The film industry tried to bring back 3-D. Adventure films like Goonies and Raiders of the Lost Ark were all the rage, and special effects became standard fare thanks to the innovations of George Lucas. A nifty new invention called a VCR meant that we could finally watch just about any movie at home, which was totally rad, and we could even pop our our own popcorn in minutes thanks to the microwave.

There were dance scenes, unforgettable Oscar moments (“you like me, you really like me”), movies about dancing, belly-busting parodies (Spaceballs, anyone?), and did I mention the dancing? Dance totally ruled movies and like seeped into the culture – thanks to MTV and new style of music called hip hop, which sparked the breakdancing craze that helped define the decade.

80s Movies Made Stars

It was during the 80s that stars like Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Demi Moore, and Drew Barrymore made their marks in the world of cinema. 80s movies saw the rise and fall of the Brat Pack and failed crossover attempts by artists like Madonna and Eddie Murphy.

It was the decade of the Coreys and Keven Bacon. Molly Ringwald totally charmed us. Horror villains like Freddy Krueger made us wet our pants while heartthrobs like Rob Lowe (or Tawny Kitaen for you fellas) made us want to take our pants off. Chevy Chase had us in stitches and Steven Spielberg made sure our jaws were always on the floor.

They showed up on posters, in magazines, at the Academy Awards, and on the beloved big screen. The 80s movie stars dazzled, entertained, and wowed a culture that was on the brink of a technological boom.

Characters from Beyond

80s movies saw the rise of characters from like, you know, outer space and beyond. We totally fell in love with E.T. We wished for our own Gizmo (but not his Gremlin cousins), and we came to understand that Yoda was totally awesome and all-knowing.

Star Wars alone gave us a crowd of rad characters from space. Who wouldn’t want Chewbacca at their back or C-3PO as a traveling translator? R2-D2 was as loyal a friend as any human, and every kid on planet Earth totally wanted to meet an ewok. There were, like, bad guys too – Jabba the Hutt had us all gagging with spoons.

Fantasy films like The Neverending Story and The Dark Crystal introduced us to truly fantastical new creatures while Beetlejuice and Ghostbusters brought weird beings from the other side to life in living color on the big screen. Incredible puppeteering and breakthroughs in special effects made all these and a lot more characters from 80s movies possible, and we just loved them all.

Not Just for Teens

You could say that 80s movies totally catered to the teen crowd. During the early 80s, some big movie studio executive or marketing manager realized that the people who go to movie theaters the most are teenagers. Young, rowdy, rebellious, dating, curious, allowance-receiving teens who were mostly there to neck in the back row, but still, they were there. Paying customers. So that’s who they made movies for.

The quintessential 80s movies starred the Brat Pack, a group of young actors that kids totally loved and idolized. They starred in films like The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty in Pink.

Films like Weird Science tripped us out. Footloose made us want to dance. And Adventures in Babysitting made us see the possibilities in – well… babysitting. Karate class registrations reached an all-time high when The Karate Kid hit the theaters, and after Breakin’ was released, every teen and tween in the world had to have a boom box. These films launched trends and started fads, created fashion icons and celebrities, and even though the actors in those teen 80s movies are all grown up now, we still remember them with braces, headgear, and hard-ons.

80s Movies at Home

Back in the 70s, if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you were screwed. The best you could hope for was a rerun on your local cable network. That was before on-demand movies or rentals and downloads. No Netflix, no iTunes, and no DVDs.

But in the 80s, movies and access to them changed radically. It all started with the invention of the video cassette and its partner, the VHS player. Video stores popped up in every city and town, and everyone waited to see if those little beta movies would catch on. They didn’t (even though they were built with better technology).

VHS tapes carried us through the 80s but like all good things, they came to an end when the masters of technology handed us the DVD just at the end of the decade. Luckily, all our favorite 80s movies are on DVD! We’ll totally thank the movie gods for that!

And Then There Were Soundtracks

Did any other decade put out rad movie soundtracks like the 80s? The 80s soundtracks gave us theme songs that got stuck in our heads and so we hummed along. These were bitchen tunes that DJs actually played on the radio and at weddings. People literally went to the store and bought a movie soundtrack (on cassette tape of course – maybe even on vinyl — oh my god, remember vinyl?).

Who could forget the thundering cadence of the Indiana Jones Theme or the glorious championing of Chariots of Fire? We bopped along to Footloose, worked out to Eye of the Tiger, and made out to Take My Breath Away.

80s movies songs were so rad, in fact, that they still use them in movies today. And 80s movies are so rad that we’re still watching them over and over. And over.

Stinky Plastic 80s Fashion

Why would anyone want to stick their bare feet into plastic shoes? Okay, so some people may have worn them with socks, which was, like, fashionably questionable (at best), but what did we think was so stylish about stinky feet? And believe me, no 80s fashion smelled worse (except maybe Aqua Net hairspray). I remember sitting around the house, wondering what’s that foul odor? — only to discover it was coming from my own jelly shoes! It was totally disgusting!

But 80s Shoes Had to Be Cute

But they were soooo cute! And when it comes to fashion, it’s all about aesthetics. They make your feet smell? So what? They look awesome! Women have been wearing uncomfortable shoes for decades… centuries even, and 80s shoes were no different.

All of my jelly shoes were made mostly out of soft plastic, but the back piece was hard and it used to give me blisters — blisters that hurt! The plastic along the sides of the shoes was always breaking. Did I mention they were cheap? You could get a pair for under five dollars, which was a good thing since I always had to replace mine.

But on the playground, jelly shoes totally ruled. I remember all too well how much all the girls thought jelly shoes were the greatest 80s fashion ever. We flaunted them, and for about a season, we gave them top honor among all our other 80s shoes. But alas, the love we had for our jelly shoes did not last (thank goodness).

Rest in Peace, Jelly Shoes

I’m sure all my old jelly shoes are in a landfill somewhere, stubbornly NOT decomposing. This is one 80s fashion that I’m glad has been laid to rest and one pair of 80s shoes that I hope never comes back into style.

Good riddance jelly shoes!

80s fashion

80s hair had to be grandiose. Heck, what wasn’t big in the 80s? We doused our locks with Aqua-Net until our hair was thick and sticky. But at least our hairstyle was securely fixed. No wind could knock down that 80s hair!

But we didn’t always have time to tease our hair. Some styles took hours to master and involved wrangling with styling mousse, gel, a hairdryer, a curling iron, a crimping iron, and that unwieldy can of Aqua-Net.

When you had to run out the door, a ponytail was your only option. But it was the 80s, so if you couldn’t find your banana clip, you probably went with a side ponytail.

Quirky 80s Fashion

In the 80s, we just had to be different. We had to be bold. Everything was an overstatement. Our 80s fashion was no exception and neither was our 80s hair.

Hairstyles come and go, and in the 80s, styles came and went pretty quickly. The most popular 80s fashion, the one you totally HAD to have, was one you wouldn’t be caught dead in six months later.

It was like – one day you had to have pair of jelly shoes to be cool. Anyone who was anyone had a pair (or twenty pairs) of jelly shoes. But just a few months later, anyone caught wearing a pair of jelly shoes would be ostracised. Lame, I know, but all 80s fashion was like that, especially 80s hair.

80s Hair

80s hair styles went in and out. You changed your hair about as often as you changed your underwear, so like, every day basically.

One day it was feathered, the next day it was teased up to the sky. A week later, you slicked it back, and a month after that you pulled it up into a ponytail.

If it was the 80s, maybe you secured your ponytail with a scrunchy or a banana clip. More likely, you swept it up into a side ponytail.

The Side Ponytail

Ponytails have always been popular. They’re fast and easy. They get annoying strands of hair out of your face and neatly pulled back where they’re, like, out of your way.

Anyone with hair past the chin can appreciate a simple ponytial. But you had to be a child of the 80s to appreciate the side ponytail.

80s hair came in many different styles and colors. The side ponytail could be teased up into a puff of curls, or it could hang loose. You could secure it with an old-fashioned rubber band, a scrunchy, or even a banana clip (more on those later).

It was all a part of 80s fashion – the shoes, the clothes, the accessories, and the hair. The side ponytail was a fast fix that kept your style current (trendy) and marked you as an 80s fashion pro.

80s hair and 80s fashion went through many fads and phases throughout the decade. The side ponytail was just one popular hairstyle. But there were many others. And we’ll totally be talking about those in future articles.

It definitely was not covering my derriere. Not good.

“Can I get you anything in a different size, Miss?” the salesperson asked.

“Yes, I’ll take the red blouse in size large, and the gold in extra-large. Thanks.” The woman paused, and I could almost hear her wondering what a petite girl like me wanted with such totally big sizes. She probably opened her mouth to protest, but realizing that she wouldn’t win over a stubborn, fashion-sensitive teen, she hurried off to get me the sizes I had requested.

Moments later, I pulled on the gold blouse, buttoning it up halfway. Over that, I put on the red one, making sure that plenty of the gold blouse was peeking out from underneath. With my black ribbed tank showing at the neckline, the outfit had pizazz. I dug through my own discarded pile of 80s clothing and popped my black felt fedora onto my head and then wrapped my three-inch belt around my waist, fastening it just at my hipline.

Finally, I turned again to check my rear end. The bottom hem of the gold blouse came to the bottom of my bottom. Perfect. I was an 80s fashion star.

80s Fashion was Top-Heavy

The 80s fashion silhouette was top-heavy. T-shirts, blouses, sweaters, and sweatshirts had to be, like, three sizes too big so they would hang loose and low. They were often cinched with fat belts or doubled wrap-around belts, emphasizing the hips and lower waist.

And if that didn’t make our torso grand enough, we were also shoulder-pad happy. Almost all 80s clothing had shoulder pads sewn in, and if you were unlucky enough to fall in love with a top that was missing this essential 80s fashion staple, you could always buy a pair and sew them in yourself. Those shoulder pads made your upper half even heftier.

For contrast and emphasis, you wore the tightest pants you could find, making your bottom half appear skinny while your top half was enormous, swimming in yards of fabric. Oh, and it all had to be layered. Yes, totally layered.

80s Clothing Supersized

It’s amazing that years later, we were buying the tiniest shirts we could find and doing everything under the sun to make sure our midriffs were on display. Throughout most of the 80s, you really covered up as much as possible.

Once Madonna made a splash in 80s fashion, the hemlines on our tops started moving up, drastically altering the trendiest styles in 80s clothing. But that didn’t mean the shirts had to be tight-fitting. We still wore them loose. Oh yes, you could still by an extra-large tee and simply hack off the bottom half with a pair of scissors.

T-shirts had to cover your buns, blouses grazed your thighs, and sweatshirts draped around your knees. Oversized shirts were an 80s fashion staple, essential pieces for a worthwhile, stylish wardrobe packed with big and bold 80s clothing.

As a kid growing up in the 80s, I wore my leg warmers out.

Leg warmers could be found just about anywhere. They were wearing them on TV, in the movies, and even in schoolyards. As far as 80s accessories go, leg warmers were about as rad as it got.

You Wanted Leg Warmers

You wanted as many pairs of leg warmers as possible. If you were lucky, you had a pair for every outfit. Or at least each pair of shoes. They rounded out your big awesome collection of essential 80s accessories because they went with just about everything.

You could wear them to school, to a friend’s house, out on the town. And of course, you could totally wear them to aerobics class. Oh yes, aerobics were big in the 80s. Everyone was trying to be a Solid Gold dancer and you couldn’t do that without a solid collection of leg warmers and some wicked awesome dance moves.

The funny thing was that leg warmers weren’t that easy to find, even though they were like the most popular of all 80s accessories. You totally had to search if you wanted to build up a tubular collection of leg warmers. Sure, you could get them at dance wear shops, but those ones were usually plain and boring. You could find wilder patterns and colors of leg warmers at departments stores. And that was, like, way before the internet. So you for sure couldn’t buy them online.

80s Fashion and the Decade of Dance

If there was one running theme in 80s fashion, it was BIG. Everything was oversized and bold. If there was a second theme, it was dance. The 80s sparked a whole new dance craze that leaked into 80s fashion, and the 80s accessories were no exception.

We used to wear leotards, like, every day. Yes, you pulled your jeans on right over your leotards and then pulled your leg warmers on over your jeans. Other 80s accessories inspired by dance wear were the off-the-shoulder cutoff sweatshirt and the sweatbands that we wore as stylish headbands, ala Olivia Newton John’s song and music video, “Physical.”

But when it came to the marriage of dance and fashion, not one of the 80s accessories could beat out leg warmers.

80s Accessories and Leg Warmers Layered

Most 80s accessories that came from dance style were altered for everyday wear. You didn’t actually wear a sweatband on your head. No. You used a ribbon or a piece of scrap material. I used to cut up old t-shirts. Even the leotards you wore out and about weren’t the same ones you actually wore to aerobics.

But not leg warmers. You bought them and wore them just as they were. And you layered them too. You totally layered everything in the 80s.

We layered shirts, tights, pants, and socks. We would’ve layered shoes if we could’ve found a way to do it and lord knows, somebody probably did. Leg warmers were totally perfect for layering, especially with some bitchen neon socks and two different colored sneakers.

Love That 80s Fashion

We slid them on over our pants and under our skirts. Sometimes we tucked them into our socks. Other times, we rolled them down over our boots. Leg warmers were an 80s fashion necessity. And they make little comebacks every now and then. Which is a good thing. For sure.

Look around and you’ll occasionally see someone rocking leg warmers. Just go to any dance studio and you’ll find them. Lately, they’ve been popping up as a retro trend. You better go find yourself a pair.

But no matter who’s wearing them now, to those of us who grew up in the most bodacious decade ever, leg warmers will always belong to 80s fashion.

80s fashion

Black was back, prints were on everything including pants and shoes, and hair and makeup were thick, radical, and wild. The fashionable silhouette was top-heavy – big, baggy shirts with tapered jeans. Leather and lace came together and colors took on a strangely bright, luminescent hue when neon accessories became a raging fad.

80s fashion was wild and over the top but it was accessible. It could be trendy or alternative, subtle or outrageous, and it was a lot of fun for anyone with a penchant for style. It’s like the fashion gods woke up when 1980 kicked off and said, “This decade, anything goes.”

80s Fashion Subcultures

Dance Wear & Breakdancing - If the 80s had a single theme, it would probably be dance. Traditional dancewear made its way into popular 80s fashion and street wear when girls started wearing legwarmers, leotards, and thanks to the movie Flashdance, ripped sweatshirts that hung off one shoulder, which was totally sexy. This look, heavily accessorized, was super trendy among Valley Girls. When breakdancing became popular, it came with its own fashion items including windbreakers, parachute pants, bandana accessories and wrist- or head-bands and the ever-present hip-hop sneaker (preferably ADIDAS).

Preppy - The preppy look borrowed heavily from TV show Miami Vice. That’s where it got light-colored suits with bright tees underneath and ultra-skinny ties. Other prep 80s fashion items included Alligator (golf) shirts, Bermuda shorts, and upper crust loafers. If you ask me, the look was pretty lame compared to…

New Romantic - It was punk gone soft and sweet. The New Romantic style, which eventually gave rise to new wave style and gothic fashion, featured lots of black and dark clothing with loose, flowing fabrics. Puffy sleeves and designs that echoed pirates eventually became New Romantic staples. For the ladies, cinched waists, corsets, and bustiers gave a romantic, old-fashioned flair. Think Marie Antoinette meets Sid Vicious. It was totally rad.

Designers and Name Brands

Fashion designers got lucky in the 80s when name brand designers became a symbol of wealth and posterity. Yeah right. They were just a symbol that meant you had a clue. Guess, Calvin Klein, and Esprit were popular with the middle class. Suddenly, the name on your sneakers said something about your identity as a member of society. ADIDAS or Rebok? Converse or Keds? Boots or barefoot?

80s Fashion Accessories

During the 80s, accessories were a staple of any fashionable ensemble. Jewelry was bulky and chunky and the more the better. Both guys and girls sported pierced earrings. They were huge, they dangled, and you wore lots of them at once — as many as you could. Layers of necklaces, faux pearls and big cross pendants were made popular by pop star Madonna, who quickly became an 80s fashion icon in her own right. Hats and gloves also popped back in mainstream fashion. Fedora hats were wildly popular thanks to Michael Jackson who also made wearing one glove seem like a cool idea. Madonna made fingerless lace gloves hip, sexy, and stylish (and let’s face it, those fingerless gloves were totally awesome!). Belts were as big as everything else, and the girls wore them hung loosely around their hips to cinch huge, baggy tees and blouses. It was pretty insane.

80s fashion will forever be remembered as the decade of decadence. More! Bigger! Brighter! It was bold and bodacious, loud and lacy. In the 80s, fashion became an integral part of each celebrity’s image and celebrities themselves became major trendsetters. Those trends made their way into the suburbs and became standard fare. 80s fashion was a bitchen way to express your identity. And it still is.

Kids took up 80s fads and they became crazes, fetishes, wildfires that burned up the culture and then burned out.

One day you absolutely HAD to have twenty pairs of neon socks. The next day, you wouldn’t be caught dead in them. Hey, that’s what makes them fads.

80s Fads and Fashion

Fads and fashion always go hand in hand. The 80s fads that affected fashion were curious, bold, and outrageous. Shoulder pads were added to almost every shirt and jacket, giving women (and some men) a boxy shape. Not flattering, but totally popular nonetheless. Layers were a better look even though some people overdid it, layering every item of every outfit to the hilt – two hats, three shirt, two pairs of tights, four pairs of socks, and sadly, just one pair of shoes. It got kinda lame.

Jelly shoes came and went but oh how the girls loved them, even though if you wore them without socks, your feet turned into a sweaty swamp of stink. Low-cut boots with a loose fit were worn with everything from shorts to dresses. And who could forget the shoe that every girl alive in the 80s donned? Keds. In every color imaginable.

80s fads totally slammed the world of fashion accessories – jelly bracelets, banana clips, and bulky, long necklaces with oversized crosses. Everyone started getting multiple piercings in their ears (even the guys) and you had to have one pair of enormous earrings for each oversized shirt you in your wardrobe. And lacy fingerless gloves. What self-respecting Madonna wannabe didn’t have ten pairs of those?

80s Fads at School

80s fads took on a whole new meaning for kids who had to face the harsh competitive world known as the schoolyard. If you didn’t have enough friendship bracelets or pins, you were clearly a loser. Were your jeans rolled the right way? Did you have sunglasses that looked like Ray-Bans even if they weren’t the real thing?

Girls toted armfuls of Cabbage Patch Kids into the classroom for show and tell and the other girls eyed them with envy. The boys proudly balanced boom boxes on their shoulders and carried around scraps of cardboard so they could pretend to be breakdancers, even if their skills were limited to just one or two moves – like maybe the snake and a wannabe version of the backspin.

You better not be seen carrying a paper sack. A tin lunchbox featuring one of the most current icons was a necessity or you risked feeling like a leper. Pac-Man, Dukes of Hazzard, Strawberry Shortcake, and of course, Star Wars were all totally acceptable for lunchtime containers.

The pressure was on high and it was something new all the time, like every week the trends were changing! Kids could make or break those 80s fads and once a couple of cool kids adopted some new item, it caught on and next thing you knew it was as common as clouds in the sky.

80s Jargon and Slang

Every generation makes some kind of contribution to the language. New technology and inventions fatten our dictionary, and writers are always concocting new turns of phrase that slip from our tongues and end up as part of our lingual makeup. But nothing marks an era like the slang that comes out of it.

In the 80s, every other word was “like,” or “ohmygod.” The California valley girls’ intonations somehow found their way to the far reaches of the nation and suddenly everyone under the age of twenty-one were crying “gag me with a spoon!” making sure to roll their eyes while simultaneously rolling that last syllable through every pitch possible: spooOOOoooon.

Fresh, tubular, rad. Bitchen, awesome, and bad. Sure, a few of these words stuck. Who doesn’t still say awesome? Or rad? Other 80s slang words disappeared before the decade did. And while every era sees a new collection of slang words, few come close to the sheer bulk of words that the 80s managed to put out.

Love Those 80s Fads

If you sat down and listed all the 80s fads, you might lose another decade. They just kept coming. And going. In a neverending stream, they totally rained down on society, splashing across cities, countries, and continents only to die quick, forgettable deaths.

But there’s a place where we still remember those 80s fads. And you, my friend, have found it.

From preppy to punk, style was everything and could involve wearing just about anything — from the hats we wore on our heads to the legwarmers we wrapped around our ankles.

80s fashion was busy and bright, fun and fierce, and like everything else in the 80s, it was larger than life.

What do you know about 80s fashion? Find out by taking this 80s trivia challenge.

Are you an 80s fashion maven or an 80s fashion failure? Answer each of the questions below, then scroll down to check your answers.

80s Trivia

1. 80s fashion was:

A. Big

B. Colorful

C. Busy

D. All of the above

2.True or False:

Dancewear became popular as streetwear during the 80s

3. 80s hair (and especially the bangs) was always worn:

A. Slicked back

B. Loose and messy

C. Big with lots of hairspray

D. Short and cropped

4. In the 80s, it was popular to:

A. Keep it simple – very few accessories and hardly any jewelry

B. Dress up your wardrobe with tons and tons of 80s accessories

C. Wear nice, classy jewelry

D. Put your jeans on inside out

5. One pair of 80s shoes made our feet stink and kept breaking:

A. Pumps

B. Thigh-high boots

C. Jelly shoes

D. Keds

6. To get your 80s hair out of your face, you might opt for:

A. Shaving it all off

B. A side ponytail

C. Braids

D. French twist

7. Celebrities have always started fashion trends. In the 80s:

A. Tom Cruise made Ray-Bans popular

B. Madonna made hoop skirts popular

C. Prince made baseball caps popular

D. Molly Ringwald made t-shirts popular

8. True or False:

In the 80s, accessories like hats and gloves were forbidden!

9. Popular 80s fashion trends included:

A. T-shirts worn under spaghetti-strapped sundresses

B. Oversized shirts

C. Bell bottoms

D. Floor-length skirts

10. Who was an 80s fashion icon?

A. Coco Chanel

B. Madonna

C. Margaret Thatcher

D. Ronald Reagan

80s Fashion Trivia Answers

1. (D) 2. (True) 3. (C) 4. (B) 5. (C) 6. (B) 7. (A) 8. (False) 9. (B) 10. (B)

Cyndi Lauper put a new twist on pop music in the 80s. With her flaming red hair, quirky corsets, and layered skirts, plus tons of jewelry and makeup, Cyndi landed on the music scene and made a big splash reminding the word that girls only want to do one thing: have fun.

Her look was uniquely remarkable (she set fashion trends for all 80s people)  but it was her music that popped and bubbled – on the airwaves, on MTV, and on stage. With a one-of-a-kind voice crooning heartfelt and sometimes controversial lyrics, Cyndi Lauper’s music reached out and captivated the ears of music lovers throughout the world.

Here’s a look at one of the best 80s singers who defined the decade.

Cyndi Lauper Brief Biography

She was born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper on June 22, 1953 in Queens, New York. Her father, Fred, was of Swiss descent and her mother, Catrine, was an Italian American. They divorced when Cyndi was just five, and her mother took Cyndi and her two siblings to live in Ozone Park.

Cyndi’s mom encouraged her to be creative and independent, which was a good thing, because Cyndi loved the arts. By twelve, she had already started dying her hair, wearing wild clothes, and was playing guitar and writing songs.

As a teenager, Cyndi was accepted to attend a special public high school for kids who had talent in the visual arts, but she eventually dropped out (she later earned her GED). Soon thereafter, she left home and ended up taking art classes at a state college in Vermont, but once she got homesick, she went right back to Ozone Park.

Before The 80s Music

At a young age, Cyndi became a fan of artists such as Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and the Beatles. By the middle of the 1970s, she had become a vocalist working with a number of cover bands in and around New York. She often sang hits by Jefferson Airplaine, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company, as well as Janis Joplin.

But Cyndi Lauper wanted to sing her own songs.

She suffered vocal cord damage in 1977 and was told that she would never be able to sing again. After taking a year off singing, she started seeing a vocal coach who helped Cyndi get her voice back through proper vocal exercises and training.

How 80s Singers Are Born

Shortly after regaining her voice, Cyndi formed a band called Blue Angel with saxophone player John Tury and together they began writing songs and performing. They put together a demo, which led to a self-titled album that was produced on Polydor Records. It included one single that charted at number 37 in Austria. But that wasn’t enough. The band broke up and got into a legal tangle with their manager. For Cyndi, the lawsuit resulted in bankruptcy. She started working in high-end retail and thrift stores and singing in local clubs.

Despite the Blue Angel failure, Cyndi had started building a reputation for her wide singing range (four octaves), and perfect pitch. Plus, she clearly had a vocal style all her own.

She was singing in a bar in 1981 when she met David Wolff, who would become her long-term manager and boyfriend. He got her signed to one of Epic Records’ subsidiaries and Cyndi Lauper’s career started to take off. Within just a few years she would become one of the most hailed and recognizable 80s singers of all time.

She’s So Unusual!

She’s So Unusual was Cyndi’s first solo album, released in October, 1983. It was an instant worldwide success. She was warmly received by both pop music fans (teenagers) and critics, with her popularity helped by both her singing and her punkish image.

Though she was a songwriter, the record company had provided much of the material for the album. However, Cyndi often changed the songs, altering the lyrics to the way she wanted to sing them. This turned out to have financial benefits since she earned credit as a co-writer and collected songwriting royalties.

But Cyndi wasn’t changing the lyrics for money. She heavily altered the lyrics to what would ultimately become her most popular song, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” According to Wikipedia, “Lauper says the original lyrics of the song dealt more with a girl pleasing a man, therefore she changed the lyrics, wanting the song to be more of an anthem as she felt the original song seemed misogynistic.” The song had, in fact, originally been written for a man to sing.

The recording company did give Cyndi a chance to prove her songwriting abilities. The result was “Time After Time,” which she co-write with Rob Hyman. The song went on to become one of the biggest hits from the album, and since has been covered by more than 100 other artists.

Other singles from the album include “All Through the Night,” and Prince’s “When You Were Mine” as well as “She Bop,” which attracted controversy because the lyrics dealt with masturbation. The album was followed up with a tour and a year after its release, She’s So Unusual had launched Cyndi to stardom and artistic recognition among 80s singers. She’s So Unusual remained in the top 40 for over 65 weeks and sold over 16 million copies (worldwide).

Accolades

• The video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” won the very first award for Best Female Video at the 1984 Video Music Awards.
• Cyndi graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in May, 1984 as well as the covers of Time Magazine and Newsweek, both with the headline, “Women In Rock.”
• She was selected as one of Ms. Magazine’s women of the year.
• In 1985, she won a Grammy Award for the Best New Artist.
• Also in 1984, she was given the New Directions Award by  The Women in Crystal Film Awards, an honor that recognizes creativity and originality.

Wrestling

The video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” which quickly became an MTV staple, featured wrestler Captain Lou Albano playing Cyndi’s father. Her career was intertwined with the world of wrestling. She attended the 1985 Grammys with WWF celebrity Hulk Hogan; he played her “bodyguard.” Cyndi frequently appeared at WWF events, including the inaugural WrestleMania event. She also managed wrestler Wendi Richter and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” would play as the two of them made their entrance.

Goonies

Cyndi’s next big hit was her single “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough,” off of the The Goonies Soundtrack, for which she was the musical director at the request of the film’s director, Steven Spielberg. The single earned her another Grammy nomination (for Best Female Pop Vocal) and the soundtrack itself reached number 73 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. As for the movie, The Goonies was wildly successful and became an 80s movies staple.

The video for “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” featured the cast of Goonies, as well as several of Cyndi’s WWF friends, and The Bangles, a band Cyndi had recruited for the soundtrack. It was the first ever two-part video.

True Colors

Cyndi Lauper’s sophomore album, True Colors was released in September, 1986 and it rocketed to number four on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. For this production, Cyndi’s involvement was greater in both production and writing. The album included many guests and Cyndi herself co-write most of it.

True Colors was not as commercially successful as She’s So Unusual, but it did spawn three hit singles, “True Colors,” (the title track), “Change of Heart,” and a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” Also, “Money Changes Everything” was mildly successful due to a live video that played on MTV. The album sold almost 12 million copies and in conjunction, there was an HBO concert special titled Cyndi: Live in Paris.

Since Cyndi didn’t write the single “True Colors,” she had no control over it and it ended up being licensed to Kodak for their television commercials. Proceeds from another single, “Boy Blue,” were donated to AIDS research.

Vibes

In 1988, Cyndi appeared in the film Vibes. She played a psychic searching for a city of gold. To prepare for the role, Cyndi studied finger waving, hair setting, and studied with psychics from Manhattan. It was produced by Ron Howard, and ultimately, was a flop though it did better as a video rental than at the theater. Cyndi recorded the song “Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)” and while the song fared well (hitting number 54 on U.S. charts and number 8 in Australia), it was not included on the movie’s soundtrack.

A Night to Remember

Cyndi’s final album in the 80s was A Night to Remember. It was released in May, 1989 and though critics gave it the thumbs up, it did not reach the same commercial success as her earlier albums and put out just one hit, “I Drove All Night.” It was originally written for and performed by Roy Orbison, however, his version didn’t come out until 1992.

Cyndi Lauper Trivia

A few final facts about Cyndi Lauper, one of the best-known and most-loved 80s singers:

• She was the first artist to have four singles reach the top five from a single album (She’s So Unusual).
• Cyndi had a prominent solo in “We Are the World.”
• Her mother appears in many of Cyndi’s videos, under the stage name “Catrine Dominique.”
• Due to medical problems and overworking, Cyndi was ordered to rest by her doctors in 1986. As a result, she wasn’t able to participate in Live Aid.
• Her first two album covers (She’s So Unusual and True Colors) were done by famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.

To date, Cyndi has put out eleven albums and more than forty singles and has sold over 25 million albums. Cyndi continues to tour all over the world and works supporting human rights and other philanthropic efforts. Here at Total 80s Remix, we love Cyndi Lauper. And by we, I totally mean “I.”

Who are some of your favorite 80s singers?

I didn’t know who the guy was, but when he suddenly glided backward across the stage, appearing to defy the laws of physics, I sat up and my eyes went wide. I remember that my parents, too, were astonished.

“Did he just do that?”

“What was that?”

“It had to be special effects!”

Michael Jackson had just debuted the moonwalk.

A Star Rises

The next thing we knew, Michael Jackson had taken over anything and everything that had to do with 80s music. He was everywhere – on MTV, on the radio, on tour, on a poster taped to the back of my bedroom door, and blaring on my boom box.

Every single song on that Thriller cassette was a hit. I watched Michael at the Grammys, his arms overflowing with awards. After the Pepsi commercial debacle, in which Michael’s hair caught on fire, I was concerned for his well being. I even remember his duet with Paul McCartney – “Say, Say, Say” – an 80s music video that I adored.

I tried and tried, but I just couldn’t get that moonwalk down.

80s Music Memories of Michael

The “Thriller” music video was, in my memory, Michael Jackson’s greatest achievement in the 80s. Everybody was talking about it and that was before it aired. The buzz got even louder once the video went into MTV’s rotation. It was unlike anything audiences had ever seen before. The theme (zombies) was wild, the choreography was incredible, and the song was packed with energy. The dancing was phenomenal.

Whenever “We Are the World” played, I remember feeling like someone had roped my heart and was tugging on it. My eyes would tear up and I’d sing along. I loved that video too – all those awesome 80s music stars in one shoot!

And “Billie Jean” was an 80s music staple. The song, the video, they were the thread with which the 80s were woven. Hearing that song today is like flying through time, back to the days of lunchboxes and leg warmers. Times were simpler then. It was the 80s. And it was my childhood.

I adored Michael Jackson. Everything from his smile to that sparkly glove enchanted me, and I especially admired his dancing. After all, my dream back then was to grow up and become a dancer myself. Michael Jackson was the best dancer I had ever seen.

Saying Goodbye

As much as I adored Michael, I wasn’t a rabid fan. I had Thriller and a poster, and I always watched his videos when they came on MTV or listened to his songs when they played on the radio. I followed the stories about him, too, but I don’t think I realized back then, while it was happening, just how monumental this artist was.

Last week, I first heard about Michael Jackson’s death on Facebook. It’s gotta be a joke, I thought. It was just one comment somewhere on my news feed. I hit refresh and couldn’t believe what I saw. Post after post from my Facebook friends were talking about how Michael had died from cardiac arrest but it was not confirmed and he had been taken to a Los Angeles hospital.

I stared at the computer, my jaw hanging open. I was dumbfounded.

80s Music Legend

Since that day, I’ve followed much of the news about Michael’s life and his death. I’ve listened to his music, watched his videos. I’ve sang along and I’ve cried, mourned. Here was a man-child who never had a childhood and never grew up. Has there ever been a human being more fascinating or enchanting that this modern day Peter Pan?

Michael Jackson wasn’t just a star. He was a supernova. His life and his career were riddled with soaring highs and devastating lows. He was unusual and eccentric. Scandals haunted him. And he was clearly troubled.

But one thing is undeniable. When Michael took the stage, everything changed. His shyness faded and a magical confidence took its place. It’s like when the music started and the lights went on, Michael went into metamorphosis. He changed and changed us.

We will always be able to dance and sing along with the musical legacy that Michael left us. His performances changed people’s lives and through music and through love, he will live on forever.