The 80s Icons That Changed The World Today

If you see a lot of hot pink, purple and orange mixed in with some lime green around you and there is a familiar one, two beat with a huge boom box carried by a girl with a big bang, then you are definitely in the 80′s. The eighties were an expression of intellectually being creative and breaking out of the norm like the seventies were, but in a more refined way. They expressed the changes in socialization while expressing sexuality. There are many 80s icons that represent this state of mind which left the world a different place.

John Hughes Movies: The iconic movies of director John Hughes will always be remembered as a branch out to what teens experience in high school, college and life in general. Though they are mixed with humour, they represent the struggle that many teens did and still go through in a fun way. Hughes movies showed that teenagers were interested in their bodies, in each other’s bodies and something deeper which was discovering their importance in life.

Madonna: She is still around but Madonna was a flash of new in the 1980′s when she emerged on the pop culture charts. Her music was fun and she was sexy. This combination brought her to the top of the charts. What helped her stay there was her no holes barred way of how she saw life and expressed herself in a graphic nature for this era like no one had dared to before.

Music: The music of the 80s icons had a specific beat. Any song that was popular usually had some sort of synthesizer in it. It also had a retrospective lag but still kept a four by four time. The music made it easy to dance to as disco died and 80s pop music emerged.

Michael Jackson: This is the decade that Michael Jackson grew up and went from being a cute kid to a young man that had girls taking a second look all over the world. He had an original beat to his music and original moves and coined the moon walk move among others. Kids still emulate him today with his style and his look. His wardrobe also made him an 80s icon in the way everyone else copied his one glove look among other traits.

MTV: Now a chain of several stations MTV made its way onto the world with its first video aired in the 80s named appropriately ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. It is true and the world of music has never been the same. This MTV was all music, catapulting the already famous into 80s icons worldwide. Before the Real World and reality shows you could tune into MTV and watch your favourite music videos 24/7.

Smurfs: Before Blue Man Group were the little blue Smurfs that made their way into everyone’s hearts no matter what age you were. These little fellows, plus one girl, lived in the world of mushroom houses and fought off their nemesis in each episode. They each had a special trait and they paved the way, like Star Wars in the 70′s, to new marketing fundamentals that are still used today becoming the first cartoon 80s icon.

With the help of our newly elected actor president Ronald Reagan in the 80s icons became a normal way of life. If we liked it we bought it. If we enjoyed it we wore it. The eighties were colourful and fun yet at the same time made a mark on how we see life today. It is fun to look back and see the many fun and innocent years of the eighties as people branched out to enjoy life to wake us up before we go-go.