I wasn't aware of the world outside of my own family until I was ten years old, even though I watched television as a kid. It didn't start to really affect me until then.
As a true child of the '80s, these weren't all the fads to be had out there, but these hit me personally on the deepest level:
Recording music off the radio
When I first discovered rock music in the 1980s, all I had was the radio. Fortunately, the radio came with the tape player/recorder. Putting two and two together, as so many others did, I embarked on my first obsession - bootlegging music.
I had to time it just right - the DJ would talk and talk and talk. Sometimes they would talk over the beginning of the song, and then the song was ruined and you had to rewind right back to that moment and start over. Sometimes you got lucky, and the radio identification jingle would play, and then the song would start right up, and you hit the button at just the right moment, and then voila! The song was yours.
I made about a million of these sorts of tapes, just like Star Lord's in Guardians of the Galaxy. Played them incessantly. They were always a grab bag of songs you really liked, and some you got tired of and just fast-forwarded over them. Being able to push a button and go straight to the beginning of a song, when CDs were invented, was a huge step forward.
You know what though? My biggest guilty secret is that, in my car, I still have a cassette tape player. I bought that car, just for the cassette tape player. And I still play and listen to those cassettes in that car.
Star Wars
A monster hit from the beginning, and a big, big deal in a nerdy home like mine. I wrote one of my first short stories when I was ten, and won a free movie ticket when I entered it in a local school contest. What did I spend it on?
The Empire Strikes Back, of course. The perfect movie for people with daddy issues.
My experience going to these three movies was like no other movie experience I've ever had. The audience was so invested in the story, it was electric. And even today the story continues.
Big hair
I tried. Heaven help me, but I tried. My big thick hair fell flat as a pancake. So I was left to wonder and wish that my hair would do that. I hadn't yet discovered hair salons or perms at that point.
My first perm was in middle school, that my mom did on me, the day before school pictures.
Yep, it was that bad. And immortalized forever.
Rainbow shirts
In the sixth grade, suddenly everyone on the bus wore these T-shirts and sweatshirts with a huge rainbow on them, that went sleeve to sleeve.
I wanted one so, so bad. No luck. Broke parents. I'd tried approaching my father for pretty, trendy clothes already, and got burned by the experience so badly, I wasn't about to ask again.
Might have to buy one now, just to bring me full circle someday.
Torn sweatshirts off the shoulder (Flashdance)
Never saw the movie, but everyone wore the shirt. I tore my own, and wore them at home, but I didn't dare go out in them. Mom woulda hadda fit!
Acid wash jeans and jackets
Any kind of jeans, but especially jeans with names on them, were popular when I was a kid. Jordache and Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, super tight. Tight enough to hug every curve, but not so tight as to make muffin top. I remember Brook Shields' jean commercial, where blue paint poured onto her naked legs, and right before the camera hit the censurable area, the paint turned to blue jeans.
That was my goal. That tight.
I still love jeans, but I don't care anymore whether or not my jeans have a name.
Acid wash jeans were even better than regular jeans. I had, not only acid wash jeans, but a long acid wash denim jacket I wore for a long time, until my mother started wearing it. She wore it when we went to the David Bowie concert. I think, after that point, it was hers.
He-Man
Lots of good shows in the 80s. He-Man was a regular one I watched. My siblings and I loved all that silly, campy fun of it. Had no idea about the gay overtones at the time. My 'gaydar' was still in development (and truly, hardly ever developed at all).
Jelly shoes
Loved them. Never had a pair, even though they were mega-cheap even back then. Might have to go and find some online and buy them now, even though I'm ages too old for them.
Valley Girls
The movie 'Valley Girl' came out in the 80s. Again, never saw it, but saw the ramifications of it all around me, especially from the song by Moon Unit Zappa.
Even played with some of the catch phrases, until I realized the constant repetition of the word 'like' was going to destroy the English language, and I backed off.
I can walk any day down the college campus where I work, and hear the continual fallout from this trend. Once I counted how many times I heard the word 'like' in passing conversations. Twenty times! In a single afternoon! (sigh)
Madonna
An extension of the Valley Girl craze that took on a life of its own. Again, since her style was so shabby chic, I could recreate it pretty well with Goodwill clothes, so I pretended at being her (in her first reincarnation) a large portion of my teens. Gave it up when she got gross about it.
Penny loafers
Loved the whole preppie thing - but couldn't afford it myself. The jackets with the crocodile on them, the sweaters draped over the shoulder with the sleeves rolled together in front, the rolled-up straight-leg jeans, and of course, the shiny penny loafers. If I had the choice, I would have dressed like this. Then my Lady Di nickname would have made more sense than it did, I guess.
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