We Were The 80's

Reflections on the death of John Hughes

 

I graduated in 1985, in the epitome of the eighties. Before grunge and coffee houses took over the world. Before we were worried about a drug called cheese and Aids. We weren't worried about too much back then. We were too busy counting bases, and usually with a bottle Boones or on a special night, Cold Duck.  It was a special time, it was a unique time. It was my time. It was the 80's.

There couldn't have been a more diverse decade than the 80's, putting it's footprint in all the culture markers. From cutting edge music, couture, or movies, there will never be another decade like it.

 Disco was out and the emergence of New Wave, Hair Bands and Punk, were in. There was MTV and the debut of "Video Killed The Radio Star". The original boy bands came out in the 80's.  Warrant, Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard just to name a few. There were bands like Flock of Seagulls, Men at Work, The Go Go's and punk's The Misfits, Circle Jerks and Dead Kennedys.

Madonna, spawned a fashion phenomenon with her garb in '"Like A Virgin" and Don Johnson's Miami Vice look, had guys sans socks for years. Flipped collars, parachute pants, leg warmers, pegged jeans, neon, and just about anything that looked like it came from the drama department, was in. The 80's has its claim on the original "business in the front, party in the back" mullet. No other hair style enjoyed such a long run.

Then there was the Southern Cal surf culture giving us, Awesome, Rad, Totally Gnarly, and Tubular, while the Valley Girls had us saying Fursure, Totally and Gag me with a Spoon.

We hung out at the malls, skate parks and video arcades. We were playing Pac Man, Centipede and Mario Brothers. We watched, Who's the Boss, Family Ties and 21 Jump Street. We didn't have cell phones, but we had Walkman's and Boom boxes.

You could be a prep, skater, punk, jock, it didn't matter, you were a part of the 80's and the 80's had a place for you.

Movies were a big part of the 80's. Fast times At Ridgemont High, Porkies, Some Kind of Wonderful, Dirty Dancing, Footloose and Karate Kid were all big hits, but nothing compared to the genius of John Hughes.

 The news of director John Hughes death, hit many of us particularly hard. It hit me hard.

 I don't cry very often, it takes a lot to get me worked up, but my heart broke for Hughes, who's cinematography is forever ingrained in my teen years.

 The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and Ferris Buellers Day Off, encompassed everything about the times.

 His movies were iconic, and special to those of us who were developing into young adults at the time of their releases. He made characters relateable, and brought the intricate relationships of high school, teenagers and their parents, to life. He understood the diversity and made it his own unique style.

 He had lines like "His name is Blane? Oh! That's a major appliance, that's not a name!" or "If I go for ten, I'm probably going to have to barf up a lung, so I better make this one count."

Ironically, his films became more popular in the last twenty years, then when they were released.

 For many of us, the 80's wouldn't have been the same without Hughes and on August 6th, a little bit of us died with him.

 

Reviews

[Creepy Swine Guy]

Uhmmmm ... did we neglect to mention the '86 Mets? ... "Let's Go Mets!!" You have scraped up a lot of memory here. Although a lot of the characters, bands and movies were foreign to me. There was indeed something for everyone. I enjoyed those movies by John Hughes too. A smidge ironic that someone who brought us movies about youth has run out of minutes. Perhaps we are all mourning our own lost youth.

[Legion]

Yea, I know that feeling. I love most of his movies. Didn't he do "St. Elmo's Fire" too? I can't remember. I graduated in '85 as well. What a interesting time it was. A tip of the hat to a fellow class(wo)man and to Hughes. He knew what it was like then and told it well upon the screen. I think my favorite of his is still "The Breakfast Club". Used to know every line in that movie. Still know most of it 'cause that is what you get when you spill paint in the garage. Totally. ;)

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

The title of this drew me in right away with me being a child of the 80's myself... you are so correct in it was one special decade. The diversity of styles and music was phenomenal and now reading this made me realize it was the decade that modernized video games and paved way for what we have today. The teen movies from that decade can never be replaced and are timeless classics. At the fore front was John Hughes. His death his certainly a big loss. he ha tremendous influence on many of us with his iconic films. A tip my hat a say a prayer for the man who gave us so much to think about through entertainment. may he R.I.P.