Revenge of the 1980s
Andrew Raff
April 09, 2001
Welcome to the Twenty-first century. Here, every night is 80's night. For some insane reason, the culture
of the 1980's is making a strong comeback in today's pop culture. I can't
decide whether to be nostalgic or disturbed about this trend. The evidence is overwhelming:
Mr. T. Is back. I pity the fool who doesn't appreciate the T. From appearing
on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to his own 1-800 Collect TV commercials,
Mr. T is as popular as he ever was (except, of course, for the TV and movie
roles.) You can even translate web pages into Mr. T-speak.
Even if I haven't seen B.A. Barracas and the A-Team recently, Nick at Night
has been running some favorite 80's sitcoms, including ALF, Silver Spoons,
Diff'rent Strokes and the Facts of Life.
Old corporate mascots are reappearing in advertising. Joe Isuzu is back
pitching Isuzu cars and trucks.
Unfortunately, the 80's revival isn't restricted to TV. The New York Mets
were back in the World Series last year. Two of the 86 Mets' biggest stars
were in the news last week: Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry-- for both
baseball and drug abuse news.
Bon Jovi released a new album last year.
Even the business world has gotten into the 80's revival movement. After a
return of the greed, we've had a major stock market crash, just like 1987!
The eeriest wave of 80's nostalgia is coming not from Hollywood or Wall
Street, but from Washington. The second Bush administration is a throwback
to the heady days of President Poppy. Not only do we have another George
Bush in the White House, but the surrounding cast of characters has a lot of
players in recurring roles. Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfield, Paul O'Neill - the list goes on and on.
Unfortunately, not only are the policy-makers in the Bush Administration
recycled from the 80's, but the policies are too. A big tax cut for the
rich? It's Voodoo economics again. Foreign Policy? Heck, it's a return to
the heady days of the Cold War: Star Wars 2, a slimmed down version of the
Anti-Missile Defense system, expelling Russian diplomats, conflict with
China over a spy plane, threatening to go toe-to-toe with Korea.
Heck, Men at Work even played a comeback tour last year. I guess when the
Grammy awards start going to influential artists of the 80's, 90's nostalgia
will be in full effect in the rest of pop culture.
Now, I'm going to go see if I can find a can of New Coke...
I pity the fool who doesn't take this 80's quiz
