" The question is n’t ' What are we going to do ? ' The doubtfulness is , ' What are n’t we going to do ? ' " said Ferris Bueller to Sloane and Cameron at the start of their joyride in Cameron ’s daddy ’s Ferrari in the 1986 picture show , " Ferris Bueller ’s Day Off . "
But this quote could also well go for to that decade ’s fads , which were n’t exactly constrained by much of anything at all . From shoulder pads to boomboxes , the furor of the eighties pushed the limits of style and technology in a way that had rarely been see before . Now , with the growing popularity of ' 80s - inspired parties and wearable , one has to wonder : Is the decade making a return ?
Before you wear out out your Madonna cassettes and atomic number 10 spandex , read through our list of 1980s fads that helped determine the generation that just wanted its MTV .
10: “Valspeak”
Did you , like , realize that in the ' 80s , like , everyone totally got pulled into this matter called Valspeak ? gravely !
The term Valspeak was used to name a room of talk that combined 1960ssurferslang , hippielingo and black street jargon . It start in southerly California ’s San Fernando Valley , and earn interior aid in 1982 when Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Unit come out with the song " Valley Girl , " satirise the fad .
Valspeak talkers tended to raise their flection at the end of a sentence , piss a asserting affirmation speech sound more like a question . The extension of words and phrases like " totally " and " for sure " also characterise the accent . Notable Valspeak words include " disgustful " ( egregious ) , " radian " ( excellent ) , " eccentric person " ( eldritch ) and " Hrolf " ( vomit ) . Perhaps the most lasting core of Valspeak is the proliferation of the word " like " in everyday language – just enquire any mellow school English teacher .
Like , whatever !
9: The Walkman
Though the applied science looks ancient to us today , the Sony Walkman was theiPodof its prison term . When it was infix to the Nipponese food market in 1979 , magnetic cassette technology had been around for 16 class . Sony expected to deal only about 5,000 units a month , but after selling 50,000 in the first two month it knew it was on to something . Consumers make out the concealment offered by the Walkman ’s headphones and the commodious power source supplied by its two AAbatteries , but most of all , they loved the portability . Cassette tapes made it potential to take heed to music on - the - go in a way that vinyl radical albums simply could n’t .
Sony introduce the Walkman in the United States in June 1980 , and other companies like Aiwa , Panasonic and Toshiba presently come out with their own models . While many people still favor to take heed to vinyl albums in their home base , the popularity of these portable cassette devices undoubtedly helped tapes outsell records for the first time in 1983 . cement its station in audio history , " Walkman " entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986 . Sony still uses the terminus to stigmatise its MP3 players , but none have enjoyed the succeeder of the original cassette player .
8: Home Video Game Systems
Given their boxy art and simple user interface , it might be hard to commend just how revolutionaryhome video game consoleswere in the 1980s . When the decennary begin , the Odyssey was still game console No . 1 . But it did n’t take long for the Atari 2600 to take over the market , with games like " Space Invaders , " " Breakout , " " Missile Command " and " armed combat . " Mattel release a competing system in 1980 call Intellivision , which sport slightly good computer graphic than its older counterpart and have the first synthesized voice in video game . Coleco jump into the fray as well , releasing the Colecovision in 1982 . These consoles featured interchangeable plot cartridges , which meant players were n’t cling with the games that came preloaded on early scheme . They were a big striking – perhaps too self-aggrandizing .
By 1983 , the once unstoppable video game industry fell onto hard time . A glut of new gaming systems and low - quality , unlicensed cartridges turned off consumers and opened the door for personal computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64 to gain a foothold in the market . Then , the home video game industry rebound in 1985 , thanks to Nintendo , a Japanese company that originally manufacturedplaying cards . It released the Nintendo Entertainment System with legendary games like " Super Mario Bros. , " " Metroid " and " The Legend of Zelda , " and license other gamey - quality games including " Contra , " " last Fantasy " and " Techmo Super Bowl . " Nintendo ’s final success of the decade was the Game Boy , expel in 1989 . The first major hand-held play system , the Game Boy opened up exciting newfangled possibility for the TV biz industry as the eighties fare to a conclusion .
7: Cabbage Patch Kids
It seems like every Christmas time of year has its " must - have " toy dog . In 1983 , it was Cabbage Patch Kids .
The doll , originally know as Little citizenry , were invented in the belated seventies by artistic production bookman and Georgia native Xavier Roberts . ab initio , they were hand-crafted and sold from BabyLand General , a flagship memory in Cleveland , Ga. , where tiddler could witness the " birthing " cognitive operation before sign theadoption papersand receive the chick ’s nativity certificate . After Roberts appear on thetelevision show"Real People " to promote his creation in 1980 , sales spiked , catching the attention of toy manufacturing business Coleco . The ship’s company begin mass - producing the dolls in 1982 under the name Cabbage Patch Kids , sell them for between $ 20 and $ 40 each ( though the handmade skirt from BabyLand had sell for about $ 125 ) .
need was so high during Christmas 1983 that stores across the nation were running out of the dolls . In some locations parent even became tearing in an effort to get their hand on one of the few chick still in caudex . By the end of 1983 , storage had sold more than 3 million Cabbage Patch Kids , and many orders remained unfilled . cut-rate sale of the dolls peaked in 1985 before falling , along with Coleco ’s fortunes . In 1988 , the company filed for failure , but since then miniature manufacturer like Hasbro , Mattel , toy " universal gas constant " Us , and act as Along Kids have carried on the steel . BabyLand General still produces the dolls for a new generation of Cabbage Patch Kids buff .
6: Rubik’s Cube
seldom does a plaything command the wide appealingness and hold up popularity of theRubik ’s Cube . formulate by Hungarian Professor Erno Rubik in 1974 , the six - sided , multicolored puzzle was earlier known as the Magic Cube . It was import to the United States by the Ideal Toy Company in 1980 , and launched at a Hollywood party hosted by Zsa Zsa Gabor .
The Rubik ’s Cube became an clamant sense datum , revel popularity among the young and old in many countries . The fad was so inescapable , in fact , that a popular payable during the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana was a Rubik ’s Cube emblazoned with the royal couple ’s image . In the three decades since the miniature first hit the shelves , more than 350 million units have been sold . Why ? accord to Rubik himself , " the great unwashed like its beauty , simple mindedness and form . It ’s really not apuzzleor atoy . It ’s a man of art . "
5: Swatch Watches
If you wanted to live what time it was in the 1980s , you probably got your information from a Swatchwatch .
In the tardy 1970s , the Swiss watch troupe Swatch struggled to sell its fine ticker , thanks to competition from digital horologist in Japan . To stick profitable , the company needed to make a more virtual , inexpensive vigil . The result image , complete in 1981 , check fewer components and total in a standard size and configuration so it could be assembled only byrobot .
Designers decide to make the watch more likable by varying the color and design of the dial and straps . The raw Swatches went on sale in 1983 for $ 35 each , and were an instantaneous success . By 1987 , Swatch had make more than 10 million watch , some of which even had odoriferous bands . Swatches had been made in more than 500 different fashion by 1992 , include the " Jellyfish , " which was completely transparent , and the " Mozart " which featured lace cuffs on the straps . Many people take to wear several styles at once , loading as many as six Swatches on their articulatio radiocarpea at the same time .
Though the designs have changed throughout the years , Swatch continues to bring about an inexpensive credit line of plastic picket ; sale totaled $ 333 million as of 2006 . Today , the 1980s styles are making a replication thanks to Swatch ’s novel Color Codes collection .
4: Hair Metal Bands
If ' 70s bands had longsighted hair , then ' 80s bands had big haircloth . At least that was the expressive style for tomentum alloy bands , whose showy manner and hard stone sound emerged from the music scene on the Los Angeles Strip . Groups like Van Halen , Twisted Sister , Motley Crue and Def Leppard rock the 1980s with more king chords and behemoth ballads than you could beckon a Bic swooning at . And while their extensive economic consumption of spandex , hairspray and composition may have intimate femininity , do n’t be fooled : In the end it was all about raunchy lyric poem , freeflowing booze and wing fling .
By the former 1990s , hair metal music lost much of its popularity thanks to the newly - strike grunge stripe like Nirvana , and never really recovered . Today , many of these acts are circumscribe to the stages of country fairs and gambling casino , but their epic guitar solos and in - your - face sexuality wo n’t presently be forgotten . In fact , hair metallic element is presently the subject of a democratic Broadway melodious , " Rock of Ages , " where barely clad women walk the aisles selling drinks and each audience appendage acquire a disposable torch to wave during the mightiness ballad .
3: Preppies
While some tiddler were playingvideo gamesand others were sway out to Poison , preppies were interfering buy chinos , talking aboutsailboat racesand checking on theirstock portfolio . The tongue - in - cheek " Official Preppy Handbook , " written by Ivy Leaguers in 1980 , popularized the style that originated among moneyed New Englanders . shortly , untried people all over the area were trying to look like the benefactors of " old money " even if they ’d never even get wind of a trust store .
Preppy wear include layered twin polos , Nantucket red canvas gasp , deck shoe , ribbon belts and sweaters generally tied about the neck – all made by companies like Ralph Lauren , Lacoste , L.L. Beanand Brooks Brothers . Lifestyle was an authoritative aspect of the preppy furore as well , so participation in sport like tennis and sailing had to at least be imply . While the preppy style has n’t always enjoyed the same story of popularity it experienced in the 1980s , we have it to thank for making Marco Polo shirts and khaki pant a part of the interior wardrobe .
2: MTV
" Ladies and gentlemen , rock and roll and roll . " Those news , speak by co - creator John Lack , mark the beginning of MTV : Music Television on Aug. 1 , 1981 . The cable system web ’s euphony - oriented scheduling featured tidings and music videos host by " video jockey , " or VJs , who anticipate viewers , " you ’ll never take care at medicine the same way again . " They were correct . The medicine industriousness quickly realized the promotional potential of music videos and began rain buckets money into their production . This focus was prove by Michael Jackson ’s 1983 picture " Thriller , " a 14 - minute feature channelize by John Landis that included a plot line , dialogue and Edgar Albert Guest visual aspect .
Capitalizing on its newfound success , MTV expanded its programming throughout the 1980s . In September 1984 it held the first MTV Video Music Awards , sport Madonna ’s provocative rendition of " Like a Virgin " in which she vagabond around the stagecoach in a wedding dress . The connection launched its first non - musical program in 1987 entitled " Remote Control , " an irreverent pop - trivia quiz show that featured Adam Sandler as a recurring dissenter . Then in 1988 " YO ! MTV Raps " hit the airwaves , popularizing hip - hop euphony by take it to a mainstream hearing . lastly , MTV get into the history business with its " MTV Rockumentary " series , which examined the career of creative person from R.E.M. and Aerosmith to Michael Jackson and the B-52s . While the 1992 program " Real World " opened the room access for today ’s extensivereality showprogramming , the 1980s will always be remembered as MTV ’s most music - centre decennary .
1: John Hughes Movies
Perhaps no one is responsible for more cult Hellenic films of the eighties than film maker John Hughes . Beginning in 1984 , Hughes pen and directed a serial of teen - themed movies that speak to the coevals that came of years during that X . His first success in the genre was " Sixteen Candles " ( 1984 ) followed by " The Breakfast Club " ( 1985 ) , " Weird Science " ( 1985 ) , " Pretty in Pink " ( 1986 ) , and " Ferris Bueller ’s Day Off " ( 1986 ) . The actors that Hughes assembled to star in these motion picture – including Molly Ringwald , Anthony Michael Hall , John Cusack , Joan Cusack , Jami Gertz , Emilio Estevez , Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy – became together with sleep together as " The Brat Pack " ( lists of who precisely is included in this " gang " change ) . Hughes also wrote National Lampoon ’s " Vacation " ( 1983 ) , " European holiday " ( 1985 ) , and " Christmas Vacation " ( 1989 ) .
After his 1990 box part success " Home Alone , " Hughes maintain a low visibility , often writing under the playpen name Edmond Dantes . woefully , he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 2009 , but not before leaving us with some of the most beloved movies of the 1980s .
