Because history repeats itself, I offer a look back at the last time

[Warpy]

the world went completely bonkers from our friends at the BBC as a way to warn people who might not remember this bullshit a look at what we're likely in for: no talent music, wankers from Wharton making seven figure salaries on Wall Street and shoving their superiority into our faces, pretentiousness, bad hair, and probably a few riots here and there.

(Oh well, at least we missed Spit the Dog and Roland Rat)

[lambchopp59]

1. I believe only the unchecked greed portion of the 80's may be regurgitated

Being a starving early Gen-X'er college student, I could not participate in the deficit spending madness indulgence by the pretentious nuevo-riche, and I'm glad for that. Ray-gunner late boomers playing bash the poor along with Ronnie, those of my ilk who were forced to shop at the thrift store for clothes didn't find "Second Hand Rose's" snub at all entertaining.
Pell Grants were being cut. Perkins loan program rates going exorbitant. CEO pay was quadrupling every quarter. And both my older "earned their doctorate at university" brothers had done so 10 years earlier on less per month than I was paying rent.
There were some lasting great stuff: The 1960's revival band B-52's out of Atlanta! Their deep tracks far better than the noisy stuff that got overplayed. Sade and just about all the smooth jazz "soft and warm, the quiet storm" of the period was top notch... I miss that terribly and sad much of it went semi-rap. I kind of miss my anti-shock knock-off walkman, actually, and the fanny pack I carried it in on my bicycle. The CD players to replace them far too bulky, too chintzy and had problems from the 3rd CD you played on them till they quit.
Pride parades turned into funeral marches for a while, and finally resumed being fun again. I'm still proud of our gay forefronters who came out long before that became blase. It was fully fuck you all in your face to the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority who proved themselves neither moral nor really christian, just more greed. That one seems to be trying desperately to repeat itself.
People were sleeping on the streets in exponential numbers having been booted by Ronnie from the mental facilities now defunded who had no more business trying to care for themselves than a helpless stray cat. But the cats got more funding for help.
I'll give this one more tribute. Deep funk "Let me see you groove it on the dance floor, bay beeeee" and "whats the word, the word up" was pounding from every boom box on campus. It was rap transition that was dance-able and not just testosterone driven egocentric stuff that rattled doors of drive-by intimidators. Sad that Roger and Larry shot each other, they were on a roll. Blackmon's codpiece was fun. Yet the same stations that had fun with this stuff only clunkity clunkity clunkity clunked and got angry through the 90's and lost much of it's sexy fun forever.

[Warpy]

3. I was a nurse and left Boston because more than half my income

which wasn't a bad income, was going to rent. Clearly, this was nuts. I took a big pay cut and landed in NM. I remember watching how all the Reagan riches, wasted money, yuppie money, was going to self aggrandizement like gentrification projects in formerly hip neighborhoods, pushing people out into the street in favor of tuning brownstone rooming houses into brownstone mansions for two yuppies and maybe one rug rat.

I hated the 80s with the furious passion of a thousand white hot supernovae. I do agree the music wasn't all bad as long as you stayed away from pop, which is usually awful.

[pfitz59]

2. I spent the '80's in a Tropical daze

3 years in Hawaii, 3 in Florida and 3 in Puerto Rico. Was a freaking blast!