We were wearing: Poofy shoulder pads in everything — shirts, jackets, sweaters — Members Only jackets, skin-tight acid-washed jeans, miniskirts, leggings and leg warmers — sometimes together — and off-the-shoulder shirts and sweatshirts with the sleeves cut off, both ripped from the movie “Flashdance.” To complete the look — Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, Swatch watches in bright neon colors and slap bracelets — all of which still court favor today.
We cut our hair: Flat top or blow-dried long for guys; poofed up high or short and spikey for gals.
We were listening to: Big hair and glam rock bands like Mötley Crüe, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison, Europe, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. And we were embracing thee burgeoning punk and garage rock scene — that’s Jane’s Addiction, left, playing the UA student union in 1987. But we also loved Madonna and Michael Jackson, hip-hop (Grandmaster Flash, anyone?) and music with a cause — Artists United Against Apartheid (“Sun City”) and the global Live Aid concert to raise money for and awareness about famine in Ethiopia.
We were eating: Tiny, dressed up fanciful bites crafted with some ingenuity sitting on a big plate to make it look even smaller and priced at four-star-resort rates. And when the bite — given the sophisticated name nouvelle cuisine — failed to fill us up, we answered the old lady’s call of “Where’s the beef?” and pulled into the Wendy’s drive-through for a double-stack Hot ‘n’ Juicy.
We were called: Yuppies, shorthand for young upwardly-mobile professionals. And the world revolved around, or at least we thought it should.
We were watching: “Back to the Future,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Flashdance” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” on the big screen; and “Seinfeld,” “Family Ties,” “Three’s Company,” “Dallas” and “Dynasty” on the small screen.
We were playing with: The Nintendo Entertainment System at home and Donkey Kong, Frogger and Pac-Man in the arcade. And Super Mario Brothers was everywhere, on the home system and in the arcade. By the end of the decade, Nintendo released the hand-held Gameboy and revolutionized video gaming.
