I came across this post online today written by columnist Julie Burchill which are all about the 1980s. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10521043/Why-miss-80s-blast-freedom-writes-JULIE-BURCHILL.html
I was in my mid teens when the 1980s ended, and I have very happy memories of growing up in the seventies and eighties. I'm so glad that I got to experience both. They may not have been perfect but as far as I'm concerned they were great times. Perhaps it's because I wasn't an adult in those days that I view those as more carefree times. Listening to music (and we did have great music back then!) hanging out with my mates, getting ready to start college... It was also in the eighties that my parents each remarried, and far from it being a disaster as most people would think, I got two lovely stepparents who I absolutely adore, and it's when my siblings started coming along.
I also remember this decade as being more tranquil than today in the sense that there was less rushing around, people didn't work every hour there was, there was less burn out. Also people tended to use their weekends more productively rather than lazing around like we do now and wasting it. And Sunday was always a day for having family round or going to see you nan at hers. Sunday lunch was a very real concept back then.
As I've said, I know those days weren't perfect. No decade was or ever will be but if I could go back to either the seventies of eighties, I'd be back in a shot.
So what are your thoughts about this article and what are your memories of the 1980s?
Well I'm going to start on a downer! The eighties, especially where I were from, There were something like 5 million unemployed and I'm sure most of them were up in the north. Homelessness and the 'cardboard city' concept existed all around the country. I grew up on a housing estate so being skint were the norm for most of us. Then there was the issue of drugs which really was rife and would spread like wildfire around our estate. And I'm not just talking about a bit of spliff either but hard drugs. School leavers would walk out of school and head straight to the dole queue because there weren't that many jobs around. And ironically at the same time, we saw the rise of the yuppie, the city boys, the stock traders who were living the high life, quaffing champagne and the rest of it. It was quite bewildering for a kid like me who couldn't understand why so many of the people I knew claimed to not have money when I could see people who were living like money was no object! I think if there's one good thing to come out of my experience, is that I aimed to try a lot harder than a lot of my family did because i knew that this wasn't how I wanted to live for the rest of my life. I may not be living like a city trader but I'm glad for all I've achieved and all the hard work it took to get here.
I have a theory about why everything was so bright, vibrant and in your face in the eighties - well it had to be to compete against the doom and gloom of the decade! I think that's why so many of us forget the hard times it's because we were blinded by all those brights. LOL! But of course there were loads of highlights too. Family, celebrations, school days, that feeling of growing up as part of a community and pulling together even when most of us had known hard times. The weddings of Charles and Di, Andrew and Fergie. Live Aid... Good times did exist back then.