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Child Item

The 70's and 80's in Ireland

Kermit.de.frog

What was it like in the 1980's in Ireland?

I have seen pictures, video and my god it looked like a depressing place. :eek:

Grey, delapidated, hopeless.

What was it like? How did you get by without internets, wheelie bins, toilets...?

Would you go back if you could??

*Might as well throw in the 70's too for people of that vintage.

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I Am The Law

K-Tel never went away still around today https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-tel

[Deleted User]

Still around but their days of releasing compilations of recent chart hits were numbered once the Now series started. They just didn’t have the licencing muscle that the others did so 1984’s Hungry For Hits was effectively their last serious contender.

Paddy Cow

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

When I first starting listening to and buying music in the 1980s, I often dreamed of writing for Smash Hits (1978 - 2006). It never happened.
Classic Pop magazine has been described as "Smash Hits for adults." In its December 2017 issue, I wrote a six page feature on pop compilations. You can now read it on their website:
Now & Then: Now That's What I Call Music
Top 15 Pop Compilations 1980-1999

There's a blast from the past! I never got it but my best friend used to get the latest issue plus a pound from her Grandmother every week and I used to be so jealous lol. Back then a pound could buy you a packet of crisps, bar of chocolate and a can of coke. You can't even buy one of those now for a euro :pac:

Pocket money wasn't really a thing back then. We certainly never got it. Did anyone else?

branie2

My earliest memory of Christmas in the 80s was getting a cowboy waistcoat, hat and toy rifle as presents when I was three - all from Santa

Grandeeod

Smash Hits was King but lets not forget No. 1 Magazine either, A decent read circa 1985/'86. A great section for pen pals too. I wrote to an English girl from Crawley who loved Duran Duran/Spandau Ballet and the Pet Shop Boys. It all ended when I realised that Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys was a writer with Smash Hits and wrote off Duran Duran in a review. The Prick! It all cost the price of a stamp and the effort of writing a letter.:eek:

thesandeman

Trigger Happy wrote: »

Those Now compilations were the death knell for K-tel.

I remember Woolworths used to have cassettes of cover bands covering mainstream bands albums.
The cover bands (probably all the same band) had names similar/relating to the band they were covering.
One I remember in particular was a Police album being done by "Highway Patrol".

fryup

Amprodude wrote: »

Remember amhran na bhfiann played at the end of the night of rte1 before it shut down for the night.

who remembers nightlight with some creepy priest telling us how to live a "moral" life :rolleyes:

god we were sheep back in those days

Kermit.de.frog

I'd like to nominate this thread for the annual "Thread of the Year" award at the official Boards.ie awards which take place sometime this month.

Winning OP gets 10,000 euro hard cash and a paid modship :pac:

:cool:

Ipso

Crib scene cut outs on milk cartons.

Duckworth_Luas

thesandeman wrote: »

I remember Woolworths used to have cassettes of cover bands covering mainstream bands albums.
The cover bands (probably all the same band) had names similar/relating to the band they were covering.
One I remember in particular was a Police album being done by "Highway Patrol".

There was a Police cover band doing the pub scene in Dublin in the late 90s called "The Guards".

Sardonicat

fryup wrote: »

Amprodude wrote: »

Remember amhran na bhfiann played at the end of the night of rte1 before it shut down for the night.

who remembers nightlight with some creepy priest telling us how to live a "moral" life :rolleyes:

god we were sheep back in those days

Was that not just a prayer?
Got replaced with "A Prayer at Bedtime". Maybe I'm confusing the two. When did "A prayer at Bedtime " stop being broadcast? Not that long ago, I think.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

no, nightlight was a 5min broadcast on rte 2 late at night...some dowdy ol'priest tellin us we shouldn't be abusing ourselves whilst watchin the sub-titled french fillum that was coming up next

branie2

Sardonicat wrote: »

Was that not just a prayer?
Got replaced with "A Prayer at Bedtime". Maybe I'm confusing the two. When did "A prayer at Bedtime " stop being broadcast? Not that long ago, I think.

24 hour broadcasting ended it

Tazio

Smells of the 70/80s...

- Cigarette smoke and sweat on the buses.
- Petrol fumes from old cars.
- Bakeries and breweries in the city (Cork) center.
- Coal fires during winter.
- hydrogen sulfide / eggs smell from River Lee (Cork) during low tide on a hot summers day.
- Whiskey breath from some old relatives at family wakes/funerals.
- Warm electrical smell from the old valve TV set. It weighed a ton and stood on 4 spindly little legs...

Used to go to Dublin the odd time as a kid and the coffee smell in Bewleys was brilliant too.

On the whole TV thing; remember not being able to tune in a TV outside broadcast hours as there was no transmission ? A test card would be broadcast some time before there was active programming.. When RTE 2 (TV) came on on air it was a a big deal; you could now have a conversion with someone and talk about the 'telly' last night and both of you could have seen something different.. I think the first time RTE2 broadcast it was a live show from Cork Opera house??

Telephones - A/B buttons - rotary locks / telephone hall tables with coin boxes for when the neighbours called to make a call. The 2030h phone call to 'Nana' on a Sunday night. When you heard the phone ring in the house everyone would rush to answer it and shout down the phone number of the house! "Hello you have reached 51234".. .yea the phone numbers were 5 digits... and you'd recite all the numbers you knew to friends in school.... A huge thick telephone book too.

and these......

branie2

We had that in our house back in the day

Sardonicat

Queues outside phone boxes

Phone boxes...

branie2

Car phones

jmayo

Sardonicat wrote: »

Queues outside phone boxes

Phone boxes...

Ahh one of these....

kenmare-chronnicle-farmer-cow-phonebox.jpg?itok=UluOossV&timestamp=1432585713

Here is the colour non cow version...

132329268_a5de8d73e2_z.jpg?zz=1

Grandeeod

And then we went all Star Trek with the phone boxes.:D

Grandeeod

From a Dublin perspective 1986 and the opening of the Virgin Megastore. The site has a crossover memory for me. The original store was McBirneys and its great Toy dept, in the basement as a kid. By '86 the Megastore was like disneyland to a teen like me. A few years later and you could buy Condoms there too! From Toys to music to luuurve.:D

blueser

Sardonicat wrote: »

Queues outside phone boxes

Phone boxes...

You'll have to explain to the younger folk on here just what a phone box actually was!

Grandeeod

blueser wrote: »

You'll have to explain to the younger folk on here just what a phone box actually was!

I doubt there's any younger folk bothering with this thread.:D

branie2

yuppies in the 80s

Galwayguy35

I remember when the phone had a handle on the side of it and you had to go an operator to get through to the person you wanted to talk to, it was like the best think since sliced bread when the button phones came out and the number could be dialed on the phone itself.

James Brown

blueser wrote: »

You'll have to explain to the younger folk on here just what a phone box actually was!

Ah ffs....

The Crowman

Grandeeod wrote: »

And then we went all Star Trek with the phone boxes.:D

And we all know what happened next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2seo94SWh7Y

Coillte_Bhoy

Tazio wrote: »

Telephones - A/B buttons - rotary locks / telephone hall tables with coin boxes for when the neighbours called to make a call. The 2030h phone call to 'Nana' on a Sunday night. When you heard the phone ring in the house everyone would rush to answer it and shout down the phone number of the house! "Hello you have reached 51234".. .yea the phone numbers were 5 digits... and you'd recite all the numbers you knew to friends in school.... A huge thick telephone book too.

and these......

5 digits :eek: We only had 2, ours was 45. Never knew anyone that had 3 digits, im a small town boy right enough

Coillte_Bhoy

Non stop ads for Richard Clayderman albums on tv at this time of the year

James Brown

The St. Patrick's Day parade was traditionally a live action advert for Abel Alarms. We've lost our way!

https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/923-st-patricks-day-as-seen-on-tv/287770-st-patricks-day-parade-dublin-1979/

Purple Mountain

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

5 digits :eek: We only had 2, ours was 45. Never knew anyone that had 3 digits, im a small town boy right enough

No way!!!