2010s VS 1980s (2010s Versus Series Part IV)
Dec 18, 2019 10:50:11 GMT 10
Post by Captain Nemo on Dec 18, 2019 10:50:11 GMT 10
Greetings everyone. Welcome to the fourth part of the "2010s Versus Series", a hexology of threads where I compare the 2010s to each of the six decades preceding it (1950s-2000s).
The entire first half of this hexology of threads is located within the "Before the 1980s" subboard, but I'm just going to post all three of them down below;
popedia.boards.net/thread/3086/2010s-1950s-series
popedia.boards.net/thread/3090/2010s-1960s-series-ii
popedia.boards.net/thread/3095/2010s-1970s-series-iii
To start the second half of this hexology of threads, I'll be comparing the 2010s to the 1980s, a decade which has been nostalgia's darling for about 15 or so years by now. Even as those who came of age in this decade are over or near half a century old by now, 1980s nostalgia is arguably the most dominant form of nostalgia in the mainstream pop cultural media right now. Yes, even more than 1990s nostalgia.
All throughout the country, there are countless radio stations dedicated solely to 1980s music that middle aged women love to blast in their car or office, my mother who graduated high school in 1989 is one of them.
Movies from this decade are still highly relevant and are still common subjects of being remade or being ripped off to this day. The cartoon "Family Guy" abuses the 1980s nostalgia trope despite about 99% of their fans being born after 1990.
The 1980s is commonly presented as this hip cool party decade, and throwbacks from this decade are constantly being shoved in the consumers face via advertisements. One could perhaps blame all of this on Gen Xers wanting their generation to seem relevant due to them being sandwiched between two larger generations, but I think it's safe to say they made their point.
So, how does this happy go-lucky party of a decade, so to say, compare to the 2010s, a decade succeeding it by 30 years? Are the hefty amounts of nostalgia targeted towards this decade truly warranted, or not?
Well, as always, let's compare and contrast;
Music
I'm going to be completely blunt and honest here. In my opinion, the 1980s are quite possibly the most overrated decade for music.
The mainstream pop cultural media constantly portrays this decade as if its some sort of golden age for music, yet I would argue that the 1980s in terms of music quality was inferior to both the two decades preceding it (1960s and 1970s) and the two decades succeeding it (1990s and 2000s). It wasn't a bad decade in music, in fact there were a lot of great songs both mainstream and underground released in the decade, but it is certainly no where near as good as the mainstream pop cultural media is making it out to be.
The biggest drawback of 1980s music would certainly have to be MTV. Admittedly, I do think the cause of MTV was for the better in the longrun, but music quality in the 1980s definitely went downhill from the 1970s as a result of it. The music industry in general became heavily commercialized, it was no longer enough for artists to have talent, but they also had to have the look, and to have a "cool" and "hip" enough attitude while they were at it, a clear example of this are the commercial cheesy bubbly female artists such as Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, and Paula Abdul. Rock music as well became far more hip and mainstream with the over-abundance of party and sex anthems, particularly within glam metal. Glam metal was no less mainstream and no less commercial in the 1980s than anything from Prince, Madonna, or Michael Jackson, and honestly I would argue that in terms of terms and artistry, rock music hit something of a low point in the 1980s.
However, like I said, despite all this, the 1980s certainly weren't a "bad" decade in music. There are quite a few songs from this decade I really like, such as the more 1970s-sounding folk songs from earlier in the decade such as "Leader of the Band" and "Leather and Lace", the reggae-fusion band UB40 were at their prime and released great songs such as "Red Red Wine" and "Kingston Town", I really like a lot of Metallica's songs from this decade, and even in the mainstream, I do enjoy a lot of Michael Jackson's music, I like George Michael's "Careless Whisper", and even a few glam metal songs as well. Plus early gangsta rap. The 1980s aren't a bad decade in music, but they are heavily flawed compared to both the two decades preceding them and the two decades succeeding them.
But you know what are truly a bad decade for music? The 2010s. I've said it before, I'll say it again, the 2010s music industry is corrupted with virtue-signalling money-grab plants within the rap and pop genres whose music only has a few months of relevance at best before fading away. Even the hip stuff of the 1980s at least has staying power, the music of the 2010s doesn't have staying power at all.
The only great aspect of 2010s music is the underground scene, and and arguably I would argue that underground rock music from the 2010s is better than rock music of the 1980s.
However, despite that, I'm still going to declare the 1980s the winner of this category, simply because it's a decade that at least has staying power, as well as at least heaving more than a few great songs in the mainstream, which the 2010s does not have.
Society
The 1950s may be considered the first modern decade, but honestly, the 1950s-1970s are more "classic-modern". The 1980s are the first truly modern decade. Many modern fashion trends such as ballcaps and sneakers were popularized in this decade, and a large quantity of modern day technologies we take for granted nowadays either started out in or were popularized in the 1980s, and it's the first decade with an abundance of technology that feels "familiar" with what we're used to now. That's not to say it's at all identical to today, that's not true at all, but at least it's far more familiar than of decades previous.
In this decade, cable television became standard, which helped popularized MTV, which was the core driving force behind youth culture in this decade, but cable television also started a new age in animation with the advent of hit cartoon series such as Inspector Gadget, He-Man, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as started a new age in news broadcasting with CNN.
Also in this decade, VCRs became standard, which popularized businesses such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, as well as allowed individuals to enjoy movies in the comfort of their own homes rather than need to head to the movie theaters to watch them.
Rotary dial phones were on their way out as DTMF push-button dialing became the new standard. Video games went from being a fad to a major entertainment form with the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sony's Walkman became a hit in this decade as kids and teens began listening to music portably through headphones, and the first commercially available mobile phone was released in this decade as well, both the Walkman and mobile phone would be the framework for what smartphones would encompass a couple decades later. To top it all off, this was the decade when home computers such as those from Apple, Commodore, and Microsoft started becoming more common in people's home, although they still weren't yet standard. Even the World Wide Web was created in 1989 by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee, and it was also in 1989 when Elwood Edwards recorded the classic AOL voice-messages "Welcome", "You've Got Mail", "You've Got Pictures", "You've Got Voicemail", "File's Done", and "Goodbye".
In the political world, this was arguably the first decade of the neo-conservative status quo, due to the hawkish presidency of Ronald Reagan, and it was also the start of the Bush era of federal politics with George H. W. Bush being elected as Vice President both in 1980 and 1984 and as POTUS in 1988. The Cold War also ended in this decade with the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, plus the USSR was becoming bankrupt, which eventually led to the collapse of the USSR as well as communist governments throughout Eastern Europe in the early 1990s. Overall, the 1980s was a decade of major political, social, pop culturally, and technological changes, all of which led to a world which is far more familiar than previous decades to those of us living in today's world.
Also, the 1980s was far less turbulent of times than the 1960s and 1970s were, which could help explain why it has received far more nostalgic appeal than those two decades ever have. The status quo, just like of decades prior as well as the two decades after, was still conservative, with the counter culture being liberal, but racism had become far less prevalent and schools were far more diverse than they were in previous decades, and the notion of women needing to be housewives was practically obsolete.
But is 1980s society better or worse than 2010s society? Short answer, better. Long answer, better.
I said it before, I'll say it again, 2010s society has become a divisive, morally corrupt mess of excessive political correctness, Christofascist backlash, addiction and reliance on online mediums owned by corrupt corporations, and a wide assortment of others I won't get into, and it would've been likely impossible for a concert such as "Live AID" to have the same effect now as it did back then.
The 1980s absolutely wins this category.
Movies/TV Shows/Games
For movies, the 1980s absolutely sweeps this category, as it is hands down the best decade in movie history with its abundance of classic, high quality films such as National Lampoon's Adventure, Terminator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Die Hard, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Batman, the Indiana Jones trilogy, as well as The Little Mermaid, the movie that kick-started the Disney Renaissance. The 2010s have been a good decade for movies, but cannot hold a candle to the 1980s in this category.
For sitcoms and other live action television series, the 1980s also wins this category due to having great shows such as Miami Vice, The A Team, Night Court, and Cheers.
For cartoons, this category is mostly tied, but I'll say the 1980s slightly wins because of classics such as TMNT and the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
One category which I didn't include in the past lists but am including for this one, as well as the next two, is televised sports, I'm starting with the 1980s for this category because this is when I feel televised sports truly became a phenomenon. It was in the 1980s when legendary players such as the NFL's Joe Montana, the NBA's Magic Johnson, and the NHL's Wayne Gretzky were at their prime, and even the GOAT himself Michael Jordan started his NBA career in this decade. The 2010s has also been a great decade for televised sports as legends such as Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Sidney Crosby hit their prime in this decade, and it also featured dynasties from teams such as the New England Patriots, the Golden State Warriors, and the Chicago Blackhawks (though granted, I don't like any of those three teams), but the 1980s I'm going to say wins this category easily because it was the decade that featured arguably the greatest sports legends of all time.
As for video games, I'll give this category to the 2010s purely for the fact that most games from the 1980s are plagued with artificial difficulty, which in the arcades was used as a sneaky way to get the player to use more of their quarters, but carried on into the NES library, and most NES games don't have a save feature on top of that. Granted, at least 1980s games aren't plagued with DLC, but overall, I'm going to say the 2010s wins for this category.
Aesthetic
Okay, I'll say it. Although I like a lot of 1980s entertainment, I'm not a fan of the overall aesthetic.
It's way too bright and too neon, much of the male fashion is either too macho or overly-feminine (crop tops do not belong on guys), and much of the overall vibe of the 1980s is way too bubbly and in-your-face.
As a matter of fact, I'm going to say the 2010s wins for this category. I don't like the 2010s aesthetic either, but at least it's a bit more subdued than the 1980s aesthetic, so there's that.
Overall Conclusion
Overall, I would definitely say the 1980s are the better decade.
Music, movies, and TV shows in this decade were better, society was better as it was far less divisive and far less morally corrupt yet was also far more humanistic and far more equal than previous decades, and technology had already advanced to the point of relative familiarity to what we know today, just without the toxic influence of social media sites, as well as a few superficial technological advancements to come in later decades as well.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Let me know down below.
The entire first half of this hexology of threads is located within the "Before the 1980s" subboard, but I'm just going to post all three of them down below;
popedia.boards.net/thread/3086/2010s-1950s-series
popedia.boards.net/thread/3090/2010s-1960s-series-ii
popedia.boards.net/thread/3095/2010s-1970s-series-iii
To start the second half of this hexology of threads, I'll be comparing the 2010s to the 1980s, a decade which has been nostalgia's darling for about 15 or so years by now. Even as those who came of age in this decade are over or near half a century old by now, 1980s nostalgia is arguably the most dominant form of nostalgia in the mainstream pop cultural media right now. Yes, even more than 1990s nostalgia.
All throughout the country, there are countless radio stations dedicated solely to 1980s music that middle aged women love to blast in their car or office, my mother who graduated high school in 1989 is one of them.
Movies from this decade are still highly relevant and are still common subjects of being remade or being ripped off to this day. The cartoon "Family Guy" abuses the 1980s nostalgia trope despite about 99% of their fans being born after 1990.
The 1980s is commonly presented as this hip cool party decade, and throwbacks from this decade are constantly being shoved in the consumers face via advertisements. One could perhaps blame all of this on Gen Xers wanting their generation to seem relevant due to them being sandwiched between two larger generations, but I think it's safe to say they made their point.
So, how does this happy go-lucky party of a decade, so to say, compare to the 2010s, a decade succeeding it by 30 years? Are the hefty amounts of nostalgia targeted towards this decade truly warranted, or not?
Well, as always, let's compare and contrast;
Music
I'm going to be completely blunt and honest here. In my opinion, the 1980s are quite possibly the most overrated decade for music.
The mainstream pop cultural media constantly portrays this decade as if its some sort of golden age for music, yet I would argue that the 1980s in terms of music quality was inferior to both the two decades preceding it (1960s and 1970s) and the two decades succeeding it (1990s and 2000s). It wasn't a bad decade in music, in fact there were a lot of great songs both mainstream and underground released in the decade, but it is certainly no where near as good as the mainstream pop cultural media is making it out to be.
The biggest drawback of 1980s music would certainly have to be MTV. Admittedly, I do think the cause of MTV was for the better in the longrun, but music quality in the 1980s definitely went downhill from the 1970s as a result of it. The music industry in general became heavily commercialized, it was no longer enough for artists to have talent, but they also had to have the look, and to have a "cool" and "hip" enough attitude while they were at it, a clear example of this are the commercial cheesy bubbly female artists such as Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, and Paula Abdul. Rock music as well became far more hip and mainstream with the over-abundance of party and sex anthems, particularly within glam metal. Glam metal was no less mainstream and no less commercial in the 1980s than anything from Prince, Madonna, or Michael Jackson, and honestly I would argue that in terms of terms and artistry, rock music hit something of a low point in the 1980s.
However, like I said, despite all this, the 1980s certainly weren't a "bad" decade in music. There are quite a few songs from this decade I really like, such as the more 1970s-sounding folk songs from earlier in the decade such as "Leader of the Band" and "Leather and Lace", the reggae-fusion band UB40 were at their prime and released great songs such as "Red Red Wine" and "Kingston Town", I really like a lot of Metallica's songs from this decade, and even in the mainstream, I do enjoy a lot of Michael Jackson's music, I like George Michael's "Careless Whisper", and even a few glam metal songs as well. Plus early gangsta rap. The 1980s aren't a bad decade in music, but they are heavily flawed compared to both the two decades preceding them and the two decades succeeding them.
But you know what are truly a bad decade for music? The 2010s. I've said it before, I'll say it again, the 2010s music industry is corrupted with virtue-signalling money-grab plants within the rap and pop genres whose music only has a few months of relevance at best before fading away. Even the hip stuff of the 1980s at least has staying power, the music of the 2010s doesn't have staying power at all.
The only great aspect of 2010s music is the underground scene, and and arguably I would argue that underground rock music from the 2010s is better than rock music of the 1980s.
However, despite that, I'm still going to declare the 1980s the winner of this category, simply because it's a decade that at least has staying power, as well as at least heaving more than a few great songs in the mainstream, which the 2010s does not have.
Society
The 1950s may be considered the first modern decade, but honestly, the 1950s-1970s are more "classic-modern". The 1980s are the first truly modern decade. Many modern fashion trends such as ballcaps and sneakers were popularized in this decade, and a large quantity of modern day technologies we take for granted nowadays either started out in or were popularized in the 1980s, and it's the first decade with an abundance of technology that feels "familiar" with what we're used to now. That's not to say it's at all identical to today, that's not true at all, but at least it's far more familiar than of decades previous.
In this decade, cable television became standard, which helped popularized MTV, which was the core driving force behind youth culture in this decade, but cable television also started a new age in animation with the advent of hit cartoon series such as Inspector Gadget, He-Man, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as started a new age in news broadcasting with CNN.
Also in this decade, VCRs became standard, which popularized businesses such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, as well as allowed individuals to enjoy movies in the comfort of their own homes rather than need to head to the movie theaters to watch them.
Rotary dial phones were on their way out as DTMF push-button dialing became the new standard. Video games went from being a fad to a major entertainment form with the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sony's Walkman became a hit in this decade as kids and teens began listening to music portably through headphones, and the first commercially available mobile phone was released in this decade as well, both the Walkman and mobile phone would be the framework for what smartphones would encompass a couple decades later. To top it all off, this was the decade when home computers such as those from Apple, Commodore, and Microsoft started becoming more common in people's home, although they still weren't yet standard. Even the World Wide Web was created in 1989 by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee, and it was also in 1989 when Elwood Edwards recorded the classic AOL voice-messages "Welcome", "You've Got Mail", "You've Got Pictures", "You've Got Voicemail", "File's Done", and "Goodbye".
In the political world, this was arguably the first decade of the neo-conservative status quo, due to the hawkish presidency of Ronald Reagan, and it was also the start of the Bush era of federal politics with George H. W. Bush being elected as Vice President both in 1980 and 1984 and as POTUS in 1988. The Cold War also ended in this decade with the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, plus the USSR was becoming bankrupt, which eventually led to the collapse of the USSR as well as communist governments throughout Eastern Europe in the early 1990s. Overall, the 1980s was a decade of major political, social, pop culturally, and technological changes, all of which led to a world which is far more familiar than previous decades to those of us living in today's world.
Also, the 1980s was far less turbulent of times than the 1960s and 1970s were, which could help explain why it has received far more nostalgic appeal than those two decades ever have. The status quo, just like of decades prior as well as the two decades after, was still conservative, with the counter culture being liberal, but racism had become far less prevalent and schools were far more diverse than they were in previous decades, and the notion of women needing to be housewives was practically obsolete.
But is 1980s society better or worse than 2010s society? Short answer, better. Long answer, better.
I said it before, I'll say it again, 2010s society has become a divisive, morally corrupt mess of excessive political correctness, Christofascist backlash, addiction and reliance on online mediums owned by corrupt corporations, and a wide assortment of others I won't get into, and it would've been likely impossible for a concert such as "Live AID" to have the same effect now as it did back then.
The 1980s absolutely wins this category.
Movies/TV Shows/Games
For movies, the 1980s absolutely sweeps this category, as it is hands down the best decade in movie history with its abundance of classic, high quality films such as National Lampoon's Adventure, Terminator, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Die Hard, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Batman, the Indiana Jones trilogy, as well as The Little Mermaid, the movie that kick-started the Disney Renaissance. The 2010s have been a good decade for movies, but cannot hold a candle to the 1980s in this category.
For sitcoms and other live action television series, the 1980s also wins this category due to having great shows such as Miami Vice, The A Team, Night Court, and Cheers.
For cartoons, this category is mostly tied, but I'll say the 1980s slightly wins because of classics such as TMNT and the Super Mario Bros. Super Show.
One category which I didn't include in the past lists but am including for this one, as well as the next two, is televised sports, I'm starting with the 1980s for this category because this is when I feel televised sports truly became a phenomenon. It was in the 1980s when legendary players such as the NFL's Joe Montana, the NBA's Magic Johnson, and the NHL's Wayne Gretzky were at their prime, and even the GOAT himself Michael Jordan started his NBA career in this decade. The 2010s has also been a great decade for televised sports as legends such as Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Sidney Crosby hit their prime in this decade, and it also featured dynasties from teams such as the New England Patriots, the Golden State Warriors, and the Chicago Blackhawks (though granted, I don't like any of those three teams), but the 1980s I'm going to say wins this category easily because it was the decade that featured arguably the greatest sports legends of all time.
As for video games, I'll give this category to the 2010s purely for the fact that most games from the 1980s are plagued with artificial difficulty, which in the arcades was used as a sneaky way to get the player to use more of their quarters, but carried on into the NES library, and most NES games don't have a save feature on top of that. Granted, at least 1980s games aren't plagued with DLC, but overall, I'm going to say the 2010s wins for this category.
Aesthetic
Okay, I'll say it. Although I like a lot of 1980s entertainment, I'm not a fan of the overall aesthetic.
It's way too bright and too neon, much of the male fashion is either too macho or overly-feminine (crop tops do not belong on guys), and much of the overall vibe of the 1980s is way too bubbly and in-your-face.
As a matter of fact, I'm going to say the 2010s wins for this category. I don't like the 2010s aesthetic either, but at least it's a bit more subdued than the 1980s aesthetic, so there's that.
Overall Conclusion
Overall, I would definitely say the 1980s are the better decade.
Music, movies, and TV shows in this decade were better, society was better as it was far less divisive and far less morally corrupt yet was also far more humanistic and far more equal than previous decades, and technology had already advanced to the point of relative familiarity to what we know today, just without the toxic influence of social media sites, as well as a few superficial technological advancements to come in later decades as well.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Let me know down below.
