20 Nostalgic Things Only People Born in the '70s and 80s' Will Remember

With all the craziness going on around us in the modern times, it’s quite easy to become nostalgic about the days long gone. While the ‘70s and ‘80s fashion keeps coming back with all the bell sleeves, mini dresses, tunics, and Tie-dye shirts, there’s much more to those decades than just stylish attire.

From weirdly-dressed rock bands and spooky movies that have now become legendary, to mixtapes, Cabbage Patch dolls and mullets – we present you 20 nostalgic things only people born in the ‘70s and ‘80s will remember.

Prepare to ride the waves of nostalgia!

Watching the First-Ever Star Wars Movie

It was the year 1977 when George Lucas created the first Star Wars movie and it had taken the whole country by storm. We all know that the movie soon became legendary, inspiring a series of sequels, but seeing that first one in the dim lights of a movie theatre was an experience one could never forget.

If you ask a ‘70s kid what it was like being there during that time he’ll probably describe you the whole experience in the smallest details.

It was such a precious memory everyone remembered that movie viewing for life! Now this movie is even more legendary than before, having started a whole franchise with all kinds of sequels and prequels.

Wearing Mood Rings

Mood rings had a glorious return in the 90s, but it was the 70s when they first appeared, becoming a must-have accessory the moment they hit the market.

Everybody loved them for their unique ability to change colour with a person’s mood, and they also looked quite cool!

Basically, it was a liquid crystal thermometer that could ‘read’ a person’s emotion from the body temperature. Blue was for calmness, black was for anger, and yellow meant you were getting anxious.

Taking Care of a Pet Rock

You might have already seen one of these lately as genius ideas like this never fully go away, but in the '70s thousands of kids were going crazy over pet rocks. Yes, you read that right!

A pet rock cost $4 and you could do whatever you wanted with it. Going for a walk? A pet rock is your best buddy! Feeling a bit down? A pet rock is there to cheer you up.

As crazy as it may seem today, pet rocks were pretty popular back in the day and were probably the most stress-free pets ever! Those were different times back then.

Watching Weirdly Dressed Musicians

The ‘70s and some of the ‘80s music bands were famous for their peculiar looks. Rock bands went over the top with their looks, hairstyles, and face paint to create memorable styles.

Growing up with the likes of Kiss and David Bowie gracing the screens is something the ‘70s and ‘80s kids will never forget!

Everyone wore super long hair, dressed in dark glam rock fashion or torn clothes, styled their hair however they wanted and wore lots of leopard and other animal prints. Fashion was never the same after that!

Madonna Rolling on Stage in a Wedding Dress

Back in the day stage performances were much more modest compared to what you can see on modern TV. Madonna was the one who started bending the rules, coming up with truly ground-breaking shows to impress the viewers.

During 1984 MTV VMAs everyone got speechless when Madonna appeared on stage wearing a posh wedding gown and later started rolling on the floor in it!

As Madonna later confessed, she had lost one of her high heels and had to get it back in order to proceed. She was in the middle of performing a song on live TV, so she needed to make it look effortless. And so the legendary performance was born!

Enjoying the First-Ever Console Game

Gaming wasn’t really a thing till the early '70s when Atari released one of the first-ever video consoles with a game named Pong.

It immediately hit the mass market, driving everyone crazy to get the new toy. It wasn’t a computer, and it wasn’t a TV, it was a mix of both and just seemed like the most advanced technology of its time!

Pong was a type of computerized table tennis game transferred to the TV screen. There were two white lines controlled by the players using joysticks, and a white dot that was meant to be the tennis ball. Atari's next game, Space Invaders, became an even bigger hit!

Trying to Solve J. R.’s Murder

TV series were a big deal in the ‘80s, especially long-running ones like Dallas. When you watch something for decades, naturally, you start treating the characters of the show like your family members.

Thousands of people all over the world were devastated when J.R. Ewing, one of the main characters in Dallas, was shot by an anonymous killer. It was the end of the season, so people were left speculating about this cliff-hanger for the whole summer

When Dallas hit the screens in autumn, a staggering number of 80 million viewers tuned in to watch the show. It was an unprecedented event in TV history!

Cutting Up Things ‘80s style

If you think shredded jeans and collar-less T-shirts are a new thing that’s where you’re wrong. The ‘80s took over the world with a bunch of questionable fashion choices, but cutting up stuff was definitely one of the coolest trends.

The Flashdance movie with Jennifer Beals’ cut sweatshirt might be one of the many inspirations behind the trend, which ended up going viral among all the ‘80s teens.

All you needed was a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a pair of scissors to experiment with this new style as much as you wanted.  It was cool, fun, and affordable for anyone!

Learning a Few Breakdance Moves

Back in the ‘80s, all kids wanted to learn a few hip breakdance moves to show off at the dance battle or somewhere in the street. It was the beginning of the whole street dance culture with lots of different dance styles being born right in front of our eyes.

It was also a turning point for many kids because now everyone was thinking about dancing above everything else! It didn’t matter what your background was, you could just step into the circle, express yourself, and find like-minded people.

Naturally, everyone wanted to learn at least some breakdancing tricks. If you could do a Windmill, you were the coolest kid on the block!

Playing with Etch a Sketch

Back when there were no computers kids had to get inventive to have some fun. Anything that could pass as a toy became a real hit! That’s what happened when Etch a Sketch hit the market in the ‘60s, becoming every kid’s must-have item for years to come.

This magical board originated in France and wasn’t planned to be sold as a toy, but when it reached the market, kids were the first ones to fall for it!

The board used a quirky mechanism with aluminium powder that allowed you to draw and then ‘magically’ erase whatever you’ve produced, and then draw again. It was endless fun and no paper needed!

The Cabbage Patch Dolls Mania

We don’t really know what happened in 1983, but this was the year when everyone went bananas and tried to grab as many Cabbage Patch dolls as they could.

Times commemorated the Cabbage Patch madness with an article, so the future generations would never forget what happened. It was madness indeed! Kids might remember it vaguely, but it were the parents that played the main role in the doll madness.

You may not believe it now, but grow-ups were actually fighting each other over these toys, trying to get some rare rendition of the doll for their kids!

Wearing Bell-Bottom Pants

Something changed drastically in the ‘70s and the flowery ‘60s hippie fashion got toned down a bit, acquiring an elegant and sophisticated vibe. Still, it’s the ‘70s we’re talking about!

One can’t imagine those times without huge hairstyles inspired by Farah Fawcett and equally huge larger-than-life bell-bottom pants.

Both men and women wore bell-bottom pants to all kinds of events, pairing them with shoes on a high platform. It’s one of the most iconic looks of that decade!

Collecting Favourite Band Posters

Kids who grew up in the ‘70s loved music and rock bands above everything else. There were so many of them and they were so incredibly good!

There wasn’t a single kid in the neighbourhood that didn’t collect favourite band posters. All the walls in kids’ rooms were covered with faces of The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, AC/DC, and David Bowie.

It was every teen’s duty to collect as many posters and magazine cut-outs as possible and then boast their collections to everyone.

Wearing Gaudy Neon Colours

If the ‘70s were the decade of elegant, albeit quirky fashion, then the ‘80s ditched all that in favour of bold fashion statements and colours that could make your eyes water with tears.

We kid you not! Neon was the go-to colour that was valued above all other hues and patterns. If you wanted to wear pink, you went for neon pink, and if you wanted to sport some green with it, you went for neon pink pants and didn’t even think twice about it.

It was the time when the brighter you looked, the more fashionable you were. Well, neon colours made a huge comeback in 2021, which means it’s time to dig into that old wardrobe of yours for some quirky ‘80s pants.

Watching Jaws for the First Time

You have to try really hard if you want to scare anyone with a horror movie these days, but in the ‘70s the whole horror movie genre was relatively fresh and didn’t have too many special effects to wow the crowd.

That all changed when Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws hit the screens in 1975! Thousands of people, including kids, went to watch the movie that was by far the scariest thing they had ever seen.

Many ‘70s kids developed a real fear of water due to the life-like sharks and advanced special effects used in the movie. It’s still quite scary even if you watch it now!

Wearing Mullets

Mullet is probably one of the most awkward hairstyles ever invented. We kid you not! Well, if you were born in the ‘80s you’ve probably seen it with your own eyes and, perhaps, even tried sporting one yourself.

The infamous hairdo looks quite decent in the front, but once you turn your head around that’s when it becomes the ultimate show-stopper. It looks funny, and weird, and maybe kind of cool… in a way.

Many young celebs rocked the look in the ‘80s and most of them now wish those photos disappeared forever. Even George Cloonie wore a mullet!

Creating Mixtapes

Forget all about hitting ‘shuffle’ on your smartphones and listening to a non-stop stream of various music tracks – those were the days when everyone created their own music mixes, and it was all non-digital!

Yes, people had to own actual cassettes with the music they wanted to record. And these weren’t CDs or flash drives – cassettes had to be written on both sides!

Image via Unsplash

The time for music was limited, making mixtapes precious mementos and a valuable item that could be used as a present.

Making Tie-Dye T-Shirts

The Tie-Dye trend has been coming and going over the last few decades, and we aren’t really surprised – it was so much fun!

Back in the day, it was every teen’s weekend project and kids could spend hours deciding what the design for the future stylish T-shirt would be.

It was fun and it allowed everyone to show their creative sides. Even if you came up with something hideous you could still wear it and be fashionable in everyone’s eyes.

Having No TV at Night

Nowadays TV seems like the most mundane thing in the world you could tune in and watch at any time of the day. Well, this wasn’t the case in the 70s!

If you couldn’t sleep at night and wanted to pass the time, TV was definitely not an option. The signal went off at around 1 a.m., leaving nothing but a colourful image for everyone to stare at.

Night shows really weren’t a thing back in the day – most people used to sleep at night!

Collecting Marbles

With a wide range of toys one could get in the ‘80s, somehow marbles were the ones that captivated thousands of kids all over the country.

They were round, different-sized, some of them were heavy, while others were light, but most importantly each and every one of them had a pattern that was unlike any other.

If you were born in the ‘80s, you probably still have the extensive marble collection from your childhood. It’s kind of useless now, but bears so many memories!

Buying the Amazing Nintendo Game Boy

All ‘80s kids were lucky to lay their hands on the first-ever Game Boy that came out in 1989. It was the time when console games have just appeared, so being able to hold a portable gaming device was like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

Yet, this happened, and kids were on cloud nine to test the new toy. It didn’t have any complicated games back then, but it still delivered a whole lot of fun.

Nowadays Tetris might not seem like such a technological marvel, but in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was something people have seen for the first time in their lives. It was an unforgettable moment!

Watching Creepy Movies

Movies like the Labyrinth and Wizard of Oz might seem like timeless classics these days, but watching them as a wee kid was an entirely different matter!

Kids who grew up in the ‘80s didn’t have much choice – everyone dived into the Labyrinth movie along with the main character and experienced all the weirdness and creepiness that was there as well.

David Bowie might have looked stellar in that movie, but his character just gave everyone the creeps! And have you seen the Wizard of Oz' incredibly live-like tornado scene? The Wicked Witch of the West was also beyond scary and has scarred lots of kids for life.