I Lived the 80s: A Gen X Life and the Pop Culture That Defined It

Gen X is the “forgotten generation.” We made our own meals after school and Saturday mornings, we got dirty, played miles away from home with no way to reach us, we told offensive jokes, we built and jumped bike ramps, broke bones and drank from garden hoses, we had three network channels, we didn’t “mediate” with bullies—we kicked their asses, we had land lines, house phones and cordless phones that you could beat someone with, MTV showed music videos, Steven Spielberg and Michael Jackson ruled, we knew who we were gonna call, girls had big hair, guys popped their collars, there were clogs, and penny loafers, you chose Beta or VHS at the video store, high school lunch could be hell, we partied like it was 1999, teachers were off the wall, we had nerds, preps, stoners, burners, geeks, jocks, we drank Malt Duck, White Mountain wine coolers and Mickey’s Big Mouths, we got our permits at 15 and learned to drive on stick shift, the malls were our hangouts. There was no Internet or social media.

And we liked it.

(Oh yeah, we also had AIDS, terrorism, crack, racism, homophobia, subway shootings, cocaine, corrupt politicians, pollution, book banning, political correctness, TV preachers, climate change, stranger danger and Can’t Stop the Music.)