Maybe you listened to Madonna, the Bangles, or Bon Jovi on the radio while you were getting ready for school.
You skipped off to school with your Cabbage Patch Kid lunchbox, if you were a girl anyway.
If you were a boy, maybe you rode to school on a BMX bike with your Thundercats lunchbox in tow.
Your mom always made you a Fluffernutter sandwich, with a Hunts Snack Pack (those little pudding snacks), a Frito Lay Snack Pack, and maybe some chicken soup in your Thermos.
And a juice box, of course!
You always brought your Trapper Keeper!
At school you were bombarded with "Just Say No"
propaganda. Maybe you watched with awe right in your classroom as the Challenger took off, and cried out in fear and confusion when it exploded.
You were taught about "diversity".
And you loved the playground! Ronald Regan was president, Micheal Jackson was the coolest guy around, and everyone was really into hairspraying their hair until it was practically vertical.
The bad perm was in.
Neon colors and flashy-looking clothes were everywhere.
Remember Cyndi Lauper?
You might have watched MTV after school, back in the days when it was still about music videos, not about inane gameshows, "reality" based shows, and moronic cartoons.
Your favorite video could have been Weird Al's "Like a Surgeon" or even Prince's "Purple Rain".
When you went to the movies, you watched Teen Wolf or Back To The Future.
Maybe you made your mom and dad sit through both Care Bears movies.
Microwave popcorn was in.
Did you ever sneak microwave popcorn into the theatre instead of paying for movie theatre popcorn?
On Saturday mornings, you woke up extra early to watch Foofur and Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Or the Pound Puppies show.
Do you remember the theme song to Flintstone Kids?
But your favorite TV shows were probably the family-oriented sitcoms
that came on later at night:
The Cosby Show
Family Ties
ALF
Punky Brewster
You probably watched a
lot of Nickelodeon too.You Can't Do That On Television, Belle and Sebastian, and even DangerMouse and Pinwheel.
If you were really well-to-do, you might have even got cable, like the Disney Channel or HBO.
Do you remember Welcome to Pooh Corner, Dumbo's Circus, and Kids Incorporated?
And on HBO there was always Fraggle Rock to watch.
Those Doozers, Gorgs, and Fraggles living together was pretty interesting to watch.
And don't forget the wisdom of the Trash Heap! ("The Trash Heap has spoken, nyahhhh!")
And if you didn't have cable, there were still muppets to be found on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.
I bet you remember the theme song to The Muppet Show.
There was even a show about Muppet Babies!
You ate lots of Doritos and Oreos, and drank lots of Coke.
Did you drink New Coke, Cherry Coke, or Classic Coke?
You were constantly bombarded with advertising choices.
Would it be McDonald's or Burger King?
I bet you chose McDonalds, because the older kids called Burger King "Booger King".
Coke or Pepsi?
Probably Coke, because of those cool Max Headroom commercials.
And what about those Chester Cheetah commercials?
You probably were dying to know if the Trix Rabbit would ever get those Trix!
M&M's still had light brown, and there was no green or blue!
And Crest came out with a pump kind of toothpaste!
You probably played with Care Bears and Cabbage
Patch Kids. And collected Garbage Pail Kids!
If you are a boy, you probably loved He-Man, Transformers, and radio-controlled cars.
If you are a girl, you probably loved Rainbow Brite, Popples, and My Little Ponies.
Did you have a Teddy Ruxpin?
How about a Rub-A-Dub-Doggie?
And you liked to play games like Trivial Pursuit, CandyLand, Mouse Trap, Clue, or Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Trouble was always fun too.
Did you think the Pop-A-Matic Bubble was cool?
You might have even learned how to skateboard or Pogo Ball.
You probably had a Big Wheel though.
Did you have a Skip-It?
You made delicious snow-cones with your Snoopy Snow-cone Machine.
And you lived for Light Brite.
I bet you thought the 64 Crayola Crayon box with sharpener was the most deluxe thing you'd ever seen.
Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. was the hottest game in town, and everyone loved to go down to the local video arcade and play Hogan's Alley, or Pacman, or Q-Bert.
After a long tough day of being a kid, you were exhausted.
You probably hated going to sleep so early, as most kids do.
And you always felt like you missed "the really good TV shows".
You brushed your teeth with your special Muppet Babies toothbrush,
using sparkly Crest For Kids toothpaste, and went off to bed.
You charged up your Glo-Worms each night,
so they'd glow like night lights as you fell asleep under your Garfield comforter.