I received this from one of my cousins. It gave no author or credit, but if it's yours and you want it off my page, you know where to find me. Here goes:
CHILDREN OF THE EIGHTIES
Author Unknown
We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first "lost generation"; in fact, we think we know just where we stand--or are discovering it as we speak. We are the ones who played with Lego Building Blocks
when they were just building blocks and gave Malibu Barbies crewcuts with safety scissors that never really cut. We collected Garbage Pail
Kids and Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Ponies and Hot Wheels and He-Man action figures and thought She-Ra looked just a little bit like I would when I was a woman. Big Wheels and bicycles with streamers were the way to go, and sidewalk chalk was all you needed to build a city. Imagination was the key. It made the Ewok treehouse big enough for you to be Luke and the kitchen table and an old sheet dark enough to be an old forest.
Your world was the back yard, and it was all you needed. With your pink portable tape player, Debbie Gibson sang back up to you and everyone wanted a skirt like the material girl and a glove like Michael Jackson's. Today, we are the ones who sing along with Bruce Springsteen and the Bangles perfectly and have no idea why.
We recite lines with the Ghostbusters and still look to The Goonies for a great adventure. We flip through TV stations and stop at the A-Team and Knight Rider
and Fame and laugh with the Cosby Show and Family Ties and Punky Brewster and "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" We hold strong affections for The Muppets and The Gummi Bears and why did they take The Smurfs off the air? After school specials were nothing like Barney, and aren't the Power Rangers just Voltron reincarnated?
We are the ones who still read Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Cleary, and Judy Blume, Richard Scary and the Electric Company. Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn't break and friendship pins went on shoes--preferably hightop Velcro Reeboks--and pegged jeans were in, as were Units belts and layered socks and jean jackets and jams and charm bracelets and side ponytails and just tails. Rave was a girl's best friend; braces with colored rubber bands made you cool.
The back door was always open, and mom served only red Kool-Aid to the neighborhood kids--never drank New Coke. Entertainment was cheap and lasted for hours. All you needed to be a princess was high heels and an apron; the Sit'n'Spin always made you dizzy but never made you stop; Pogoballs were dangerous weapons and Chinese Jump Ropes never failed to trip someone. In your Underoos you were Wonder Woman or Spider Man or R2D2 and in your treehouse you were king.
In the Eighties, nothing was wrong. Did you know the President was shot? Star Wars was not only a movie. Did you ever play in a bomb shelter? Did you see the Challenger explode or feed the homeless man? We forgot Vietnam and watched Tiananman's Square on CNN and bought pieces of the Berlin Wall at the store. AIDS was not the number one killer in the United States. We didn't start the fire, Billy Joel. In the Eighties, we redefined the American Dream, and those years defined us. We are the generation in between strife and facing strife and not turning our backs. The Eighties may have made us idealistic, but it's that idealism that will push us and be passed on to our children--the first children of the twenty-first century.
Never forget: We are the children of the Eighties.
If this is familiar, you are one of us . . . pass it on to all the others.
Although I was born in 1979 and was still little during the 80's, I find it was the best time for music. They just don't make bands like those hair boys anymore. Lucky for me a radio station out here (The Hog) has a whole 2 hours devoted to them each weekend on the House of Hair. And if that weren't enough, they have 2 of the BEST DJ's working the morning show. They are relatively clueless about music - they leave that to those "rocking teens" - but they've been relatively supportive of Def Leppard. So I have to love them.
And more recently on my internet wanderings, I found a website for that once so great magazine, Metal Edge. Now of course, it's Paul's baby instead of Gerry's but the site does have a bulletin board and chat room so you can talk to all those others stuck in the great metal of the 80's. And if you've got a great sense of humor, see the site that pokes fun at all those hair boys of the 80's - Metal Sludge.
A few of my favorite 80's bands and links.
Bon Jovi
A Heartland Bon Jovi Page A site in geocities. Includes links.
The official Bon Jovi web page. Includes photo gallery, discography, and info for joining a mailing list.
Cyndi Lauper
The Lauperzone Just found this one. Haven't explored it all!
Cyndi Lauper - Page After Page A complete look at Cyndi. I was blown away at how much this site had.
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