12 Things Gone FOREVER...1980s - Life in America 

One thing frighteningly gone forever is civility and cooperation in American politics.

Bartles and James: "And thank you for your support."

I remember that just walking around the mall was a fun thing to do in the 80’s.

The 80's were not perfect by any means, but oh how I would love to go back to those days. I was a teen and into my early 20's back then and it was simply a great time to be around.

If you do a part 2, you should mention something that is definitely falling by the wayside these days...shopping malls. They were THE place to be in the 80s. Now they are fast becoming a distant memory

The thing I think that is gone forever from the 80's are the small videogame arcades many stores had. They would have only one or two coin operated games, and that was it. This was common in 7-11s.

Wow, look at all those cashiers at Kmart 6:11 I went to a grocery store yesterday and there was only one cashier the rest were all self-check-out lanes. Made me sad.

I saw someone who I went to school withs cousin, who I knew, on a milk carton in my refrigerator! That freaked me out completely! Despite the bad times, I’d still rather go back to the 80s. Even if it’s just for a short time. Those bad times don’t compare to now.

The 1980’s, maybe because I was a kid during this decade, but it is by far the best out of any decade. When the time machine is invented I’ll be first in line to go back to the 80’s!

Man, you really nailed the 80's. I was a teen throughout the 80's, and I can relate to so many of these things. Everyone had a mullet (including me), also Trapper Keepers (I had a few), parachute pants (I had the tight variety), boom boxes (every guy had one), and even the Blue Light Specials. Thanks for the trip down memory lane

One thing that disappeared after the 80’s was “ Cruising Main Street” or “ Bombing Main” It was the way to meet people, show off your car, jack up the backend with loud exhaust, stoplight to stoplight drag races, pick up girls, go parking, and of course getting the occasional ticket for having a little too much fun. As far as I know this started in the 50’s and ended in the early 90’s with cities posting “ no cruising ordinances” Some cities put up barricades to prevent cruising other cities changed their four lanes into two lanes to prevent cruising. Friday and Saturday night cruising is gone forever.

Left out the “Sony Walkman”-I got mine in 1985

I still have my boom box and it works great to play the 80’s music.

I recently bought a trapper keeper from Walmart. This definitely brought back so many memories! Thank you!

Best decade ever 😉 I'd definitely go back. Greatest memories.

The 80s was such a magical decade. Decades just kept getting duller and duller as time when on. But with the 80s there was so many things going on, music, fashion, fads. It was the last decade that was actually fun.

The 80s were the best. I am so glad I grew up during that decade. Technology was at a perfect equilibrium. It was advanced enough to make our lives interesting, convenient, and enjoyable, but it had not yet taken over our lives and made us miserable and subservient. We were technology's master--not the other way around. And the best music and films came from the 80s. I'm so glad I grew up when I did!

The 1980s were a great decade ❤️

There was also sun country wine coolers. And “riunite on ice..that’s nice” 😊

Good job but you missed a vital aspect of childhood in the 80s.....Saturday Morning Cartoons, the classic era.

Another thing gone forever from the 80s is FUN!!!!

Loved it! Can we get a Part 2, please??

Nostalgia makes me very sad.....and depressed, but thanks.

Bartles and James : wow thanks for that recollection!

One thing that keeps coming back from the 80's is Ripped Jeans. And I'm finding some more, younger people rediscovering 80's Rock.

I count myself very lucky to have grown up in the 80's. I used to drink Bartles & James wine coolers in the 90's. I wish we could still get them. The 80's were magical. Thank you.

Hopefully, MTV will join this list soon.

The Kmart blue light special started in the mid 60s and ended in the early 90s (they did bring it back for a short time). I remember in the 70s, at least in the area I grew up in, it was used to describe something of questionable quality. If someone had anything that broke or just fell apart not long after they got it, people would comment that it must have been a Kmart blue light special. If, by chance, you did have something that was bought on a blue light special, you kept that information to yourself.

I was blessed enough to have 16 years of Ronald Reagan's leadership. The first eight years as the Governor of California.

I remember the blue light specials!

The 80's...awesome memories

I grew up in the eighties and it was a simple time. Uncomplicated.. Good times...

Last best decade, after that all down hill

Ha I remember typing my college papers on a Brother typewriter but on my dorm hall a guy had this thing called a Mac!! He let me type my papers on it and I was hooked! ❤️

Thanks for putting a smile once again on this old Woman's face :)

I agree, back to the good old days.

I want my MTV! 📺

have some great memories involving wine coolers lol

that "just say no" campaign really worked... I was scared to touch drugs throughout my entire childhood. I didn't even try weed until I was about 25 lol

Trapper Keeper ~ Another reason they fell out of favor is because the all-plastic binder rings had a tendency to break and snap off. Rendering the binders useless. Had several of them all through elementary school. All would eventually break in the same way. Plus, I was never hard on mine. Just too fragile.

Wine coolers were my introduction to alcohol when I was a young man in the 80's. I preferred Seagram's Golden to any other. I got my first Trapper Keeper in the late 70's, so I guess I was slightly ahead of the curve? The efficacy of the Just Say No campaign is hard to know since you can't easily measure a negative; how many kids never tried drugs at all because of what they learned, then?

#1 thing gone forever....privacy!

#1 -- And we thank you for your support! And always support us responsibly!

Your right about the "just say no" thing it's long gone, everyone just says YES PLEASE! now lol

Trapper Keepers are back, actually! And I still keep potpourri in my home. I didn't realize this made me 80s, but I'm totally owning it. 80s forever!

Mead still makes the Trapper Keeper. You can get it on Amazon. But there is only one picture design and it looks more 90's than 80's..

The stories you find in the comments are a real treat!

I had a green trapper keeper back in 1981 in the 7th grade, junior high. That seems like another planet and a lifetime ago now. We always thought the future would be better but we were so wrong.

1968 boy here. Great job with the flashback, all we’re so familiar, excerpt the power glove - probably because I wasn’t a big gamer in the day? Weird to not recall at all? I guess it also goes to show how great it was that we were constantly blitzed with sales & marketing with social media, as it didn’t exist!

Another clothing style in the 80s was Painter's Pants often the overalls version was quite the rage in the 80s. Another one is MTV back when they actually played Music Videos.

You forgot to mention that the Bartles and James ads would always end with them saying "Thank you for your support."

i do remember the 1980s very well

The 80s were a combination of joy and absolute darkness for me as it was the AIDS epidemic and I helped 79 of my friends plan their funerals - and then attended each of them. The darkness was obvious as so many people died; and the joy was my privilege in helping my closest friends transition.

It was probably 86 or 87 before I ever heard somebody that didn't speak English as their native language. Now my old school is 75% Hispanic & all of the convenience stores & motels/hotels are all owned by foreigners. Thinking about what has happened to my society makes me very sad. Now there's blue haired Pajama people walking around my little town at 2:00 in the morning And a homeless encampment. And everybody seems to think this is OK.

Bartles and James!😍

You could literally make tons of videos of the 1980s alone. Keep em coming!!

Oh yes, the mullet which equals to business in the front, party in the back!

The 80's were the BEST in my opionion Wished I could go back to the fun times back then and also 86 was when I had my 1st child hard to believe it's been almost thirty-six years since the first time I became a mama

I used to work in a Kmart in the late 80's and til 2003 actually, and I used to love the blue light specials! I always got enlisted to do them if I was there, but I really didn't mind, they were fun to do, like being an announce just the audience wasn't right in front of your face lol. Often times, they actually did have really good deals and within minutes of making the announcement, I'd be swarmed by crowds of people shoving the product towards me to re-ticket. Good times and good friends, miss those days :)

You forgot the most iconic thing of all that disappeared forever during the 1980s - the Berlin Wall and the Cold War (November, 1989)!

Would love to go back to the 80s

I'm age 43 and had my childhood that decade.My upbringing with Walkman,great music-movies-Tv shows was beyond everything.The last decade before Internet came.We had music and video rental stores.LP og tapes was in use everywhere,but the CD and Discman started to come more out in the late 1980's.Outside people biked or jogged. We wore oversiced clothes-converse shoes-headbands,highwasted jeans and jeans jacked.College jacked and trim suit eighter in nylon/polyester or oversiced jogging suit was popular. Oversiced cardigan/knitting jackets with shoulderpads was supercool to wear with baggy pants and white socks.Leggwarmers and pilot suits for girls often wearing a big stumack belt. Hairstyle was big perm hair or straight mullet like hair with bangs.Black RayBan sunglasses with or whitout an mirror outside the glasses. This was the last and best decade of horror/thriller and slasher movies era. People wore very sporty and danced a lot because of the great music everywhere. Street style/break dance/hip hop music. People had better time and more respect for other's.We had phonebooks with the yellow pages in another book.Tekst Tv and satelite dish was super cool and expensive to get.Home decor was pinewood-water bed-sacco bean sack-pappasan chair-whitepink colors,big leather sofa's.MTV came in 1981 and only aired music videos. VCR and Microwave was a big deal and expensive to purchase.Downtown people used phoneboot to call for a taxi-friends-lovers e.t.c.Loneliness was not much around,everybody had a close friend eighter inside or outside the family. Very easy to find or change your occupation/finding a new job. The 1980's was very colorful,pink,purple,mint green and baby blue colors.My list goes on and on.

80’s movies were and still are some of the best.

High school class of ‘89! I remember all of this like it was yesterday.

Never thought I'd miss hearing about blue light specials. And I liked the mullet!

Actually there was scented room spray for decades prior to the potpourri trend. Remember Lysol spray? For a while they had different scents but there were other brands too.

Man, I haven’t heard the name Bugle Boy in decades! Totally forgot about that brand 😂

I miss you 80's!! Please come back 😎

The name brand Trapper Keepers can still be bought today at Walmart and Amazon

The good times. The crazy things we did

The mullet has never gone away!!! It's probably been around thousands of years! Geez man!

The mullet will never go away.

Born 1971 remember all this♐️👍

Haha. Nailed it! Great times, and thanks for the memories.

I almost cried when I saw the trapper keeper. Always remembered and loved it. I miss being a kid in the 80's :(

Was born in 1980 so this is my childhood! Remember all things mentioned fondly!

"Boom Boxes" is a PC 90's term. They were known as "Ghetto Blasters" in the 80's.

"And thank you for your support".

Wine Coolers are still out there,Walmart and all the Liquor Stores still sell them because, I still actually buy them. There’s other companies that have followed suit, love the Hard Lemonade Black Cherry! The Blue Light was around in the 70s and, I can’t begin to tell you how many times, I chased down after that darn thing so, my mom could continue to shop! Then, I’d have to go back and tell her what it was and, then, if she wanted whatever they were, I’d have to hurry up and get however many she wanted and, then, go take them back to her. Shopping with my mother always felt like workout and, the time she got done in one store alone, I was exhausted and ready to go out to eat!

Thank you for the memories. I still remember the taste of wine coolers from parties during college…and the smell of hair mousse while slow dancing.

Ahh, the decade of my 20’s…

I had a Trapper Keeper but I remember the flap ripping. I don't remember if I had more than one in those days. I loved the folders though, papers didn't fall out of them. I was going through my stuff one day and found one I had forgotten about. Ah, the blue light special, I remember it well. I had to make the announcement and run it a few times when I worked at K-Mart in the early 90s. My work buddies and I were notorious for trying to get the person giving the announcement, to laugh. So whenever it was my turn, I would hide when making the announcement. Then I would walk around and they would always ask where I was. I never told them because I knew they would try to make me laugh while making the announcement. 30+ years later and I still remember the announcement. Remembering why I walked into a room is a different story. LOL

Thanks for sharing!

I absolutely loved the 80's I had the best time of my life even typing this now I'm getting flashbacks of all the things I did during that decade. I'm glad that I grew up in the 80's and I started high school in the 80's it was only for about 2 years but hey at least I got my license in 1989. Thanks for the memories I remember everything in the video.

The 80's were awesome. No electronic cell phone leashes and kids could actually be kids. Unlike the 1950's rose colored glasses memory hype, the 80's were actually the 80's. They overflowed a little bit into the 90's thanklfully.

I'm still recuperating from 80's wine coolers 🥴

You did great. God bless you!

If you do a follow-up to this or the 90s, don't forget the truly iconic status symbol: the car phone, complete with its portable charging station you could tote in a zippered black vinyl or leather carrying case.

Some of those are still available (e.g. Trapper Keepers can be had on Amazon).

How bout Sperry topsider shoes?they were super popular with yuppie crowd as well as penny loafers. I went to private school a few years and wanted Sperrys so bad but my parents always got me the knock off brand lol..

Thank you for your support...Loved those wine coolers.

Thank you for your support.

I loved the Bartles and James wine coolers!! (But then, I also liked the Zimas in the '90s!)

I loved my Swatch watch.

Man I loved those wine coolers….wish I could get some today.

Some great memories 👍

I'll never forget Spuds!

If i could build a time machine I'm going back to the 80s and staying there

Cool, Good memories 😀

I still love my wine coolers