Acceptable in the 80s

One of the drawcards for my visit to the Powerhouse Museum was the 80s exhibition, The 80s Are Back. This is a great exhibition that highlights various aspects of the 80s, obviously the music and fashion dominate the exhibition, but it also covers politics, toys, computer games, sub - cultures, sexuality and design.

One of the key thoughts I took away from the exhibition was how technology and culture have developed and changed over the last twenty to thirty years. The most obvious indicators of this change was the technology, particularly computers, computer games, and mobile phones.

During the decade these technologies were taking off however still not widespread as they were expensive and despite being cutting edge, basic. For example the exhibition notes that the mobile phone was a sign of success due to its expense yet it was quite clunky (and chunky!).

Computer games had basic graphics and narratives compared to the complex games that we play today.

Vinyl, boomboxes and walkmans dominated our music listening habits. Mixed tapes, remember those!

This exhibition highlights how humans still valued technology and utilised it, however, it was less pervasive in our lives back in the 80s as it is today. The examples of our immersion are quite obvious such as the Internet, devices such as computers, iphones, ipods just to begin with.

I highly recommend a visit to the exhibition, it’s a lot of fun and reminds us where we came from and the changes that Australian society (amongst many others) have undergone.

Just to get you in the mood here are some rad music clips!

New Order: Blue Monday Live - Check out the drum machine in this clip



Severed Heads - Dead Eyes



Although this clip of Kraftwerk is from the 70s it gives a great narrative on the development of things to come ....



This legacy has carried through the 90s and we have now witnessed a renaissance of the 80s in the new millenium when we thought we had left them far behind....

Datarock: Computer Camp Love



Ladytron: Discotraxx