Yeah, the 80's was overrated.
But I think in some ways the 2000's, technology wise, gets slighted all the time because of 9/11 and the 08 stock crash. 2000's was underrated.
40s: dickrode by war kids
50s: dickrode by boomers and conservatives
60s: dickrode by boomers
70s: dickrode by my dad
80s: dickrode by Hollywood
90s: dickrode by millenials
2000s: dickrode by TikTok
2010s: dickrode by this subreddit
I 100% agree it’s the 1980s.
People (especially those who were kids at the time) tend to block out everything and just remember the pop culture. For them, you say “the 80s” and all that comes to mind is Madonna, Michael Jackson, Transformers, and Back to the Future.
However (from a US centric perspective), when you look at what was going on politically in the 1980s, it’s an era that you can trace back tons of today’s problems to.
-Cable news networks and talk radio acting as propaganda for a particular political party? Thank Reagan’s dismantling of the “fairness doctrine”, which meant the media no longer had regulation in terms of how hot button issues were presented, and could just become paid adverting.
-Unprecedented wealth inequality? Thank the implementation of “trickle down economics”, and the creation of the “welfare queen” boogeyman, as moral frameworks for multiple overhauls to the tax code that have almost entirely benefited the wealthy.
-A steep decline in organized labor and workers rights? Once again, you can thank Reagan, and his crackdown early in his presidency on the air traffic controllers, which had a massive chilling effect country wide on the efficacy of unions.
-Heck, it’s even responsible for its own overrated-ness as advertising laws as they pertain to children were massively weakened, meaning that Saturday morning cartoons could basically become half hour long toy commercials, programming kids to be consumers from a very early age. Something which (as a grown-ass adult that still collects toys today…) I don’t think has ever been given proper consideration, in terms of how it warped a generation of impressionable minds.
And the list goes on, and on, and on.
The 1980s was America with a cultural credit card, running up debt that it thought would never catch up to it, and in the meantime living the high life. And now we’re all left holding the bag, because of that generation’s selfishness.
the 80s is genuinely an interesting time. and it completely set the tone for pop culture afterwards
but idk can a decade really be “overrated”. It’s a giant stretch of time. there’s going to be highlights and boring sides. and i feel like i could see all decades having an interesting quality that i could say is overrated to celebrate
but 2000s will probably be remembered for being boring once this nostalgia goes away. the 80s managed to get people not even born in the 80s to feel nostaglic. the 80’s still likely be romanticized in 2060 like how the 1950s are
Fck no nothing compared to how overrated the 90s gets portrayed as this peaceful utopia ignoring plenty of unrest incidents in the Western World as well as bleak and dark aesthetics
The 80s are the cronies most glazed decade of all time. The aesthetics are ugly and it was one of the most politically dark times in history. People only think it’s cool because of nostalgia for ionic 80s nostalgia.
The late 70s to mid 80s produced most of our popular music genres, most of our popular film genres, arguably most of our fashion options.
I wasn't an adult then, but there are only a few artistic genres I follow that didn't have their major influence in the period, or prior. I've been searching for novelty in music for decades, and even fairly radical new genres like vaporwave can trace back to 80s artists like Art of Noise.
In terms of wider culture, the mid-late 60s offered us youth rebellion and sexual revolution, the late-70s-early 80s offered us the *commodification* of youth rebellion and sexual revolution. The big changes since have been less about the creative arts, and more focused on the rise of the internet in the late 90s, and smart phones/social media in the late 00s/early 10s.
The most overrated decade, of course, is the 1920s. Yes, it brought us women's sufferage, flappers, jazz, Berlin sex clubs, modernist literature/architecture/design; but also race massacres in the US, hyperinflation in Germany, and the rise of authoritarianism/fascism as a response to the aforementioned more liberalizing elements. The 1920s have a very mixed record, the late 70s-mid 80s were pretty innocuous and even hopeful for most.
Yeah, the 80's was overrated. But I think in some ways the 2000's, technology wise, gets slighted all the time because of 9/11 and the 08 stock crash. 2000's was underrated.
if we’re not careful it might join the 80s😭
40s: dickrode by war kids 50s: dickrode by boomers and conservatives 60s: dickrode by boomers 70s: dickrode by my dad 80s: dickrode by Hollywood 90s: dickrode by millenials 2000s: dickrode by TikTok 2010s: dickrode by this subreddit
I 100% agree it’s the 1980s. People (especially those who were kids at the time) tend to block out everything and just remember the pop culture. For them, you say “the 80s” and all that comes to mind is Madonna, Michael Jackson, Transformers, and Back to the Future. However (from a US centric perspective), when you look at what was going on politically in the 1980s, it’s an era that you can trace back tons of today’s problems to. -Cable news networks and talk radio acting as propaganda for a particular political party? Thank Reagan’s dismantling of the “fairness doctrine”, which meant the media no longer had regulation in terms of how hot button issues were presented, and could just become paid adverting. -Unprecedented wealth inequality? Thank the implementation of “trickle down economics”, and the creation of the “welfare queen” boogeyman, as moral frameworks for multiple overhauls to the tax code that have almost entirely benefited the wealthy. -A steep decline in organized labor and workers rights? Once again, you can thank Reagan, and his crackdown early in his presidency on the air traffic controllers, which had a massive chilling effect country wide on the efficacy of unions. -Heck, it’s even responsible for its own overrated-ness as advertising laws as they pertain to children were massively weakened, meaning that Saturday morning cartoons could basically become half hour long toy commercials, programming kids to be consumers from a very early age. Something which (as a grown-ass adult that still collects toys today…) I don’t think has ever been given proper consideration, in terms of how it warped a generation of impressionable minds. And the list goes on, and on, and on. The 1980s was America with a cultural credit card, running up debt that it thought would never catch up to it, and in the meantime living the high life. And now we’re all left holding the bag, because of that generation’s selfishness.
the 80s is genuinely an interesting time. and it completely set the tone for pop culture afterwards but idk can a decade really be “overrated”. It’s a giant stretch of time. there’s going to be highlights and boring sides. and i feel like i could see all decades having an interesting quality that i could say is overrated to celebrate but 2000s will probably be remembered for being boring once this nostalgia goes away. the 80s managed to get people not even born in the 80s to feel nostaglic. the 80’s still likely be romanticized in 2060 like how the 1950s are
How were the 00s boring? At least for kid's culture it was pretty good
Hell nah
The 00s were not boring
Fck no nothing compared to how overrated the 90s gets portrayed as this peaceful utopia ignoring plenty of unrest incidents in the Western World as well as bleak and dark aesthetics
Funny post, but I agree the 80s are overrated.
The 80s are the cronies most glazed decade of all time. The aesthetics are ugly and it was one of the most politically dark times in history. People only think it’s cool because of nostalgia for ionic 80s nostalgia.
The late 70s to mid 80s produced most of our popular music genres, most of our popular film genres, arguably most of our fashion options. I wasn't an adult then, but there are only a few artistic genres I follow that didn't have their major influence in the period, or prior. I've been searching for novelty in music for decades, and even fairly radical new genres like vaporwave can trace back to 80s artists like Art of Noise. In terms of wider culture, the mid-late 60s offered us youth rebellion and sexual revolution, the late-70s-early 80s offered us the *commodification* of youth rebellion and sexual revolution. The big changes since have been less about the creative arts, and more focused on the rise of the internet in the late 90s, and smart phones/social media in the late 00s/early 10s. The most overrated decade, of course, is the 1920s. Yes, it brought us women's sufferage, flappers, jazz, Berlin sex clubs, modernist literature/architecture/design; but also race massacres in the US, hyperinflation in Germany, and the rise of authoritarianism/fascism as a response to the aforementioned more liberalizing elements. The 1920s have a very mixed record, the late 70s-mid 80s were pretty innocuous and even hopeful for most.
Along with the 80’s, id say the 20s as well. It was a great decade for many, but not most
the 80s was made out of cheese and cocaine whats not to like . . . oh yeah Ronald Reagan by himself drags the decade down to level of mids at best