When you think of the 80's what springs to mind? Fashion? Music? Technology? When I think of the 80's of course music springs to mind, but another thing that made the 80's popular, to me, was hair.
Not the musical, just hair. Big hair. Big, Giant, Hair.
I love big hair (and I cannot lie) There is something completely demonstrative about big hair. It is saying, “Hey! Look at me! I spent 2 hours in the bathroom doing my hair and I don't care who knows it”
Did I have big hair in the 80's? Yes, but only the latter part of the 80's. It was more a combination of big bangs with a big perm, kind of like this ;)
Now I have no idea who this lovely young lady is, but she definitely fits the bill for big hair :)
So that was an example of MY big hair in the 80's. I loved it. Yes it was time consuming, yes I spent tons of cash on hair-styling products, yes I'm sure the reason why most of my hair has fallen out now is due to the over use of Aqua Net, but hey! It was the 80's! I was not going to be out done. If you look closely, you can see her enormous shoulder pads ;) but that's another blog entirely.
One of the 80's style innovations that I did not care for were hair crimpers. You cannot make me believe that those things were not dangerous. Don't know what a hair crimper is? I'll show you.
I know, looks harmless enough, but we are talking metal and heat on hair. The horror stories alone made me shy away from this sophisticated apparatus. It was originally invented in 1972 by a hair stylist working with Barbara Streisand. Brave Woman! Now if done properly, the hair is supposed to look something like this.
Or a reasonable facsimile. Let's move on with 80's Innovation number 2.
My second choice for innovations of the 80's is something I saw in a movie. The CD player. Mind you when I saw it in the film, it was night and dark and I couldn't actually get a proper view. So I had to go to a trusted electronics store to make a better evaluation. Radio Shack!
Look at the size of this thing! You know it had to weigh at least ten pounds, if not more :) This one is a 1982 version. Somehow I was trapped in a time bubble and didn't see one until 1987. How bizarre? I wasn't sure that I liked it however and told myself that I didn't need anything that cumbersome and bulky sitting around my house. Says the woman who still owns a VHS player. It was pretty amazing though and listening to music on it was fantastic! I'm sure there are a lot of people who still have some of the original versions. Lord Bless Em!
My final innovation of the 80's is a bit more near and dear to my heart. Mainly because it is about my children. Who are near and dear to my heart :)
One fine Tax Return Day in the 80's, my children pleaded with me to purchase a Nintendo. I should say my eldest son did the pleading, the younger ones were back up pleaders. They figured it must be something they need to have if their elder brother is willing to go through such great lengths to get my attention.
So, I gave in and bought one. It truthfully didn't look like anything I had ever seen before. We never owned an Atari, so I couldn't compare it to that. I felt as though I had to oversee any game playing just in case there was any unnecessary tomfoolery involved. Needless to say there was going to be plenty of that. After all we are dealing with children!
The picture above, is what we purchased originally. Every so often, we would have to get a new game as well, there's only so many ducks one can hunt. Mario Bros proved to be interesting enough, if you were willing to help him jump everywhere to rescue the Princess from Bowser? Its all a blur, you are more than welcome to correct me in the comments below.
Legend of Zelda was another good one. Mind you I was never good at ANY of these games. I have no idea what the problem was. I know practice makes perfect, but practice also makes one lose their minds after awhile because they are just not getting it!
Until.....Tetris.
Now, I have found something that I can play. Tetris was and still is amazing, I think there are still various versions of it going around. But I can say I played the original. Not sure if the picture represents the original, but it will do for now.
As everyone knows, this game is HIGHLY addictive. I never realized how addictive it was until I started to gain ground on my levels. I was becoming a master builder, lol! I remember being on level 11 thinking..okay, today is the day I get to level 12. Now mind you some of you are snickering under your breath, (I'm a Mom, I can hear you) but 11 was a big deal. Level 1 on Mario Bros, forever, I might have made it to level 2 accidentally. Legend of Zelda, forever at Level 3. I think I'm still there.
Tetris was different. It was my friend, it wanted me to win. All I had to do was dedicate every waking moment to perfect my skills. One day, I had played from the time my kids left at 8 in the morning until they got home at 3:30 in the afternoon. I had done nothing all day but play Tetris. And through all that, I didn't even make it to level 12.
Needless to say my kids thought that was weird and a bit funny. I thought I needed serious help. It was time to leave the video games to the kids after that. At least until my Breath of Fire conquests in the Super Nintendo Game System, but that as they say, is another story :)
I hope you all enjoyed my trips down innovation memory lane today. Please be sure to check out our collaborations with these fine folks below. Thank you all again for listening to our podcasts and leaving such kind reviews and remarks. Your support is greatly appreciated.
That's it for me, Ciao for Now!
PS., The title Brickless in the 80's is referencing the fact that I did not choose to blog about the first mobile phone, nicknamed The Brick. I am hoping someone in the group did. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?, Bueller....?
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80s Innovations
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