The 70's and 80's in Ireland

fryup

the purple tin wrote: »

I think the brits were a bit more open with sex back then; in those days nearly every pub in England would have a stripper in on Sunday afternoon.

really? *monocle pops out of eye

the purple tin

fryup wrote: »

really? *monocle pops out of eye

Yea it was a big thing in the 80's. The wahey, tits out for the lads crowd loves it, the pubs would be packed out.
BBC did an interesting documentary on it but I forget the name of it.

Wibbs

the purple tin wrote: »

Yea it was a big thing in the 80's. The wahey, tits out for the lads crowd loves it, the pubs would be packed out.
BBC did an interesting documentary on it but I forget the name of it.

Happened here too, if on a smaller and less advertised level.

Hotblack Desiato

The Lower Deck used to have "Toni - Exotic Dancer" on Sundays.

I was too young to be let into any pub then but I do remember the posters

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=248399

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1129/835226-toni-exotic-dancer/

JupiterKid

the purple tin wrote: »

Wibbs wrote: »

Same with British parents in "the old days". Google Mary Whitehouse for how up in arms a goodly chunk of the British population were about "sex and violence" on TV and in film. Most of Europe was much more conservative "in the old days", not just Ireland. The US is still like that in many ways. Outside cable TVLand savage beatings and shootings fairly OK, the sight of an unfettered tit on the other hand will cause issue.

Oh yes I remember Mrs Whitehouse well, and the power she wielded. I heard that a small time b-movie horror director used to pose as a concerned parent and send his latest film to Mary to 'alert' her to it. She would watch it and then denounce it in the press as 'shocking filth' and 'deranged' etc which of course made loads of people want to see it. Free advertising
With all the video nasty scare in Britain though, we never had that here to the same extent.

Hell, the OBB are still picketing the opening of sex shops in this country.

Where exactly?

Certainly not in Dublin or Cork. The blue rinse brigade has largely died off at this stage. When the very first sex shop opened in Ireland 27 years ago it was picketed by the legion of Mary but that was a generation ago and lots have opened since without controversy.

The last time I remember any hassle was Stringfellows in Dublin being made close down due to a picket of an odd combination of feminists and religious right nutjobs about 13 years back.

branie2

Family Album catalogues pre-Internet

Neyite

Sex scenes in the 80s' on the telly mostly consisted of some heavy snogging, a shot of the bedroom door shutting, followed by a scene of them having a post-coital cigarette with the sheets up to the armpits.


And the mammy still "dusted" the top of the telly during it!

paul71

The advent of channel 4 and the the excitement of seeing the little triangle in the top corner which meant you were going to get a quick peak of a bare breast

Ipso

paul71 wrote: »

The advent of channel 4 and the the excitement of seeing the little triangle in the top corner which meant you were going to get a quick peak of a bare breast

And the crushing disappointment that you just sat through a couple hours of artsy nonsense without a glimpse of anything.

hot buttered scones

Neyite wrote:

Sex scenes in the 80s' on the telly mostly consisted of some heavy snogging, a shot of the bedroom door shutting, followed by a scene of them having a post-coital cigarette with the sheets up to the armpits.


And the mammy still "dusted" the top of the telly during it!

We used to be sent in to make the tea.

branie2

I'd imagine that some parents would very quickly change the channel.

paul71

branie2 wrote: »

I'd imagine that some parents would very quickly change the channel.

Pre remote days
You had to get off your arse

nullzero

paul71 wrote: »

Pre remote days
You had to get off your arse

Hence the observation about there being no fat people around back then.

Sardonicat

paul71 wrote: »

branie2 wrote: »

I'd imagine that some parents would very quickly change the channel.

Pre remote days
You had to get off your arse

The youngest child acted as the remote. We tended to be sitting on the floor so nearest the telly. It was our designated role as smallest family member.

Atlantic Dawn

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

The Lower Deck used to have "Toni - Exotic Dancer" on Sundays.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1129/835226-toni-exotic-dancer/

Sweet jaysus, that might just save many pubs which are struggling, I'd certainly venture out for a sneaky Friday pint with that on the go

fryup

paul71 wrote: »

The advent of channel 4 and the the excitement of seeing the little triangle in the top corner which meant you were going to get a quick peak of a bare breast

Ipso wrote: »

And the crushing disappointment that you just sat through a couple hours of artsy nonsense without a glimpse of anything.

yep, with a limp willy in your hand

NewbridgeIR

NasserShammaz wrote: »

Anyone remember TV show 'man in a suitcase' used to be on in the afternoons (Thurs) I know this cause I bunked of double history every Thurs afternoon and watched it

I caught the repeats in the 1980s. Richard Bradford was brilliant it. ITC had brilliant stuff in the 1960s -
The Saint
The Prisoner
The Baron
Gideon's Way
Randall & Hopkirk Deceased

NewbridgeIR

The Crowman wrote: »

My parents let me stay up to watch the Today Tonight Video Nasties edition with graphic clips from movies exactly like that.

That documentary got me properly into horror films.
And a mission to see as many of the nasties as possible.

Hector Bellend

Silentcorner wrote: »

This country will never see those kind of days again...but it was the pre celebrity culture era...and the pre social media era...we'll never see the likes those days again either...

The high kings will be singing about this in twenty years.

" the rare oul times "

Grandeeod

My very first VHS movie on all rented gear was the original Evil Dead movie. I was 10 years old. I didn't turn out a disturbed nutjob and it actually inspired me to get into the career I'm in albeit at a very lower level after years of trying for the top. Happy out!

arybvtcw0eolkf

I grew up in Ballymun during the 70's and 80's so things were pretty rough, but I've great memories too.

We'd a lot of northern Irish living in the flats, we used to call them 'the refugees' lol.

With them came republican rallies and lots of the lads joined Na Fianna reann (also known as The Fianna, it was a replublican youth organisation).

I remember An Phoblacht being sold in the pubs near closing time, and the fear that if you didn't buy it then the IRA would beat you up outside lol.

I kept away from most of that, but when I joined the FCA and then the regular, full time army I was a 'free state bastard' lol.

I remember the heroin scourge hitting Ballymun really hard in the early 80's and a few of my mates dying from it, some good lads too. No one had any idea what was to come, thank fvck I was terrified of needles.

Also back in the 80's when you left school and tried to get a job you hoped you could use a relatives address outside of Ballymun because the mention of 'the Mun was mostly an instant refusal.

What else can I remember from the 80's.. Phone boxes and the smell of piss in them.

Giving the bus conductor the 'go ahead' with the fare, you gave less than the fare so he didn't issue a ticket and he'd pocket the money but if the inspector got on the bus everyone bailed.

The coal man and coal sheds/bunkers, then if you were really doing well you got gas central heating and aluminium windows and doors fitted.

CB radio's, Honda 50's and Honda CD175's. Hamlet cigar add's on TV.

The Millenium (for the Dubs), I mostly missed it because I was in Lebanon for six months in 1988.

Cheap concert tickets.. AC/DC RDS 1982 for 15 quid

Blue nun wine.

Sun burn, then peeling off sheets of skin from your back because no one used sun screen.

The Liffey stank and buildings like Trinity College were black with soot.

Smog from late Sept to May and the smell of sulfur from it.

RTE playing the national anthem when the station closed down around midnight, I can't remember the exact time.

All Seeing Eye

Some things from the 80s;

Big dole queues and shame of being on social welfare.

Waiting all week to watch certain tv programmes like bullseye or dusty bin on English tv.

It was normal for families not to have a car or phone.

Big debates here over the falklands war hoping the brits would get taught a lesson or maybe not!

Pushing cars on cold mornings was common. Choke out as well!

Getting lifts as a kid with relatives with a few pints on them was the norm.

Heating in cars was crap so it was quite common for people to have a cloth in the car for wiping the inside of the windscreen on cold mornings/evening.

Holes in the floors of cars patched up with board or cardboard. Rust proofing in cars was terrible then.

Threat of nuclear war. I remember a big discussion on the late late about it scaring the ****e out of me!

Hotblack Desiato

Aryanna Worried Quintuplet wrote: »

What else can I remember from the 80's.. Phone boxes and the smell of piss in them.
The coal man and coal sheds/bunkers, then if you were really doing well you got gas central heating and aluminium windows and doors fitted.

CB radio's, Honda 50's and Honda CD175's. Hamlet cigar add's on TV.

Yer a man after me own heart Mak.

My dad (born 1920) signed up in "the Emergency" and got paid half of fcuk all. Took a trade after the "war", as a cobbler.

When I found lasts in the shed decades later he was embarrassed, he shouldn't have been.

He didn't talk about that. But later in the 50s he re-enlisted. He became a dental technician. An army marches on its stomach, he made false teeth, and the Irish army in those days needed a hell of a lot of false teeth!

Late 70s the knocks on the door of my house :[someone holding a broken denture] Does your da do teeth? People sitting in the kitchen getting fitted for a full upper and lower set of dentures...

By that stage the taxman made the nixer not worth the candle and he gave working up. The army had forced him to retire at 60 but he'd been led to believe that he could retire at 65. He'd given his life to his country twice and it fcuked him over twice.

Baybay

Gerry, then Mark After Dark til 01.50ish.

NasserShammaz

Seeing films that are now classics for the first time

Jaws
The Omen
Superman

and for a bit of nudity The Entity/ Ha

freddie1970

only thing on tv after 11 ..a prayer at bedtime !!!

fryup

All Seeing Eye wrote: »

Big dole queues and shame of being on social welfare.

meh, don't think there was any shame about being on the dole back then seeing that half the country was out of work and there was F A jobs about....nowadays with the booming economy there's more of a stigma i think

Masala

fryup wrote: »

meh, don't think there was any shame about being on the dole back then seeing that half the country was out of work and there was F A jobs about....nowadays with the booming economy there's more of a stigma i think

Ya... I don't remember any stigma. In fact you were an idiot if you didn't sign on as all your mates were doing it and it was free money. Anf you sometimes got butter vouchers to give to the mother. It was well blackguarded back then.... I remember lads working on a roof across from the guard station and dripping over their skip every Tuesday.

All Seeing Eye

fryup wrote: »

meh, don't think there was any shame about being on the dole back then seeing that half the country was out of work and there was F A jobs about....nowadays with the booming economy there's more of a stigma i think

People back then didn’t take to being on social welfare like they do now even though they had a good reason to be on it.

NewbridgeIR

Going for drives with my parents and sister on a Sunday afternoon.

Good Friday was anything but good.
- Interminably long church service and standing for ages.
- No shops open aside from the odd petrol station.
- Not allowed eat anything between meals (which themselves were particularly plain on that day)

Sycamore Tree

Grandeeod wrote: »

My very first VHS movie on all rented gear was the original Evil Dead movie. I was 10 years old. I didn't turn out a disturbed nutjob and it actually inspired me to get into the career I'm in albeit at a very lower level after years of trying for the top. Happy out!

I am curious now - what is your Evil Dead inspired career??

NewbridgeIR

Ha! The biggest tree in my parents garden is a large sycamore that I frequently attempted to climb in the 1970s and 1980s.

Hotblack Desiato

Aryanna Worried Quintuplet wrote: »

Cheap concert tickets.. AC/DC RDS 1982 for 15 quid

15 quid would have been a fair whack of money for many people at that time.

In the late 80s you could still get into a lot of smaller venues like McGonagles for a fiver. For some reason the bar in there mostly sold bottles of cheap Belgian fizzy cider.

Electric Sheep

fryup wrote: »

meh, don't think there was any shame about being on the dole back then seeing that half the country was out of work and there was F A jobs about....nowadays with the booming economy there's more of a stigma i think

Half of the half that was "out of work" was working at least part time cash in hand. Some of the fools working full time for less than dole + cash were told we were eejits for doing so.

AndrewJRenko

paul71 wrote: »

The advent of channel 4 and the the excitement of seeing the little triangle in the top corner which meant you were going to get a quick peak of a bare breast

The BBC 'Play for Today' on Thursday nights was always good for bit of a boob. I remember a conversation with a classmate in 5th class primary about what had been in the play on the night before.

NasserShammaz wrote: »

Seeing films that are now classics for the first time

Jaws
The Omen
Superman

and for a bit of nudity The Entity/ Ha

I remember the buzz around the announcement of what would be the big movies on TV for Christmas. Cinema releases wouldn't appear on TV (or any other medium) for 3-5 years after the cinema release. It was a really big deal when Jaws or any of those movies finally made it to TV in the pre-Netflix, pre-VHS, pre-download days.

Hotblack Desiato

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Going for drives with my parents and sister on a Sunday afternoon.

Yep and my da used to stop by a pub on the way home for a pint or two, I was happy out as it was the only time I got to drink Coke except at Christmas.

bodhrandude

Bottles of Stag cider and Ritz.
Two and Two, Cocktail Bar and Prairie chocolate bars.
Strumpet City.
Fawlty Towers.
The Pure Drop (Trad series).
Cal (Helen Mirren, John Lynch, Donal McCann and Ray McAnally).
Edge of Darkness.
RDS fecking up the only chance for Pink Floyd to play Ireland in 1988.
Mamas Boys at the Astoria in Bundoran County Donegal.
Ballisodare Folk Festival, Sligo.
Lisdoonvarna festival.

NasserShammaz

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Going for drives with my parents and sister on a Sunday afternoon.

Good Friday was anything but good.
- Interminably long church service and standing for ages.
- No shops open aside from the odd petrol station.
- Not allowed eat anything between meals (which themselves were particularly plain on that day)

Good Friday = Ben Hur or The Robe or The greatest story ever told. 4 Bloody hours. I am not Spartacus

riclad

in The 80,s people had more children, i think nowadays most couple,s have one or 2 kids at the most .Contraception was hard to obtain, you could not buy condoms in your local supermarket.
I think married couples had to go to a doctor just to get a packet of condoms.
Now theres more shops open on sunday ,its like any other day .
There were more record stores and people bought more cds and vinyl lps ,since there was not such thing as streaming music. Before 2fm came along
you had to listen to bbc radio or pirate radio stations to hear pop music
during the day.
If you wanted to see pop music on tv ,there was only top of the pops or
some pop groups would be on saturday morning kids tv, bbc swap shop or twiswas on itv.At least till mtv was on cable tv if you could get it ,
in your area .Many people use large aerials on the roof in order to get bbc and itv in rural area,s where cable tv was not avaidable.

bodhrandude

riclad wrote: »

in The 80,s people had more children, i think nowadays most couple,s have one or 2 kids at the most .Contraception was hard to obtain, you could not buy condoms in your local supermarket.
I think married couples had to go to a doctor just to get a packet of condoms.
Now theres more shops open on sunday ,its like any other day .
There were more record stores and people bought more cds and vinyl lps ,since there was not such thing as streaming music. Before 2fm came along
you had to listen to bbc radio or pirate radio stations to hear pop music
during the day.
If you wanted to see pop music on tv ,there was only top of the pops or
some pop groups would be on saturday morning kids tv, bbc swap shop or twiswas on itv.At least till mtv was on cable tv if you could get it ,
in your area .Many people use large aerials on the roof in order to get bbc and itv in rural area,s where cable tv was not avaidable.

You forgot the Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC2) which basically highlighted acts in the UK who were currently touring at the time, it sort of preceded Jools Holland's show.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Back in the 70's and into the 80's even, if you had a dog it was let loose to roam the streets all day. If (this will likely upset someone, its not my intention) but there was always someone with a black dog named N*gger (for real).

And all dog poo was white for some reason.

Bicycles were all Triumph 20's, Grifters and Choppers and we all knew how to fix punctures and build bicycles out of other wrecks.

If you had a telephone in the house you were scourged by at least one neighbor.

Probably unique to places like Ballymun (where I grew up), if you got a VCR you had to hide the tapes coming home from the library otherwise a scumbag would follow you and break into your house for the player.

Punks and Skinheads fighting in town, and then local organized fights after the school disco.

Porn mags were H&E on the top shelf in Easons and if you went to Hollyhead or up to Newry you bought a stash of proper English porn backs back with you, and cherished them.

Anyone ever sent to the van to buy a loose, or fags for your parents with butter vouchers?.

And chipper vans.

JupiterKid

Let’s face it, for most people, well certainly adults, the 1970s and 80s was sh*te compared to today. Less freedom, less means, more controlled, more miserable. The only pluses I can think of were better summer weather and less pressured work environments for most (for those lucky enough to have a steady job back then).

For many kids it was a happy time but I remember kids who were abused at home and were also miserable. People tend to look back with Rose-tinted specs. There really were no “good old days” IMO - just very selective memories.

That said, I really do think the 90s was a great time to come of age here - end of the Cold War, growing prosperity, rapidly changing social mores, the collapse of the church and great music. A temporal “sweet spot” if one ever such existed.

Wibbs

Aryanna Worried Quintuplet wrote: »

If (this will likely upset someone, its not my intention) but there was always someone with a black dog named N*gger (for real).

True enough. I knew two dogs of that name growing up. It was quite the popular name for a black dog here and in the UK, though it lasted longer here. If you ever watch the 50's film "The Dambusters", the squadron leader's dog is called that, because that was his name in real life. An uncle of mine was in the RAF in the last war and their dog(she belonged to everyone. Just turned up at the base one day), a huge black mutt of indeterminate parentage also had the same name.

And all dog poo was white for some reason.

IIRC it was because dog food had more bonemeal in it back then. These days commercial dog food is more like meat flavoured cereal.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Baybay wrote: »

Gerry, then Mark After Dark til 01.50ish.

And Amelia Golightly with her advice at 1.30:D

riclad

I lived in ballymun, i had a vcr , there was a video rental shop in the shopping centre,
they had a book, you could look through , it listed 100,s of adult movies to rent.
There were no adult films on display ,it more of an under the counter operation.It was probably illegal to rent out xx rated films at that time .
The only films on display were the usual action, comedy, drama,s
you,d see in the cinema .
I think at some point a law was brought in so adults only stores could sell
xx rated films.
i mostly rented films from extravision.
There used to be small local shops around dublin,
they might have only 2-300 films avaidable to rent.This was before extravison opened shops in every suburb.

Dakota Dan

bodhrandude wrote: »

Bottles of Stag cider and Ritz.
Two and Two, Cocktail Bar and Prairie chocolate bars.
Strumpet City.
Fawlty Towers.
The Pure Drop (Trad series).
Cal (Helen Mirren, John Lynch, Donal McCann and Ray McAnally).
Edge of Darkness.
RDS fecking up the only chance for Pink Floyd to play Ireland in 1988.
Mamas Boys at the Astoria in Bundoran County Donegal.
Ballisodare Folk Festival, Sligo.
Lisdoonvarna festival.

Myself and my brother went on a trip up the West with our uncle when we were 8 and 9 years old in 73 the festival was on in Lisdoonvarna and he stopped off for 2 pints but we had to stay in the car because no children were allowed in pubs back then, proper order too.

NasserShammaz

Hands, Brilliant TV programme even as a teenager just like a moment of meditation, mut have watched a repeat in the 80's cause it looked old then

Dakota Dan

JupiterKid wrote: »

Let’s face it, for most people, well certainly adults, the 1970s and 80s was sh*te compared to today. Less freedom, less means, more controlled, more miserable. The only pluses I can think of were better summer weather and less pressured work environments for most (for those lucky enough to have a steady job back then).

For many kids it was a happy time but I remember kids who were abused at home and were also miserable. People tend to look back with Rose-tinted specs. There really were no “good old days” IMO - just very selective memories.

That said, I really do think the 90s was a great time to come of age here - end of the Cold War, growing prosperity, rapidly changing social mores, the collapse of the church and great music. A temporal “sweet spot” if one ever such existed.

Ah Jaysus you’re painting a right bleak picture it wasn’t that bad.

JupiterKid

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Going for drives with my parents and sister on a Sunday afternoon.

Good Friday was anything but good.
- Interminably long church service and standing for ages.
- No shops open aside from the odd petrol station.
- Not allowed eat anything between meals (which themselves were particularly plain on that day)

I grew up in a pretty devout Catholic household in the 80s and went to mass weekly as a child but I never ever remember going to mass or any church service on Good Friday. We never ate meat on Good Friday but also never went to mass that day.

NewbridgeIR

JupiterKid wrote: »

I grew up in a pretty devout Catholic household in the 80s and went to mass weekly as a child but I never ever remember going to mass or any church service on Good Friday. We never ate meat on Good Friday but also never went to mass that day.

There was no mass on Good Friday. The service started at 3.00pm and they had the long gospel that was also done on Passion Sunday. No communion either and sometimes you would have to kiss the cross afterwards.
I remember being told it wasn't a holy day of obligation but we always went.