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Yes, I KNOW it ended in 1989. The thing is, the 60s didn't begin in 1960, and didn't really end in 1970 either. Most people would agree 1961 was the "Fifties" in everything but what was on the calendar.
I was born in 1990, and when I encounter things from my birth year, they seem pretty 80s. I can remember 1994-1999 and 1990 seems alien compared to those years. From what I can tell 1990 was the last year of 80s excess, big hair, being pre-digital, etc.
For the START of the 80s, the 70s/disco era seemed to end in 1980, maybe even 1979, but then again you don't get that Duran Duran 80s feel until 1982 or 1983. I'd say the "true 80s" is 1982-1990, and 1980, 1981 and 1991 could be "fringe" with the other decades.
Economically? At some point in time after the start of the New Millennium.
Culturally? Probably sometime in the early 1990s or--at the very latest--in the mid 1990s.
Politically? Either on December 25, 1991 or on January 20, 1993.
I very much agree with this assessment. I would say the echoes of the 70s were a lot stronger in 1980 than the echoes of the 80s were in 1990. I think the debut of MTV rapidly accelerated the spread of a true 80s culture due to the fact that the music and fashion could be seen so readily in a way that wasn't before possible. I can remember a show like "Solid Gold" (intent on prolonging 70s culture into the 80s) would have had a much more pervasive effect on culture if not for the rapid expansion of cable TV.
As you said, what I think of as true 80s music, fashion, television, and politics didn't make it six months past Bush's inauguration. Even prior to grunge, by 1989 it seemed as if hair bands just stopped wearing their make up and Bon Jovi went "country and western". Rap artists on the East Coast stopped being "street" with fat gold chains and boom boxes and started either wearing suits or became real "earthy". The concept of an R&B band with a lead singer and actual instrument playing members fell apart all together. What used to be 80s pop now all had this tinge of "house music" about it. Madonna, Whitney Houston, Prince, Tears for Fears etc. all lacked the upbeat energy of their pre-1989 tracks.
By 1989, your consummate TV families on the Cosby Show, Family Ties, Growing Pains, etc. all saw the originally cute, youngest cast members become teenagers and the shows would take on new young cast members making these very 80s families now seem dysfunctional. Fashion in 1989 became baggier than in the true 1980s but not in a cool 1991-Carhartt, Columbia, Timberland kind of way. Think MC Hammer pants!
In my assessment, from roughly the summer of 1989 all the way through summer of 1991 was the transition between the true 1980s and the true 1990s culture. Politically, the Berlin Wall fell and by the end of 1991 the Soviet Union was no more. This was a radical global shift to say that the entire "Second World" no longer existed (You could now no longer even refer to the "first world" and "third world" with any accuracy; that was profound!). But I can definitely say by this time 25 years ago when I was Christmas shopping, all vestiges of the 1980s were dead. Look at this Billboard list:
Yeah there was quite a few 1980s artists on this chart, but in name only. Their styles in fashion and music had completely changed. The 1990s were about Boyz II Men and Nirvana and their was no turning back by this time 25 years ago.
Will I'm very glad you agree with me. I could give you one assessment which between the summer of 1979 and the winter of 1980-81, there was a big cultural transition there. Disco was surely dying, and if you look at Disco Demolition Night of 1979 that right there could be the first step out of the 70s. Disco might of stuck around a little in 1980 but it was falling out of favor for sure, and by 1981 disco was really out. Synthpop was actually becoming the norm in 1981, and if you listen to "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, you'll immediately notice how 80s it is. Even by the fall of 1980, New Wave was really kicking in. We were really getting out of the 70s then.
I very much agree with this assessment. I would say the echoes of the 70s were a lot stronger in 1980 than the echoes of the 80s were in 1990. I think the debut of MTV rapidly accelerated the spread of a true 80s culture due to the fact that the music and fashion could be seen so readily in a way that wasn't before possible. I can remember a show like "Solid Gold" (intent on prolonging 70s culture into the 80s) would have had a much more pervasive effect on culture if not for the rapid expansion of cable TV.
As you said, what I think of as true 80s music, fashion, television, and politics didn't make it six months past Bush's inauguration. Even prior to grunge, by 1989 it seemed as if hair bands just stopped wearing their make up and Bon Jovi went "country and western". Rap artists on the East Coast stopped being "street" with fat gold chains and boom boxes and started either wearing suits or became real "earthy". The concept of an R&B band with a lead singer and actual instrument playing members fell apart all together. What used to be 80s pop now all had this tinge of "house music" about it. Madonna, Whitney Houston, Prince, Tears for Fears etc. all lacked the upbeat energy of their pre-1989 tracks.
By 1989, your consummate TV families on the Cosby Show, Family Ties, Growing Pains, etc. all saw the originally cute, youngest cast members become teenagers and the shows would take on new young cast members making these very 80s families now seem dysfunctional. Fashion in 1989 became baggier than in the true 1980s but not in a cool 1991-Carhartt, Columbia, Timberland kind of way. Think MC Hammer pants!
In my assessment, from roughly the summer of 1989 all the way through summer of 1991 was the transition between the true 1980s and the true 1990s culture. Politically, the Berlin Wall fell and by the end of 1991 the Soviet Union was no more. This was a radical global shift to say that the entire "Second World" no longer existed (You could now no longer even refer to the "first world" and "third world" with any accuracy; that was profound!). But I can definitely say by this time 25 years ago when I was Christmas shopping, all vestiges of the 1980s were dead. Look at this Billboard list:
Yeah there was quite a few 1980s artists on this chart, but in name only. Their styles in fashion and music had completely changed. The 1990s were about Boyz II Men and Nirvana and their was no turning back by this time 25 years ago.
Will I'm very glad you agree with me. I could give you one assessment which between the summer of 1979 and the winter of 1980-81, there was a big cultural transition there. Disco was surely dying, and if you look at Disco Demolition Night of 1979 that right there could be the first step out of the 70s. Disco might of stuck around a little in 1980 but it was falling out of favor for sure, and by 1981 disco was really out. Synthpop was actually becoming the norm in 1981, and if you listen to "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, you'll immediately notice how 80s it is. Even by the fall of 1980, New Wave was really kicking in. We were really getting out of the 70s then.
Will I'm very glad you agree with me. I could give you one assessment which between the summer of 1979 and the winter of 1980-81, there was a big cultural transition there. Disco was surely dying, and if you look at Disco Demolition Night of 1979 that right there could be the first step out of the 70s. Disco might of stuck around a little in 1980 but it was falling out of favor for sure, and by 1981 disco was really out. Synthpop was actually becoming the norm in 1981, and if you listen to "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, you'll immediately notice how 80s it is. Even by the fall of 1980, New Wave was really kicking in. We were really getting out of the 70s then.
It does seem like we went from 70s and 80s very fast, much faster than the transition from 80s to 90s. I think you are right that the advent of MTV helped propel the cultural change much faster than it otherwise would have happened.
It does seem like we went from 70s and 80s very fast, much faster than the transition from 80s to 90s. I think you are right that the advent of MTV helped propel the cultural change much faster than it otherwise would have happened.
I would say the zeitgeist of the 90s, began in at least 1991. During that year we had the grunge explosion.
Around 1992, when Grunge and west coast hip hop kicked in hard and replaced 80's freestyle and hair metal, and were in mainstream movies and TV shows as well. Unlike some other decades (like the 60's which I have starting around 1964ish with civil rights stuff and the British Invasion), what we think of as 90's started pretty close to the onset of the actual decade.
But time is making all of it cloudy as it keeps retreating in the rear view mirror. It always cracked me up to see people dressed up like Fresh Prince's Carlton or some other 90's person at an 80's party.
It always cracked me up to see people dressed up like Fresh Prince's Carlton or some other 90's person at an 80's party.
I feel the same why when so many YouTube stars try to apply early 2000s culture to the 1990s. Britney Spears, Pokemon, Hillary Duff, and Lizzy McGuire were NOT THE 90s!!!
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