I have a disclaimer to throw at you before you start reading
this. And unlike most disclaimers, this one is really important. So skip it at your own peril and be prepared to
be bored to death in the next 5 minutes.
The disclaimer is this:
This post is chiefly meant for those born between 1967 and 1977.
Well, the upper limit is slightly flexible and may be extended by a couple of years. In other words, you should have been in your teens during the 1980’s. If you don’t fit the bill (and unless you are generally interested about the popular culture of that fabulous decade), you are most likely to miss out on many of the references to be made in the following lines.
And now, on with the show!
The disclaimer is this:
This post is chiefly meant for those born between 1967 and 1977.
Well, the upper limit is slightly flexible and may be extended by a couple of years. In other words, you should have been in your teens during the 1980’s. If you don’t fit the bill (and unless you are generally interested about the popular culture of that fabulous decade), you are most likely to miss out on many of the references to be made in the following lines.
And now, on with the show!
So that was it! Analog was turning into digital, synthpop was replacing guitar rock, the Cold War was about to end, a Sony Walkman® was the most coveted present a boy could have while every girl secretly idolized Madonna, and I was fighting teen zits and puberty issues at home. Everything around was tinged with excitement. The world was on the verge of a big change, an impending socio-political revolution, and even though most had no goddamn clue about what it might look like, everybody was eagerly waiting for it to happen. O tempora o mores!
We now live in different times. It’s a new decade. What the heck, it’s a new freakin’ millennium! And everything from those wonder years of growing up in the 80’s seems so distant, dissociated and innocent.
We only have fond memories of those times to live by now. And the sad thing is, our kids, with their iPhones, Lady GaGa-s, Facebook-s and Harry Potters, will never realize how great things were back in our old days. (Oh yes junior, we have had our share of fun too!)
Perhaps, they don’t need to realize. We never bothered about how cool or great things were in our parents’ youth. So why should we expect our children to break the rule?
But the fact is, the 80’s were really cool. I mean, those years were actually packed to the ears with great stuffs. And I’m not saying this out of some silly, commonplace nostalgia. It’s an objective assessment. A statement of fact. Simply put, if you were in your teens during the 80’s, you’ve possibly had the best growing-up years in your life in the whole history of mankind. Period.
Yeah, you must have guessed it by now! |
1. The Walkman
Show me a kid from the 80’s who didn’t own (or lust about) this nifty little gadget from Sony and I’ll show you a liar! The Walkman® was the definitive personal gadget for listening to music back in those days.
It had many drawbacks. It ran on analog technology, required
regular cleaning of the playback heads, would frequently cause tape jams and was
notorious for draining the battery faster than Godzilla feasting after a
month-long fast.
But we didn’t mind.
After all, few things looked more hip or cool than walking around in public places with a Walkman® clipped to your belt, with a couple of homemade mixtapes (recorded on Meltrack®, TDK® or Maxell® blank cassettes, remember them?) jutting out from your denim pockets, pausing once in a while to adjust the 3-band equalizer if your model came with one, moving your body to the rhythm and getting lost in the music as if there was no tomorrow.
2. The Comics
Or “Amar Chitra Katha” and “Indrajal Comics”, to be precise. That was all we had. That was the standard staple. Rich brats would sometimes pick up DC or Marvels from fancy stores off Free School Street or Park Street, but the average kid growing up in Kolkata during the 80’s would swear by these two variants of homegrown comic fodder.
Those were clearly the times before Alan Moore, Frank Miller or even the very concept of graphic novels. Manga was still an exclusively Japanese affair and had practically zero readership in Kolkata.
There were, of course, other desi comics to entice us, like those penned by Pran and featuring
Chacha Chowdhury, Saboo and Raka, our very own Nantey-Fontey, Bantul the Great
and Handa-Bhonda series created by the incomparable Narayan Debnath and a
motley collection of graphic tales published by Deb Sahitya Kutir and created
by the likes of Mayukh Chowdhury (bet you don’t remember him!) and others. And
of course, we had Hergé and his wonderful tales of the adventures of an
intrepid reporter.
But “Amar Chitra Katha” and “Indrajal Comics” soared above the rest in terms of sales. They were cheap (in all senses of the term), abundant and easily available everywhere. The 80’s were just full of these comics and an entire generation was brought up on them. But what fun they provided, oh, what fun! And thrill! And a bit of learning too (thanks primarily to the “Amar Chitra Katha” series which dealt only with great lives in history, moral fables and Indian mythology. For many of us, as Vin Diesel’s character says in the movie XXX, they were the only education we had as far as those subjects were concerned! (Well, not really! Back in the 80’s, people used to read a lot more because we had no cable TV, no smartphones and yes, no Internet!)
3. The Hassan Siblings
Never mind that they were from Pakistan as long as their music was legally available in India and had us rocking in the 80’s. Yes, the best import from our troublemaking neighbor came in the form of a ridiculously good-looking brother-sister duo with a voice to match and a kind of feel-good vibes never felt before.
Nazia Hassan and Zoheb Hassan pretty much defined the
Indipop scene back in those days. Remo Fernandez was struggling for a hit,
Alisha Chinoy was still a nobody, Baba Sehgal was playing gilli-danda in Lucknow and Shaan was not yet born. And Disco Deewane happened! Recorded on London’s
EMI Studio on a 24-track console (yup, that was mighty cool in the 80’s) and
featuring Biddu’s music that we have all come to love so much, the album broke
records and became the best-selling album of the Hassan siblings for all time. It was followed by the almost equally popular
Young Tarang (1984), Hotline (1987) and the soundtrack album
from the film Star (1982).
No teen party in the 80’s would go without a Hassan playlist and no music store dealer would be caught dead without the Hassan albums on the racks. We’ve had a string of Indipop sensations since then but few have managed to garner the kind of respect, devotion and popularity that Nazia and Zoheb generated. They single-handedly defined the non-filmy, popular music scene, and we loved it! Sigh, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore!
4. Hollywood on VHS
Ok, it’s a dual phenomenon! Getting Hollywood into your home was an experience in itself. Add to that the thrill of the VHS and you’ve got a simply mind-blowing combination! Let me talk about the VHS phenomenon first.
Along with a BPL® color TV, a Videocon® washing machine, a Kelvinator® multi-door fridge and a Maruti 800, everyone dreamed about owning a Panasonic® Video Cassette Recorder (or a Funai® or an Akai® video cassette player, if the budget was not permitting). It was the epitome of drawing room entertainment.
Back in the 80’s, the VHS revolution swept across the nation
like a tornado. Recording TV shows was so cool and who remembers how many
countless recordings we had made of cricket and football matches, favorite
soaps, Grammy Award shows, Chitrahaar
(remember it?) and all those movies shown by our very own Doordarshan. However, popping
a pre-recorded VHS cassette into a player and getting ready to watch a full
movie of your choice was even cooler!
Hindi and other local language movies were not a very exciting affair. After all, they are always playing at theaters around the city. But getting to watch movies from Hollywood was a treat! Thus, millions of us wasted our idle afternoons, late nights and weekends falling in love with Brooke Shields, fantasizing about Bo Derek, feeling the rush of adrenaline with Sylvester Stallone, dreaming with Bruce Lee of taking up karate lessons, getting mesmerized by a rather cute-looking alien stranded on earth or just getting scared silly by Freddie Kruger, Jason or a cyborg from the future. Oh, those early years of our encounter with Hollywood, back in the golden days of the 80’s – our kids will never know how it felt like!
Today, we get movies by the millions and that too, free of cost, most of the time. Legal rentals have become obsolete. The need to return a rented movie in time, naturally, is also out. Instead, illegal piracy is the order of the day. VHS is long dead. In its place, we have DVDs, Blu-rays and mp4’s. Yeah, we have ‘em all, but as BB King would have said, “the thrill is gone!”
5. The Music
Now, how could you talk about the 80’s without talking about its music? You sure knew it was coming, right?
Music was big business even back then. Cassettes ruled the land. CD’s and vinyls played second fiddle. And nobody had heard of MP3’s.
You see, life was much simpler in those days. If you wanted
to buy music in Kolkata, you’d go to a respectable music store off Chowringhee, BBD Bagh
or Sealdah and buy your grooves, or would covertly pay a visit to Free School
Street or Gariahat to buy pirated music that came in their very own characteristic
packaging viz. ‘book cassettes’. Whichever way we chose, we got our supply of
music from US and the UK on a regular basis nonetheless.
But this is not about the format as much as it is about the distinctive sound of the 80’s. It was the time of rock immortals like AC/DC, Iron Maiden and U2, metal acts like Judas Priest, Metallica and Megadeth, alt. rock artistes like Bruce Springsteen, REM and Genesis, virtuoso guitarists like Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, R&B hypnotizers like Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, and of course, it was the time of Michael Jackson and Madonna!
It was also the time of ‘USA for Africa’ and ‘Live Aid’. And MTV! Really, what more could one ask for! At no other time in history did we have so much variety in such a short span of time. No meat dresses, no twerking, no wardrobe malfunctions, no cheap thrills – just great music and a dazzling display of talent across the board.
Sigh, our kids will never have it so good.
Show me a kid from the 80’s who didn’t own (or lust about) this nifty little gadget from Sony and I’ll show you a liar! The Walkman® was the definitive personal gadget for listening to music back in those days.
The numero uno drool-maal for the masses - The Sony Walkman! |
But we didn’t mind.
After all, few things looked more hip or cool than walking around in public places with a Walkman® clipped to your belt, with a couple of homemade mixtapes (recorded on Meltrack®, TDK® or Maxell® blank cassettes, remember them?) jutting out from your denim pockets, pausing once in a while to adjust the 3-band equalizer if your model came with one, moving your body to the rhythm and getting lost in the music as if there was no tomorrow.
2. The Comics
Or “Amar Chitra Katha” and “Indrajal Comics”, to be precise. That was all we had. That was the standard staple. Rich brats would sometimes pick up DC or Marvels from fancy stores off Free School Street or Park Street, but the average kid growing up in Kolkata during the 80’s would swear by these two variants of homegrown comic fodder.
Those were clearly the times before Alan Moore, Frank Miller or even the very concept of graphic novels. Manga was still an exclusively Japanese affair and had practically zero readership in Kolkata.
Every mother's nightmare... every boy's dream come true! |
But “Amar Chitra Katha” and “Indrajal Comics” soared above the rest in terms of sales. They were cheap (in all senses of the term), abundant and easily available everywhere. The 80’s were just full of these comics and an entire generation was brought up on them. But what fun they provided, oh, what fun! And thrill! And a bit of learning too (thanks primarily to the “Amar Chitra Katha” series which dealt only with great lives in history, moral fables and Indian mythology. For many of us, as Vin Diesel’s character says in the movie XXX, they were the only education we had as far as those subjects were concerned! (Well, not really! Back in the 80’s, people used to read a lot more because we had no cable TV, no smartphones and yes, no Internet!)
3. The Hassan Siblings
Never mind that they were from Pakistan as long as their music was legally available in India and had us rocking in the 80’s. Yes, the best import from our troublemaking neighbor came in the form of a ridiculously good-looking brother-sister duo with a voice to match and a kind of feel-good vibes never felt before.
Music never sounded (or looked) so nice... Zoheb (L) and Nazia (R) Hassan |
No teen party in the 80’s would go without a Hassan playlist and no music store dealer would be caught dead without the Hassan albums on the racks. We’ve had a string of Indipop sensations since then but few have managed to garner the kind of respect, devotion and popularity that Nazia and Zoheb generated. They single-handedly defined the non-filmy, popular music scene, and we loved it! Sigh, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore!
4. Hollywood on VHS
Ok, it’s a dual phenomenon! Getting Hollywood into your home was an experience in itself. Add to that the thrill of the VHS and you’ve got a simply mind-blowing combination! Let me talk about the VHS phenomenon first.
Along with a BPL® color TV, a Videocon® washing machine, a Kelvinator® multi-door fridge and a Maruti 800, everyone dreamed about owning a Panasonic® Video Cassette Recorder (or a Funai® or an Akai® video cassette player, if the budget was not permitting). It was the epitome of drawing room entertainment.
This is what USB sticks and memory cards used to look in the 80's |
Hindi and other local language movies were not a very exciting affair. After all, they are always playing at theaters around the city. But getting to watch movies from Hollywood was a treat! Thus, millions of us wasted our idle afternoons, late nights and weekends falling in love with Brooke Shields, fantasizing about Bo Derek, feeling the rush of adrenaline with Sylvester Stallone, dreaming with Bruce Lee of taking up karate lessons, getting mesmerized by a rather cute-looking alien stranded on earth or just getting scared silly by Freddie Kruger, Jason or a cyborg from the future. Oh, those early years of our encounter with Hollywood, back in the golden days of the 80’s – our kids will never know how it felt like!
Today, we get movies by the millions and that too, free of cost, most of the time. Legal rentals have become obsolete. The need to return a rented movie in time, naturally, is also out. Instead, illegal piracy is the order of the day. VHS is long dead. In its place, we have DVDs, Blu-rays and mp4’s. Yeah, we have ‘em all, but as BB King would have said, “the thrill is gone!”
5. The Music
Now, how could you talk about the 80’s without talking about its music? You sure knew it was coming, right?
Music was big business even back then. Cassettes ruled the land. CD’s and vinyls played second fiddle. And nobody had heard of MP3’s.
Yeah, I want my MTV! |
But this is not about the format as much as it is about the distinctive sound of the 80’s. It was the time of rock immortals like AC/DC, Iron Maiden and U2, metal acts like Judas Priest, Metallica and Megadeth, alt. rock artistes like Bruce Springsteen, REM and Genesis, virtuoso guitarists like Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, R&B hypnotizers like Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, and of course, it was the time of Michael Jackson and Madonna!
It was also the time of ‘USA for Africa’ and ‘Live Aid’. And MTV! Really, what more could one ask for! At no other time in history did we have so much variety in such a short span of time. No meat dresses, no twerking, no wardrobe malfunctions, no cheap thrills – just great music and a dazzling display of talent across the board.
Sigh, our kids will never have it so good.
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