Oh snap, let's hop in our time machine and cruise back to February 1988, when hair was big, shoulders were padded, and everything was, like, totally awesome.
Television Milestone: "Family Ties" Goes Deep (For Real)
Episode 150 dropped like a bomb when the Keatons discovered their neighbors weren't ready for diversity in the 'burbs. Watching Alex P. Keaton – our favorite Reagan-loving, suspender-wearing capitalist – wrestle with social consciousness was like seeing your dad try to breakdance: awkward but somehow endearing. Michael J. Fox knocked it out of the park, proving he could do more than just rock a tie and quote Milton Friedman.
Larry Legend: The Three-Point King of Sass
Picture this: Chicago Stadium, All-Star Weekend, and Larry Bird strolling in like he owned the joint (which, let's be real, he basically did). My man walks into the locker room and straight up asks who's playing for second place. The audacity! But here's the kicker – he did it WEARING HIS WARM-UP JACKET. That's like showing up to a gunfight in your pajamas and still winning. Dale Ellis probably still has nightmares about this.
Bon Jovi: Jersey Boys Get Ready to Strike Again
After "Slippery When Wet" turned them into mega-stars (and made Jon's hair a national treasure), the boys from Jersey were cooking up their next masterpiece. The pressure was on like Donkey Kong to follow up their breakthrough, and spoiler alert – they'd eventually drop enough hits to make Michael Jackson nervously adjust his glove. But in February '88, they were just five guys with incredible hair trying to prove they weren't one-album wonders.
The Cultural Vibe
Reagan was wrapping up his presidency (probably while eating jelly beans), the Berlin Wall was still doing its thing (but not for long), and somewhere in America, someone was definitely rocking a neon windbreaker with matching leg warmers. This wasn't just any February – this was peak '80s, baby, when everything was extreme and subtlety was something that happened to other decades.
But seriously, though – 1988 was serving up some prime cultural moments that were equal parts awesome and absurd. Just like your mom's shoulder pads, these moments somehow managed to be both totally ridiculous and completely perfect at the same time.
Stay rad, time travelers. 🤘