Child of the 80s

It's the dawning of a new era, as our blog project group has changed by one member. As a result, we are starting Blog Project 3.0. The newest member is goodvibrations44, a friend of Moma Rock's, who seems really nice and easygoing. I look forward to reading what she has to say.

This week, I chose the topic: The 80s

Before reading ahead, first see what everyone else had to say on this topic:
Froggie
Goodvibrations44
Moma Rock

I was partially inspired by some posts from Buzzfeed and partially by thinking about why the 80s was such an iconic decade. No one does memes about the 60s or 70s and the 90s are starting to come into play more now that kids from the early half of that decade are becoming adults and wanting to reminisce.

Before I go on, here are the Buzzfeed posts, in case you wanted to get all nostalgic with me:
53 Things Only 80s Girls Can Understand
50 Things Only 80s Kids Can Understand

Instead of writing some long-winded post about everything 80s (trust me, I could go on all day), I am going to share some top five lists. These are written from the perspective of my personality in the 80s, even though I still like most of these things now.

Top Five Favorite 80s TV Shows
1. Full House (Still my favorite. See a post I wrote about it a while back.)
2. Degrassi High (See my tribute.)
3. Punky Brewster (It's cheesy to watch as an adult though...)
4. Family Ties (I could watch Michael J. Fox recite the alphabet over and over and be fine with it.)
5. Rags to Riches (Short lived, but adorable musical TV show.)

Top Five Favorite 80s Movies
1. Sing (I can't watch this movie without a huge grin on my face the entire time. BTW, the description on IMDB is hilarious! Here are my reasons for loving this movie.)
2. Dirty Dancing (Aside from the fact that I look like Jennifer Grey when she was in that movie, it's just such a great film and I can't get enough of it. I used to have such a crush on Patrick Swayze too.)
3. Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Similar premise to Dirty Dancing, taking place in modern day Chicago, but this one came first and it features the ever-so-sexy Lee Montgomery.)
4. Back to the Future (Check out my tribute. I was telling my older son about it this week and I think he's interested in seeing it.)
5. Moving Violations (This post says it all. HILARIOUS! I wish the movies that came out now would learn a thing or two from MV.)

I was going to put The Princess Bride on the list but I didn't like it the first time I saw it and only started to appreciate it when I got to college.

Fun trivia, the hypochondriac in Moving Violations played Marty's sister in Back to the Future.


Top Five Favorite 80s Singers/Bands
1. Madonna (I was obsessed!)
2. Michael Jackson (The first concert I ever went to was for his Thriller tour. Here's more about my MJ history.)
3. New Kids on the Block (I got to meet Joey McIntyre when I was an adult. He was my favorite New Kid. See pic below.)
4. Tiffany (I used to sit on the balcony of our timeshare in Florida and listen to her music while people watching on the beach. It was cool to see her cameo appearance on How I Met Your Mother....the episode with "Sandcastles in the Sand.")
5. Whitney Houston (I got to see her in concert the summer before fifth grade. I also made my Barbies have weddings to her music. How odd that they'd walk down the aisle to "Saving All My Love For You," now that I know it's about an affair. Oops!)

How sad that two people on this list have since passed away.

Left to right: Me, Joey, my sister

Top Five Favorite 80s Songs
1. "Material Girl," Madonna (I made a project in third grade and did a theme song for it parodying this song. That's all I need to say.)
2. "Let's Hear it for the Boy," Deniece Williams (Cute song. Cuter video. Now it makes me think of "Let's Go to the Mall.")
3. "Something About You," Level 42 (I just liked the way it sounded. It has such an 80s feel that carries over even to the present day.)
4. "(I've Had) The Time of My Life," Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (Because I picture Patrick Swayze wrinkling his nose toward the end...but really, such a good song!)
5. "The Power of Love," Huey Lewis and the News (It will always remind me of Back to the Future.)

Top 5 Favorite 80s Toys
1. Care Bears (I think they still look the same, but it's like more were created so they could do variations on the color purple and lollipops.)
2. Cabbage Patch Kids (Remember the Koosas?!?)
3. Strawberry Shortcake (Back when fashion wasn't such a concern.)
4. Charmkins (toys and jewelry at the same time!)
5. Nintendo (the original version)

I also loved playing with Barbies but those came out long before the 80s.

I was going to talk about books but most of the books I read in the 80s ranged from child to adolescent-themed. I went through a "Berenstain Bears" phase when I was a kid and loved "Amelia Bedelia," as well. When I was in elementary school, I devoured Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume books. Some favorites were Ellen Tebbits and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Cleary) as well as Deenie, Blubber and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (Blume). Then came "Sweet Valley High" and "The Babysitter's Club." Around the same time, I became addicted to Sunfire Romance novels. I rounded off the 80s with V.C. Andrews' novels. Her stories saved my sanity in junior high and I became addicted from that point on.

I'd love to hear your favorites from the 80s!