20090416

13 Pop Culture Fads from the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies & Eighties

I just got a really cool authentic Lava Lamp as a housewarming present. It fits into my retro-contemporary decor like a glove and is happily bubbling away as I write this. It reminds me of so much of the popular "junk" that briefly passed through the last 50 years of my life and I am absolutely tickled with this gift. It sits right next to my Bobble Head Beatle Dolls that I won from KRLA when I was 13!

So, today my Thursday Thirteen subject is Fads. I've been around for over half a century and I've seen a lot of things come and go - some quicker than others. Fashion is just one big fad but it cycles, platform shoes were popular in the forties and came back in the seventies, so I've limited my fashion choices to things that were a one time phenomenon - at least as far as I'm aware!

Let's face it, many things that were fads and nostalgia can cycle back into our hemisphere, especially these days where Retro Rules and the things of our childhood are just kitchy enough to be cool again! God, I wish I hadn't thrown half these things in the trash decades ago!
  1. Coonskin caps
  2. Hula Hoops
  3. Slinky
  4. Troll Dolls
  5. Bell Bottoms
  6. Love Beads
  7. Lava Lamp
  8. Disco Balls
  9. Fondue Pots
  10. Pet Rocks
  11. Mood Rings
  12. Pop Rocks
  13. Leg Warmers
There were a few others that almost made the list but they still hang on to life with a death grip, like Tie Die and Smiley Faces. I have to admit I'm still quite fond of tie dye myself, probably because of all the pretty colors - you know me and colors! Smiley Faces got a new lease on life thanks to the internet and all those emoticons that pepper chat and e-mails now - though I still have a nasty urge to draw mustaches on every silly, moon shaped yellow face that glares at me.

I also participated in some local and regional fads growing up like fringed leather jackets, fake hair pieces called "switches", white lipstick, Ouija boards, tennis shoe roller skates (say hello to my broken butt!) and a few others. And I suspect that quite a few things that are all the rage now will be looked on as fads in the future - like Tiki Decor!

Feel free to add some fads that you remember and check out this fun site that lists fads by the decades - Crazyfads.com

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here

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