Vintage Photos That Capture The ’80s Like We’ve Never Seen Before
While they’re the subject of warm, nostalgic feelings now, the ’80s were once a time that seemed to a carry a high-tech future just around the corner. The world was embroiled in international competition and economic interconnectivity on an unprecedented scale, new technologies were coming out all the time, and culture was shifting rapidly.
Yet, while the vision of the future promised in the ’80s seems almost quaint now, that whirlwind era was the start of so many realities of life that surround us today. And photos like these make it a lot easier to see where it all came from.
The Beginning Of The End
This photo captures a record store in 1980 and its significance comes from the fact that this was the last era when a store like this primarily sold “records and tapes.” Although record stores still exist, they struggle in an era of digital music whether they’re independent or part of a chain.
Ironically, many of those stores are now more likely to sell vinyl records than the ones that followed in the two decades after this photo was taken. That’s because the compact disc was about to take over and displays like this were about to look a lot different.
The End Of New York City’s Grittiest Era
For much of the 20th century, New York City has had a gritty, dirty reputation that was hinted at in the music of the Velvet Underground in the ’60s, but became all the more clear through portrayals in films of the 1970s like Taxi Driver.
As we can see from this graffiti-marked subway, that reputation was plainly on display by 1980. However, the decades that followed would see the Big Apple scrubbed to appeal to corporate interests and undergo widespread gentrification. It remains debated whether that was a mixed blessing or a thorough stripping of the city’s soul.
The Star Who Was Supposed To Take On The World
Despite the leopard-print outfit, Cyndi Lauper cuts a regal figure in this 1986 photo in Austria, where she was presented with a gold record for her 1983 album, She’s So Unusual. Indeed, those observing her at the time likely saw the album as the start of Lauper’s superstardom.
Although Lauper had the talent, creativity, and spunky energy to meet the moment of the ’80s, nobody’s career is easy to predict. As it turned out, she would flame out relatively quickly until she regained success by writing the music and lyrics to the popular musical, Kinky Boots.
A New Age Of Computing
Although personal computers were on the market before the rise of tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, their applications and practical functions tended to be fairly limited. But when Steve Jobs (pictured) and Bill Gates marketed their competing, mass-producible computing solutions they unlocked a whole new world of possibilities for businesses and consumers alike.
Not only is their legacy very much alive in the products of today, but they’re also as fiercely competitive as they’ve ever been. The world was still on the cusp of an era ruled by the internet but the computer age had officially arrived.
A Disease That Defined A Decade
Although the 1960s were known as an era of widespread protests and community engagement, that wasn’t to say that the ’80s didn’t have issues of its own to inflame counter-cultural outrage. As we can see here, one of those issues was the outright neglectful way governments throughout the world (particularly in the United States) addressed the AIDS crisis.
At this sign at a 1983 gay pride parade explained, powerful elements both in the government and society prioritized demonizing the LGBTQ+ community over the outbreak of AIDS rather than research programs to better understand, treat, and potentially cure the disease. Naturally, this priority was abhorrent to these marchers on multiple levels.
The Infancy Of Hip-Hop
Although hip-hop was officially born in the late ’70s, it didn’t start becoming a cultural phenomenon until the ’80s, when youths in tracksuits took to the South Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and other parts of New York City to breakdance like these young men.
The beats they danced to, the graffiti behind them, and the people who would eventually rap over those beats made up the other core pillars of hip-hop culture, which would evolve and rise further into prominence during the ’90s. Still, early superstars in the genre like Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, and the members of Run-DMC made the genre hard to ignore during the ’80s.
Portable Music For The First Time Ever
Nowadays, people’s phones are capable of just about anything and are loaded with a wide variety of ways to enjoy their preferred music on the go. However, it’s unlikely that any of those capabilities would have been as widely implemented or adopted if it weren’t for the advancement made by the humble Walkman.
That’s precisely what these two young girls are enjoying and it allowed them walk around with a portable tape deck that made it easier to multi-task and stave off boredom than ever. Although further technological advancements have changed the formats used for this purpose and increased the amount of music accessible at once, the principle remains the same.
A New Era Of Exercise
Although fitness had long been a part of popular culture by the 1980s, the idea of turning fitness programs into a widespread business particularly exploded in that decade, along with the popularity of aerobic exercise.
As we can see here, Jane Fonda made herself a leading figure in this self-improvement trend, as her home workout tapes were some of the first non-theatrical video releases to top sales charts. That was a clear sign of what was in the air.
Business Was Booming For Much Of The Decade
Although wealthy, prominent people were always used as models to exemplify the American Dream, the ’80s were particularly marked by that emphasis on accumulating a personal fortune. Business moguls saw themselves become celebrities who built cults of personality, while more eyes were on the stock market than ever before.
This photo from the New York Stock Exchange trading floor comes from 1981 but any photo of this room taken from that decade would have exemplified the ’80s just as much. Materialism and the spoils from attaining that wealth was the name of the game, no matter how empty that game may have seemed.
There Was An Obvious Way To Look Like A Big Shot Then
While it’s true that almost everyone has a cell phone nowadays, that was considered the marker of someone deeply important back then. After all, someone would have to be either very busy or deeply trusted in an important capacity to need to be reachable all the time during the ’80s.
Although the large, blocky cell phones we tend to associate with the ’80s were a fancy, rarely seen part of life back then, car phones like this one tended to exude a similar elite status. Of course, that was because both the units and the coverage plans tended to be exceedingly expensive.
A Flamboyant Star With A World-Changing Influence
Although Prince was an immensely talented musician (particularly in his underrated guitar virtuosity) with a repertoire of classics to his name, that doesn’t fully explain why he was catapulted to superstardom during the ’80s. Like much of popular culture at the time, the music landscape of the ’80s was markedly image-obsessed and he knew exactly how to make that work.
Thanks to his purple iconography, his penchant for courting controversy, and the daring vision behind his smash hit movie, Purple Rain, Prince was able to make himself into a legend by boosting the clear merits of his music with his captivating image.
The Band That Set The Tone For ’80s Rock And Roll
Although the biggest rock music of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s could be fairly described as made by debauched stars with flamboyant images, it’s also fair to say that the music those stars made sounded markedly different each decade.
While some may point to Mötley Crüe as the band that defined the sound of ’80s rock, the the transition from ’70s rock to ’80s rock could be more clearly seen in the rise of Van Halen. The image of the ’80s emphasized making one’s sound bigger, whether that meant embracing harder rock or using more technological solutions like synthesizers. Van Halen popularized both ideas before anyone heard of Mötley Crüe.
Both The Legend And His Signature Shoes Would Get Big
Even before Space Jam solidified this for kids the world over, it was obvious that Michael Jordan would dominate the world of sports during the 1990s. However, both his raw talent and his iconic status were already long established by that point, thanks in part to a line of shoes that still make serious money today.
Shortly after Jordan signed his rookie contract with the Chicago Bulls in 1984, he was approached by three different shoe companies that all saw massive marketing potential in the budding superstar. Nike won the bidding war and by 1985, Jordan would have already started wearing the Air Jordan shoes that are now one of the most enduring and prized facets of his legacy.
A Tragedy That Marked The End Of The Peace And Love Era
Although it’s fair to say that vibrant, pacifistic influence of the hippie movement was already waning by the early ’70s, the pop music of the time seemed to keep at least some of its trappings. One incident that shocked the world, however, confirmed once and for all that the spirit of the ’60s was nothing moire than a nostalgic memory.
This photo finds John Lennon in August of 1980 as he enters a car outside of The Hit Factory recording studio in New York City’s Times Square district. Although the resulting album, Double Fantasy, would see its release that November, Lennon would be assassinated outside of his home just weeks later.
The Woman Whose Star Would Only Continue To Rise
When Madonna and Cyndi Lauper emerged in the early ’80s, it initially seemed that the smart money would be on Lauper rising to long-term prominence. However, hindsight has since made it obvious that Madonna would not only dominate that decade but remain legendary in the one that followed.
That’s not only because Madonna was able to use her image and the controversy she generated a little more strategically but she was able to keep the hits coming and stay far enough ahead of trends throughout the ’80s and ’90s to keep her finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist. It was only by the 2000s that her finger started to slip.
The Bravest Voices Stood Against The Tide
Although the political popularity of Ronald Reagan throughout the ’80s contributed greatly to a right-wing shift in American governance and culture throughout the decade, it didn’t happen unopposed. That’s demonstrated by these two women at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
They stood up proudly as lesbians in a time when that was a risky thing to tell the world and expressed their belief in intersectional feminism in a time before that term was coined. However, the problem with being ahead of your time is that you still have to live in the time you’re ahead of.
A Style Icon For An Era That Looked To The Future
Although the ’80s was certainly an image-obsessed decade, that didn’t mean that it always favored the same image. As it turned out, people could make a huge name for themselves by seeming like their style came to them from another world entirely.
During the ’80s, nobody made this sleek, intimidating, and hard-edged futurism look better than Jamaican-born singer, actress, and model Grace Jones. She had the sheer power and confidence to match her bold, provocative looks.
Globalization Was Increasing At A Rapid Rate
When this photo was taken in 1988, McDonald’s was not a new phenomenon in Tokyo, having first made its appearance in Japan’s capital in the early ’70s. However, it’s also true that as the ’80s progressed, this would grow to be a much more common sight in a lot more countries, as American franchises broke further and further into international markets.
Indeed, it’s not exactly surprising that Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev’s increased cooperation with Ronald Reagan towards the end of the Cold War was closely followed by the arrival of chains like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut in Russia.
Punk Was Underground But Still Very In
Although punk emerged as a vibrant music scene and cultural ethos in the late ’70s, it didn’t turn out to shape youth and music culture in the ’80s as much as some may have predicted at the time. As the decade’s music became more synthesized, image-conscious and materialistic, it got further and further away from punk’s raw simplicity.
However, that didn’t mean punk styles or that ethos were completely passé. Not only were graffiti-laden clubs like this filled with exciting punk styles like the one this woman is rocking, but a lot of society’s most prominent figures still appreciated the scene. It just stayed underground, where it’s primarily existed since.
The Two Men Who Practically Defined The Decade
If anyone could be said to shape mainstream American culture during the ’80s, it was these two men shaking hands. For his part, Ronald Reagan was the face of a government that favored business leaders and deregulation over the social issues past presidents considered. One of the side effects kids would have noticed of this doctrine is the proliferation of cartoons that doubled as advertisements, with Transformers being one of the most popular examples.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump represented the very type of business figure the Reagan administration sought to benefit. The real estate developer and future president’s rise to prominence in the ’80s was emblematic of a shift to seeing moguls like him aspirational figures who people looked up to purle because they knew how to make money.
