simplyeighties.com - rewind to the 80s!

80s Videos, 80s Music,  80s Video Games, 80s TV,  80s Fashion, 80s Cars, 80s Toys   

This website is dedicated entirely to the 80's, Eighties and 1980's - or whatever you want to call them! Read on to discover what was hot, and what was not so hot in this amazing decade. 

Apart from Thatcherism, yuppies, miner's strikes, recession, shoulder pads, the mullet, multi-coloured leg warmers, puffball skirts, cabbage patch dolls, the ZX81 computer, Sinclair C5 and mobile phones the size of a brick, the Eighties were really rather good!

The intention of this site is to show people just what people were really up to in this brilliant decade, using videos wherever possible.

I have very fond memories of the 80s. I was at school until 1984, and the music and fashions of the time were just incredibly exciting.

Unlike today, you knew virtually every song in the pop charts. Every week kids up and down the country would eagerly await the new Top 40 on Radio 1, with a blank cassette in hand ready to tape each song off the radio.

Of course, the tricky part was editing out the DJ's voice and joining the songs together!

This Week's 80s Classic 

Terminator Theme Music (1984)

This and Terminator 2 were my favourite movies of the 80s, and this synth theme tune by Brad Fiedel - with that distinctive mechanical drum beat in the background - is a classic. Arnold Schwarzenegger played the leading role as The Terminator, of course - the cyborg sent back in time to assassinate Sarah Connor.

Last Week's 80s Classic 

 Living In America by James Brown (1986)

D Mob - We Call It Acieed (1988)

Ah! This brings back some fond memories. This sounds really weird now after not hearing it for so many years! I'm not sure why I used to love dancing to these tunes in the late 80s? And do you remember the smiley face T-Shirts that were all the rage? There was a big fuss in the press about the link to drugs and acid house music at the time, but it was pretty much over-hyped by the media as usual.

Visit the new Tina Turner page! 

So what's on this site?

Well, you'll find lots of great 80's piccies, classic 80's games, 80's music, 80's videos, free 80's widgets that you can add to your  own web pages, and a whole lot more!

Whatever age you are, you're sure to find something of interest on this site.Younger ones among you will be able to find something that you have never come across before. If you're a bit older (like me!), you'll be able to relive those golden moments of the 80s! You may also discover things that you have completely forgotten about, or maybe didn't know about in the first place!

Whatever your reasons for being here, please enjoy your experience!

Those wonderful retro TV logos!

Wow! These eighties TV logos really bring back fond memories, that's for sure! I remember watching TVAM on ITV, just before I had to go to school, and getting a right rollicking for being late! Breakfast telly had only just begun and was a real novelty in the early eighties.

BBC Test Card with Music!

No doubt the geeks amongst you will listen to the full 9 minutes and 52 seconds of this video! The Test Card was often shown on BBC2 in the mornings back in the 70s and into the 80s.

BBC2 Closedown on New Year's Day 1987 

Roger Maude gives us a quick New Year's Day weather summary before wishing us the first BBC 2 'Goodnight' of 1987.

I thought I'd better mention this. If you type in simply80s to find us, the first listings that appear in most search engines will come up with the website for an 80's tribute band. If you want to find out more about them then visit the simply80s.com website. To listen to their tracks visit them at myspace.com

www.liketotally80s.com/80s-fashion.html


Hmm, she looks like a transvestite!

During the first half of the 1980s I was still at secondary school. Like many local kids, I used to walk to and from school every day. Sometimes I used to cycle to school,  but then you had the worry that some moron would try to vandalise your bike.

I didn't have that worry at primary school during the seventies, probably because it was a catholic school run by Nun's, and nobody would dare to upset Sister Jarleth! But everyone seemed very happy there, and very well disciplined. Sadly, this discipline was lacking at the local comprehensive school.

Computer lessons in the early eighties were only available to around half a dozen kids, and they were learning to program ZX81's! There were no home music keyboards around, which made music lessons extremely boring. The only instrument I learnt to play was the recorder, and no matter how well you played it, it always sounded awful!

However, I did join the Synthesizer Club, and that was pretty fascinating.  I can't remember what make of synth's were being used, but there there were only two available. I guess in those days they were incredibly expensive.

Today, virtually every child has an LCD colour TV in their bedroom. In the early eighties, I had one of those 12 inch black and white models with a large tuning knob on the front! It was great fun tuning in to all those channels - all three of them - just like on a radio. Whenever it was foggy outside, you could pick up some French channels - I loved foggy days!

There were no mobile phones, of course, but I did have a Citizens Band (CB) radio. They were great fun as you could speak to people totally free of charge for as long as you wanted! No worrying about call charges. The only downside was that you could only reach people within a ten mile radius! I had a cheap Audioline, but some of the CB geeks had really expensive models that could reach out much further.

In 1985 I actually got a Amstrad colour TV for my bedroom! Channel 4 was just becoming available in our area, too. It was a great TV and lasted for about ten years. I also remember having one of those Amstrad Tower Hi-Fi systems, with a record player on the top and storage space underneath to keep your vinyl.

I think the 80's were exciting times to live in. All of the exciting new technologies were just coming out, and I can remember just being really happy most of the time. Just like today, we ate a lot of junk food such as sweets, chocolates, fizzy pop and crisps. But the main difference is that we used to cycle or walk everywhere. The word "diet" just wasn't in our vocabularies.