Teen life in the 1980s

As much as the world has changed during the last decades, being a teenager still means the same things: self-searching, strong emotions, maybe also uncertainty. Below you find two stories of 80s' teens, courtesy of Marie Cain and Michelle Iron.
 
I interviewed my aunt Heli. She was born in 1970. This is what she told me about her teens in the 1980’s.

“I was a pretty kind teen. I was interested in dog breeds, languages, sports and music. For example, I liked basketball and badminton. My hobbies were foreign pen pals, singing in a choir and playing the piano.

The 1980’s fashion included impressive shoulder pads, short leather jackets and bright colored tights. In those days the common hairdos were very backcombed. I wasn’t really into fashion, though. I remember buying a dark purple cardigan and a reversible coat.

In the 80’s a band called Dingo had rised into popularity. Eppu Normaali was also listened a lot those days. Personally, I liked Michael Oldfield’s song By the Moonlight Shadow and Paul Young’s Forever Young. When I got a paycheck from my first summer job, I bought a white boom box made by Sharp. With that I recorded songs from the radio.

I remember watching an American comedy series called Kate and Allie. In those days a tv show called Dallas was also popular. What comes to movies, I remember a film about Mozart. It was called Amadeus.

Back in the 1980’s I lived with my mom in a terraced house in Nummela. I went to school in Toivonlinna, which is a boarding school in Piikkiö, so I lived all the work days there.”
Marie Cain


The clothes were neon coloured and aweful. Boys had mullets and rat tails and girls had permanents. ”I liked Popeda, Dingo and Eppu Normaali.” Said my mum.

”In my spare time we were out; swimming, playing... TV was not important, sometimes we went to movies. TV shows were Alf, Dallas and Knight Rider. Movies were E.T., Rambo, Rocky and of course Top Gun. Music was Michael Jackson, Madonna, Europe and Wham!”

My mum also remembers Chernobyl, microwaves, VHS-tape recorders, CD's and electric toothbrushes. ”Oh, and I also remember girls who had fake tan, bright lipstick and too much nail polish. I interviewed my mum, Hanna. She was born in 1962.
Michelle Iron


What kind of clothes did people wear in the 1980s?

- The clothes were very colourful. At that time fashionable trousers and shirts were yellow, pink and green.

What was the music like?
- The Finnish pop-music became popular. Famous bands were Eppu Normaali, Popeda and Dingo.

Is there anything else interesting in the 1980s?
- Yes there is. Youngsters did not have mobile phones or laptops, so they had to meet in order to communicate with each other. If you want to see the 1980s, you should watch the film Vuonna 85 (In 1985). 
Alan Richards


And since it's the 80s we're talking about, for no particular reason I wanted to include the following video. Enjoy!

Can't stop the music!

Have you ever heard of earworms? Maybe you've had some yourself? According to Wikipedia, 98% of people have earworms So maybe you're having one right now! Earworm is a friendly sort of creature, except that it usually refuses to go away.

So that brings us to our theme this week: Music. It's everywhere, whether we like it or not. Take a look at what the BigColaFor21 students wrote about music. Because we didn't have a lesson yesterday, on April Fool's Day, I had to choose the song myself. Please find it at the bottom of this blog entry. Talk about earworms!



Internet piracy is downloading music and films from internet for free. It`s illegal but it`s hard to know who does it. I think it`s weird that it`s illegal, `cause who cares what you do on the internet. Does it really matter if you download it, or just listen to it online? I think it doesn’t.
Julie Hale

Well, music isn’t a very big thing in my life, because I don’t really have a music taste of my own or some ideal band or singer or music style, I just listen what I hear when I put the radio on. Usually the radio is on in the car, and we listen to NRJ or NOVA. The thing is, nowadays music business is so huge that you really can’t decide what could possibly be the best music to listen to, so instead of deciding you just turn the radio on. It’s very easy of course, but that way you get to listen many kinds of music, too. Although I don’t put any effort to know better of the music world, I still think that music is great and for sure very important to some people. So, putting it simply, I listen to whatever I hear from (for example) radio.
Eve Baggins

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. They became the most commercially successful and famous act in the history of popular music. The groups best-known lineup consisted of Jonh Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The Beatles later untilized to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first appeared as “Beatlemania “, but as their song writing improved they came noticed by many fans and cultural observers. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold many singles in the UK, than any act. The best single was: ”Let it be”
Alan Richards

I don’t have a favorite band or song , I listen to all kinds of music and everything everywhere. It’s easier to do everything when listen to music at the same time. When I come home from school I put music on and if I am somewhere else than home I usually use headphones. I can’t live without music!
Sophie Wien

I like almost every genre of music. I listen to music daily, everyday, everytime when it's possible. It's my drug and I'm its addict. (Quite poetic!)

About my weird taste of music, and seriously dude, it IS weird. One day I can listen to Korn, which is very, very depressive and I usually listen to it when I'm mad or just having an extremely bad day.
Then the opposite; Deadmau5 or even sometimes (and only sometimes) LMFAO. (Geez, why do I even like it?)

I listen to happy (or not-so-happy) music everyday. My ears also approve rap, dubstep, chillstep and rock. Examples of them: Eminem, Nero, Skrillex, Kill The Noise, Eskmo, Example, Muse and Linkin Park. I own a lot of CD's and I have dedicated a playlist to music on my Youtube channel.
Michelle Iron

I don’t have favorite music or band. I always listen to NRJ in radio. I listen to all kinds of music they play in the radio. Always I like to listen to pop music but anything is fine by me. But I don’t like opera and rock music. They’re horrible to listen to. I don’t have a favorite singer and I don’t know many of them. There is some of my favorite songs: Girl on fire, My heart will go on, Everytime , Everytime we touch... and many others songs too that I like to listen to again and again. I’m not a huge music fan, but sometimes it is fun to listen to music and relax.
Emily Pommes

Have you seen a movie without music? Yea, I think I know the answer. Movie without songs is nothing. The feeling of the movie changes a lot if you put voices off. Think what it would be if you won’t hear any sounds. You would lose a big part of part of your feelings and yourself. Music is a big part of my life and I love it. Sometimes when I watch a movie I close my eyes and imagine what happens in the movie just by the music and the other sounds. That makes me respect film music more. I want to wake you to think what film music can do. What is the matter of it? What it means to you?
I love older Disney movies. I liked them when I was younger and now I want to collect them all. Some of my favorites are Tarzan, Snow White, Cinderella and Lion King. All they contain lots of music. My dream is that I would find them all and when I have own children in the future I would show the movies for them.
Charlotta Snowhill