If you've ever been reading threads like this one, where everyone fondly reminisces about the '80s, and wondered "WTF is the big deal", then I will now explain it in detail to you.

Please don't TL/DR my explanation; I will break it up into three parts so you can follow it better.  

First off, to understand the 1980s one must understand the past 100 years of American history.  The 1980s were the only time since the 1920s that we as a country have enjoyed peace, economic prosperity, and had trust in our leaders.  And it hasn't happened since.  As a prelude, let's review each decade before the 1980s:

1920s:  The "Roaring 20s" was a time of economic expansion.  The Great War to End All Wars had ended, the Doughboys were home and raising families, and the president through most of the decade was Cal Coolidge, a man who arguably understood the US Constitution better than any president before or since.  By all accounts it was a great time, even with Prohibition.

1930s:  The Great Depression was the economic reality during the entire decade.  While we were at peace and most Americans loved FDR, his policies undermined economic growth and prolonged their hard times.

1940s:  Another War to End All Wars took up the first part of the decade.  Although everyone had a job, thanks to rationing and shortages they couldn't enjoy their earnings, and when the war ended there was a nasty recession.  And despite modern Media mythmaking, most Americans didn't particularly like or trust Harry Truman.

1950s:  The US economy hummed along and in general We Liked Ike.  But there was a nasty war in the first half of the decade, and then a growing Soviet nuclear threat that led to "duck and cover" drills in the second half.  Still, the 1950s tends to evoke the same nostalgia as the 1980s in the people who grew up then.

1960s:  The decade started out good enough, and the economy continued to grow, but then there was also rioting, social upheaval, a growing crime rate, and political assassinations.  The Viet Nam war, and domestic opposition to it, defined the decade.  Our president through most of the decade was corrupt Uncle Cornpone, who was then replaced by Tricky Dick.  It was during this decade that people started thinking there was something wrong with America.

1970s:  The worst decade of the past 100 years, by far.  We finally detached ourselves from Viet Nam, only to see our efforts wasted by the Democrats in Congress.  The oil shocks and OPEC embargoes and government regulations produced a sputtering economy plagued by stagflation and high interest rates.  Crime was rampant in our big cities.  The Evil Empire expanded its global influence with impunity.  And when the best president of the decade is Gerald Ford, you know you got problems.

So when January 1, 1980 rolled around, most Americans were quite pessimistic about their future, the "malaise" that Jimmy Carter spoke of.  We had lost faith in the military, we couldn't rely on the economy, and we didn't trust our leaders.  In effect, many Americans didn't believe in the American Dream anymore.  It was against this backdrop that Ronald Reagan was elected president (to be continued).

i read all of this

free love no aids

You are a better man than I.

As a kid who became a teen in the early 80’s I’m very interested in this thread

Fuckin A right

That's what made it great. Go out and do stupid shit  because the ruskies.could attack tommorow and it could all.be gone

There were a handful of us fighting in Central America, but most of the US didn't pay any attention. But, it was a great decade.

Aviator

That makes me wish for an 80's themed game that's a hybrid of Stalker, good Fallout, and Rage. You'd be cruising the wasteland in an IROC-Z for gals in high-waist jeans, and blasting away mutants with a HK94.

Yes, it was.  For many reasons.  The music, MTV and the music videos, wild fashions, hair, cocaine, a massive outflow of creativity in all the arts,  a booming economy, the fitness craze that meant that a large percentage of the population looked GOOD,  tons of fun escapist fantasy movies,  and technology giving us new toys to play with almost every single week.   Computers developed through the 80s to the point that they started to become somewhat useful.

It was a fun time full of optimism and maybe best of all, it was really easy to get laid if you had any game at all.  

Sorry. The 90s gave us Jurassic park.

/Thread.

The 1980s started off with a bang, when a bunch of young 20-something college hockey players from places like Duluth and south Boston defeated the greatest hockey team in world history in the Olympics.  It turned out to be a psychological shot in the arm to the whole country.

Then in November 1980 Ronald Reagan was elected president.  Cheery, optimistic, funny, and completely unassuming, Reagan was a breath of fresh air from the dour puritan Carter, the bumbling Ford, the shadowy Nixon, and the arrogant LBJ.  He inspired confidence in the country, especially after the assassination attempt.  Reagan believed in America and in Americans, and Americans in turn believed in him.

The economy still hadn't quite recovered from the 1970s, and there was a bad recession in 1982, but starting in 1983 the US economy exploded.  Jobs were suddenly plentiful again, and thanks to Reagan's tax cuts, people had a lot of disposable income for the first time in a long time.  Gas prices, which had been high for over a decade, fell to levels not seen since the 1960s.  And the economy kept expanding, even when the stock market took a tumble in 1987.  People had confidence again in the free market system.

The US military, which had been underfunded and suffered from poor leadership and morale, was rebuilt from the ground up.  They received new weapons, higher pay, and a greater respect from the American people.  For someone like me, who started his service during the Carter Administration and ended it during the Reagan Administration, the contrast was like night and day.  The military became respectable again.

Then there was MTV.  It may seem trivial, but that channel defined the music of the entire decade.  For the first time you could watch your music as well as listen to it, and as a result the images of those videos are indelibly etched on the hippocampi of an entire generation of young folks.  Plus the songs were catchy, upbeat, and the videos were full of sexy women.

Speaking of women, the 1980s was full of beautiful, fit women, few of which had any sorts of tattoos.  And unlike the women of today, they actually liked men and wanted to be with them.  Dating during the '80s was a great adventure.

But sadly, it was not to last....(to be continued)

Meh, no different than the previous 20-30 years.  And thanks to our new weapons systems, we didn't feel quite so helpless.

Yup, 90s was the zenith for sure.  Hell, as kids we even got to pretend we'd slayed the Soviet dragon for good, and brag about how big our pud was after screwing up Saddam with it.  Unending economic growth, low joblessness, and we obviously felt confident enough to put a "cool" buffoon like Clinton in the White House.

80s had better music, though; musical diversity was nose-diving in the 90s, heading toward the very neat, well-established genres/marketing buckets we have today.  TV was much better in the 90s (all genres)

Are we ignoring the interest rates and the price of booger sugar because I believe a lot of you are.  Just kidding, maybe.

Author missed the fact that Disco was prevalent during the 1970's which is the reason it was the worst decade in the last 100 years.

My dad "monitored" the Russian nuclear program for Uncle Sam.  The threat of being incinerated at any point in the next thirty minutes was part of my home life in a very unique way.

Other than that, yes, the 1980's were awesome.

Let’s dance in style, let’s dance for a while...

75-85

I was born in 89 and know very well what I unfortunately missed out on... I was most certainly been too late.

I agree with OP so far.

Whenever I think of the 80s, I associate it with nasty, toxic smelling plastic.

The 1990s were kind of a continuation of the 1980s:  The economy kept chugging along, Americans were optimistic, and the military demonstrated its restored abilities by stomping the Iraqis into the dust.  The Soviet Union disappeared and the threat of nuclear war rapidly faded.  In effect, the 1990s were made possible by Ronald Reagan's policies.

George H. W. Bush was elected to continue those policies, but we found out quickly that he was no Ronald Reagan.  While a great wartime leader, in peacetime he was a retread of the old 1970s Republican Party and as a result many in the Reagan Coalition abandoned him.  Which led to Bill Clinton, a likeable but corrupt and untrustworthy scoundrel whose snotty, ambitious Lady Macbeth wife became one of the most unpopular public figures in US history.  His impeachment for lying about getting a blowjob was emblematic of his presidency.

In 2000 we elected George W. Bush and hoped the good times would continue but 9/11 changed all that.  The War on Terror and the invasion and pacification of Afghanistan and Iraq created a state of perpetual war.  "W" turned out to be a slightly more conservative version of his dad.  Then the economic and regulatory policies of the Bush-Clinton-Bush era finally caught up with us and produced another major recession, which opened the door for the narcissistic Barack Obama and the Democrats to remake America in their own image.

The 2010s continued with the perpetual war on terror and the anemic economy.  Barack Obama was seen as a savior but proved himself to be a liar and a fraud, and while he was re-elected he was the first president in US history to do so with fewer votes than his election.  The Republicans were put back into power by the Tea Party, but they proved to be all talk and no action.  The stage was finally set for Donald Trump to enter.

Donald Trump recognizes and understands the powerful nostalgia for the 1980s; "MAGA" is a direct appeal to those who understand that things have been much, much better.  His recent State of the Union was described as "Reaganesque", which is exactly the comparison he wants to make to these voters.  We will have to see if he can do it.

That just added to its awesomeness

Sorry about your meth problem.

I lost my virginity in 1984 so yeah....amazing decade.

The 90s was the last great decade, but it wasn’t the greatest.

Of course the 80's were awesome. They made me!

I actually do have a giant hard on for the 80's. Some day when I'm rich I'm going to build a house with an "80's wing" where you'll feel like you're in the 80's again. I don't remember much about them except the way things looked. And my memories of the late 80's and early 90's are all run together. Probably more early 90's that I remember more than anything, but we were poor so we didn't have anything from the 90's until well after y2k.

My parents don't remember the 80's very fondly. Their opinion is that the 70's were the best time in history and the world ended in 1980.

Old dudes gonna old dude.

... the movie, "Boogie Nights" did a fair job of framing the 80s. Was the best decade for me as well

I started a family in the early '80's.
Good times with 3 kids.
But more fun could be had by kids in the '60's.
There is always global B.S. going on, but in small town America life was better in the '60's.

The 80's gave us (c)rap music.  

I was a teenager in the 70's and had a helluva time.  Women and cars were hotter then..  at least the cars until about 1973

This.  No one ever talks about this.  Anti-nuke rallies, teenagers not really sure if there was going to be a future, heavily influenced the movies being made at the time.  Really, the only sour note to a great decade.

Hair was big
Aqua net plentiful
Bushes full
The 80s rocked
Graduated HS in 87

I remember hearing it on boomboxes when my Grandmother took me to NYC in 1982

Yup, I was there when MTV made it's debut...First song was Dire Straits "Money For Nothing".

And if you couldn't pull chics in the 80's it was because you were gay.

I remember the Pop n locking + breakdancing too

I won't debate your statement about the women--that's entirely subjective, and I do remember some hotties in the 70's...but cars?  You'd be hard pressed to find a worst decade for American steel than the 70's.

I'm going to tell you why you're wrong.

Fox body and 3rd Gen camaros. Feel that whopping 200 whorespower as the wind combs that mullet back pinning those goofy aviators to your nose. In an impressive 0-60 in 10 minutes.

Hughes amendment passed in 86.

Cocaine everywhere.

Shoulder pads in business suits. For men and women. What. The. Actual. Fuck.
We're ya'll anticipating full contact game near the water cooler hopped up on coke?

Rock bands dressing in drag.

Hairspray. Could you fuckers live without it?

Nothing good came from the 80s except the following.
3 wheelers.
Honda 250Rs
Yamaha Banshee
Suzuki LT500
Yamaha blaster
Suzuki LT250
82-87 body style Chevy C10s.

Everything else. Shit.
"Pop music" synthesizers is today's mumble rap

If the 80s were so great... how come nobody bought lightning links, drop in auto sears, full auto lowers like they were going out of style?!

Remember the Last Star Fighter? Playing D&D all night?

The 80's were a blast, especially in So Cal before the Stupid took over.

The music was hands down the best...

Me too. And I think OP has lived a very long time. Quite impressive lifespan.