Episode Transcript
📍 welcome.
Back to sort of sophisticated, um, you know, why do we even have to like, say anything about sort of sophisticated anymore? I figure by this point, well, what are we, on episode 84, people would know that we're, we're teaching people to be sort of sophisticated. We don't need an, do we need an intro?
I mean, you need welcome back to sort of
sophisticated, but we're not even teaching people stuff.
I don't even know what we're doing.
Okay. One, you're like in a tizzy today
in a mood.
Holy, holy moly. But I think you have to intro it because you're hoping that you find new people to grow your like a hundred person following. That's true. That's
true. That's true.
You always gotta, okay, give a little shout snippet.
Shout
out to the SOS Army number one. There you go. Two. Sort of sophisticated is where we try to make sense of the world, but we don't do a really good job at it and we try to make you more cultured and curious. So there, and that lovely voice you heard was Amanda as always. Hi Amanda.
Hello?
Uh, I was editing the last episode.
Yes. Uh, and. It was insane how long it took us to get from sort of intro and chattiness to set episode. Um, 99% my fault. Okay, thank you. 1% your fault. I'm gonna ask, so, um, I think we can just skip, can we skip or do you have something like life altering that happened to you in the last week that I must hear about right now?
Um, last week, stranger Things dropped.
Uh, holy. Did you watch? I did, yes. Okay. So my kids Oh, so
good.
My kids binged like four hours. Like, yeah. Oh
no. We sat there the day of day. Oh, I did not. Oh
no, I could not. No. Oh no. Absolutely. I caught up like I did one a day was like, I was proud. Wow. You can't,
you, you gotta watch all of it.
And so I watched it while walking on my walking pad.
Yeah.
So I got four hours of walking in. It was
great. Oh, you badass mofo. I was like at
the, I had to, I was so like anxiety rate. So whatcha
gonna do about Christmas and New Year's? Are you gonna watch on Christmas when it comes out and the New Year's?
Like I Right. I already talked to my kids. I said, no. What are people over? I'm like, I'm not doing that.
Make a viewing party. Who cares? Oh my God. It's like a cultural phenomenon.
You are awesome. And by the way. That's what we're talking about today. Oh, we are not stranger things. Oh.
But I mean, we can, but we can.
Mystical creatures. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Upside down. So we can
add in stranger things, but today we are talking about the eighties, the decade that refuses to die.
Let's go.
That is what this is all about. One of the best decades that ever existed. Yeah, I
was born, let's go. Yeah.
I was, I lived, it was my era.
It's true.
You was born, you, you gotta like, enjoy it. This was like
my, right, this was like, my era. Era was
like four and then it was done. So, so here I didn't get to embrace it fully.
The thing that totally like threw me off about the eighties, like blew me away.
I'm not, I didn't just pick the eighties 'cause it was like. Let's do a decade episode it has like staying power. Here's what I did. I was like, tell me in the last whatever, 150 years, what were like the most cultural decades on the map. Okay.
Right. and the eighties was one of the top three and I was floored. Like, because every decade you could say is awesome, right? But I mean like it has that what
the Roaring twenties has to be one. Yes. The
Roaring twenties. Yes.
Um, what else? There would be the 1960s. Sixties. Not the seventies, not the hippie year.
No. We're gonna do the, no, no. '
cause I'll talk a little bit about why not. Right. And then the eighties. So there, those are considered the chosen what? The sixties, decades, the only ones that have staying power. Right. The sixties. What happened
in the sixties?
Civil rights happened. Like, like the whole Yeah.
Everything. Right, right. And then of course you just talked about stranger things like season five, stranger things. It's true. All in the eighties. The eighties. Everything's the eighties. So this is what we're doing. We are doing this whole thing. Okay. Okay. Got it. About
the eighties. I'm ready.
Teach young me what I should have. Okay.
I know what I lived, learned what I lived through. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay. Well, we're gonna skip the cultured and curious then, right? Yes. Because I think you're gonna talk about the whole episode. That, that
is basically what this episode is at.
My whole goal, just so you understand, the, the, the whole like bent here is. To try to explain why the eighties was so magical compared to other decades. Okay. Not just that it was a cool decade. You get the get the nuance. Yes guy. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Beautiful. Why it
was important. Okay. Word. Are the day. Is it a word from the eighties
word are the day?
No, kinda like six, seven today. Like rad. Oh,
was rad. From the eighties.
Radical. Oh, totally rad. Oh really? Yeah. We said rad all the time. Oh my God. Yeah. That's
so good.
Okay. Uh, what did the day today is? Halcyon. Okay. H-A-L-C-Y-O-N. Halcyon. It means calm, halcyon, peaceful, or. Idyllic. Idyllic. Idyllic, idyllic.
Okay. Okay. Uh, it comes through the Greek word for King Fisher, which apparently is a type of bird.
The kingfisher bird. Yeah, I knew that. Yeah. Yeah. And you can find like almost anywhere. I did not know this. Sure. Okay. It's tied to a myth where the kingfish used to soothe the winter seas so she could nest. Which is where the term halcyon days came to mean a stretch of unexpected calm. I, I didn't,
alright, I think we're just cultured just from the, the word of the day today.
I didn't know
any of that shit. Right. Okay. So anyway, we have to figure out how to get halon calm or peaceful into this thing.
Okay.
All right.
I mean, but weren't the eighties like totally not healthy on.
Oh, okay. Did that just count? Does that count? I, you can't You do that. You've been doing this lately because I
forget the word of the day
by like, which, but I mean, I argue is very section number two.
It's a smart move. I mean, I like that you do it. Um, yes. They were the opposite of halon. No, just, I like that they were not iic. Okay. I'm gonna say that counts. Okay, great. You win, but we are still, let's go bonus if we can get it in again. Okay.
Okay.
But
see, you know what wouldd be great is if I had my money jar right here.
Yeah. And you could actually put my dollar in boop beep boop. And then if I get it twice, then you should gimme $5. Just
kidding. Deal. You did it when we did strate. You did it like a hundred times. It was great. I, I had to pay. It was excellent. Funny. Like you were just killing it.
Okay, so like the eighties.
Yeah. Only 10 years for the decade
dur, right? Yeah. I mean,
obviously
right,
but like. Why is it so cool besides the fact I was born in the eighties?
When were you born? 89. 86. 89 and a half. 86. 86. What's up? Eight, four. Oh, okay. Next year. Here we go. That's it. It's happening. Yeah. Okay. So that's, I think that's how we'll start, because like, I can't do history because there's, there's no like real history.
It's only 10 years of history. That's stupid.
Sure. I mean, like, but you can hit it like,
should I start each year? So in 1980? No, no.
But like, you can say what happened in the eighties Right.
As a overall arching thing,
like we know the roaring twenties, like prohibition. Right, right. So like in the eighties, if, is there like an overarching Yes, yes, yes. Historical. We're gonna go through all that. We're going through that. So you're doing history. Yeah. We're
gonna do some version of that.
Okay. Okay. So we'll go. back and we'll start where this. Whole thing started.
Right. Okay. Like, so 1860s, I'm gonna start there 'cause I'm saying that was sort of like the OG most defining decade ever.
1860.
1860. So when I was looking all this up, literally I said like in the last 250 years or 350 years, whatever, I don't remember what it was.
1860 is sort of the first recorded OG decade because of the Civil War. Right. Okay. So that's like, that's like. Hold on.
I'm confused.
Yes, go ahead. So you're
talking about decades, the coolest decades.
The 1860s. The
18 like the,
It's like the grandfather of all decades,
huh? Okay.
Yes. That's where it all started.
So like not what I would've
picked,
right? No, me neither. Sorry. Continue. I learned all this so like. In, in America anyway, it was the Civil War. Right? Um, and I'll quote, it was the first time in modern history that a single decade produced a massive irreversible transformation that reshaped a nation's identity, institution's culture and future.
Huh? So in the United States, the American in the Civil War is a big deal, right. It ended slavery, it changed politics, but it also rewired like all of our social and moral framework, like of the entire country. And then I looked up globally, the 1860s marked the rise of the industrial revolution, industrialization, advancements, all of the word.
So it wasn't just an American thing.
Got it.
Okay.
So
is that the same with the twenties, sixties and the eighties, like it's a global decade, or are we just specifically America focused?
Oh yeah. No, they're global. They all are. Oh yeah. No, they're all global. So even
eighties. Yeah. But like, how come the two thousands aren't in there with like Y 2K in the internet?
Dun. I'll tell you why.
Oh my gosh. We get there. Yeah. Probably 2020. Why is that not iconic? We were all locked up. 2020. I mean,
we it, but probably right.
Oh, more to come on that one. Okay, okay. Okay. Um, yeah, so totally global. I mean, but like every region has its own like few decades. That really means something to them specifically.
Right. But the twenties, sixties and eighties sort of made it. Like worldwide. Okay. But like India had the independence movement in 1940, so that's like super massive for them. Oh, okay. Um, South Africa, they had the whole post apartheid thing in the 1990s. That's massive for them. Latin America, they went through all the political turmoil and bullshit all over the place, uh, in the seventies.
, So different parts of the world experience sort of. Big shifts in in different decades. Yes, Uhhuh. But here's the wild part. Okay. Like about the twenties, the sixties and the eighties, this is why they end up on top like all the time. So the twenties had the invention of film, the spread of modern fashion, and the whole idea of nightlife culture.
That didn't exist before then. Huh? So that was worldwide. That's what made the 20 so iconic. Okay. The sixties. We talked about protest cultures, social liberation, and the spread of rock music to everyone on every continent. Save probably Antarctica, unless the penguins got like, you know, sure. Some rock. I'm sure Elvis went to the Antarctica and then of course the eighties.
Our decade du jour today. Yeah. I mean, I was warm. What else is so cool about it? Right? They launched global pop culture, global tech culture. Oh, and global media. So fair. Every region does have its own sort of defining decade, but these three keep showing up because they weren't just local in their like, respective countries, right?
They were like broadcast to the world. So
again, then why isn't 2000 listed on that list?
Spoiler. It's a little too new. But there are a few reasons why, but it's still a little too new. So history has not quite decided yet.
It's not, it's not ancient yet. Like the eighties.
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright. Okay. So for some quick psychology behind all this, so, you know, we can feel, yeah. Cultured. Okay. I'm curious 'cause we have to do psychology in every episode to feel culture and curious. Yeah. we know that humans are innately like emotional beings, right?
Yes. Yes. Okay. So by default then were designed to remember things that have some sort of. Hand in shaping our identity or making like a big impact, like a big moment in life we'll never forget, right? This is what we're designed to remember because we're emotional.
So the decades that like really stick are the ones that feel those like big cultural turning points. That's the whole point. Like the world shifted suddenly, and then there was a before and an after. So like you said, with the pandemic, my instinct says the 2000 twenties will be one of those decades. It's just.
Historically not there yet. It's still, we're still living it. Got it. So it doesn't count. Okay. But if you fast forward 50 years, my instinct says the twenties are gonna be the next one. I don't think the two thousands will make it. Really? But it I could. They could.
Okay.
But I think the 22,000 twenties will probably be one.
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, and another one, right? Like the Civil Rights Act in 19, like 64, whatever it was.
So you had the late fifties where legally we had a segregated country. Yeah. That was still like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was still real. Okay. And then after 1964 and the Civil Rights Act, you had like a brand new country forced to like. equality was like the baseline.
Okay.
Right. Yeah. So those are, those are like massive turning points where people like, wait, you're
basically saying before and afters is that
there's,
yeah, it's a whole shift. Culturally that changes the whole culture, whole country and also globally. Yeah. That's something Just 180.
Yeah.
But how come then so. spinning off of the Civil Rights Act, like you talked about the Civil War. So like obviously the Civil Rights Acts were because of the Civil War a hundred years. Got it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So why then aren't like all wars? Because I feel like World War II was a bigger deal than the Civil War.
Shit because, 'cause you just know, and I get like civil war, you probably just know more about World War ii, that's all. No, but I mean like it's
another global thing, right? Yeah. Like Civil War was just here.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it affected America.
You have a good point. So here's what I would, good, good point.
I was able to figure out at least about the World Wars, um, like the wars overshadow the decade, so it's like, what's the word? Traumatizing. Okay. People like. It ends up defining the decade so much that , even though the world changed, um, it's too emotionally jarring for people.
So the reason that the Civil War specifically was the og. Mm-hmm. Right. It's 'cause it brought the country back together. Then I talked about industrial Revolution all over the rest of the world. Right. In our case, it brought a country back together. Yeah. With, with the World Wars. Folks were just happy to live through it.
Mm. So it
didn't, it didn't end up that at the end of it.
Well, and I could see like, it not being iconic. Right, right. Also because we're also traumatized and we don't be like, and also it lasted
through decades.
That's
true. So started in the thirties in some areas, started, went to the forties. Like, so, so that, that's all I could sort of conjure up about the world wars and why those didn't quite make it right.
Okay. , Or then like, I think of the seventies, 'cause I think you said at the beginning something about seventies, right. So watergate like Nixon, big deal, right? Like that whole thing, but
but like in some days I was thinking more of like a cultural phenomenon, which was like the hippie movement, right?
Yeah. Peace, love Burma Bra sixties.
You're a little off. Oh, was that sixties? Yeah, that was late sixties.
Yep.
Whoa, so, so, so really
the sixties are iconic, so it bled iconic into the
seventies. And the seventies were sort of like the followed decade,
got it. Which is kind, which is kind of like what happened, the transition happened in the sixties.
It's, it's sort of exactly what happened in the nineties too, where folks like, so your generation would be like, the nineties are so excellent. The eighties sort of just like bled into the nineties. Right.
So the nineties happened because of what happened in the eighties.
Yeah.
Yeah. So,
but that was like the, that's what we're talking about though, that it's like a switch that's in society. That's the idea. Something is different. That's the idea anyway. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why those ones like keep resurrecting themselves. Okay. Like, not, not, not just 'cause they were fun.
Let's say they were formative,
right? I was gonna say it's like a definitive decade where, like something No, that's, that's right. Happened. But, . Okay. Well anyway, are we gonna talk about the eighties or are we gonna keep rambling?
Oh, we gonna talk about the eighties.
Uh, I'm gonna get all up in my fields.
If we talk about the eighties, I'm gonna cry a little bit. Okay.
Good cry. Let's go. I mean, I was only like three years old in four months, so I don't have a lot of, I mean, I was
only like
experience in the eighties. I
was only like eight years old. Okay. Eight. Oh, yeah. Well, at the beginning of the eighties.
Let's go. We're gonna talk about the eighties and how, it basically built our entire operating system that our modern world, Amanda, still, that's a kind of stretch. No. Still runs on stretch. Listen, here we go. I'm serious. Okay.
Okay. But also like the eighties was like the decade of neon.
Yeah. Big hair.
That's fun stuff. That's the fun part. Okay. Remember Jaws? Remember? Yeah. Yeah. Remember the invention of the summer blockbuster. 1975. Okay. Eighties. Grabs that thing turns the whole movie, film, television industry, everything into a machine.
But this is like et It's like the rise of, yes,
this was it. This was absolutely it.
Movies started becoming global phenomenons up until this point. Nothing close.
I mean, technically.
You could say like, well, the seventies and Spielberg and all that kind of stuff. Okay, I got it. But like studio, , remember this is the operating system. So back in the seventies, they didn't have the operating system. It was like one and done. They like did something magical.
They had lightning in a bottle. Then in the eighties, studios figured out how to build the franchise. Okay. They built the ecosystem, they built the machine, okay. To make the whole thing work. So. When you think about literally any movie you watch today. Was spawned from the eighties. Huh? Whether they were like original comedies back in the eighties, or whether they were the action thrillers, whatever it was.
Sure. Okay. Every one of them goes back to somehow, because the eighties were involved in sort of kicking off that next level of film. So like the twenties started it all. Hmm. Right. But the eighties rebooted it and we're still using it. 40 years later, the same concept.
Okay. You are with me. Are you talking about like this how cult classics came along?
Yes.
Okay. But it's everything. It's even think of like all the franchise stuff, all the merchandise that's available, all the soundtracks. The movies are massive. Oh, you're just saying more like
capitalism of it. The movies are completely,
They made it, like I said, a phenomenon. Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Then same time, whole nother industry, eighties, you have home tech. Okay. So before the eighties, no home tech. You did have tech.
Yeah,
but there was no access to tech in the seventies and like my dad had to go to work and like use the big supercomputer at work.
Oh yeah, yeah. You with me? Yeah. Yeah. Right. So the eighties, everything came into your house. Yes. So video games for the first time home, computers for the first time, the VCR for the first time, all of this entertainment went from external to internal. And the eighties turned that full thing. Yeah. The twenties are.
Really fucked. What? What do you mean? Because we have too much access to all this things. Oh, now you do In the twenties. Yeah. Yeah. Like think about my kids.
Yeah.
I mean, they were born what? In the tens, but like, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know? Yeah. As a twenties kid.
Yeah. Who's, we don't know. It's, dude, the jury's out.
I don't know. And by the end of the twenties, they're supposed to have like robots who clean our house. It's gonna, it's gonna
be nuts. And so that might be another shift. I don't, I don't know. , But when you think of movies, think eighties, when you think of home. Like access to all technology.
Think eighties. Right. So I'm trying to get you to like, yeah, yeah. Sort of figure out . Okay. I'm, I'm getting how this operating system, right. I'm trying to, trying to get in your head a little bit there. Does that make sense? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. , Oh, you also had MTV, right?
Which might sound like, oh, the, like MTV's been around forever, but this was the first time music became visual, so another massive shift. So up to that point.
Okay.
Couldn't see anything. Right. It was crazy. Now, all of a sudden, but you did, like Elvis
was on the tv.
Ev like one what? Once a month.
So you're just talking specifically on like, there was a channel that you could tune into music literally.
And, and then it
changed how rock stars like prepped. They had to start wearing makeup. They had to start looking a certain way. They had to start behaving a different way. This is just way too, like down the rabbit hole. It, it changed fashion. So back to your neon, to your, what was it? The leg warmers and the neon.
Yeah. Everything. Crazy. Crazy. Because everybody had to now look good. Right? It's, which was like super overwhelming. Okay. And you had access all at one time. So anywhere in the world, when you tuned into MTV, everybody was watching the same thing at the same time.
Yeah. For the first time. Now you could do that everywhere, right? I literally, I could game, but see, I, here's
like my fear. What I don't know, this is just like heightening my anxiety over everything. But my fear is ultimately, like you think about now in the twenties and like everything is in the palm of our hands.
I mean that's sort of what, two thousands? Yes. Literally. Yes. It's frightening. I
know.
Okay. Anyways,
but Excellent.
Okay, so we have movies. Yeah. Home technology. Yes. And then evidently MTV somehow, like I don't even, yeah. Blow my mind how that play on mtv. Same, like the same level, whatever. Um, but is there anything else?
Cul-de-sacs.
I'm sorry, what?
Cul-de-sacs baby that came
in the eighties.
Let's go. I mean, I love my cul-de-sac.
Lemme tell you.
So again, I, I think you're like calling me out on all the little nuances. So No, they actually started in the fifties and sixties. Okay. Okay. But same co bear with me. I'm, I got an argument in for every one of these.
Okay. Cul-de-sacs. So the difference is the eighties suburbia. Started becoming its own culture. So up until that point, even through the seventies, even though they already had suburbs, they already had cul-de-sacs culture was still considered urban or like city. Okay. Or like political. It wasn't like the default experience to like live in a cul-de-sac.
Kids in the seventies like did not have the same freedom that kids in the eighties had. Hmm. It was a totally different time. So they were still dealing with like. The New York Financial crisis, wall Street, Watergate, Vietnam ending, it wasn't until the eighties when they, the malls, , oh, stranger things, the malls.
Right. Everybody started building malls, became the new social hub. Fair. Right. We talked about oh, oh, and also the two, , like what would you say the two parent working. Dual income. Two. Whatever you call them. But they have
kids, dual income. No kids.
Sort of, for the first time, two parents are now working, so
Oh, you meant with kids?
Yeah. Okay. Dual income parenting. Got it, got it. The
eighties. For me, like I did grow up like stranger things. I grew up like that. I went out on my bike. My parents didn't see me for 10 hours. Like they didn't give two shits where I went. Huh. You couldn't pull that off in the seventies.
There wasn't enough people that had moved to the cul-de-sacs yet. Oh, okay. Now, for the first time this suburbia mm-hmm. Became official where kids were now growing up in a different and unique culture for the first time. But like, does that make sense?
But was that not, was that culture for the kids and being able to be out not because of the movies that came out in the eighties where all the kids were heroes and said they were all out?
Or is it that the hero, the movies portrayed these heroes? 'cause that's what the kids were doing, like Yes. Which is first, second, second one. Okay.
Yes. The culture influenced the movie. So if you think of the Goonies or you think of ET you think of all those movies. Yes. Okay.
So it's a perfect encapsulation of that time with kids.
Yeah. Yes, yes. Yeah, absolutely. And the free
range. Yeah.
Yeah.
Come home when the lights come on. Yeah.
That and like sort of the whole Russia, United States Cold War thing helped a lot too. Oh.
Because there was that like underlying,
how does that help
Stranger Things?
Dude, they hate Russians.
Oh well sure. But like duh.
Right? But
I mean it doesn't really help to like,
no. So here's why. Sense of kids being free
range.
. So sort of because
Actually it's weird 'cause I don't even know if you remember Chernobyl like, 'cause that happened in like 86.
Nope. Like the nuclear meltdown
when I was zero years old in Russia. Okay, fine.
So like there was this underlying, it was weird. I remember my parents, there was this low level of tension everywhere in the eighties of like, go be free and do whatever you want because the world could end tomorrow.
Like literally. Oh. And I remember when Chernobyl happened. , My family panicked. Mm. And they were like, oh, you can't go outside. And we're like, what? We can't go outside. Well, you know, radiation and we could die. And I'm like, radiation? What the, what the fuck are we talking? It was super weird.
So there was this backdrop of tension that made us that much more willing to take risks and have more fun with our freedom. Does that make sense? Yes. And I think that's what honestly, like, I know we weren't supposed to talk about Stranger Things or whatever, but like that's what ties stranger things all together with this whole thing because they have the whole underlying Russians against the American.
That's where it's, where it was spawned from that. Okay. That was the whole point of it. Right, right, right. That
makes sense. 📍 Yeah. Huh.
Okay. So Besides
in the twenties, sixties and eighties. Yep. We have obviously the thirties, the forties, the fifties. The seventies, the nineties da
bomb.
So why are two thousands, 2000 tens. Yeah. But you said, you already said, I'll go fast.
You already said those ones don't count 'cause they're too new.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so let's explain real quick. Okay. So forties overshadowed by World War ii, right? All the trauma, like we already said. That makes sense. So they weren't reinventing any culture.
They were just trying to live, they were like freaking out. And then those fifties. The fifties, cute. Nostalgic. Yeah, right. Sure. All that fun stuff, um, not transformative. They had diners, poodle, skirts, early tv, but didn't change society. The only thing that
change was like grease.
I feel like new, new
vibe. Yeah, but Greece
wasn't
even from the fifties. No. Was seventies.
Yeah. Oh, it's the seventies. Greece
came out in the seventies, but was based. Was based, but no, it was based in the fifties, but it came out in the seventies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But that's what I'm saying. Yes. Is that like, no, no.
I get you. Our biggest iconic memory of the fifties Yes. Is I'm Greece. Whatever happened in Greece
and tv. And TV does matter. I mean, don't get me wrong, but just not enough. That's all. Huh? Which just
kind of shocking. 'cause everything now comes from, tell me about it. When the television came into the home.
I thought so too. I was learning a lot about this and TV
dinners.
Here we
go. I'm just saying.
I know. Alright. Fifties runner up. Sure. Okay. I'm gonna have to
say,
uh, seventies Disco, Watergate, economic collapse, disco cults, Vietnam, we talked about that. So just chaos. So too much was going on for the seventies to have an identifier.
Okay. Like it was just wonky.
Yep.
Um,
got the eighties and then the nineties just, just kind of rolled. Eighties,
nineties, like the fifties, so not the architecture, the eighties, fun and awesome, but didn't fundamentally rebuild anything. Change anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. . Then two thousands.
September 11th, right? 2001. You talked about Y 2K, so reality tv, there was some shit going on there. So. I am saying the jury's out on 2000 and then 2000 tens, like you were saying, everything went digital, streaming, social media. Yeah, the whole thing. Um, it's just not that old yet, so I don't know.
Right. So like 2000, 2000 tens. I don't know. We gotta wait.
Alright.
Shit's still settling.
Ah, me. We will have to see. We definitely do.
I'll tell you what, I'll be dead so I won't know. When it starts to get iconic, you'll probably still be alive. Barely. Yeah. Like an old grandma with gray hair.
Um, somehow shoot me a note from beyond. I
mean, it's probably gonna definitely be my kids, right? Because like I was born in eighties. Yeah. And now eighties are cool, right? And so they were born in tens, right? So 10. No, but the sixties and the eighties,
that was only 20 years apart. So could, yeah, sure. It could be the two thousands.
That's my point.
My kids would know. They'd be sitting where I'm sitting. Right. Being like, Woohoo.
My kids, their kids the coolest. Yeah. Who the fuck talks about the eighties anymore? That was so stupid.
Okay, so I understand the eighties. I understand why. Obviously it's iconic. 'cause Stranger Things. I know we keep referring back to that, but that's like, I think that because it's the best
show ever created the most.
Sure. But I, I, I think it's more so that it's just like such a cultural phenomenon today.
Phenomenon that takes place in the eighties. Yes. That if we are looking, I mean, kind of like how Greece was an encapsulation of the fifties. Yes. It's kind of the same thing I think for Stranger Things in the eighties.
Yes.
And so what else? I guess from Stranger Things, 'cause I think people have seen it enough that they can then relate and pinpoint those exciting parts of the eighties.
Yeah. From the show. Right. It's relatable, I guess what I'm saying, maybe this is our cultured part, like for
two reasons. Yes, of course the music was good and like, you know, the malls and like the hair and the bikes I get, I get the whole, like, they set the vibe.
Right. Okay. But that's it's way bigger than that. First of all.
The one thing I do wanna say that is amazing about Stranger Things, I know you didn't specifically ask here, but like, the fact that it came out right now was genius by the Duffer brothers because,
but that's, that's when they grew up,
right?
And you, you have kids that they made it kid friendly, so like. It's, it, it Right. Subject to some debate. But you, but my point is, you got folks my age who are watching it with their children because
it's nostalgic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because it's
nostalgic to me, but Right.
But then kids are invested, but kids's, right.
They're invested. Mm-hmm.
So like, genius moved there, but, I, I think it had more to do with they built the psychology out. That was the cool part of this whole thing. So think about, um, like Dungeons and Dragons. I dunno if you remember Dungeons. You don't know Dungeon and Dragons.
I mean,
one of our best friend plays, so. Got it. Okay.
My brother did a little bit and everything and, and that's a shame. I didn't
realize d and d was such a thing back then. Yeah. I thought it was a new thing, but anyways, it's very nerdy thing too. Yeah.
Okay. So, um, , my point being. Parents at that time were scared to death of that.
Like they thought it was satanic like, no bullshit. That's absolutely what was going on. Like you just said about the Russians, , we were freaked out by the Russians because we thought the Russians had nuclear weapons and they were gonna kill 📍 us. Yeah. So , That 📍 was a massive problem we had even music, even the music that like, remember Eddie and season four, like all the heart rock and the, that scared the shit out of parents.
Freaked him out. Oh my God. Like people are gonna go around listening to music and then go kill people or commit suicide because of it. So it was all some crazy shit. The Hawkins lab. Even the Hawkins lab, I did not know this was based on something, check this one out. So I had to look all this up.
In the 1950s, the government launched something called MK Ultra, which was a real CIA program. Oh. That experimented with mind control and psychedelics all throughout the fifties and sixties. So not in the eighties, but back in 1560s. Okay. So, even though it was over the government hid the whole thing. Until 1978, it finally got out. So then, oh, then everybody knew what the government had done. Yeah. So you get to 1980, everyone was freaking out about, about, I didn't realize that it was actually based off of on that whole concept. I didn't know that either.
So I'm sitting here so I think of like government mind control and Russia and like d and d and all that stuff, like the duffer brothers. Got us inside of the brain of parents and kids in the 19 eight, the eighties, like, so, it was all psychological. It wasn't just like all the cool stuff, even though like you're watching for the cool stuff. Of course. Does that make sense? Yes. They killed it. Like they, they absolutely murdered this. I cannot wait. We we're watching on Christmas. Yeah, I'm ready. Am I coming over?
Yeah. What time? Yeah, you can come over. What time does it drop? Like 5:00 PM. Christmas or Christmas Eve. Or Christmas, not, is it Christmas? Oh, I don't know. Shit. Okay. But
there's one that's dropping in the theaters and dropping it home or something, right? The next day? I think that's the finale. I think that one's, oh, okay.
That one's
on January 1st. Got it. So I think it's December 31st, and then on January 1st you can go watch it in the, in the theater, whatever. It's, yes. I don't, being part, I don't wanna watch it in the theaters. No, no. Like I don't want people talking through it or screaming or whatever. I want to. I wanna, you know, get my, I mean for me would be all up in my heels in
home thing.
You know what I wanna do, but I wanna get cozy.
Cozy.
I want to get huga. That's what I wanna do. A little bit of huga.
Get all na and cozy. Okay. Well, um, did I
convince you,
I mean, do you
feel convinced that the eighties I was at the beginning, the eighties was
always the best. Alright, but what I think for most people who are listening.
Is to recognize that it was such an iconic time. Yes. That here we go with our current, um, culture phenomena of Stranger Things, that it was based in the eighties. Yeah. And based on this changing culture that was happening. Yeah. Which I don't think anybody who. Would've picked that out. Like, unless you compare it and you think about it that way, right?
So I Right. Your perspective is different.
You know how I told you sometimes episodes, like when I, when I do my research, I'm like, okay, I'll try to get into this. And sometimes I, I love it. Yeah, yeah,
yeah.
This was one of the ones where I was like, oh my, you're geeking out. I was, I was geeking out.
Well, if you're geeking out so much, what are our fun facts?
Oh my God.
📍 Because I feel like there's a ton of fun facts we could do. Any fun facts for that for the eighties? Do
fun. Yeah. Let me start with this first, excellent, fun fact. Okay. You're gonna love this one. I'm ready. Back to Stranger Things. I appreciate that. The Duffer Brothers, added in, the character of Mr.
Wheeler. You know Mr. Wheeler? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because, he's very Hal. Isn't he? Yes. Did I, did I do? Good? I guess so. Did I get it in, did I make sure I shot the other? I guess so. It took a long time to get there, but I was like, I gotta get it in. Okay. Uh, that's what she said. Okay. All, oh God. Number one.
Here we go. So we were talking about MTV earlier. Okay. Well, basically this whole episode. Sure. We're talking about MTV. , When it first launched in 1981, it only had 116 music videos in their library. Hmm. Now that might sound like a lot. You might be like, well wait a second.
That's a lot. What the fuck are you bringing this up for Peter? But hold on, if each video's about what, three or four minutes long? Yeah. I don't know. Maos. Okay. That's only six hours on the long side of Playtime.
Right.
But it had to run 24 hours. Like they were on a six, six hour loop.
There's lot of like
interview talk. They didn't have all that yet.
So if you go all the way back and watch the original, really like, oh my God, watch the first month. Huh? Watch the first month of MTV. It was bad. I
mean
it was
bad. Like in all fairness, they did it. I did not have cable growing up.
Yeah.
So I actually didn't know what MTV was until I was.
In high school, I had to run over to my friend's house in the two thousands. I had to go, oh my
God, you're so cool. I had to go, I had to go next door. My parents were cheap af we ran next door. Okay. Anyway, number two, CDs, you know CDs? Yeah. You remember CDs? Okay. So the first CDs were built to hold exactly 74 minutes of music.
Why 74? 74, right? Why not six? Seven, six? Okay. Oh God. , they wanted to fit the entire Beethoven's ninth Symphony on it without interruption. The entire digital format was basically engineered. So some fat guy wouldn't have to get up out of his chair and flip the record.
How do you like that? That's funny. I like that. That's a good technological, so breakthrough there. Yeah. 'cause he was sitting down all Hal. I'd get so mad
when mine got scratched and it went like.
I know CDs were cool.
I like CDs.
Okay. Uh, number three, in the mid eighties, the Pentagon, like the Pentagon. Okay.
Okay. Accidentally left a modem line open that anyone could dial into. It was wide open, no passwords, no firewalls. It was a total mistake. No so bad. Total randos could dial in in the 1980s. That's what people did for fun. You have to remember, we didn't have anything else to do, so we were like cold calling, but we would do crank calls all the time, like back in 1980s.
That's crazy. So check this out. The government just assumed nobody had computers yet. 'Cause like home computer, right?
Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They assumed anybody who did was just like. Good guys that had computers. So anyway, like people were break like a bad idea. People broke into like nuclear research labs, I'm sure.
Like
it was insane. Hack hackers didn't just come about then come on out. It took them
a few years to get it all locked down. No one ever said government was smart. What is that all about? That's bullshit. I hope people like went to jail for that shit. But like that
Idiocracy right there, I think is so well showcased in Stranger Things with the government.
Oh my God. Right.
It was insane. I couldn't believe that one. I was like, whoa. Okay. Um. Number four. Do you remember Pacman, the video game? Pacman? Uh, duh. Yeah. Okay. , So Pacman technically had a perfect score, possible, a perfect score. I don't know. I played Pacman, but I wasn't that good at it. No human actually ever pulled it off.
In 1980, it was set at 3,333,360 points. And that's if you wait every pellet, every energizer, every ghost, every fruit, plus survive some kill screen at the end. It took all the way till 19 99, 19 99, before some dude named Billy Mitchell. Billy. Billy. Billy wasn't Stranger Things he was. Anyway, Billy Mitchell pulled it off with just the right amount of pizza grease on his joystick.
That's just so much commit commitment. You hack the
game. I don't have that much commitment. Okay. Whatever. I just love my fun facts. Okay. Uh, number five. Did you know that Japan, I also love You said joystick. That's what it was. I
know, but that's like such throwback. Yes, absolutely. It's so crazy.
So I continue Joy.
I have, well, I have one in my garage. Oh, you do? I have the old style video game in my garage, so I still, we so play. Yeah. I just know for anybody
who's listening who doesn't know, you're talking about the stand up. Yes.
Arcade game.
Arcade game. Yes, totally. Okay.
All right. All right. Number five doesn't
mean everyone plays on their phone now.
It's over. Continue. They do.
Well, you don't play Pacman on your phone.
No, you can't. I'm sure. I'm sure it's that for that.
Continue
all. Can I get
on number
five? Yeah. Sorry. Okay. Japan. Japan had the concept of the camera phone. The camera phone in 1982. Hmm. Thank you.
1980s. But the technology to do it was just not like available yet. Huh? Okay. So it just sort of existed floating around in the ether. They had it patented. It took 'em 20 years until basically the year 2000 when cell phone technology caught up and Japan finally pulled it off.
It had a 0.1 megapixel camera and could store 20 photos. That's amazing. That was it. Compare that to today, where an iPhone has 48 megapixels and can basically store unlimited photos.
I mean, but man, that was just like revolution in itself. 'cause everything was film.
I know.
And then all of a sudden, that's
how it worked.
Take
one and see It immediately. Blew people's minds.
All right. We're talking about movies number six. Oh, okay. You wanna know how much a movie ticket cost back in 1980?
Yeah. Five bucks,
$2, no. 30 cents. Yeah. Dang. Two 30. I mean, we just went on
Thanksgiving, it was like 20 bucks, two 30 cents. That's like
insane.
I don't even know what cost. $2 30 cents today. A condom maybe. I don't even know. Oh God. Well, why a pack of gum? Why a pack of gum? That's okay. Okay. Is that better? More appropriate, right? Not a pack of condoms. A pack of gum. Jesus. Okay. I don't know. I haven't bought condoms in 40 years. La, la, la, la, la. All right.
And finally, always save the best. For last. In 1986, the US government accidentally sent out a real, you're not gonna believe this, a real nuclear attack warning. It was an actual def con level message that was sent to all tv, all radio stations nationwide
On purpose.
It was accidentally,
oh
yeah. Accident. My goodness. Saying that the United States was under imminent nuclear attack and broadcasters were instructed to prepare for emergency programming. It took 'em 40 minutes to realize they made the mistake and shut it down. Super fun. Super fun fact. Okay. The only reason it didn't cause mass panic, 'cause like, of course, that would be your next natural question.
Yeah. Peter, what the fuck happened? No, it's because the emergency broadcast system broke. It didn't work. Yes. They literally could not play the message they were ordered. Oh. And that's why they built the emergency broadcast test message. Oh, why they test it?
Yes. That's why they test it now.
Because? Because when they thank goodness there wasn't a nuclear attack. Holy crap. Thank
God it didn't work. Yeah. Because they accidentally screwed the whole thing up. I couldn't believe that. Right. I didn't even know what was. That'd be so bad. I so bad that be so bad. 13 years old.
Okay, that's all I got. Fun facts out.
Well that was kind of fascinating. Well, thank you. But I mean, the fun facts were great, but I think the most fascinating part of it all was that, you know, the eighties isn't just about like neons and mix tapes, but like the psychology that was there and like it's a cultural turning point and you're welcome.
Like if you get into the history, it's fascinating. Yeah. On how much is there that like think of like of all these new
listeners that are getting sort of sophisticated, here we go and learning about what this whole podcast is about. Yes. Right. But now
I just wanna like. Dig a little deeper and put on some like leg warmers, eat some Pop-Tarts.
Did you ever
wear leg warmers? Yeah,
absolutely. Yeah, sure did. In the nineties. I, I did. So stupid. No.
Okay. When was the last time you had a Pop-Tart?
Oh, oh God. Probably college.
I love Poptart. Oh, dude. I used the cinnamon, the, the
cinnamon brown sugar. Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. Those ones. Yeah.
I would,
I would live off of those.
Have you
gone to the grocery store? They, they have so many kinds now. Oh. It's because I bought 'em for my kids for a while, but now they have
like the crunchy, the swirls and everything. Oh, it's, but they don't have like the crunchy granola ones. Yeah. Like the ones that are not made with any artificial stuff, and I just feel like they don't taste the same.
They have Pop-Tart cereal now. They have everything. Well,
that's a lot. I
know. It's weird. That's
a lot of sugar. Yeah. Okay. So is there any like other deep dive thing I can go into? You can deep
dive, we can deep dive on anything.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always. I know. All right, well deep dive will sum it up. Watch Stranger Things.
Duh. Let's go. So watch Stranger Things. Okay. Books, we'll do books. , The eighties, one day in America or the Reagan years. Uh, or I want my MTV. Oh, three different concepts. All excellent. Okay. All different sort of like bents on the eighties. If you're not gonna read, watch movies, watch any eighties movie 'cause they're awesome.
Why not? But you should watch one called the Movies That Made us. That one is about how they made movies in the eighties. Huh? So, like, does it's sort of the best thing, like to follow up this podcast episode. Right. Okay. Instead of watching just like Goonies or something like that.
Yeah, yeah. This one's like, we'll teach you something, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Um, yeah, that's sort of all I got. Then after that, just, uh, remember these sort of key takeaways to be sophisticated. Here we go. Number one, what separated the eighties is that it wasn't just stylish, it was structural.
The decade gave us the DNA of modern pop culture, blockbuster storytelling, music as a visual medium, the rise of technology in our homes and suburban life becoming main stage for American identity, cul-de-sacs people. Um,
I love my cul-de-sac,
Culdesacs are great. Number two, the vibes were shaped by tension.
We were talking about that behind all that neon and all the kids on the bikes. Was the Cold War undercurrent that influenced the tone of everything. Music, fashion, even humor. It was optimism wrapped up around anxiety. That's like the whole kind of point I was trying to make earlier. Number three, the eighties blended youth culture and technology in a brand new way.
So between MTV home consoles, VCRs, and early computers, it was the first time entertainment became personal and portable setting the blueprint for how we consume our media today. Number four, the decade was global without trying to be the cultural exports, music videos, blockbuster movies, fashion spread all over the globe.
It was America's loudest decade by far. And the world heard it whether they wanted to or not. It's only took off. I know that was it. Alright. All uphill baby. Uh, and finally the eighties aren't nostalgia. They're influence when you understand why the eighties still show up. In tv, storytelling, music, you start to realize it's because we're still living inside that world that they built and that my friends.
Is being sort of sophisticated.
Real mind screw there. It's, but it's true.
Best decade ever.
And there you have it dear. Listeners are totally rad. Deep dive into the decade that refuses to die.
Totally rad. Did you just do Totally rad. Totally rad. We should have made Rat or one. You didn't talk
about Valley girls.
Valley girls. I know, I didn't. Oh,
wow. Okay.
Oh my God. It's Tubular,
right? Tubular from mall culture to Cold War shadows.
The eighties weren't just a mood board, they were a cultural earthquake, and we're still feeling the aftershocks every time we stream a show.
Listen to a playlist or binge watch a group of kids riding bikes straight into a demic organ and
shout out to Stranger Things
if we did our job Today, you're leaving a little more curious, a little more aware, and maybe ready to re-watch your favorite eighties moments with new eyes, not just as nostalgia, but as the 📍 foundations of the modern world today.
Whether it's your love of synth, your obsession with retro fashion or your entirely justified fear of malls. The big takeaway is this, the eighties weren't shallow, they were transformative. And as always, if you like this episode, hit subscribe. Leave a review, and share it with a friend who insists they were born in the wrong decade, but can't actually name a single member of Duran Duran.
Until next time, stay curious, stay nostalgic, and remember, being sophisticated isn't about knowing everything. It's about knowing why a decade from 40 years ago still owns our imagination.
