The Gay 80s

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I turned the TV to TBS expecting the Braves/Phillies game and was greeted by Tom Sellek, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson playing frisbee in short-shorts while a song in the background played about their love for the baby(obviously it was Three Men and a Baby). I lived the first 8 years of my life in the 80s and I can't remember the decade being this homosexual. Was I too young to see the inevidable ghey surrounding me in this era? I'm looking to older board members like Inca, and Agent of Oblivion for the answers to this.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

All I remember about the 80s is that I had a couple of really cool Garbage Pail Kids shirts that grossed out all the girls and made me the envy of all the boys in the 3rd grade.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

And that teachers could and would physically manhandle students without the fear of lawsuits. I was a good kid, though.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Big memories from the 80's include my favorite band being Glass Tiger, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just came out and took control of my soul. Mariah Carey was the first cassette I ever owned, followed up shortly by Maestro Fresh Wes' "Symphony In Effect"

[Red Baron 0]

80's...

 

Best musical decade ever.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Until 1990-1999.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Did both Don Johnson AND Philip Michael Thomas release albums from 1990-1999?

 

I didn't think so.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I remember that the Nintendo Entertainment System cost $215 when it hit the market in 1985. I didn't get one until two years later; it came with Super Mario Bros, while my mom also got me Kung Fu and The Legend of Zelda.

 

I remember being in awe of Tone Loc's "Wild Thing," mainly because I'd never really heard such a dirty song before, especially on the radio. Around this time, I acquired Prince's Purple Rain on cassette, though the masturbation reference in "Darling Nikki" went over my prepubescent head. That Prince tape, by the way, was the only "cool" musical item in small cassette collection. I also had Europe's The Final Countdown and the David Lee Roth solo album, Skyscraper.

 

And Wham!'s Make it Big. "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" was the jam back in the day.

[Guest slacklet]

Paula Abdul's video for Opposites Attract was the bomb-tizzle.

 

 

Who the hell didn't want to be that cat?

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I have many fond 80's memories from wrestling. That, and my cabbage patch kid named Joel. Fuck he ruled.

[razazteca 0]

The 80s, oh, what a decade of gayness it was. It was one confusing as hell time period to live in. If you thought Metrosexual was bad well you need to go back in the day when everybody in a band wanted to be Friends of Dorthey or Nancy Boys. Now some people were legit cocksuckers as in the case of Boy George (Culture Club) and George Michaels (Wham!) but there were also the cross dressers who only liked to look pretty oh so pretty i.e. Twisted Sister and New York Dolls who only did it as a gimmick and then every other damn loser band from the LA Strip in the mid-late 80s wanted long hair and mascara.

 

There were also suspect artist from the UK like The Cure's Robert Smith who had the gay looking hair and eye makeup and sang like a pussy about his feelings and such but never knew if he was gay or what..........so I the conclusion was that he was too depressed to be gay but he was still British so he will forever be suspect. Other suspects would be mullet wearing power ballad piano playing singing pop artist like Richard Marx or freestyle acts like Stevie B. "Because I love you". Real men dont sound like pussys while singing.

 

If you did not use a full can of Aqua Net hair spray and you were in a band during the 80s you were a nobody.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I just remember posters in my school showing how many times the U.S. and U.S.S.R could blow up the world...

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The New York Dolls were from the 70s and no one ever really questioned Robert Smith's sexuality. That was more for Morrissey, but the Smiths never achieved the stateside commercial success of the Cure.

[razazteca 0]

Come on Robert Smith had his hair sticking up like a 80s mallrat girl with mascara! WTF was Smith too goth to be gay?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Goth didn't necessarily equate gay. And Robert Smith's sexuality was a non-issue in light of the much more obv. homosexualness of Boy George.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

I don't think you people understood where I was going with this thread. That's my fault. I'm asking if the era was trying to subtly mold us all into effeminate homosexuals. I look back to the 50s and see their pop culture appeared to make people realise that being nerds was ok. The 60s came about and with it rebellion. The 70s preached love and bad hygeine. Then there's the 80s.

 

My memories of the pop culture are the subtle attempts of the American government using cartoons to make us hate their enemies. GI Joe is the perfect example for this. You see GI Joe were "All American Heroes" and the good guys shown by the use of their calming blue lasers, while the Cobras were the bad guys which could be shown through their hate filled red lasers. The Cobras leaders often had Russian accents(like the Twins and that Woman) along with some that looked like Mid-Eastern decent.

 

I also have memories of break dancing, florecent colors, short shorts, and alot of vinyl clothing. All of which is really gay.

 

So what the hell were the 80s trying to mold me into?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

The early 90s had a great fondess for garish clothing, too, which resulted in the popularity of neon as a fashion statement. Check any hip hop video circa '91 for proof.

 

Questionable fashion sense was the order of the day, is all. It's nothing like the Queer Eye and metrosexuality of popular culture in the 21st century; if anything, the 80s were the most conservative decade since the 50s.

[razazteca 0]

The 80s wanted to mold u into either a power hungry trophy wife having Yuppie or a faggot. As you can see the govt was successful in it quest as the current pop culture is suggesting that you should be metrosexual or be a full on cocksucker and get married.

[Guest slacklet]

So what the hell were the 80s trying to mold me into?

[razazteca 0]

And the baseball game is on FOX.

[Slayer 0]

[alfdogg 0]

Word, yo.

[Red Baron 0]

Until 1990-1994.

1995-1999 Should null what came out in 1990-1994

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

In my realm of thought, anything released from 90-94 is good enough to do me for 2 decades of utter shit.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

The Cobras leaders often had Russian accents(like the Twins and that Woman)

You're 1/2 right - Tomax and Xamot didn't have Russian accents. Baroness did, however.

[Zorin Industries 0]

 

I miss this

[haVoc 0]

Bright colorful clothes that didn't match and fit too tight. Especially tight jeans on guys.

 

Short bathing suit shorts.

 

Guys wearing spandex shorts.

 

Guys wearing loose tank tops.

 

Guys wearing half/belly shirts.

 

Guys cuffing the bottom of their jeans.

 

Sweat pants pulled up to your knees.

 

The TV show FAME

 

Women wanting to look manly with their shoulder pads.

 

Fringe (I think that's the word) on jackets.

 

Michael Jackson and Webster.

[razazteca 0]

Sweat pants pulled up to your knees.

One leg only! Why did black people do that?

 

Michael Jackson and Webster.

Both of them were black.

 

Guys wearing spandex shorts.

Bike shorts!

 

Fringe (I think that's the word) on jackets.

Men wearing Members Only jackets as if it was a shirt was worse.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Sweat pants pulled up to your knees.

One leg only! Why did black people do that?

Where I come from having one pant leg pulled up to your knee means you have a gun. Having a tear drop tattoo located near your eye means you lost a fellow gang member. This has nothing to do with the 80s though.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

80's...

 

Best musical decade ever.

Ahem, *points to sig*