The Most Memorable Fads Of The Late 20th Century
Fads, by their very nature, seem to appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. Some fads are harmless, silly, and quickly forgotten while others become iconic symbols of an era. Here are some of the greatest fads by year during the last few decades of the 20th century.
1960: The Twist
Although not the first dance craze, The Twist became a phenomenon in no small part for being one of the first televised dance crazes, and one tied into a hit record. Made famous by Chubby Checker, the song “The Twist” went to number one on the charts twice, once in 1960 and again in 1962. This led to a dance craze wave with dances and associated songs appearing throughout the early 1960s, including the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, and the Pony.
Bundesarchiv, CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, Wikimedia Commons
1961: Fallout Shelters
Global nuclear annihilation was a very real possibility in the post-WWII period but for a while in the 1950s and 1960s, it was believed that some simple preparations could save your family from doom. One such precaution was the backyard fallout shelter, a supposedly secure and often underground space to protect you from radiation. With détente in the 1970s, plus the realization that surviving a nuclear attack may not be too desirable, the trend in fallout shelters waned.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
1962: Surfing
Surfing first appeared in Hawaii in the 1930s but it wasn’t until the early 1960s that surfing became synonymous with California and youth culture. Along with surf rock pioneered by the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and Dick Dale, surfing became a symbol of sun, summer, and freedom. Surf movies were a parallel trend and although the Beach Boys continued to make music, for the most part, the movie and music aspect of the fad disappeared with the Beatles and the British Invasion of 1964.
Internet Archive Book Images, Wikimedia Commons
1963: Smiley Faces
The smiley face is so ubiquitous it seems like it’s always been around. Graphic designer Harvey Ross Ball came up with the smiley face in 1963 to raise morale in the insurance industry, but he never copyrighted the image, and the rights have been held by The Smiley Company since 1971. The Smiley Company makes over $100 million a year with the smiley face.
That's E staff photog, Wikimedia Commons
1964: Troll Dolls
Troll Dolls have had a few revivals as a fad, but they actually go all the way back to Danish designer Thomas Dam who made what he called a Dam Doll for his daughter in 1959. Dubbed Troll Dolls, the wild-haired creatures became a craze in 1964. With plenty of knockoffs appearing throughout the decades, the Dam family secured the copyright in 2003.
1965: Go-Go Boots
First appearing in 1964, go-go boots are one of the most iconic fashion items of the decade. Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 hit song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”, and its iconic promotional film, cemented go-go boots as something for young women everywhere. Knee-high white vinyl and square-healed, go-go boots and a miniskirt were the height of fashion.
Mabalu, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
1966: Twister
Twister is a party game where players use their hands and feet to touch colored spots on a large floor mat, based on the spin of a spinning wheel. The object is to avoid falling as players contort themselves to touch available spots. Johnny Carson famously played it with Eva Gabor on television and the game was an overnight hit.
Jono Winn, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1967: Hippies And The Summer Of Love
The California counterculture goes back as far as the 1940s but in the popular imagination, hippies are synonymous with the 1960s. The summer of 1967 was dubbed the Summer of Love, as hippies, peace, love, and flower power hit the mainstream. The original hippies declared the movement dead in October 1967 and even staged a symbolic funeral for the ideal.
1968: Jacuzzi Hot Tubs
The Sexual Revolution of the 1960s meant a freeing of attitudes and an openness in society and in relationships. One symbol of that new openness was the hot tub, invented by Roy Jacuzzi (that was really his name) and peaking in popularity in the 1970s. Whirlpool baths built for two or more people came to represent a certain swinging lifestyle.
Photo by Infrogmation, c. 2003, GFDL 1.2, Wikimedia Commons
1969: Woodstock Music Festival
While 1967 had the Summer of Love, 1969 had Woodstock, a three-day music festival featuring over 30 bands and an attendance of over 400,000 (150,000 was the expected number). A crucial moment in both musical history and the 1960s, Woodstock has lived on in legend.
James M Shelley, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
1970: The Nerf Ball
Nerf balls were introduced in the 1970s as a safe toy ball made of foam. In its first year of production, Nerf sold over 4 million units. The brand continues to this day, with Nerf guns and darts dominating the production.
1971: Acupuncture
Acupuncture of course predates the year 1971 by a few millennia, but acupuncture in Western consciousness came into its own during US President Nixon’s historic trip to China in 1971. Nixon came to appreciate Chinese medical practices, and acupuncture became an alternative medicine in the West. Today, acupuncture is seen as one of a number of therapeutic practices that complement Western medicine.
1972: Video Games
While the 1980s are generally seen as the beginnings of the video game age, the actual beginning of the video game revolution goes back at least a decade to 1972. Odyssey was the first video game console for the home. Soon after, Atari released Pong, the first arcade video game which led to a home version as well.
1973: Streaking
Immortalized with a hit song (“The Streak”), stripping down to nothing and running through a crowd was a real thing in 1973. Starting as a college fad, streaking soon became a nationwide trend, both for fun and as a political statement. At the 1974 Oscars, host David Niven, after a streaker ran behind him on live television, famously quipped that “probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings”.
1974: Mopeds
The 1970s was known for its fuel crisis, with an oil embargo from oil-producing nations causing shortages worldwide. Fuel-efficient vehicles became popular and although the scooters and mopeds had a long history is Europe and Asia, they were never really popular in the US until the 1970s. Mopeds, half bicycle and half motorcycle, were definitely fuel efficient and by 1977, 250,000 mopeds had been sold in the US.
Alsal65, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
1975: Pet Rocks
Pet rocks were actual rocks packaged as pets and nestled in straw in a special ventilated box, along with a 32-page training manual. They sold for $4 each and 1.5 million of them were sold for over a six-month period starting in Christmas 1975.
1976: Stretch Armstrong
Stretch Armstrong was an iconic toy of the mid-1970s. This rubber and muscular action figure was stretchable due to it being filled with corn syrup. For about four years, it was globally popular and even led to a movie and television series.
Alex Beattie on Flickr, Wikimedia Commons
1977: Disco
Nothing says the 1970s quite like disco, which dominated radio for the second half of the decade. With films such as Saturday Night Fever and the music of the Bee Gees, disco was everywhere. By the end of the decade, the number of discos numbered around 45,000 in the US alone but by 1980 the backlash had begun.
1978: Cabbage Patch Kids
In reality an ‘80s fad, the Cabbage Patch Kids—dolls with odd and chubby faces that came already named with a birth certificate—actually started in 1978. Probably the most popular toy of the 1980s, the craze died down by the end of the decade.
1979: Walkmen
Portable music began with transistor radios in 1954, but the idea of portable music allowing individuals to choose the music they want to hear was introduced by Sony in 1979. The Walkman allowed people to listen to cassette tapes with lightweight devices and headphones. With advances in technology, including the iPod and smartphones, Walkmen have all but disappeared.
Yoshikazu TAKADA, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1980: Preppies
The satirical Official Preppy Handbook was published in 1980, popularizing styles, mannerisms, and speech of East Coast prep school teens and young adults. The styles became synonymous with the 1980s, with polo shirts and khaki pants becoming the preppy uniform.
1981: Rubik’s Cube
One of the most iconic products of the ‘80s, the Rubik’s Cube was an international craze in the form of a quite challenging 3D puzzle. Within its first three years, 100 million Rubik’s Cubes were sold, and although its popularity waned at times, the Rubik’s Cube and its offshoots continue to be produced to this day.
Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
1982: The Commodore 64
For many people, the Commodore 64 was their first computer. Often bought for its games, the Commodore 64 was, unlike main video game rival Atari, an actual personal computer and during its time, over 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64, including development tools and office productivity applications. The Commodore 64 holds the record as the highest-selling computer of all time, with over 17 million sold.
Xavier Caballe, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1983: Swatch Watches
Cheap, colorful, and plastic, Swatch watches were a Swiss timepiece that took off in the 1980s. Coming in various styles and bright colors, Swatch opened up a whole market for inexpensive yet stylish watches.
See-ming Lee, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1984: Transformers
One of the dominant toys of the mid-80s was Transformers, fighting machines that changed from vehicles to robots. Transformers actually go back all the way to 1974 but it was in the 1980s that they became iconic, quickly moving into other products and media such as comic books, cartoons, and other merchandise. Of course, the popularity remains to this day with the latest film franchise starting in 2007.
1985: Hair Metal
Heavy metal was long the domain of guys in leather and long hair. By the mid-1980s, metal bands began to incorporate the glam styles of the early 1970s, wearing make-up and big teased-out hair, leading to the somewhat disparaging term “hair metal”. Groups like Poison and Mötley Crüe were some of the biggest of the decade, before giving way to grunge in the 1990s.
1986: The Oprah Winfrey Show
It’s hard to imagine a time when Oprah Winfrey was just a TV host and not the billionaire head of a media empire. But she had to start somewhere, and that was in Chicago in 1983 with the launch of a half-hour talk show. By 1986, the show was an hour and syndicated across the country and Winfrey was on her way to being the most influential woman in America.
1987: The Legend Of Zelda
After the decline of Atari’s dominance of the video game market, other companies such as Nintendo stepped into the spotlight. One of their most popular and influential games is The Legend of Zelda, a fantasy action adventure that has spawned 19 sequels and sold over 70 million copies.
Dave or Atox, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1988: A Brief History Of Time
Physicist Stephen Hawking published his best-selling book A Brief History of Time in 1988. His goal was to explain the origins of the universe in layman’s terms, and A Brief History of Time has become one of the biggest-selling books on science in history, with over 10 million copies sold.
1989: Game Boy
Nintendo’s dominance of the video game market would continue into the 1990s with the release of the Game Boy console. A portable system with a built-in screen, the Game Boy grew to include over 800 titles. On its first day of release, 40,000 units were sold.
1990: Beverly Hills 90210
Nighttime soap operas had been a television staple for some time, but Beverly Hills 90210 reached out to a neglected demographic in the soap opera world—teenagers. For 10 years, Beverly Hills 90210 was a popular and influential soap opera that dealt with serious topics and expanded into merchandising, including dolls, books, and fashion lines.
1991: Grunge
Grunge as a genre of music came out of Seattle and other areas of the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s, combining elements of punk and metal. With the release of their second album Nevermind in 1991, Nirvana broke through the mainstream with their anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” changing the face of rock for the next decade.
1992: The Addams Family Pinball Machine
The Addams Family pinball machine is the best-selling pinball machine of all time. A tie-in to the 1991 hit movie The Addams Family, the pinball machine featured the actual actors' voices and was prized by pinball enthusiasts for its large number of scoring modes. To date, more than 20,000 units have been sold.
Piotrus, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
1993: Beanie Babies
A big hit in toy stores, Beanie Babies, small bean bag animals, appeared in 1993 and a craze soon followed, with a line of hundreds of Beanie Babies created to meet demand. The toys also sparked a crime wave across America, as people turned to theft, forgery, and even tax evasion when it came to collecting and selling the most elite Beanie Babies. However, as suddenly as Beanie Babies appeared in ‘93, they disappeared just as quickly with production stopping in 1999.
Missouri Historical Society, Wikimedia Commons
1994: Gift Cards
Gift cards are the go-to quick gift when you can’t think of anything else and you don’t want to just stick money in a card. Introduced by Blockbuster, gift cards remain a huge part of the retail market, with restaurants, games, stores, and other businesses offering them in various amounts. The gift card market topped $1.5 trillion in 2023.
Tom Eppenberger Jr., Daniel Case, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1995: Pogs
Even if you weren’t a kid at the time or had kids of your own, you knew about pogs. They even made it onto The Simpsons, as a sure sign of 1990s importance. These collectible cardboard discs were originally created as a game based on the milk-cap game, and they soon took off as a craze featuring tie-ins with popular media such as Star Wars and The Simpsons.
1996: The Macarena
Every era has its dance crazes that seem inexplicable to later generations. The Macarena appeared in 1996 and the song was a huge hit in both Spanish and English versions. The dance itself has very specific moves to go along with the song’s rhythm and although it’s been relegated to wedding receptions alongside the Chicken Dance, the Macarena remains a distinct piece of pop culture from 1996.
1997: Tamagotchi
1997 was the year of the virtual pet and leading the way was Tamagotchi. Hanging on a keychain, these egg-shaped pets required their owners to play with them, feed them, and generally take care of them, otherwise they would suffer and could die from neglect.
Museum Rotterdam, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
1998: Furby
Furby was a singing electronic robot toy owl. A robot that could be trained in 24 languages and would respond to human interaction, Furby’s dominated the toy market in 1998, with over 27 million units sold in that year.
1999: Latin Pop
Latin music has a long history, with different genres developed in various regions. Its popularity in the English-speaking world went in waves but in 1999, Latin pop came to dominate the US charts, with acts such as Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Enrique Iglesias. Martin’s song “Livin’ La Vida Loca” was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, won a Grammy, and sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
You May Also Like:
History’s Weirdest Beauty Fads
The Dumbest Viral Trends And Challenges In History
Manfred Werner/Tsui - CC by-sa 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Source: 1
.jpg){kind=link}
_(20471550578).jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
