The Republic of Susie: The Forgotten Decade

I have been a huge fan of the 70's with its fashion that is relevant today, its coming of age music, its hippie culture, teen movies and everything else. I am a 90s kid, so that's my favorite era and I don't have complaints about the decades that have followed in terms of pop culture.

(My favorite 70s Fashionista Pattie Boyd)

(Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/10766486582134922/)

(Everyone's favorite 90s Band- Backstreet Boys! N'Sync Who?!)

(Image source: http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/348/backstreet-boys/)

80s is a decade that I have blissfully ignored specifically because of the music and the fashion! It seemed like they were trying to remake the entire disco music into something new, that sounded unoriginal, had a little too much "robotic" undertones and people tried too hard at creating some new kind of dances, et al.

(Read this image source for a completely contradictory article to mine- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/computer-scientists-prove-80s-music-boring/)

Even though I have never agreed with Madonna's fashion choices in the late 80s and the early 90s, I made an exception to listen to her music. More importantly because, my dad had this "top 10" cassette tape that played her hit Holiday over and over again (This tape also had Enigma's Sadeness Part-I that I woke up to every morning!)! And then came the glorious "Papa Don't Preach", the gospel induced "Like a Prayer" and the Latin pop "La Isla Bonita". (While on that topic, my papa never let us listen to the "blasphemous" "Like a virgin", I discovered this song fairly late!). So, my only connection to the 80s was Madonna, her music, her over-blown hair, and her over-the-top fashion besides, of course, my favorite artiste of all time, Michael Jackson.

(Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/saramazariegos/madonna-80s/)

See, Michael's music not only transcended borders but it also transcended time. His music did not sound 80s or any particular era for that matter. Or may be music from the Mowtown stable was new and fresh to us because Michael was bringing it to the fore. So, my point being, you cannot classify Michael Jackson's music to a particular era, and hence, the argument "But MJ was 80s" is invalid!

(http://michaeljackson.wikia.com/wiki/Billie_Jean_(song))

Recently, by accident, I discovered that the decade was actually not that bad. Thanks to "Now That's What I Call Music" series, I started listening to this band called Roxette. I thought their music sounds like early 2010s music. No that's the wrong way to put it! The right way would be to tell you that seems like the early 2010s took an inspiration from the 80s.

(Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/175288610470463153/)

Anyway, I only knew a few songs of Wham and George Michael as a solo artist. "Wake me up", "Last Christmas", the ever sweet-sounding "Careless Whisper" and "Jesus to a Child"! However, I tapped a bit more into the band (and GM as a solo artiste) and found more gems like "Faith", (the super models soaked) "Freedom", "Club Tropicana", "Where did your heart go" and more.

(Image source: http://www.liketotally80s.com/2011/09/80s-party-costume-ideas-wham/)

I did try watching a few movies of the decade too. Damn, it seems like John Hughes and Molly Ringwald owned the decade like it was their b***h! Like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "The Breakfast Club", "Sixteen Candles" and a few Brat Pack movies like "Pretty in Pink" (Alan Harper as Ducky? I dont know how to react to that!) and St Elmo's Fire! Sorry, I couldn't finish even a single movie. A few minutes into these movies and I am dozing off! So, may be I haven't warmed up to the movies yet, but hey, thank god, I am into their music now and I don't regret it a bit.

(Image sources at the end of the post)

May be because everyone ignored the 80s so much and all of us explored all the other decades a little too wildly, the forgotten decade seems more interesting now. Anyway, gottago now. I have Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Def Leppard, The Smiths, Motley Crue to listen to on my playlist. Do you have any recommendations? Let me know in your comments :) Ciao!