Opinion of the 1980s

[TDAS04]

Well?

[Thunderbird is the word]

Good technological advances and some decent music and movies but on the whole a horrible decade as it was the beginning of the growth of massive economic inequality not to mention aids. Also possibly the worst hair decade in history.

[Goldwater]

Horrible fashion, but otherwise a good decade.

[Mr. Smith]

Horrible music, horrible politics, hit-and-miss movies...an utter downgrade from the 70's.

[RINO Tom]

Freedom decade.  Great music and economic prosperity.

[Murica!]

Other than action films, Thrash and Hardcore(no not the sh**t that BRTD listens to.), pretty fycking horrible.

[Bigby]

Overall Freedom, but Horrible in fashion and hair.

[DemPGH]

Movies were good, TV was good, music was great, football was great, culture was great, politics were horrible. So FD on everything except politics.

[The Dowager Mod]

I reached peak Aqua Net usage in the '80s.

[CapoteMonster]

Well it had kickass movies and music along with the rise of technology but had terrible politics and mostly bad theatre. Horrible decade.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

A mix, I was around for 7 years of it and frankly my memories aren't that negative or that positive. But in hindsight, they were probably a net-negative, but a natural response to the two decades that preceded it. 

[OSR stands with Israel]

Freedom Decade

Had amazing Action films, Economy was growing, NBA was amazing during this time period, massive tech acheivments and innovations,  Soviet Union was collapsing, Taxes were cut.

[Clark Kent]

Terrible fashion, great everything else. FD

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

an utter downgrade from the 70's.

[daverep]

Was only alive for about two years of it...

Cons: Awful fashion, hair metal, Ronald Reagan, AIDS outbreak...
Pros: Predator and Back to the Future

I'd call it a wash.

[muon2]

an utter downgrade from the 70's.

Fascinating.

As someone who spent college in the 70's and grad school in the '80's, I doubt many of my US peers would put the 70's ahead of the '80's. To my generation the 70's meant disco for music and all of its attendant culture. There were parties to break disco records because everyone was so tired of it. The 80's brought the new wave of rock back to prominence. The 70's had big mainframe computers and expensive calculators while the 80's saw the introduction of the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh.

Politically the 70's meant defeat in Vietnam, the Watergate scandal, the energy crisis caused by the the rise of OPEC, and the Iran hostage crisis. There were lines for gas, and inflation and unemployment both spiked up creating the term stagflation. Carter was elected as a Washington outsider to change things, and when things didn't improve the public went with another outsider Reagan. The 80's represented the easing of those crises for those of us living and working at the time.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Cheesy fashion and hair, otherwise freedom decade:

• Beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc.
• Economic and technological upswing.
• Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney in office.
• The introduction of the NES and SEGA Master System, and thus the start of video gaming after the crash of 1983.
• Some classic TV shows and movies.
• Some cheesy music/music effects (excessive synthesisers, anyone?), although plenty of good music too.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Cheesy fashion and hair, otherwise freedom decade:

• Beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc.
• Economic and technological upswing.
• Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney in office.
• The introduction of the NES and SEGA Master System, and thus the start of video gaming after the crash of 1983.
• Some classic TV shows and movies.
• Some cheesy music/music effects (excessive synthesisers, anyone?), although plenty of good music too.

This, although I don't think the hair was that cheesy.  It's a shame that all the terrible fashions (i.e. skinny jeans) from that time have come back.  Why not bring back the cool 80s fashions instead?

As a whole, the 80s was a glorious decade, especially in America.