The 70's and 80's in Ireland

ohnonotgmail

....... wrote: »

Id one of these:

the british army 1937 pattern small pack. I had one as well except mine was more tan than khaki

Grayson

whitey1 wrote: »

No North Face Jackets back in them days

Green Army Surplus coats and about 3/4 of the lads in the school wore them

The west german parka?

NasserShammaz

....... wrote: »

Id one of these:

With the edges frayed a bit

Sardonicat

....... wrote: »

whitey1 wrote: »

No North Face Jackets back in them days

Green Army Surplus coats and about 3/4 of the lads in the school wore them

Id one of these:

Mine was yellow and covered in graffiti. Most bags were covered in graffiti in those days. Is that done anymore the school bags designer now?

Edgware

Coming while looking at Farrah Fawcett posters

NasserShammaz

Sardonicat wrote: »

Mine was yellow and covered in graffiti. Most bags were covered in graffiti in those days. Is that done anymore the school bags designer now?

we used to soak them in bleach to get the cool colours, same with jeans

Grandeeod

A lot of talk about the 70s and 80s being so grey. From my living memory, I didn't really notice it. But looking back through the RTE archives (which I highly recommend) the footage does indeed look very dour in terms of clothing and and backgrounds/buildings. As for clothing in the 80s my fellow school goers wore such fooking boring clothes and shoes it drove me crazy. Parka jackets and stupid Palestinian type scares all black and white with tassle type bull****. The shoes were as bad and none of it was to do with money. I followed a different trend and wore grey trench coats mixed with bright shirts, mauve scarves. Lots of different colours. As a result I was accused of being gay by the stupid fookers wearing the greens and greys and sour ****e making them look like coal miners. Some of my secondary school class mates looked like vagrants due to bad taste.

For clarity. I was Dublin based and Smart Brothers were the go too spot at least once a year and Simon Harts for the footwear. Throw in O'Connors for some shirts and Denim. All was good. I came from nothing, but then didn't piss away my part time job wages on cans when I was 15.

NewbridgeIR

Horseplay was popular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzSNiqeQjA

And here.

Mongfinder General

Grandeeod wrote: »

A lot of talk about the 70s and 80s being so grey. From my living memory, I didn't really notice it. But looking back through the RTE archives (which I highly recommend) the footage does indeed look very dour in terms of clothing and and backgrounds/buildings. As for clothing in the 80s my fellow school goers wore such fooking boring clothes and shoes it drove me crazy. Parka jackets and stupid Palestinian type scares all black and white with tassle type bull****. The shoes were as bad and none of it was to do with money. I followed a different trend and wore grey trench coats mixed with bright shirts, mauve scarves. Lots of different colours. As a result I was accused of being gay by the stupid fookers wearing the greens and greys and sour ****e making them look like coal miners. Some of my secondary school class mates looked like vagrants due to bad taste.

For clarity. I was Dublin based and Smart Brothers were the go too spot at least once a year and Simon Harts for the footwear. Throw in O'Connors for some shirts and Denim. All was good. I came from nothing, but then didn't piss away my part time job wages on cans when I was 15.

Brilliant post. I live the anger. The scruffy twats.

TheRiverman

storker wrote: »

Arkwright-style shops in out of the way places with products in the window whose packaging had yellowed because they'd been there so long.

Could get a loaf of bread,a pair of pink bloomers(the ultimate passion killers),a handle for a shovel and a sock for a horse drawn plough in one small shop.Now that was a shop.

Masala

TheRiverman wrote: »

Could get a loaf of bread,a pair of pink bloomers(the ultimate passion killers),a handle for a shovel and a sock for a horse drawn plough in one small shop.Now that was a shop.

.... and a pint!!

The Crowman

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Horseplay was popular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzSNiqeQjA

And here.

I remember that ad well. There was another one around the same time about bicycle safety that had a voiceover by Mike Murphy that began "so you're off to school on your bike".

sabat

StereoSound wrote: »

Remember me Motha buying Panky bars and hiding them in the press. Big 80's wafer snack.

All treats had to be stashed away because "they'll only get eaten."

The Crowman

branie2 wrote: »

On the subject on Crispy pancakes, I remember the ads for them, involving a young boy writing in his diary about them.

"Mums still stuck in ospital avin moi baby sista" delivered in a cockney accent. Some time later it was replaced, at least on RTE, with a dubbed version where he had a neutral-ish Irish accent.

Masala

Do you remember when you all pack up every Sunday in thr car and drive to your cousins for the evening. As soon as you would arrive .. youth told to go outside as the grown ups wanted to chat. No telly then

But sometimes you mother would get caught out when a set of cousins arrived on your house before ye got away... and she go mad as there would be no food for them. Sometimes good biscuits and cakes would be kept in reserve for such occasions and we all be sneaking in to the house hoping Aunt Mary would say....ahh give him a piece of cake!!! aND you would take it!!! Jeezus you ma had in in for you when they left!!! But it was worth it for CAKE!!!

Hotblack Desiato

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Horseplay was popular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzSNiqeQjA

A 1970s Irish safety film for kids called "Mind Yourself" really should have been about how to avoid the priest.

bodhrandude

whitey1 wrote: »

No North Face Jackets back in them days

Green Army Surplus coats and about 3/4 of the lads in the school wore them

Mod fans, into the Who and the Jam.

bodhrandude

Edgware wrote: »

Coming while looking at Farrah Fawcett posters

Or Debbie Harry.

dieselbug

bodhrandude wrote: »

Or Debbie Harry.

And Stevie,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4EPil8KKs

Hotblack Desiato

Stevie is still hawt.

jmayo

whitey1 wrote: »

No North Face Jackets back in them days

Green Army Surplus coats and about 3/4 of the lads in the school wore them

Here you go lads.

I remember they were great and warm when the lining was in but were quite heavy.







Now lets see if i can flecked farah pants, white socks and black slip on shoes to complete the look.

Nearest thing I could find so far...

storker

Speaking of safety films, how could you forget this (courtesy of our next-door neighbours):

jmayo

And another for the oldies amongst us.

The Green Shield Stamps catalogues from 70s and 80s.

Now the youngsters should know these are film cameras.
They had rolls of film in them that you took down to the chemist or if you were near a big town to a photography shop to get developed.

And some of the others things are Walkmen type cassette players that played music tapes.

.......

^^
Ye gods!!!

The little book of dreams!

ohnonotgmail

jmayo wrote: »

And another for the oldies amongst us.

The Green Shield Stamps catalogues from 70s and 80s.

Now the youngsters should know these are film cameras.
They had rolls of film in them that you took down to the chemist or if you were near a big town to a photography shop to get developed.

And some of the others things are Walkmen type cassette players that played music tapes.

I had the "walkman" in number 16. How cool i thought i was.

.......

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I had the "walkman" in number 16. How cool i thought i was.

I didnt have that specific one but I had an alba walkman.

My mother and I developed an in joke whereby if I thought something was "uncool" I would tell her that it was like "having orange ear phones on your walkman". A universal understanding was met - she could see they werent cool.

ohnonotgmail

....... wrote: »

I didnt have that specific one but I had an alba walkman.

My mother and I developed an in joke whereby if I thought something was "uncool" I would tell her that it was like "having orange ear phones on your walkman". A universal understanding was met - she could see they werent cool.

3 band graphic equaliser? very high tech.

Tombo2001

Funny to talk about any era being 'grey and depressing' because the weather in Ireland was pretty much the same then as it is now; if anything it was better.

I think people confuse film quality on 1970s home cinema reels with the way life actually was.

Without doubt the 1970s and 1980s were a highly traumatic period in Irish history - the recent rental so-called 'crisis' isnt in the ha'penny place compared with the socioeconomic impact of record unemployment and a war in the north.

In contrast, the 1990s was a fantastic time in Ireland - the atmosphere about the place was far better then than today I would feel. I'd even extend that to the late 1980s.....from around 1988 onwards.

Examples - the music scene in the late 1980s was brilliant. U2 were the biggest band in the world and the Joshua Tree was out. Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Pogues, The Waterboys all producing great music and doing well internationally as well as all those bands that were only ever 'big' in Ireland - the Stunning, Something Happens, Four of Us, That Petrol Emotion....absolutely brilliant time for live local music in Ireland.

And then sport - Euro 88 and Italia 90 are probably the best ever sporting events in Ireland in terms of capturing the public imagination.

Count Down

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Funny to talk about any era being 'grey and depressing' because the weather in Ireland was pretty much the same then as it is now; if anything it was better.

I think people confuse film quality on 1970s home cinema reels with the way life actually was.

Without doubt the 1970s and 1980s were a highly traumatic period in Irish history - the recent rental so-called 'crisis' isnt in the ha'penny place compared with the socioeconomic impact of record unemployment and a war in the north.

In contrast, the 1990s was a fantastic time in Ireland - the atmosphere about the place was far better then than today I would feel. I'd even extend that to the late 1980s.....from around 1988 onwards.

Examples - the music scene in the late 1980s was brilliant. U2 were the biggest band in the world and the Joshua Tree was out. Sinead O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Pogues, The Waterboys all producing great music and doing well internationally as well as all those bands that were only ever 'big' in Ireland - the Stunning, Something Happens, Four of Us, That Petrol Emotion....absolutely brilliant time for live local music in Ireland.

And then sport - Euro 88 and Italia 90 are probably the best ever sporting events in Ireland in terms of capturing the public imagination.

In the 70s and early 80s successive Irish teams were 'robbed' especially in away games by mysterious refereeing decisions. We never won and rarely drew competitive away games.
It changed somewhat under Jack Charlton when we became less of a soft touch and became harder to beat, culminating in Italia 90 when we got to the quarter finals by drawing four games and scoring just two goals!!!

Tombo2001

Count Down wrote: »

In the 70s and early 80s successive Irish teams were 'robbed' especially in away games by mysterious refereeing decisions. We never won and rarely drew competitive away games.
It changed somewhat under Jack Charlton when we became less of a soft touch and became harder to beat, culminating in Italia 90 when we got to the quarter finals by drawing four games and scoring just two goals!!!

Its funny because on the face of it, bringing Charlton in was a game changer - however the team was incredibly unlucky in the 1982 qualifying campaign.

On the other hand, the team arguably was much stronger for the 1982 qualifying campaign; Brady was once of the best players in Europe then - it would be like having Luka Modric or Christian Eriksen in your team. Whereas they were incredibly lucky to qualify for Euro 88.

However - the timing of the 1988 and 1990 qualifications was the big thing. It happened at time when there were a lot of other positive things happening, and it was hugely symbolic and motivational for the country.

.......

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Funny to talk about any era being 'grey and depressing' because the weather in Ireland was pretty much the same then as it is now; if anything it was better.

I think people confuse film quality on 1970s home cinema reels with the way life actually was.

For me its more the architecture, not the weather. There was a lot of poured concrete structures getting built (my secondary school was a good example of this), plus our local church - basically a big grey square.

Maybe it was just a style that was popular but I just recall Dublin as being grey concrete.

This was my secondary school being opened in 1985:
https://www.rte.ie/archives/collections/news/21196764-firhouse-community-college/

The local church in the 80s:
http://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/bitstream/10599/4899/2/wm_1843.jpg

Now I appreciate the above pic is B&W but the wall was just grey blocks, these days its covered in ivy and shrubbery.

Tombo2001

Completely get your point, and there is no getting away from the fact that a lot of 1980s buildings were really crap.

However
- all the beautiful buildings in Dublin and elsewhere that are around now, were also around in the 1970s. Trinity college for example.

Around the country, towns were proper towns then. A lot of Irish towns today, especially in the midlands - today the town centre is dead and full of charity stores and poundshops, because of the effect of the big out of town shopping centres.

I do get a fairly strong sense that a lot of Irish towns have gone really down hill since around 2000 in particular.

Wheres Me Jumper?

Great days I recall, but there was a lotta sexual repression and anger.
I grew up in a rural smalltown and if you tried to be anyway different, you were immediately classified as a queer.

i remember one poor lad getting the mother of all beatings. his family left the area shortly afterwards.
he was from London, he had an earring, he wore trendy trousers, he listened to the likes of Depeche Mode, he spoke with a weird accent, and he refused to play GAA!

so he was probably asking for it???

Hotblack Desiato

The amount of Dublin city centre that was just empty sites in the 70s/80s was incredible. Surrounded by red and white hoardings for years with nothing happening - presumably there were great plans before the 70s huge recession hit.

Sound familiar? I mean there's empty sites today, but there were loads more then.

Some of them were used as (paid) surface car parks. The whole Ilac centre site was a car park surrounded by derelict buildings for years.

storker

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Some of them were used as (paid) surface car parks. The whole Ilac centre site was a car park surrounded by derelict buildings for years.

Sort of paid. I can remember my dad driving into them and saying "We won't be long" to the guy in the booth at which point he would be waved on in with no ticket. On the way out the guy would be passed a punt or two. I doubt that Dublin Corporation ever saw a record of the transaction...

storker

Other memories of visits to Dublin in those days...

• Visiting Santa and his Magic Chimney at Switzers.
• Dirty, blackened stonework on historical buildings before everything got a good sand-blasting.
• Guinness-coloured buses
• Lots of closed-up shops
• Those useless narrow footpaths in pre-pedestrianised Grafton street that you often had to step off with traffic whizzing past.
• The Dandelion Market (kids, this is now known as the Stephen's Green Centre)
• Jervis St Hospital (kids, this is now known as the Jervis St Shopping Centre)
• Platform 5 at Connolly Station - hasn't changed a bit, except for the DARTs and I kind of miss the big orange diesel locomotives.
• My mother wanting something from that gardening shop with the arches on Henry/Mary Street, and my dad actually being able to park right outside while she went in.

Big Nasty

Cassidys

Floppybits

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

The amount of Dublin city centre that was just empty sites in the 70s/80s was incredible. Surrounded by red and white hoardings for years with nothing happening - presumably there were great plans before the 70s huge recession hit.

Sound familiar? I mean there's empty sites today, but there were loads more then.

Some of them were used as (paid) surface car parks. The whole Ilac centre site was a car park surrounded by derelict buildings for years.

Floppybits

Another of the Ilac Surface car parks.

Big Nasty

Why's that B&W? That's at least '85.

BBFAN

Big Nasty wrote: »

Why's that B&W? That's at least '85.

It was cheaper to get the photos in B&W. Very expensive to get colours one then.

.......

Big Nasty wrote: »

Why's that B&W? That's at least '85.

Because thats how we remember the past

ohnonotgmail

Floppybits wrote: »

Another of the Ilac Surface car parks.

i want to make sure i am look at this correctly. The image is looking up towards o'connell street. the road to the right is moore street. is that right?

Floppybits

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Floppybits wrote: »

Another of the Ilac Surface car parks.

i want to make sure i am look at this correctly.  The image is looking up towards o'connell street.  the road to the right is moore street.  is that right?

Yep you are looking towards O'Connell Street, you can see the Parnell statue in top of the picture.

ohnonotgmail

Floppybits wrote: »

Yep you are looking towards O'Connell Street, you can see the Parnell statue in top of the picture.

i thought that was it. the empty space up from Moore street is now the hotel and that new mall they put in.

Count Down

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i thought that was it. the empty space up from Moore street is now the hotel and that new mall they put in.

What buildings were on the site of the car parks? There must have been shops/houses right up to the pavements.

Floppybits

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Floppybits wrote: »

Yep you are looking towards O'Connell Street, you can see the Parnell statue in top of the picture.

i thought that was it.  the empty space up from Moore street is now the hotel and that new mall they put in.

Yeah barely recognisable now from those days.

.......

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

i thought that was it. the empty space up from Moore street is now the hotel and that new mall they put in.

Over on the right hand side, just out of sight in the pic is where we used to buy our Doc Martens off Peggy Keogh - the only place in Dublin (maybe in Ireland!) that you could get them.

I remember leaving Peggys stall proud as punch with my big boot box under my arm. A couple of days later my bruised and bloody feet were cursing Peggy as I broke them in.

Another time I bought an Oxblood pair - fancy schmancy, and then I felt like the were too "loud" (well it was grey times) and I used art paint to paint them in black - it worked too, the oxblood only showed through on scuff marks.

ohnonotgmail

....... wrote: »

Over on the right hand side, just out of sight in the pic is where we used to buy our Doc Martens off Peggy Keogh - the only place in Dublin (maybe in Ireland!) that you could get them.

I remember leaving Peggys stall proud as punch with my big boot box under my arm. A couple of days later my bruised and bloody feet were cursing Peggy as I broke them in.

Another time I bought an Oxblood pair - fancy schmancy, and then I felt like the were too "loud" (well it was grey times) and I used art paint to paint them in black - it worked too, the oxblood only showed through on scuff marks.

I remember that stall as well. you must be as old as me

There was a whole load of stalls there.

cml387

BBFAN wrote: »

It was cheaper to get the photos in B&W. Very expensive to get colours one then.

I beg to differ. Even in the mid seventies, colour was the norm. You had get black and white ones specially made.