2 hours ago
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The '80s get remembered arsenic a neon-soaked decennary of MTV, large hair, and endless optimism. But for a batch of radical who really lived done it, the world was a batch messier than the nostalgia suggests. When u/Personal-Cattle-1737 asked r/GenerationJones — a subreddit for those calved betwixt 1954 and 1965 — what being a young big successful the '80s was truly like, the answers were each implicit the map. Some radical retrieve it arsenic the champion clip of their lives — inexpensive concerts, creation clubs, and a benignant of state that doesn't beryllium anymore. Others retrieve recession, cockroach-infested apartments, AIDS, and the changeless fearfulness that it could each extremity successful a atomic flash. Most radical said it was some astatine the aforesaid time. Here's what they had to say:
1. "Lots of hard enactment with debased pay. The aboriginal '80s had a horrible recession successful the US. I was moving 3 jobs to wage for college."
2. "Fun. Really fun. Social media was TV and radio. You could portion astatine 18. I was connected apical of the world. I could bash oregon beryllium anything, inactive tin but for property requirements. Had large friends and family. I moved to caller cities and states. Had a car and a job. Lots of sex, music, and liquor. There were nary radical judging maine connected societal media, nary cameras pointed everywhere, and nary 1 but the radical I was eating with saw my food."
3. "Well, we were each going to dice successful a atomic firestorm with betwixt 7 minutes (sub-launched) and 11 minutes (land-launched) warning. President Grandpa had Alzheimer's and decided to invade a Caribbean land with a colonisation of astir 5,000 people. The rainfall was acidic capable to termination disconnected the food colonisation of full lakes. Then, conscionable to enactment the cherry connected top, each of my friends started getting sick with bizarre conditions that cipher had ever heard of."
4. "It was conscionable brilliant. The unrecorded euphony alone! You could spot caller wave, funk, punk — truthful galore types of astonishing euphony for cheap!"
5. "I entered assemblage successful 1980, and past Reagan was elected. I was dirt-poor passim assemblage — ne'er bought immoderate caller apparel oregon caller shoes the full time, took retired the max successful pupil loans, and had to commencement taking retired regular loans. No car. For a mates of years, I would tally retired of wealth astatine the extremity of each period and tally retired of food, truthful the past mates of days, I would conscionable fast. In my past year, I managed to bargain a precise utilized vehicle, which helped maine get amended jobs, but I ended up surviving successful it 3 times for abbreviated periods — it was a motortruck with a shell. The houses I lived successful during assemblage were wild: floors sinking, radical surviving successful cellars, leaking, works beingness increasing done the walls. Actually, 1 of the reasons I went backmost for my master's successful 1986 was that they offered maine a paid probe adjunct presumption and waived tuition and fees, and that looked similar a mode to past for a mates of years."
6. "It sucked if you were poor. I couldn't spend a car. Rode my motorcycle to enactment successful skirts, nylons, and debased heels — due to the fact that you couldn't spell bare-legged to an bureau job. And wellness security sucked; thing preventative wasn't covered, and the deductible was high. Things got amended successful the precocious '80s. I moved to Los Angeles, got a secondhand econobox, and a occupation with HMO insurance, but was inactive poor-ish and inactive had to deterioration nylons. Now I person a well-paying bureau occupation and deterioration jeans and Chucks to work. My '80s aforesaid would beryllium truthful jealous."
7. "You could spend a tiny flat adjacent connected a starter salary. I had a workplace flat for little than $500 a month. I had a large time."
8. "It outgo $11.50 to spot Judas Priest successful their prime. Minimum wage astatine the clip was $3.35, truthful this performance was 3 hours of labor. Not atrocious erstwhile you deliberation astir it. We would spell to 7 oregon 8 shows each summertime for nether a 100 bucks. Now, 7 oregon 8 shows outgo $1,000 to $2,000. All the large stone bands were successful their premier astatine the time, too."
9. "The euphony was a soundtrack to the times. It was bouncy amusive with tons of colors and style. B-52's, Devo, Love and Rockets, Madness, the Go-Go's. MTV really played large euphony videos. Ah, and Djarums — the clove cigarettes were each over."
10. "I started assemblage successful 1979. That meant penning papers connected a typewriter. Doing probe successful a library. VCRs were excessively expensive, but I saw tons of large movies successful the theater. No thought what was going connected politically. Didn't person a car. Took the autobus oregon cabs. Video games were a 4th successful the arcade. No location video games yet, either. Frankly, we had a blast!"
11. "I'm truthful sick of proceeding 'things were cleanable for boomers, nary 1 tin adjacent unrecorded now.' We lived successful a third-story walkup with roaches and nary AC for six years. Had 2 babies there. Finally bought a location — got the down outgo from his parents erstwhile his begetter died, and his parent had to travel unrecorded with america — with an 11.25% mortgage, and my hubby virtually worked 5 jobs portion I took attraction of the kids, the house, and his parent with Alzheimer's."
12. "We were beauteous definite we were going to dice successful a atomic holocaust, truthful we snuck a batch of beer, smoked weed, watched MTV aft the parents went to bed, and hoped similar hellhole that someday we could spend assemblage and get a existent job. Not that we are bitter oregon thing — y'all person it worse."
13. "Healthcare was costly and beauteous debased quality. My young woman should not person died from bosom cancer. Everyone knew idiosyncratic killed by AIDS. The fiscal situation caused by the Reagan administration's slope deregulation wiped retired the savings of tens of millions of young radical conscionable getting connected their feet. The affluent got richer disconnected of it. I had to commencement over."
14. "It sometimes took a week to get your pictures backmost from the photograph developer."
15. "Imagine going to immoderate barroom oregon nine with a unrecorded set and it being crowded. Weird conception now. The lone occupation was that cigaret fume was everywhere."
16. "I lived successful Washington, DC. You could person a day connected the steps of the Capitol astatine midnight connected a lukewarm summertime night. 9/11 was acold successful the future. The euphony was awesome. If you embarrassed yourself, each you had to bash was abstracted yourself from the radical that knew astir it, and you could wholly reinvent yourself. There was nary integer grounds of anything. Alcohol and cocaine were the drugs of choice. Weed was for losers and precocious schoolhouse kids. Cigarettes were everyplace — you could fume successful planes, restaurants, malls, and infirmary rooms. It had lone precocious been banned successful market stores. Singles bars were a thing. We went retired and spoke to the other enactment face-to-face. We flirted and rejected successful existent time. Hooking up was muddy. Waking up with a virtual alien was not unheard of. Sometimes 1 enactment thought it was the commencement of a romance, and the different conscionable wanted to spell and caregiver their hangover successful peace."
17. "Loved the creation clubs — they had truthful galore successful England, and a large 1 present successful Southeast Pennsylvania called Pulsations. You'd conscionable caller radical each clip you went out. It was a fantastic clip for concerts. Both classical stone bands that were not excessively aged and upcoming under-the-radar post-punk bands."
18. "I was a assemblage pupil done astir of the 1980s — grad school, too. I utilized to spell to Hamburger Mary's to survey successful the afternoons. The waiters didn't caput maine nursing a cupful of java for hours erstwhile it was slow, and determination was conscionable capable going connected to marque it a large spot for studying. After a mates of years, extremity jars started appearing for guys who were truly sick. Then for the funerals. This went connected for a while, and I thought they conscionable had friends who had the atrocious luck of getting crab young. Nope, it was the commencement of the AIDS epidemic. Scary times. And heartbreaking. FYI, Hamburger Mary's was good known arsenic being a cheery establishment. Another crushed I liked going determination arsenic a young pistillate was that the waiters knew maine but weren't funny successful me. It was nice. I tried to extremity good adjacent though I was a beauteous mediocre student."
19. "Tuition astatine the authorities flagship assemblage was $365 a semester. Minimum wage was $3.35 an hour, and my member and I divided a two-bedroom for $250 a month. We were poor, but we'd bargain a keg of brew for $40 and merchantability cups for a dollar. Mexican weed was $40 an ounce, and we grew our ain successful the summer. We protested Reagan and nukes, raged against the frat boys, and pogoed astatine punk clubs that charged $2 entry. Black Flag, Flaming Lips, Camper Van Beethoven, Lucinda Williams, and large barroom bands you ne'er heard of played successful our small upland town. Life felt a batch gentler successful those days, and radical seemed kinder. We made mistakes, but forgiving them felt easier due to the fact that everything wasn't recorded connected phones."
20. "Everyone I knew was broke, but we someway managed to scrape unneurotic capable wealth for weed, beer, shrooms, albums, and a performance present and there. Usually, we stayed in, watched MTV, listened to music, oregon laughed astatine Jim and Tammy and different televangelists. New Coke was a large woody successful the summertime of '85. Thursday nights were 10-cent good drinks astatine the champion cheery barroom successful town, with a $5 cover. AIDS was a acheronian unreality hanging implicit the decade. Everyone mislaid friends — those of america successful the life. That portion was truly bittersweet and depressing."
21. "Both ends of the spectrum for me. High schoolhouse people of '80, graduated astatine property 17, and was retired connected my ain from past on. Sex, drugs, stone 'n' roll? Absolutely. Mostly weed and alcohol, a small LSD. Pitchers were $2 astatine my section brew hall, and I could portion legally from property 18. Cheap and plentiful unrecorded euphony — Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Dire Straits, Adam Ant, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the database goes on. Economically, though, the '80s were truly hard. My small-town rent was $230 a month, which was much than 30% of my take-home wage — minimum wage was $3.35 an hour. I lived successful a second-floor walkup with nary insulation, a azygous heater successful the kitchen, and cockroaches that the landlord couldn't beryllium bothered to exterminate. I worked successful a dirty, noisy, unsafe insubstantial mill. The AIDS epidemic was some heartbreaking and terrifying. Throw successful a bid of abusive boyfriends, shitty apartments, and unreliable cars, and determination were immoderate hard times."
22. "I was an 18-year-old azygous ma — had my girl successful '82. My '80s consisted of horrible jobs, walking and taking the autobus to assemblage and work, washing cloth diapers by hand, tons of beans and baloney to agelong our nutrient budget. I graduated with my bachelor's due to the fact that the Title XX artifact assistance helped wage for childcare, and determination were inexpensive apartments adjacent my schoolhouse — $150 a period for students, $200 for non-students. It was a dump, but I ne'er would've made it without those 2 immense money-saving factors. Of course, the authorities eliminated childcare assistance for acquisition successful the '90s. But I was capable to get retired of the unspeakable rhythm of debased wages and nationalist assistance — it's astir intolerable now. I graduated successful '89 and gave back, moving successful societal services to go self-sufficient."
23. "It was radical. I worked successful the mailroom of a large corp successful New York City and coiled up sleeping with the CEO's wife, past utilizing intel from her and my mailroom gig to orchestrate a palmy hostile takeover. Wait — that wasn't me. That was Michael J. Fox successful The Secret of My Success. In the '80s, what I really did was enactment a bid of dead-end menial jobs successful a bullshit Midwestern suburb, stroke bong hits retired of my parents' basement window, and stone disfigured jeans with galore superfluous zippers. But benignant of the same, yeah?"
What was your acquisition of the '80s? Were you surviving your champion life, hardly scraping by, oregon determination successful between? And if you weren't astir for it, what amazed you astir astir these responses? Share successful the comments below.
Note: Responses person been edited for length/clarity.
English (US) ·