Men wearing short shorts. Women with big hair and shoulder pads. Sappy songs like "I just called to say I love you" topping the charts. Boring movies like E.T being crucially acclaimed.
Everything about that decade is off.
No wonder bands like Smashing Pumpkins did so well in the 90s, people wanted something edgy and dark after a decade of fluff.
At the time, like most eras, it was not considered bad taste.
Trends and tastes change. I predict the bearded, man-bun sporting, lumberjack hipster, wearing dayglow yoga pants will be derided in the near future.
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Certainly not
share"Men wearing short shorts."
Shorts are supposed to be short, obviously. It's right there in the name. The baggy knee-length or lower "shorts" they wear these days are actually "gauchos" or "culottes" (for chicks). For the record, "long shorts" became popular in the early/mid 1980s, often with "Hawaiian shirt" type designs on them. People called them "jams." For example:
https://poshmark.com/listing/80s-Original-Jams-Vintage-Shorts-Halloween-Costume-59e61e0bf0137dad6404119c
"Women with big hair and shoulder pads."
Who cares? Any woman worth looking at looks best wearing nothing at all, and it has nothing to do with her hair.
"Sappy songs like "I just called to say I love you" topping the charts."
Crappy songs have topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart more often than not in every decade since at least the 1960s.
"Boring movies like E.T being crucially acclaimed."
What the hell does "crucially acclaimed" mean? In any case, E.T. wasn't very good, but there were plenty of awesome movies released in the '80s.
"No wonder bands like Smashing Pumpkins did so well in the 90s, people wanted something edgy and dark after a decade of fluff."
LOL at The Smashing Pumpkins, and LOL at '90s "grunge" / "alternative" music in general, and LOL at '90s (and '00s, and '10s, and '20s) "edgelord" kids.
Most people have bad taste, regardless of the decade, because most people are dumb, regardless of the decade. The average IQ is 100, which isn't particularly bright.
There have always been ridiculous fashion trends throughout history, and the 1980s was no exception. But for the most part these were harmless because they could be easily disposed of once people came to their senses. Hairstyles could grow out and be changed. The shoulder pads and harem pants could be sent to the thrift store.
Today's fads have crossed the line into destructive territory. People are doing permanent damage to their bodies by covering their arms and necks with trashy tattoos, wearing "plug" or "gauge" earrings that stretch the earlobes out of shape, having their noses pierced with rings like the kind that you would see on a pig, Botox injections and unneeded cosmetic surgery. This stuff can't be grown out or sent to the thrift store. People who make impulsive decisions to mar their bodies will be stuck with this for life.
Fads don't age well, and what these people thought was "cool" or edgy today is going to look pretty pathetic in a few years. People need to think about the future and the consequences.
There was so much great music in the 80s...so many different styles. I was listening to "Your Love" by The Outfield the other morning on the radio and it just hit me all over again what a great song that was ( and what a great band The Outfield was...RIP Tony Lewis and John Spinks).
I'm not much of a "fashion guru"...but when "Miami Vice" broke big, I just loved the fashion trends that show popularized. Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs just looked so sharp (and Saundra Santiago was such a pretty lady). I still love that show to this day.
I'm about as nostalgic and sentimental of a person as you'll meet. Not everything about the 80s was rosy...but I'd sure take it over what we have today. It was a great time to be alive.
There was much darker music in the 80's - Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees.
And I hear some really sappy songs on the radio now.
Any bad style you show from the 80's, there were plenty of us mocking it at the time and doing something way cooler.
"Joy Division, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees"
VERY few people were listening to those acts.
Now go wash off your mascara.
I was a minimalist skinhead punk. I never wore mascara. I only did that later when I started clubbing. 🤣
Sure, most idiots in the 80's listened to pap like Olivia Newton John and most idiots in the 90's listened to Mariah Carey just like most idiots now listen to Taylor Swift. The sheeplike nature of the masses never changes.
The point is, not everybody in the 80's were wearing the same style of clothes and listening to top 40.
The early half of the 1980s that was carried over from Neo-Punk and New Wave in the late 1970s were amazing, best embodied by Patrick Nagel paintings, which kind of peaked in '84. After that, the 1980s became cringy, bland and tasteless, because there was desperate attempt to bring back old-fashioned, conservative clothing but in a way that completely missed the mark (oversized clothing, bland blazers, etc.). In high school, every single time I got a top, the first thing I did was take a pair of scissors and cut out the shoulder pads. Those stupid things were in everything, and all the clothing was always several sizes too big or just wanted you in 10,000 layers of clothing.
You can really see the difference in how the 1980s went from cool to dullsville and awkward on the show, Three's Company. Earlier on, the "kids" were dressed kind of cool and stylish in the late 1970s and then by the time the show ended, dressed like people at an old folk's home.