15 Normal Things From The 1980s And ’90s That Younger Generations Can’t Relate To

People like thinking back to the “good old days” of their childhood and adolescence when learning about the world and its obligations, which seemed like a far-off challenge. Many things for us as children were also difficult for today’s adolescents to encounter at a comparable age. Although science, technology, and society are still advancing, we may still criticize what we see as the “easier way.” In the end, this isn’t how we experienced it. And we’ve had some very awesome memories this way.

It was a very different kind of existence not to have a camera-equipped phone that could access every piece of information on the planet. Our disparate perspectives on smoking also did. The quick growth of streaming and high-speed internet has rendered a lot of our most treasured memories something that newer generations would find difficult to understand. However, we were present. It’s how we encountered it. For a lot of us, there would be no other way. These are the normal things from the 1980s and 1990s that younger generations can’t relate to.

Hands Across America

The biggest demonstration of human love and compassion in history occurred on May 25, 1986, when some 6.5 million individuals nationwide clasped hands for 15 minutes. Or that was the plan, anyhow, when Ken Kragen tried to get Hands Across America organized.

The Southwest’s deserts have large gaps, and some ranchers use their cattle to fill them by placing them hoof-to-hoof. Therefore, it would have been more accurate to title it “Hands and Hooves Across America.”

Wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarers

“You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby.” When Don Henley crooned those timeless lyrics in his popular song “The Boys of Summer,” he wasn’t dressing haphazardly. In the 1980s, the only sunglasses that anybody excellent or relevant would even contemplate wearing were Ray-Ban Wayfarers.

Everyone wanted a pair of Ray-Bans, including Jack Nicholson, Madonna, and the Blues Brothers. Even at night, singer Corey Hart wore his, but no one ever understood why. (Thus, he can precisely what?)

Garfield Phones

Who wouldn’t want a novelty phone that resembles an overweight orange cat that is ready for lasagna? And in case you found that too spooky (or corny), Garfield would also blink and close in response to the picking up and placing of the receiver. (This one is from the 1985 motion picture Ninja Terminator.)

Even though they lacked some cutting-edge capabilities in modern phones, the 1980s youth adored them. And if you’re itching for a Garfield phone of your own, they’ve been turning up on French beaches over the past thirty years. Go help yourself!

Only Wearing Neon Fashion

Anything you wore in the 1980s, whether a Members Only jacket, an oversized top, or leg warmers, had to be so vivid and colorful that it became its light source. You knew you were doing something well regarding the possibility of permanent corneal injury from gazing at your ensemble directly.

The Debut of the Macintosh Super Bowl Commercial

Though most people were unaware of the commercial’s purpose when it debuted in 1984, it has been dubbed the best in Super Bowl history. Macintosh gave spectators a glimpse into a future nightmare in sixty riveting seconds. A lady wearing bright red shorts threw a mallet toward the television, sparking an explosion and interrupting a Big Brother lecture.

An unsettling voice announced the new Apple Macintosh personal computer as the strange advertisement came to a conclusion, and all of a sudden, everyone wanted one. Though attempts have been made to replicate the alluring oddity of this original Apple advertisement, “there can be only one… just as there can be only one Hoover Dam or one Eiffel Tower,” as the L.A. Times famously noted.

Lady Diana Becoming Princess Diana

There was more to Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s June 1981 wedding than the spectacle of two affluent monarchs exchanging vows. Approximately 750 million people saw what was hailed as a fairytale wedding at the Time, and it had a lasting impact on marriages for years to come. Watching those royal lovebirds finally say “I do” gave even the greatest cynics goosebumps in their stomachs.

The Cabbage Patch Doll Craze

For good cause, Time dubbed it “the great Cabbage Patch Kids madness of 1983.” To be honest, we were all obsessed with those cute toys that had an uncanny resemblance to Mickey Rooney. A few parents even got into physical altercations with one other when shopping for the ideal Cabbage Patch for their child. Parents were hitting each other for dolls; we’re not exaggerating.

Coke Reinventing Their Recipe

Why the Coca-Cola Company decided to forgo its tried-and-true formula in favor of a watered-down Pepsi is still a mystery. It was only natural that the reaction to “New Coke” in 1985 was largely negative.

Time reports that the corporation received over 40,000 letters requesting they restore the original formula or face consequences. Three months after its debut, Coca-Cola did exactly that. The announcement was so significant that Peter Jennings had to break off a daytime soap opera to make it.

Horrifyingly Watching President Reagan’s Assassination Attempt

The world saw in March 1981 when John Hinckley Jr. shot and killed President Ronald Reagan as he was leaving a hotel in Washington, D.C. Although there had been previous attempts at presidential murder, the video of those terrifying minutes gave observers the impression that they were there. This was especially true in the age of new media and ubiquitous cameras.

Crafting a Mixtape

Mixtapes were made as an art form in the 1980s. It was not like the modern Spotify playlists you could create with a few keystrokes and add an infinite number of songs. Instead, making an ’80s mixtape required using cassettes, which limited the amount of time you could spend expressing yourself musically.

Also, the music you included had to be genuine physical copies you owned. What a notion, huh?

Working Out with Jane Fonda

Few American homes didn’t have at least one well-worn VHS tape of Jane Fonda’s Workout by the middle of the 1980s. Due to its immense popularity, the at-home exercise DVD has become one of the all-time best-selling videos, with over 17 million copies sold.

Beyond the fact that Fonda was working up a sweat to synth music while sporting a belted leotard, what made it so successful was that the workouts were ahead of their Time, utilizing the same combination of resistance and stretching that many modern personal trainers do.

Using Dawn to Clean Birds During the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

It was terrifying to see every aspect of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil disaster, which saw an oil ship spew 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Arctic seas. But when word spread that Dawn dishwashing detergent worked well in removing oil off sea turtles and birds, there was a ray of hope.

According to an article in The Wichita Eagle, a 2003 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assessment stated that Dawn comes highly recommended “because it removes oil from feathers; is non-toxic; and does not leave a residue.”

The “Just Say No” Campaign

First Lady Nancy Reagan started the “Just Say No” campaign in the early 1980s with the greatest of intentions. However, some critics felt that her approach to the drug crisis was a bit too straightforward. However, it was enough for us when she appeared on Different Strokes and persuaded Gary Coleman and the group that “all drugs are dumb.” Yeah, Nancy, it’s “say no”!

Flipping Tapes to the Other Side

You would be listening to music on a cassette in your car or a vinyl record on your hi-fi in your living room when the sound suddenly stopped. Turning over the vinyl record or pulling out the cassette was required to continue rocking.

You indeed had to participate in the 1980s music-listening experience actively. You can only put so many tracks on one side of physical media; that’s the hard fact.

Hitting the Arcade on Friday Night

Even if you could play video games at home, there was something unique about going to the arcade in the 1980s with a large roll of quarters in your pocket and playing a friendly game of Rampage with some pals.

We will always like the sound of children happily pushing buttons and pulling joysticks in an arcade full of them.

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