RateItAll: The Opinion Network

The era of the '80s was a very memorable decade. Too much to actually list.

gurning. 1988.

This was a great decade. The country was strong and prosperous and we finally whipped the Commies.

Two words: crack-cocaine. Thank you 80's.

The 1980s are rated as the best decade of the 20th century. This may reflect the personal experiences of the reviewers more than objective reality; in particular, the 70s were so horrible they make both the 60s and 80s look better than they really were. The 80s saw the end of inflation, high oil prices, the humiliating politcal scandals of the Nixon era, defeat in Vietnam, Communist expansion and 'malaise' under Carter, rampant violent crime, disco, and the general atmosphere of chaos and paranoia that characterized the 70s. In retrospect, the deregulation, tax-cutting and military buildup of the 80s, while excessive, was overall a beneficial corrective to the statism of the 70s. The trade and budget deficits of the time did not cause much serious or lasting damage (thanks largely to the myopia of our Japanese creditors) unlike the more extreme deficits of our own time. 80s culture was rather shallow (as was its politics), dominated by cheery pop music, low-brow action, horror and comedy movies and video games. Superficial, materialistic and escapist-yes, yes, yes. But also highly enjoyable, especially for children and adolescents. The popularity of American movies and music had been a world-wide phenomenon since the 1920s, but it only in the 1980s that it became dominant. I was lucky enough to travel in Europe at the time, as much of its cultural distinctiveness evaporated in the 80s and 90s. American movies, TV and music took over the world; the relentless decline of local/national art, in favor of LA-produced pablum. While the 80s had its downsides, overall it was a prosperous, optimistic time-a good time to be alive.

I was born in this decade.

Go 80s!

Pure cheese yet somehow this decade worked for me. The music was decent, rap had not become thug music yet, and people weren't all pissed off at each other and really just wanted to have a good time.

Not as fun as the 70's but the music movies and TV shows were great nostalgia to remember, even primitive video games such as Pac-Man. John Hughes movies to the cute ways the girls look, except for the lesbo butched off hair styles. Music had not deteriated to the hip hop that permeates pop music nowaday. It was fun and funny, and great to listen too. So what if it is not considered "hip" now.

Yeah yeah, we've heard it all, bad hair, bad style, bad music, but they didn't seem to think so back then. 80's style was always pushing the envelope and it seemed like people were having a lot of fun, not to mention its an easy decade to remenice and I like 80's music :-). Political parties aside the presidents in the white house were respected leaders unlike the present decade.

The music rocks (Birth of Pop and Soft Rock). Great movies (i.e. John Hughes and George Lucas).

This was a great era for music and dance clubs for me at least. So many styles of music were really coming of age, so to speak. The music styles, although not completely invented in this era but made massive leaps and bounds were Punk, New Wave, Gothic, Hip Hop, House, Techno and Grunge. The clubs were fun and very 60's like atmosphere to them. People danced without fighting or making fun of each other and generally respected each other. The 80's brought paranoia about sex with AIDS which was no doubt a wake up call to everyone. I won't even go into politics or religion due to the fact those are always going to be turbulent in any generation. All and all a decent decade with lots of great memories to this day still.

Two words- Boy George. Two more words- Break Dancing.

It's hard to write about any era without being subjective - what was a good time to one might have been bad for another. But I loved the 1980s and knew even then that I was living in a very special time. The economy, which had been so bad for so long, experienced a great resurgence that lasted for years and years. Our military grew in strength and so did our respect in the eyes of the world. Speaking generally, as Americans we felt much better about ourselves. On a personal note, my favorite baseball team won its one and only World Series in the 80s, and our children were both born then. I am also an unabashed admirer of Ronald Reagan, not just as a president, but as a person. (I won't give details because I've already written about Reagan elsewhere on this site) I wonder how long it will be before we see a decade this good again.

Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy! Shoulder pads, acid washed jeans, Dynasty on TV, Bon Jovi & Def Leppard on the radio.........blah!!

This was a very kool decade with good music and awesome tv shows and some good movies too .

Thought the 1980s were GREAT! The hippies in the 60s were not so wonderful as they make out - the world they created actually gave us the 80s. I'm thankful, it was a great decade - but they whinge!

I was just a kid in the 80's (Born in '81) but they seemed pretty good. I find the 80's style clothes and hair on women to be thoroughly unattractive, but hey, I was only 9 years old when they ended, so I didn't even care about girls. There was some good rock and metal bands, people were having fun and the economy was booming. Seemed like a pretty good decade.

I was a teenager in the 80's and I loved it! I miss the 80's. If I could go back I would be even crazier than I was. I actually did'nt start hitting my stride until the end of the decade.

The worst time period that I ever lived in. The year 1980 started so innocently for me. But once Reagan took over, the country became boring, the skies turned gray, and nothing went my way. I hated my elementary years, the music sucked, and my sports teams didn't win a damn thing. It's a decade that I don't ever wanna relive.

This decade saw the skids laid down on the spirit of the '60's. Me generation hippies turned to greedy, materialistic cocane sniffing Yuppies. STD's got really nasty and cars got really ugly. But at least there was a change in the wind.

I'm English and we were so poor in the 1970s you wouldn't believe it. Inflation was rampant and everybody was miserable. In recent years the 1970s have been rewritten in England as a fun continuation of the 60s. The BBC's I Love The 1970s series actually told lies, pouring in pop culture from the 60s and 80s to glorify that decade. People here are very priggish about the 80s - calling it The Greed Decade. But the 80s were great - a time of huge change, as computers swept into our lives, CDs and brick sized mobile phones. We boggled at the new technology. There were daft fads - deeleyboppers, Rubik's Cube and Pacman, to name but a few, and huge shoulderpads, strange hair and putridly coloured lycra outfits! Tim Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, which made the Internet so much easier in the 90s, and we got the computer mouse and Gameboy. The rate of change was so fast that it is hard to connect 1980 to 1989 in this country. Sure, there were big worries - AIDS for one, though the seeds of that pre-dated the 80s, but there was so much fun. So what if people went a bit money-mad? After the recession of the 70s and early 80s, we were all glad to see some! The English media should drop its priggish stance. The American version of I Love... was refreshingly honest. I'll always love the 1980s!

My father died in 1981, my son was born in 1982 and my youngest daughter was born in 1987, I became a manager at McDonnell Douglas. A lot happening in this decade.

Ohh Yeah! Def!

ahh the 80s i was in high school and every thing was sinple remember those hoor movies jason michael myers freddy kruger god i use to go to the theaters and watch those films and i loved halloween films i still do love halloween films.

The Eighty get hyped because the people in the media and Hollywood grew up thru this period. They have a right to boast about this time. This was a time where America really stood proud due to Reagan's leadership. Many Americans loved Reagan and he did make for a renewed sense of partiotism. This was also a great age for TV and cable and itr produced it's share of music unique to the times. Communism fell and the Space Shuttle blew up. There certainly were it's moments. Not a bad decade to grow up in overall.

Pretty good decade. Actually Goodfellas and Ghost came out in 1990. They are really part of the 90's.

Probably the worst decade for fashion....Fluorescent clothing including odd coloured socks (the brighter the better). Dungarees. From a girls point of view crimped hair, puffbull skirts, big bows and big earings. The music in the 80's was a bit hit and miss as well.

The decade of MTV (when they were playing music videos), Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, The Cosby Show, ET, Goodfellas, Ghost, Ghandi, Thatcher, Reagan, Eastenders, Dallas, Dynasty, Blue eye-shadow, perms, jerry curls, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Transformers, Inspector Gadget, He-Man, Flashdance, Diff'rent Strokes, Live Aid, Duran Duran, Culture Club, and countless John Hughes teen movies. Not bad 1980 not bad at all.

The 80's were the decade that delivered the best pop music- by far. Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Soft Cell, Culture Club & Human League to name a few. Very colourful and exciting. TV was great as well- Dallas, Dynasty, Eastenders, Top of The Pops were all HUGE in the 80's. Basically, without these moments of fine entertainment both myself and many others would have probably been very unhappy- AIDS, violence, unemployment, war & extreme famine in Africa affected the world in many ways and I am truly thankful for these things that made my own experience of this time better than it would have been otherwise. Oh, and the fashions were tragic but wonderful at the same time. The most defining decade of my life.

I still get incensed when I see one particular music infomercial in which the principle character refers to the 1980s as a decade of greed. What is so wrong about this decade? My parents (who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines during the malaise of the 1970s) and countless others succeeded during this so-called era of greed and excess through their own hardwork and determination (and they were happy). Are they greedy? I still get offended when others say how awful things were. Obviously, not everyone was as happy as my parents were during this decade, but they represent the 1980s no more than those who succeeded. It is a misnomer that people were largely miserable- and the press should be held accountable for this gross misinterpretation of the facts. The fact is that the 1980s were a time of great innovation and opportunity for many Americans. Not to take away from the 1990s, which was also a great decade, but the 1980s was a decade which changed the world just as significantly (if not more). The defeat of communism by President Ronald Reagan, who correctly called the Soviet Union as an 'evil empire', only reaffirmed the righteousness of democracy over tyranny and absolutism. The decade was not without flaws. There was definitely many less-than-glorious (even tragic) events which stifled the world and left it reeling. But considering what was accomplished during this era, not bad...not bad at all.

The music was definately the greatest thing about the 1980's, without the music it definately wouldn't be getting a 5 star rating from me. Ronald Reagan, Republican greed, AIDS, and numerous other negative aspects of the decade couldn't stop the music. My view on music would certainly be alot worse if it wasn't for 80's music. By far the best...it will never die in my household. Long live Madonna, long live New Order, love live Duran Duran, long live The Smiths, love live all of the big 80's stars...a really great decade...definately the best so far...

Thank you for giving us the terms awesome and rad. Thank you for giving us The Smiths and many other great groups (that were only a billion times better than todays artists). I made a shirt that says I wish it were 1985. God, do it wish it were 1985.

The worst decade in my lifetime. Spawned the ME-ME-ME generation.

VirileVagabond, you must be kidding. The '80s were VERY boring, and in the '90s, everything that was wrong with the '80s was fixed, especially the music. I think the '80s was the lamest decade ever, and the fact that there's this whole '80s-loving trend going on makes me sick. If anyone agrees with me, join my Yahoo group, I Hate The '80s, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ihatethe80s.

After the decade of me and apathy, the 1980's was vivid. MTV permanently changed music and society. Video did indeed kill the radio star. The sounds of post punk, new wave, and alternative ended the long rule of prog and classic rock. The Cold War ended with a whimper as opposed to a bang, and a new Polish pope redefined the role of the Catholic Church (for good or ill). Government had better press and respect (eg Top Gun), and fashion was full of big hair and loud, sometimes neon colors. The onset of AIDS tempered much of this pent up energy, and in some ways kept the decade less decadent than it could have been. Major tax and economic reforms reversed much of the backwards thinking of the preceding 1970's. There is no denying that the 1980's had personality much like its predecessor decade, and unlike the 1990's which were bland and grey by comparison.

Reagan/Bush...Poverty, homelessness, crime, crack, gangs, high interest, poor economy, high unemployment, despair, recession, farm aid, arms for hostages, etc. I cringe just thinking about it. When evil men are in power, the peasants suffer.

I loved the 80s. That was the great decade of new wave, breakdancing, jerry curls, he-man, thundercats, transformers, voltron, nylon coats, and michael jackson. Fortunately, many old 80s toys are coming back here in the 2000s decade.

Boy do I miss the 80s. Remember those 19% interest rates? Gone. Remember the energy crisis? Gone. Remember the Soviet threat? Gone. Remember the crippling expense of airline tickets? Gone. All these things and MANY more can be directly traced to the efforts of the greatest President of this past century, Ronald Wilson Reagan. He slashed those interest rates, and inflation was brought to a halt. He laughed at the energy crisis, and was right as rain. He stood up to the Soviets, intimidating them to the point where they overthrew their own government. He privatized the airlines, and the $500 plane ticket in 1979 dollars costs you $150 in 2000 dollars. This country was upwardly mobile. The squaking about minority rights and racism slowed to a crawl, and do you know why? Because doors of opportunity were opened for EVERYONE... all you had to do was work had, and you'd succeed. Everyone makes fun of yuppies, but let's face it: they represented a class of America that hadn't been seen since the 50s, where young people found that working hard can and WAS rewarded. People didn't have time to be long-haired hippies any longer; they had JOBS. Remember the hostage crisis? Iran didn't fear the US under Carter: they sure did under Reagan. Just looking at Reagan on TV said "leader" to me. He was a class act from the word go. Those anit-Reagan pundidt always cite budget deficits when they speak of Reagan. They apparently don't understand how Congress works, since it is the CONGRESS that makes the budget, not the President. Reagan put forth ideas for higher defense spending, which ultimately intimidated the Soviets into submission. The defense spending Reagan wanted had a price - PORK BARREL spending for all the Dems in Congress. They left him no choice, but the result is clear: no more USSR and the threat of mutually assured destruction. What's worse: the govt owing money to the bank, or the Soviets aiming nukes at you? Do the math. Someone mentioned instability during the 80s. I think exactly the opposite. This country knew what it's about and moved forward in ways they hadn't since the 50s. The "rebellious attitude" had been toned down considerably from the 70s and 60s as well... so much so that the "rebelliousness" was little more than a fashion of clothing. Compared to the previous two decades, there were no riots, endless picketing, labor strikes, etc etc. Not to say it didn't happen, but certainly not to the extremees it did in the 60s-70s. This country was fabulous during the 80s. I can't think of anything during that decade that I would change.

i was born in 81 but i remember the 80's and it was awesome the cartoons were the best ever now you no longer have cartoons but you had them then some great on es to the music was cool real cool bass music i liked Ronald Reagan got an award from hi m in the first grade i think the movies were goofy but still it was a brief time of common sense and although not totaly innocent it was more so than the 90's and no and even the 70's and the economy was good

Alright, the 80s had the best music and craziest fashions as well as attitude. All about the material things! Oh my. My decade for sure.

I'm an '80s 'child.' I grew up way back then. It was in many regards a really stupid and cheesy decade (you'll be hard pressed to find a decade more replete with stupid movies and dumber music) but a lot of the music was also really cool. My fav. music, in general, is '80s synth pop. Mixed baggage, but the '80s were okay. Sure beat the hell out of the '70s -probably the most laughable decade ever.

Many of the television shows that I am a fan of today got there start in the 1980s. Many of my favorite bands and songs came out of the 1980s. The clothing may have been a little strange, but if given the chance I would go back to the 1980s again.

On the one hand, disco ended (hurrah!) and society began to open up a bit, finally facing the need for real equality. ON THE OTHER HAND --- here came AIDS and Reaganomics - and it's debatable which has caused more suffering. The neocons began gaining power and creating ways to take more said power for themselves (repeat sentence with "money" in place of "power"). "Greed is good" became a mantra. Now in end-stage capitalism, the damage is evident to all but the most hide-bound plutocrats. And the road to this particular hell stared then.

This was a pretty carefree time for me seeing that I am a child of the '80s (totally!!!!).... early '80s was my innocence, middle '80s was puberty, and in the late '80s, I was heading toward womanhood. My main influence back then was the music, especially the rock and pop music which was heavy on the synthesizers. Then Weird Al Yankovick stepped into the music scene with his musical parodies, and zoomed right in on Michael Jackson's hit "Beat It"... Yankovick's version was "Eat It", and it was one of my favorite novelty songs. Moving on to television, I loved such shows as "Gimme A Break" (which starred the late Nell Carter) "Family Ties", "Facts of Life", and "Diff'rent Strokes". Primetime television still had many wholesome programs; what the heck happened??? I couldn't wait to get up on Saturday morning to watch "Smurfs", "Shirt Tales", "Snorks", and "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show".... some of the best classic cartoons ever! There were also some memorable news stories..... "The Challenger" in early '86; I was 12 when that happened, and this was perhaps the first real news story I was interested in. Later on, in 1987, a one-year-old toddler named "Jessica" was trapped inside a well and rescued. It was a miracle.... God had to have been completely watching over that little girl. Two years later (1989), down came the Berlin Wall, and then in October (two months before the decade drew to a close) was the 'Quake in San Francisico. This event shook everyone, even those who didn't live around there. Well, it shook me, anyway. I remember thinking that the end of the world was coming, and I took it as a wake-up-call. In December, right before the dawn of the '90s, I turned sweet 16! Sixteen couldn't have come at a better time in my opinion.... new decade, new person! I was no longer a child! With all that said, I must conclude that the '80s was an overall fantastic decade. It was far from perfect, of course (let's face it, it was no "utopia").... there were a few bumps in the road, and a some chaos in the news. But these events also gave people the opportunity to live, learn, and grow. Think about the news then, and compare it with now... I would think that the world is in much worse shape at present; I'm quite certain that a few would concur.

It all seemed kind of bland and hum drum at the time, but looking back in comparison to some of the current and not so long ago events and some rather crapola times that went before it, the 1980’s weren’t all that bad. There really weren’t any major world events that made me feel this way. I somehow managed to remain happily oblivious to politics for the most part during this time, which may be another point in favor of this decade for me. Hollywood gave us now classic movies like ET, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, The 3 best of the National Lampoon Vacation films, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and - my personal favorite - The Blues Brothers. Video killed the radio star and MTV was born. Regardless of the fact that you suddenly couldn’t turn on the television without being slapped in the face with a dozen music videos (or what I would come to think of as “short attention span theater”) I would eventually come to the realization that there were some pretty good tunes being produced in this decade that were perhaps even more appealing to me than in the decade before it. Michael Jackson’s slow slide into insanity wasn’t perceptible yet – and he was enjoying the pinnacle of his fame and creativity during this decade. Though I wasn’t a fan, I couldn’t help being impressed by his Thriller video from a theatrical and musical standpoint. I remember cranking up the radio to diverse offerings from Blondie, The Culture Club, George Michael, John (Cougar) Mellencamp, Stray Cats, Dire Straits, The Cars, Fine Young Cannibals, Pat Benatar, Genesis – an almost endless list. “Oldies” like Rod Stewart, Elton John, the Stones, David Bowie, and George Harrison managed to stay afloat pretty well during this decade and turned out some memorable stuff. The defining news story for the decade may have arguably been the onset of the AIDS epidemic. Obviously, this had started before the decade began but the identification of this new disease caused a fury and spurred all kinds of political, moral, and cultural debate. It seemed for a time that the decade that began as a sexually careless and sleazy Studio 54 patron would go out as a cloistered nun.

You gotta love the distinct "hair" and music associated with the 80s.

The 80's are probably my favorite decade for several reasons. I'm not gonna touch upon a lot of world events because quite frankly, the years of 1980 to 1989 were ages 12 to 22 for me, and I didn't have a whole lot of that on my mind at that time. Most of the time all I thought about was music, movies, sports, and pretty girls, not necessarily in that order. As for music, some of my favorite singers and albums came to the forefront. Some of you may remember "Thriller" (yes, I know what we all think of him now, but that was then), country singer George Strait first hit the charts in '81, and remains my favorite singer to this day, I liked Duran Duran, Reba McEntire, Heart, Genesis, Blondie, and the list goes on. I don't care what anybody says, the eighties were a great decade for music, and MTV got started in there somewhere. As for movies, some of my all time favorites came out in the eighties: The Empire Strikes Back (my #1 favorite of all time), Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Vacation movies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Crocodile Dundee, Arthur, and so many more. As for sports, well, my Cowboys pretty much stunk it up, and so did the Texas Rangers, but I did get into tennis and my two favorite players (Ivan Lendl and Steffi Graf) did very well, winning several Grand Slam titles apiece, and in fact, Graf did the ultimate by winning all four Slams in 1988. As for the pretty girls, well, I usually struck out (or never got up to bat in the first place), but I guess I ought to be thankful for all that good music and all those good movies.

I grew up in the 80's and I would be lying if didn't say I missed the 80's. It was the beginning of music video's, rap music the end of the cold war. I could go on and on about the 80's, but that would take forever. I have one last thing to say about the 1980's, it was a hell of a decade.

Obviously I have a personal bias on this rating being that I was born in 1982. As far as I understand it, the 1980's was a very good decade for the United States. Communism was experiencing its final curtain call, the economy was on the rebound and Americans were optimistic once again after the turbulance of the 1960's and the hangover of the 1970's. It was indeed "morning in America" as a certain great American president, Ronald Reagan, put it. It must have felt like a pall was being lifted throughout the country. The decade ended perfectly with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989. It was a culmination of the hard work we put into combating communism for nearly 45 years up to that point. America in 1989 was indeed on a roll. Culturally, the rating isn't as high. I don't think '80's music is too good, in fact I find it very annoying!! One thing I do remember distinctly about this decade was that everything was plastic, down to even the people! Business and free enterprise are all good things, but saying "greed is good" is really over the top. The period of the 1980's were a time of general advancement in most fields of human achievement, but the only time in history that one could have gotten away with saying that was the '80's. If a prominent person said that today they'd be lynched! Overall the 1980's was a good decade with the exception of the lousy clothes and music.

Give it a 5 due to Ronald Reagan.

It had the worst fashions - big hair, tons of make-up, big ugly earrings. Some great music, some bad. Some great TV, some bad. Some great movies....

I can't help being biased here, being as I was born in the beginning of this decade. Oh, the bad hair! Loud tasteless fashion! The early video games! Monster ballads! Roller Skating rinks! Oh, so terrible, and so funny! And, let's not forget watching The Bugs Bunny and Tweety show on Saturday mornings (back when cartoon violence didn't seem to be a huge deal), and watching classics like Voltron, Thundercats and Transformers! Oh, and MTV and the rise of music videos. Cyndi Lauper, Jon Bon Jovi, Madonna, and then every single hair band . . . whew, maybe it wasn't the best decade in history, not by a long shot, but heck, it was still good for fond memories.

A period of stability that resulted in the eventual fall of Communism thanks to the policies of Reagan. The 1980s marked the end of a historical forty year struggle between the United States and the Communists, between the good guys and the bad guys. I was born in 1988 so I can't comment on the culture of the 80s- I know that the rebellious attitude of America's youth was running rampent. It can be said that the 80s was the cure of the disastorous 60s and 70s politically and culturally.