Throwback Thursday: An 80s Time Warp

Grab your AquaNet and your legwarmers, we’re going back in time!

Hey Fleshbot fans! How many of you are of a certain age and kinda cringing every time you see the fashion, toys, or trends of your childhood described as “vintage” or hear that hair metal song that sing in the car all the time or the ballad you lost your virginity to on the classic rock station? Yep, me too! But the 80s were in fact, 40 years ago. Hard pill to swallow. But we can also lean into it and see the cool stuff people are doing online. Let’s dig into social media and go back to a simpler time, before we knew that much hairspray was really bad for the environment, and our hair.

A TikToker calling herself Heather Leather is serving some fierce 80s fashion-- her handle is @vintagevixen80s and her videos celebrate music, fashion, and makeup of the era. She looks a lot like Heather Locklear did back then, like she’s jumped right off that poster on your wall and into your computer!

I’m also loving @80sthrowbackhits on TikTok because it presents the song, the video, and interesting facts all in one little fun-to-scroll through package. I wasn’t allowed to watch MTV in the 80s, when it was actually good (thanks for nothing, Mom!), so it’s fun to see what I missed. I’m a huge fan of the movie The NeverEnding Story, which turns 40 this year, so here is its now-classic theme song. This channel has a lot of the big hits everyone knows, but some deep cuts too, like Mr. Mister’s “Kyrie”--- an absolute banger which I’m pretty sure is one of the only songs with the actual Latin language in it out there.

I’m a big fan of @dinosaurdracula on Instagram. He always has some random throwback snacks or toys or commercials to share that will unlock a memory pretty much instantly and he posts the occasional cat video, which is always a positive in my book. He also does a podcast and a cool subscription box called the funpack where you can buy a box of nostalgic goodies every month.

Another TikToker who plays fun characters and acts out all the awkward moments of your youth in her nostalgia videos is @carmenqgollihar. She’s even got several different series. She also shows off her vintage hauls and talks about trends of the eras she covers such as makeup and toys.

Rounding out our totally rad sojourn through 80’s nostalgia, we find Jordan Rumsey whose TikTok handle is @cantbuyme80s and she shows off her big hair, wacky outfits, and fun nostalgia shopping and much more, always dressing the part and even showing us places that are stuck in the 80s out in the wild.

I hope you enjoyed this new style of Throwback Thursday that you’ll be seeing sometimes. Where should we go next in our time machine? Tweet us @fleshbot and tell us!