Some 1980s Highs... Shoulder Pads In The Broom Cupboard...

Yuppies, new technology, shell suits, power dressing, riots, hamster scoffing... it was all happening in the 1980s...

Great response to our recent post regarding your "1980s bests". Got a few "worsts" as well, but up here at '80s Actual Towers, in our turquoise and pink Great Hall, we're well chuffed, mateyboots!

So, we start with Cliff on those monstrous Power Dressing shoulder pads, complete with Velcro so you didn't "over-pad" - as if that was possible back then...

I hated shoulder pads and used to take them out of any jackets I bought that had them in. The 1950s teddy boy look that became so popular again in the 1970s was more my thing. I thought Joan Collins looked ridiculous and I never chose a girlfriend with a 1980s “power dressing” fetish. You have to admit that the shoulder pads became too big and looked hideous in the 80’s. And the idea of blokes wearing them to hide their beer guts was pathetic. The best thing was the Credit Boom. Enough said.

We quite liked 'em, Cliff - we favoured Miami Vice chic, with a few twists, but each to their own... and as for the Credit Boom... well, after spending the '70s and early '80s living so frugally it hurt, it was like Wonderland...

Gorgeous 1980s colour scheme, but are those shoulders lovely or loathsome?

And here's Karen on Miss Ethel Davis and her lodgers, and Edd the Duck...

I used to like “Number 73” on Saturdays and I thought Ethel, Dawn, Harry and Kim really lived in that house! And I loved Children’s BBC with the puppets and the presenters. It was very lively and I really believed Edd the Duck went to Cubs on Tuesdays. I preferred Edd to Gordon The Gopher actually.

Edd was quite simply a mallard god. And he DID go to Cubs on Tuesdays.

Edd with Andy Crane and Wilson the butler. Children's BBC, which began in 1985, was a must-watch for all kids aged five to fifty.

Phillip Schofield brought shoulder pads out of the board room and into the Broom Cupboard.

Sandi Toksvig? Rubbish! That's Ethel!

And here's the Naughty One:

I remember things like Pot Noodles becoming a big thing. There was a cheesy flavour that smelled revolting but tasted like heaven with a satchet of tomato sauce. And Howard Jones. What Is Love? Does Anybody Love Anybody Anyway? And bulldog clips in my hair – bright yellow ones. And break dancing outside Boots on a Saturday morning with a big red ghetto blaster. I body-popped and my boyfriend thrashed about and he and his mates tried to stand on their heads. People sometimes threw money into our pot but mostly seemed kind of bemused and this woman told my boyfriend, “stop it, you’ll hurt yourself!”

Lurved a Pot Noodle and I remember the flavour you mention. Bliss if you could stand the stink. Howard Jones was excellent, but I never got into breakdancing. Mainly because I couldn't do it.

Gis a Noodle.

And Maria remembers that a saucy title didn't always add up to a saucy film...

When I turned 18 in 1989 I went to see a movie called SEX, LIES AND VIDEO TAPE with my best friend. We both thought it would be very rude with lots of bums and panting and groaning, but it wasn’t really. We thought of asking for our money back, but didn’t dare!

Steven Soderbergh... great, great film. I went to see it too, hoping for a bit of vacuous titillation, but it was so much better than that. Although I was grossly disappointed and swore a lot at the time.

Sonia thought Boy George was so cuddly - and then along came Ecstasy...

I had a Boy George Doll in the mid-80s and I loved him very much. I was surprised to read later that he was one of the people behind ‘Everything Starts With An E’ in 1989. Totally different image!

The 1984 Boy George doll! The Boy went from Karma Chameleon to Planet Ecstasy all in one decade!

And finally for this round-up, Claire says:

My low of the 80’s pop culture was Cabbage Patch Dolls because I found them really creepy and thought they were trying to take over the world. My high was Live Aid. Truly inspiring. I was glued to the TV.

Yes, Live Aid was a WOW! and the Cabbage Patch Kids were hugely popular, but not to everybody's taste. I was afraid I might catch mumps off one.

Sunday People, December 1983: Eek!!! Invasion of the Cabbage Patch People...

Please keep the comments coming. We're having a WICKED time here. Till the next time, xxxx

Toys: Back To 1984 - Transformers, The A Team, My Little Pony, Postman Pat, Roland Rat and Knight Rider...

A skim through the toy selection in the Janet Frazer autumn and winter 1984/5 mail order catalogue - starting with some robots! Remember those "Transformers - Robots In Disguise" on telly - robots that turned into boats and things? Weird, eh? And what about the toys? Genius, or TV merchandising overkill? In my day, we were lucky if Mum had a spare spud for a Mr Potato Head...

Mind you, that's not to say there wasn't loads of TV-related merchandising in the 1960s and 1970s. I loved the Magic Roundabout, and you could buy Dougal house slippers, Magic Roundabout lampshades, Magic Roundabout biscuits, Magic Roundabout wallpaper, Magic Roundabout figurines, Magic Roundabout clocks, Magic Roundabout tea towels, Magic Roundabout curtains, Magic Roundabout mattresses, Magic Roundabout cuddly toys, Magic Roundabout annuals, Magic Roundabout storybooks, Magic Roundabout colouring books, Magic Roundabout dot-to-dots, a grand Corgi miniature Magic Garden, Magic Roundabout crockery, Magic Roundabout tablecloths, Magic Roundabout soap, Magic Roundabout bubble bath, Magic Roundabout umbrellas...

Most of these things I desired but couldn't have because my parents couldn't afford them. But certainly the concept of children as consumers was not invented in the 1980s.

A whole range of A-Team merchandise, including a toy "Mr T" - "HE'S BIG AND BOLD! HE'S THE BOSS!"

A My Little Pony baby walker - the little girl in the illustration looks thrilled with it, doesn't she?

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - an animated TV series featuring the likes of the goodly Prince Adam and the evil Skeletor. Lots of viewers. Lots of associated merchandise - including here your very own Castle Grayskull - "fortress of mystery and power".

Snake Mountain - "ELECTRONIC MICROPHONE CHANGES YOUR VOICE INTO A SCARY 'VOICE OF EVIL'!" Ain't technology wonderful?

The battle between good and evil rages fiercely.

First appearing in 1981, Postman Pat was a tremendous success, earning many fans beyond the target audience of tiny tots. All together now: "Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and white cat"!

Roland Rat - the ultimate '80s superstar. Look at all this - Roland Rat and Kevin the gerbil jigsaws, a stencilling kit, Roland, Errol the hamster and Kevin the gerbil toys and your very own RATMOBILE!

Knight Rider - a highly popular American children's series starring David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight and a very sophisticated car called KITT - had some very snazzy associated merchandise. Also in the picture is a battery operated Knight Rider push button intercom set that: "really works from room to room. Includes 30ft cable, buzzer sound and working light."

1980s Yo-Yo Revolution - Ball Bearings And The Yomega Brain...

A fascinating e-mail from Tom:

Hi! Love your blog! The '80s was such a "move on" decade.

Did you know that even the humble yo-yo was transformed during the 1980s?

On October 27 1980, Michael Caffrey applied for a US patent for what would become the Yomega Brain - "the yo-yo with a brain".

He received the patent on June 1 1982.

The Yomega company was formed in 1983 and began production in 1984. The Yomega Brain uses a patented centrifugal clutch through which it releases the axle for long spin times when thrown. When the yo yo slows down, the clutch grabs on to the axle as the yoyo begins to climb the string and thus returns to your hand automatically.

Svenska Kullagerfabriken AB or SKF, are a Swedish company, manufacturing ball bearings. In 1984, they released the world's first yo yos with a ball bearing axle as promotions for their products. This would prove a massive influence in later years - enabling enthusiasts to create new and more complex tricks.

1985 was the year of the first yo-yo in space - as part of an experiment called "Toys In Space", studying the effects of weightlessness on toys.

Are you a yo-yo fan?

Well, yo-yos were never really my thing, Tom - I lack the necessary dexterity - but thanks for the information. We try to cover a broad range of subjects here, so insights like yours are always welcome.

Pac-Man

Sweeping into pubs across the land from around 1981/1982 onwards...

The best of both worlds - a Pac-Man Rubik's Cube -bliss!

"The action packed game that's sweeping the US..."

"Be first with the PACMAN game..."

Advertisement from the "Daily Mirror", November 1982.

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A Pac-Man phone from later in the decade. 

Pac-Man celebrated his 25th anniversary in 2005, and was invented by Japanese games designer Toru Iwatani. The first Pac-Man (or "Puck-Man/PuckMan", as he was then called) arcade machines were released in Japan on 22 May 1980.

The idea for the character was apparently inspired by a pizza with a slice missing! In 1986, Toru Iwatani confessed that the pizza was only part of the story. He revealed that the Pac-Man design had also come about through simplifying and rounding out the Japanese character for mouth, kuchi (口) - and from the basic concept of eating.

As mentioned above, the original name in Japan was 'Puck-Man' but that name was felt to be too much of a gift for graffiti artists and soon altered! 

We were introduced to Pac-Man here in England around 1981, or it may have been as late as 1982 - the advertisement for the Pac-Man watch from November '82 featured above refers to our old pal as "The action packed video game that's sweeping the US". No mention of it sweeping the UK at that point!

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Incidentally, you may have some old Pac-Man merchandise with the trademark "Namco Limited 1980" on it, but the trademark is no indication that your merchandise was actually manufactured that year. Details like this often trip up pop culture "experts" - and the likes of the BBC!

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Whichever year he debuted in England, Pac-Man was soon making waves in pubs and arcades. Pretty grotty for me. My pal Pete and I often used to meet for a pint and a chat in our local pub, but this was the era of Pac-Man and Space Invaders (the highly addictive Invaders were invented in Japan in 1978, and first exhibited at a UK trade show in 1979) and conversation was now a dead duck. As a leisure pursuit, it was no match for the burbling machines.

I also recall the Asteroids game. I'm not sure when it got to England, but I don't recall it being mentioned as much as the other two. It was "Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Space Invaders" from certain of my friends all day long (and probably night as well, given half a chance!)

"I'll just have a quick game," my pal Pete would say, eyeing Pac-Man as we found a table at the pub. It was always the same.

An hour later, I'd still be on my own at the table, probably on my third "Snakebite" and glumly listening to Toto Coelo or whatever on the jukebox. Don't get me wrong, I liked Toto Coelo, who didn't, but I hated the idea that my old schoolmate preferred Pac-Man's company to mine.

I loved the "Wacca-Wacca-Wacca" sound of Pac-Man - and thought the character refreshingly different, but was absolutely hopeless at it. Was just as bad at Space Invaders. So that was it. Me and my Snakebite - all alone and feeling blue...

More merchandise - this was ideal for carrying sardine and tomato paste sandwiches, tepid tea and a Marathon (comes up peanuts, slice after slice).

1980-2005 - an official Namco Pac-Man 25th anniversary sticker.

This article was originally posted in January 2008 and updated in March 2009.