1980 is almost 40 years old.

So do I, to be honest. It doesn't even seem all that long ago that the '70s were only 30-something years ago and it was receiving just as much nostalgia as the '80s. Nowadays, however, there doesn't seem to be any nostalgia in the media for any pre-1980 year, which is a shame. It's as if 1980 has become the dividing point between "vintage" and "retro". 


Yeah, I can see how that would have been the case, as that's how the '90s personally feel to me in that regard. It actually wouldn't surprise me if most people who were born in the Early-Mid '90s are able to identify with the '80s in some way. Like you pointed out, residual trends from past decades can remain years after they have become irrelevant, so it's not definitely out of the question.

It would be interesting to know what the cut-off point would be for someone to have had a similar experience as to what you had with experiencing the remnants of '80s culture at a young age? Obviously anyone of any age could technically have recollections of listening to '80s music (or just pop culture in general) at a young age if their parents exposed them to it, but there would have been a point in time in which all of the furniture, clothing and '80s aesthetics would have been phased out for good. If I were to guess, I would say that the cutoff point would probably be with 1995 borns. By the time people born in 1996 would have been old enough to form conscious memories (which likely would have been around 1998/1999), '80s visuals and trends wouldn't have been as prominent in day-to-day life.

As for myself personally, because I was born in 1999 and experienced my earliest memories during the Early '00s (by which point, any residual '80s visuals/fads were well and truly gone), I personally don't have any sense of attachment to '80s visuals or items. At a stretch, I can somewhat connect with the decade from an abstract perspective. The '80s were also the last full decade before I was born and while it's strange to think of this, I was actually born closer to the '80s than I was to the 2010s. Those two key points make the '80s seem fairly identifiable for me from a distant point of view, but not to the extent where I can form any sort of personal attachment to them. 

I completely agree. Although, I personally feel as though the 1980s were in fact the first decade in which there was an increased focus on reflecting on the past and making a conscious effort to reclaim aspects of it, rather than the 1950s. I think the social conservatism that defined the '50s was more a product of the times rather than in the form of a desire to reclaim elements of previous decades. Liberalism was hugely influential during the 1920s, while the trajectory of the '30s and '40s were impacted more by the ramifications of the Great Depression and the Second World War. All three decades contrast pretty significantly to the social and political world of the 1950s. 

Back in Black is 40 years ago. John Lennon was assassinated 40 years ago. Mind blown.

The more shocking thing to me is that 1970 is 50 years ago and 1960 is 60 years ago

Shark, I am dreading my forthcoming birthday enough without this, thank you very much!

Next year, I will have been a fan of my avatar for 40 years.

Ahh generational leftovers, so culturally important, yet so ignored. You're probably right on the money with mid 90's borns being the last to have experienced 80's lite, but it's still going to be highly subjective. I mean, I'm a huge nerd who actually remembers stores getting renovated when they were four. Others my age or older even may not consider this much at all, unless they were to study what's going on in the background of their baby photos. A big factor here is going to be geography. On average, rural areas are slower to change. I can think of a few commercial spaces that still look 80's compared to their more urban counterparts. Eventually though, they will fade into novelty regardless, kind of like that floral orange couch from the 70's that still remains in the living room of an older relative to everybody. A quite interesting turn however I must note: Fifteen-year-old decor does not look bad anymore. It would actually seem pretty laughable today to say, "That's so 2004, we need to gut it!" I haven't really thought much of what 00's lite is.


For me much of the regression that occurred in the 50's was surrounding women, as well as minorities. Yes women working and doing traditionally male jobs had been related to a labor shortage, but even fashion was affected. The "New Look" by Dior meant for a return to a more feminine silhouette, symbolizing women being expected to re-adopt those virtues. As if progress had been exchanged for perfection. The public in general was now expected to sit back and play fat, dumb and happy. While the excessive commercialism now iconic to the decade ended up shaping the years to come, it at the time communicated simple pleasures. "Hey let's forget about war," even if it's through buying stuff, like a new television set to watch "Andy Griffith" on. There was already nostalgia for a supposed happier time.

Despite the specific image we draw of the 50's today, it was still highly influential. Teenagers, television, rock n'roll. And the mores that pushed a society to its breaking point, such as what lead to the Civil Rights movement. This kind of thinking, this kind of culture, was new to the decade. Elvis may be the first popular artist whose music is palatable to the average modern listener. The 50's is the dawn of the contemporary culture as it is commonly studied today. Ironically, it also happens to have a very different look and attitude to what immediately followed. And this is where I draw to the 80's. They retain somewhat of a distinct, goofy feel that keep them in their place. Yet simultaneously, things from prior times, within their respective contexts, just seem horribly old, almost serving as cultural placeholders. But that's just the thing with this decade comparison, you can pretty much pick choose whichever aspects tell a particular narrative. And there's weirdly a lot of "stuff" around from these two.

The 80s is indeed a transitional decade. Old enough to be retro but not quite anciemt yet things like hip-hop, Nintendo, TMNT, My Little Pony and Transformers began in the 80s and still reign in pop-culture. I do slightly disagree with ms al on how 96 borns would be too young to recapture 80s visuals. 80s stuff still reigned my family in the early 2000s with Vhs tapes, cassette tapes, classic 80s analog tvs, and even saw some 80s sitcoms. I have family members around mh age and they were able to recall a lot of 80s trends as well. I feel like the Early 2000s had a lot of connections to the 80s despite the 80s being dark and grimy and the early 2000s being a bit more cheery. Lots of 80s tech were still prevalent in much of the 2000s.

80s are now ancient