. The newly rich were buying just about anything out of the art market. The clothes! The hair! The blue martinis!  Jesse Helms!  Color me puce and teal!

I was in grad school living like a monk in libraries, and Michael was in high school getting beat up every week and changing his hair color every time Cindi Lauper changed hers.

Could it be that the '80s are finally over?

10 comments:

Leonard said...

Holy smokeola´s...I was far too busy to pay attention to Regan and those accessories to various crimes against humanity...I was designing handbags and we were HOT...showrooms in your New York, at 10 West 33rd, staying first for years at The Summit (Corprate) then graduated to The Morgan...wow, it was fun, I traveled the world, I mean, I TRAVELED the WORLD for my job and spent mucho time in Europe, Asia and Central/South America every year (8-10 months)...I almost burnt myself out in the 80´s (sober and clean) but it was a fabulous time for me, actually, it´s all been LARGER than life and colorful and filled with passion, fear and sometimes even hate and greed and LOVE...but, the coolest part is that I got sober in 1978 and missed nothing in the 80´s! I was doing my close up!

Counterlight said...

Good for you Leonardo.
I was in St. Louis most of the decade. The best thing I remember about the 80s was some great sex with a machinist, a postal worker, and a video store manager.

June Butler said...

Counterlight, no! Don't tell me that there are gay machinists, postal workers, and video store managers. Shocking. Just shocking.

Anonymous said...

I was busy w/ unrequited love, and NOT having sex.

Y'know, just like now.

>:-/

Counterlight said...

JCF,

There's someone for everyone in this world.
As our mothers told us, you just have to be patient.
As our mothers didn't tell us, you have to go where they are and put out the goods.

The most painful thing about love for me was not the loneliness it brought, but all the awful things I learned about myself. I never knew I could be such a callous vindictive ass until I fell in love. I never knew I could be such a cold-hearted player until I started looking for love. And the real miracle is that love came despite all that.

Mimi,
Not only that, but I knew gay construction workers, furniture makers, farmers, phone company linemen, electricians, and (hold your breath) hairdressers in the 1980s. For some reason, the gay crowd that I knew in St. Louis was very blue collar.

Counterlight said...

So if not particularly lovable me could get smacked in the head with love (later rather than sooner in my case), then it should be a piece-o'-cake for lovable JCF.

Davis said...

I'd forgotten - oh my!

Anonymous said...

Oh, caring, faithful, encouraging Doug:

WHERE IS SHE????

:::bangs head on desk:::

[And/or, in the case of the now seemingly-disinterested Object of My Infatuation, why won't she call/email me back? And here I thought I had the prospect of an actual .... wait for it.... date. But no. :-( ]

David G. said...

Rick Astley,
another success story from the producers Stock, Aitken, and Waterman.

Counterlight said...

As I watch this Rick Astley video, I finally understand why Grunge happened.