Things 80s Kids Did that would shock today’s Generation—Part I

I was born in 1965 but still remember my phone number from when I was 10, then it changed when we moved and I have that one nailed, too. I also remember my best friend’s number and also another guy who lived up the street from him. Since you hand-dialed them so much, it became second nature and that’s why they still stick in your memory decades later…

What a great segue to the rotary phone. When I showed my daughter a picture of one, she said, “What’s that?” totally no clue. Yes, it took a while to roll the numbers but you became quite good at it and there was just something about turning those numbers, then getting your friend’s mom on the other end and asking, “Is Bill there?”

And if you had a third-party line, this was even more fun! A third-party line was a phone line you shared with others. You knew when to answer based on the number of quick rings you got. It was always common practice to listen

So why not go to another 80s icon and that is the phone booth. When you were out that’s what you had to call, unless you asked to borrow a phone in a store or a gas station. I remember a friend’s mom across the street said her son always had a dime in his locker in case he needed to make a call. And being Canadian, listen to the song Innocence by Harlequin on YouTube for a great pay phone reference off the top.

And to get to school to pop that dime in your locker many of us took our bikes or walked. I was walking to school alone well before I was 10 and in Junior High, it was a 20-minute walk, sometimes in frigid temperatures and you had to decide whether you spent a quarter and took the bus part of the way but that meant no red licorice at lunch. Now, I watch in amazement as fleets of cars line up in front of schools to take their kids to and from school – door to door.

And if you rode your bike, you didn’t even know what a helmet was. No one wore them, and if you did, you were super geeky ... protecting your nerdy brain and all. How many of us flew over the handlebars more than once, picked ourselves up and sped away. Looking back, I do think helmets would have been a good idea, but that was just the time.

When the school week was done, that meant one sleep until Saturday morning cartoons.

Today's kids will never know the anticipation of waiting all week for to binge watch Scooby Doo, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Wacky Races, Hoing Kong Phooey, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Magilla Gorilla, Yogi Bear, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines and so many more! They will also never know the fading joy of watching Fat Albert and the gang, knowing that the morning was almost over… which usually meant lunch and then a trip to the mall.

When you were younger, that sometimes meant being dropped off at the mall. If you wanted to go somewhere that was too far to ride your bike to, you were dropped off. And you were on your own until you called to be picked up.

Wasn’t the mall that most truly wonderous place. You were in your own world – grabbing that malt from the Malt Shoppe then checking out the latest fashion trends, grabbing some free batteries at Radio Shack, going to the second level of the mall and just watching the people go by below, then, if you had the money, grabbing an Orange Julius before spending your last few quarters at the arcade.

The arcade was always one of my favourite haunts – with pockets loaded down with quarters and determination burning brighter than a high score display, we flocked to these dimly lit temples of electronic entertainment. I remember some of my favourites being Popeye, BurgerTime, Missile Command but pinball was my mojo. A few of us would rotate all day through a game called Xenon in University, going to class when we needed to then coming back and taking a shift on the game. Many a day I used my lunch money to play which was a little crazy but we had fun!

Xenon is an iconic game from Bally that came out in 1980 and was known for the art package and voice callouts and was also the first "talking" game to be produced by Bally. The tube shot is really fun to hit repeatedly, and the game has an achievable multiball and a great spinner shot that's important for scoring.

Music is a huge part of any kid or teen growing up. For us 80s kids – vinyl was king. But before I go there what if you couldn’t afford all the albums and 45 singles you wanted? Your option was record the sings onto a cassette off the radio. That’s how I started in 1980 and still have that first tape. You either waited for a few hours and grabbed the songs you wanted when they were played or called the DJ and made a specific request. When it came on you hit record and hoped the disc jockey didn’t talk over the intro.

When I eventually had the money from working part time, the ritual was head to the record store every Saturday to leaf through the new albums or singles, buy what was hot and also try out a record from a new band you didn’t know much about but had seen a great video from them on MTV, FM Moving Pictures or Good Rockin’ Tonight! Our store of choice was Kellys but we went to all the shops. And when you got home, you put on the headphones, dropped the needle and sometimes listened in amazement at how good the entire album was. I had this reaction when I listened to Men at Work’s first album ‘Business as Usual’ in the spring of 1982 – nothing like I had heard at the time. I had the same reaction to The Human League’s brilliant Dare! Album, right around the same time.

So, you’ve got the LP’s now what? Make a mixed tape, of course. No playlists to share back then, you needed to spend the time cleaning the album with cleaner and also use an anti-static brush, then drop the needle just before the song you want, record, then pause and repeat the process for your other tunes. A fair bit of work, yes, but it was awesome to bring your mixed tapes in the car or play them at parties in ghetto blasters or boomboxes.

This was the norm until the early 80s when, if you had enough money, you bought a SONY Walkman. It was truly surreal to be able to walk around, ride on the bus, go to school or university and be able to listen to your music. I couldn’t afford the $150 dollars (about $645 today) but did buy an Aiwa portable cassette player that was with me everywhere I went. I even invested in rechargeable batteries as it could be quite expensive buying all those Duracell’s or Energizer’s every time your music died.

Besides music, and like all 80s kids, going to the movies was a real thrill! Let’s start with drive-ins and for those who don’t know what a drive-in is, it was where you drove your vehicle along with dozens of other vehicles and parked to eat popcorn, candy, hot dogs and watched a movie on a giant big screen. When I was a kid, my dad put down a board that covered the back seat of our car. My two sisters and I lied down on sleeping bags on the board, ate Bugles and watched the show. When I was older, it was time to hit the all-nighter, four movies in a row and you always did your best to try and stay awake for all of them. It was a magical experience.

While drive-ins were awesome, movie theatres were where we watched shows most of the time. This was back before the huge multiplexes, so had a more intimate experience in smaller venues plus many more choices with a lot of two- and four screen theatres. In a small town where my dad grew up there was always excitement in going to the local show with your cousins – just two screens but nothing beat it, especially all the candy you bought at the little store next to the theatre that you jammed into your pickets, hoping the ticket takers didn’t see the contraband.

Lots more great 80s memories to tell you about, so more segments to come!