The 80s and the 90s are the ultimate decades of nostalgia for millennials. We were born between 1981 and 1996 and as such grew up in some of the most formative decades for the contemporary American landscape.
The 80s and the 90s also marked the last periods of time before technology would completely take over the world--those of us who were children in the 90s remember a childhood both before and after technology entered it.
As such that creates a lot of nostalgia for a time that truly seems as if it will never come back.
Redditor majorchamp asked:
"80s and 90s redditors, what do you wish would come back even for a limited time?"
Here were some of those answers.
Mall America
"Experiencing my childhood mall in its prime. It seemingly had everything, KB toys, cool RadioShack, a puzzle store, a store that sold chocolate, 2 different book stores, an arcade, etc..."
"Today it's a shell of its former self, there's a few sparks of life, but it's dying a slow and painful death. 3/5 of it's anchor stores are gone and another is on life support."
"Part of the problem is that the owners keep raising the rent to make up for the empty storefronts."-Sandman1031
What Games Used To Be
"Goldeneye 64. For those who didn't grow up with it, there's no way you could convince them that this was a game that people thought was the f**kin pinnacle of FPS games (at the time)."
"Imagine playing a FPS, but with a controller, but with aim/movement speeds calibrated to make you feel like you're moving through water, with the resolution of a flip-phone. That's Goldeneye."
"We had fun with it despite those things."-Antnee83
KentuckyfriedchickenandaPizzaHut
"The quality of of the food at Pizza Hut before all the cost cutting changes."
"Their pizza in the 80's and 90's served in the black deep dish pans was my favorite growing up and was legitimately delicious pizza, but unfortunately the quality of their food has gone down significantly."-spotrevdis
It was most definitely a simpler time than the internet-saturated one we live in now.
Just How It Was
"The post cold war - pre war on terror period was golden. Such progress on tech - everyone getting computers, mobile phones and the internet bringing us to a new peaceful era and new millennium at hand, sure we can solve it all..."
"It has not been like that since. You can see it in the attitudes of the younger gens, there is a difference if you've never lived such optimism."-MindTheFuture
The 90s Were Solid For Music
"Nights with your best friend or two riding around literally all night listening to the radio and talking. Maybe you stop at the park and swing awhile under the stars."
"Then get back in the car and drive so more till the sun starts coming up. Just feeling invincible and secure cause even if you're feeling sad that song is gonna come on the radio that you live to belt out together."
"And by the last note you're feeling better cause things as complicated as they seemed then were really not that bad for most of us. I'd give anything to have a night like that again. Just one."-Psychological_Tap187
Hopscotch Also Gave You Social Skills
"Children spending more time with each other socially. You developed social skills and confidence in ways that you just can't when you are communicating in text, or spending so much time isolated."
"Socialising on the internet or gaming is not the same thing at all. We used to spend the majority of time outside of school with friends, or bonding by playing games in the street."
"It's no wonder anxiety and lack of social confidence is so widespread amongst young people in the modern era."-Scallywagstv2
A Rare Gen X View
"Not be a walking advertisement for clothing brands. It is hard to explain to millennials and Gen Z just what an explosive culture shift Nirvana was."
"Imagine a relatively unknown artist coming out with a music video that was so counter culture, everyone was walking around with question marks over their heads."
"A month later, everyone tore any brand markers off their clothes. Jean patches ripped off, you were adorned with buttons and patches that matched your ideology, not some anime you like."
"And the point it, whether you paid $100 for a pair of jeans or got them at a thrift store, you didn't know, and that was the point."
"We had a rock revolution, which Mins and Gen Z seriously need. If you watch the famous Nirvana MTV live show, you will notice Cobain is wearing clothes with holes in them, despite being worth millions."
"People also didn't go out in public looking like slobs. I would never dream of going to school or the grocery store in pajamas."-beckoning_cat
But then, to everyone, their generation was, of COURSE, the best generation. There is no beating it.
Groupie Life
"Going on tour with your favorite band. You used to be able to do it, easily. Sling beer or t-shirts in the parking lot before a show, camp in the lot overnight before leaving for the next one, repeat until the end of summer."
"Nowadays... I don't think bands even go on tours that are followable, much less affordable just by selling spare beer and t-shirts in the lot."
"Furthermore, you can count the number of venues that allow you to camp for free in the parking lot (or nearby) on one hand."-Chubby-Tumbles
Razzles
"Candy use to taste better, like there was some called tuti-fruity, came in small squares in wax paper, like tiny, of a 20p piece, they use to taste amazing and i would buy them all the time as a kid."
"Then the company that made them changed out the recipe and said 'Nah, its all in your head, its fine, havent changed a thing...' but they now taste like small bits of plastic with minimal flavourings..."
"I wish we had the candy we had from the 80's and 90's."-Empty-Refrigerator
Old Timey Serving
"I remember drive in dining at A&W and it was nice! I was a kid during the 80's and the last A&W closed it's outdoor car side dining back in '89 and had a blow out event with classic cars from the 40's and 50's with waitresses wearing period clothes on rollerblades."
"I lived close by to this event and sat there for hours wondering around looking at the cars and talking to adults dressed up in 40's and 50's clothes driving cars that were in mint condition all getting food. There was a huge crowd of people. It was very memorable!"-ne0rmatrix
Nostalgia has it out for all of us. No matter what comforts are available to us in our given day, the past will come up and bring a fond tear to our eyes just because we can.
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