Culture

Ah, 1989. It's not just an iconic Taylor Swift album, but one of the greatest years on record, according to many who lived threough it. Not everything was great, of course. There was the tragic violence in Tiananmen Square. But there was also the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Tim Burton's Batman was the top film at the box office, while Seinfeld and The Simpsons took television by storm.

Yes, the eighties were epic. The jeans were pegged, the shoulders were padded and the hair was feathered and huge. It was 1989—the peak of Gen X youth coming of age. And nowhere is there better proof of that specific moment in time than a recent viral video of a group of high school students sitting at their desks in 1989.

Undoubtedly filmed by some geeky kid in the AV club who probably went on to found an internet startup, the clip has gone viral across social media, tapping straight into Gen X's memory banks. For those of us who were in high school at the time, it's like hopping into a time machine.

It's so wild to think that the kids in this video are in their fifties today. The show "Stranger Things" has given young folks of today a pretty good glimpse of that era, but if you want to see exactly what the late '80s looked like for real, here it is:

Oh so many mullets. And the Skid Row soundtrack is just the icing on this nostalgia cake. (Hair band power ballads were ubiquitous, kids.)

I swear I went to high school with every person in this video. Like, I couldn't have scripted a more perfect representation of my classmates (which is funny considering that this video came from Paramus High School in New Jersey and I went to high school on the opposite side of the country).

Comments have poured in on Reddit from both Gen Xers who lived through this era and those who have questions.

First, the confirmations:

"Can confirm. I was a freshman that year, and not only did everyone look exactly like this (Metallica shirt included), I also looked like this. 😱😅"

"I graduated in ‘89, and while I didn’t go to this school, I know every person in this room."

"It's like I can virtually smell the AquaNet and WhiteRain hairspray from here...."

"I remember every time you went to the bathroom you were hit with a wall of hairspray and when the wind blew you looked like you had wings."

"Class of 87 here!! I was the guy wearing the Metallica shirt for sure."'

The Metallica shirt was everywhere in 1989. Giphy

"These kids look like my high school classmates, even tho I was on the West-Coast and they were on the East. I had actually forgotten about how many mullets there were and the perms were everywhere! Oh, and let’s not leave out the giant bangs and blue eyeshadow with pink lip gloss. And yes, I was part of the enormous bang club!"

These were not isolated trends. A video yearbook from Jericho High School in New York confirms it — the eighties were everywhere!

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Then the observations about how differently we responded to cameras back then.

"Also look how uncomfortable our generation was in front of the camera! I mean I still am! To see kids now immediately pose as soon as a phone is pointed at them is insanity to me 🤣"

"Born in 84 and growing up in the late 80’s and 90’s, it’s hard to explain to younger people that video cameras weren’t everywhere and you didn’t count on seeing yourself in what was being filmed. You just smiled and went on with your life."

"It is crazy how uncomfortable everyone seemed to be knowing they were on camera compared to kids today. Gen Xer here and would still feel awkward taking a selfie."

Even the official "video yearbook" from Pickerington High School the same year couldn't escape the inherent awkawrdness:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Which, of course, led to some inevitable "ah the good old days" laments. When this video was captured, we were still a good decade or so away from mass popularity of cell phones, cable television, and every house having the Internet. Can you believe it? What did these kids do all day?!

"Life was better before the Internet. There, I said it."

"Not a single cell phone to be seen. Oh the freedom."

"It's so nice to be reminded what life was like before cell phones absorbed and isolated social gatherings."

"I genuinely wish I didn’t grow up In the 21st century"

It was a different time, alright. And not everything was 100% for the better:

"My freshman year of high school there was a huge uproar when, on the first day's assembly, admin informed everyone that the smoking lounge for students would indeed be closed permanently."

Probably for the best that we left things like smoking lounges for students or playing real fast and loose with seatbelts in the past.

But perhaps the most common response was how old those teens looked.

"Why do they all look like they're in their 30's?"

"Everyone in this video is simultaneously 17 and 49 years old."

"Now we know why they always use 30 y/o actors in high school movies."

There's no escaping that teenagers in the 80s looked like grown adults. Giphy

As some people pointed out, there is an explanation for why they look old to us. It has more to do with how we interpret the fashion than how old they actually look. Outdated styles and aesthetics trick our psychology into dating photos and people, making them appear older than they are.

Ah, what a fun little trip down memory lane for those of us who lived it. Was it a better time, or a time we'd rather forget? It all depends on what your own experience was, but in any case, it's hard not to look back and smile at what was certainly a simpler era. (Let's just all agree to never bring back those hairstyles, though, k?)

This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.