Reasons Why the 80's Are Golden

1) The Music

Cast aside the fact that I’m in love with five horribly manufactured idiots who go by the name of One Direction, I pretty much shy away from a lot of top 40 music. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good pop song! Who wants to sing to James Blunt or any other melancholy singer out there in the shower? Not me! I want to wake up feeling like P-Diddy. I want to wear animal print pants on patrol. And chains and whips definitely excite me (just kidding, Mum if you’re reading this – Rihanna said it not me!). Overall, I listen to a lot of old music and prefer it alot more!

The 80’s had great music whether that be from movie soundtracks (Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club) to power ballads from the yodelling legends such as Bonnie Tyler. Back in the 80’s, girl power was evident with bands like Bananarama and The Bangles on the go (thank god for Haim in the present day, we are severely lacking girl bands who play instruments out there). Everyone was a crazy, fluffy haired guitar player and I love youtubing old performances from people like ACDC schooling 2013 bands about what real rock really is. God bless 80’s music, it may be cheesy in places and sound like old school polyphonic ringtones sometimes but I can’t think of anything better!


2) The Movies

If you don’t count the 80’s as a legendary period for film, you need to get your life reevaluated. Chick flicks were far from predictable – I’m still not over Ducky getting rejected in Pretty in Pink! Jake Ryan was a popular jock with a soul in Sixteen Candles, Christian Slater was a loveable psycho in Heathers and Patrick Swayze managed to pull off the almighty task of wearing spandex. The characters weren’t one dimensional like you get in a lot of soppy love stories these days and I never knew what to expect when I first watched 80's films.





We also had lots of coming-of-age films back then that 2013 is severely lacking; loveable prankster Ferris Bueller, the gang from The Breakfast Club that we all wanted to share a shift in detention with and even Tom Cruise pulled off running a prostitution ring in Risky Business (whilst only dressed in a white shirt and boxers for parts of the film, 5 skill points awarded to you Tom).

People will always remember John Cusack with a boombox in Say Anything, George McFly’s laugh in Back to the Future and E.T making red hoodies fashionable.


3) The Saved By the Bell Gang

I want to be friends with the characters from Saved by the Bell – namely one Zack Morris. I recently got back into watching it from the beginning (thank god for Youtube) and fell in love with him all over again. Zack Morris made wear oversized stripy tshirts and highlights on boys cool – he even managed to pull off ditching Kelly for a nurse that one time (but we won’t talk about that, bad Zack).

On the note of Kelly Kapowski, she is still up there with t.v show females I want to look like! The clothes, the hair and the winning smile - can we just be her for a day?! Also, let’s be honest, we all wish we could be suspended from Zack’s ceiling in a cardboard cutout form – the highest honour!





It’s a shame the series didn’t last longer and faded out towards the end because there hasn’t been a memorable group of friends like that since FRIENDS! Even with the episode inconsistences, Saved by the Bell is still one of the best shows ever to grace our television screens. I will remain a loyal fan forever, now let’s all do the 'Sprain' !


4)  The Style

If you go into Topshop right now, you’ll see that 80’s style has returned. Bright colours, croptops and backpacks are all back in style not to mention the fact that a lot of guy out there are sporting snapbacks and dressing like they should be an extra on Fresh Prince.




In the 80’s, there was a lot of self expression whether that be from your make-up to your overly crimped hair. Denim jackets and bright colours can suit anyone, that’s the beauty of it! Clothes seemed a lot more fun and stylish back then - even you, MC Hammer!

So here I am, hoping that this trend stays around for some time (even if we can't recreate the full glory of the 80's) let's just try to take some elements from it anyway. After all, you can't beat a bit of double denim and singing along to Journey classics on the bus!

- Steph