Totally Radical Things From the ’80s

The Simpsons is an animated sitcom that airs on Fox. It originated as a short skit that was part of the Tracey Ullman Show, then eventually debuted as its own show on December 17th, 1989.

The Simpsons is widely considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time.

Swatch took the pop culture world by storm when it introduced its first watch back in 1983. The most popular kind were the originals, that were all plastic watches that featured all kinds of cool and crazy designs. Many included 'loud' neon colors.

The Smurfs began as a comic back in the late '50s, but made its Saturday morning cartoon series debut in 1981 and quickly became a pop culture icon.

The Smurfs are little blue creatures that live in mushroom houses in a forest inhabited mainly by their own kind.

The Smurfs average daily routine is attempting to avoid Gargomel, an evil man who wants to kill our little blue friends.

Released back in July of 1981, the Donkey Kong video quickly became on of my favorites ever.

Basically, the game featured 'jump man' that had to scale different construction sites to save his gal. Standing in his way was the big monkey, known as Donkey Kong.

The reason I lumped Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. into one item is because the 'jump man' on Donkey Kong would eventually be known as Mario.

The creators of Donkey Kong decided to feature a game more around the jumping skills of Mario, that game was called Mario Bros. Obviously, the successor to Mario Bros. was Super Mario Bros, which is one of the most popular video game franchises of all-time.

Pac-Man was released in 1980 and featured the character eating dots as it chomped its way through a maze, avoiding ghosts.

Seems like a simple game, but as with most, it gets harder as each level passes.

I could probably afford a small mansion on the money I spent on Pac-Man back in the day.

The expand upon the introduction of video games, like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, arcades popped up all over the place like pimples on a teen's face.

Much like 'break dancing' did, boys would 'settle a beef', with a pocket full of quarters, playing for hours against their rival at an arcade.

Beating certain games was like a rite of passage for many teenage boys and girls of the '80s.

In the early '80s, parachute pants were tight, shiny pants made of synthetic material that resembled the stuff parachutes were made of.

These pants were originally created for break dancers who needed pants that could stand up to the abuse of break dancing. They typically featured multiple zippers to add to the edgy feel.

I only owned one pair of parachute pants. They were 2 sizes too small and torn in the butt area. I wore them all day without knowing I was mooning the world.

One of the hottest fashion trends from the '80s was the acid washed jeans.

The process of acid washing jeans used chemicals, stripping off the color of the top layer, leaving the white fabric exposed. This kind of gave the denim a faded or splotchy look.

Thankfully, the trend only lasted a couple of years. However, it was super cool while it lasted.

If you see anyone in acid washed jeans today, please tell them to find Marty McFly for a ride back to the early '80s.

The Rubiks' Cube is a 3D puzzle game in which you have to match all the same color on each side of the cube. I could easily mess one up, but never have I been able to solve the cube. That is, without removing the stickers.

It was invented in the '70s, but reached its mainstream popularity in the '80s and got me in trouble in school a lot.

Music Television launched in 1981 and took the world by storm. It was originally supposed to be a channel that aired only music videos...and for a while they did and we all loved them. Now, all they have are reality shows about pregnant teens and idiot drunks.

We want our REAL MTV back.

Business in the front, party in the back.

The mullet is a hairstyle that originated way back, but is commonly associated with the '80s.

Basically, it's short in front and both sides with long hair in the back.

I used to have a mullet. If you see a mullet today, please take a pair of scissors to the hair. You will be doing society a favor.