Recently my Cavegirl went to an 80’s themed dance party at a
friend’s house. She was so reluctant to
start with … “I don’t really know much about 80’s music, I’m not even sure I
should go’, ‘I don’t mind the frilly skirt and all the layers, but I’m NOT wearing leg warmers’ and ‘no mum, I don’t want my hair teased up THAT high!’,
while frantically pulling at it to bring it down a bit.
I decided at that point that I’d obviously not done my duty
as a parent … how could I have missed teaching my kids properly about the incredible
awesomeness that was the 80’s? The
fabulous fashions, which were a study in bright and crazy colours; leg warmers, mesh crop tops, teased hair and neon accessories. Not that I ever really had those things (I
was never in the ‘trendy’ crowd), but I could dream.
The music was my favourite thing though - I adored Cyndi
Lauper, INXS and Wham!, although they were quickly forgotten when the ‘big hair’
bands arrived on the scene. Europe, Poison,
Whitesnake, Bon Jovi … in fact, my crush on Jon Bon Jovi continues to this day
(who knew the man would age so well?). I
have fond memories of sitting on the lounge room floor with my sister, watching
Countdown with Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum (and, wow, I honestly believed all the songs
were being performed live!).
We watched A Country Practice every week, Simon Townsend’s
Wonder World in the afternoons, and we witnessed the introduction of Neighbours
and Home and Away … as well as the meteoric rise of Kylie Minogue and her
contemporaries. The cool guys had
mullets and wore puffer jackets, while the girls were all about the perms and
shoulder pads.
Hmm … okay, reading through my list, some of those trends
from the 80s are definitely pretty daggy and best left in the past. But still, it was a great decade in my eyes
and it’s kind of back in fashion now (retro!), so I’m happy. I was actually jealous that my daughter was going to an 80’s theme
party instead of me.
As for her party experience, after all that reluctance, she
came home singing a Belinda Carlisle song and raving about the great music from
the 80’s. The Caveman and I have decided
to jump on this bandwagon while we have the chance, so we’ve been serenading
the kids with our favourite 80’s music and showing them ‘retro’ YouTube clips for
days now.
The novelty will wear off fast, but we’re happy to relive a
little bit of our youth while we can!
