25 Totally Tubular Gen X Nostalgia Memes That Only True 80s Girls Will Understand (March 31, 2025)

Author image for Ely Bulnes
Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Mar 31, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Everyone has nostalgia for the 80s – even those who weren't around. The time period is so well-documented, and the pop culture of the era still permeates everything. Just a few years ago, Gen Z kids were asking their parents to unearth their old "vintage" clothes from their youth. I'd seen pictures of my mom sporting high-waisted, acid wash denim jeans, oversized blazers with shoulder pads, and comfy roll neck sweaters with funky patterns. Unfortunately, she got rid of it all in the early 2000s, thinking that these gaudy styles would never come back into fashion. I was pretty upset by this, but she got to relive her youth by taking me shopping for all the same styles she wore as a teen and young adult. 

If you spent your youth making mixtapes, challenging your friends to Super Mario Bros on the NES, and breathing in copious amounts of hairspray to maintain the perfect level of fluff, scroll down below for a collection of memes that will take you down memory lane.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • 01
    If you don't recognize this film, we can't be friends...
    via @genxhumor
  • 02
    Dirty Dancing is a different movie when you watch as a parent. Baby's dad wasn't unreasonable. She was [17] and sneaking around with a Catskills dance instructor who has anger issues & looks like he's at least 40. Yes, you should be put in a corner. It's called time out, you brat
    via @genxhumor
  • 03
    WHEN SOMEONE SAYS 90S MUSIC IS BETTER THAN 80S MUSIC
    via @genxhumor
  • 04
    wanting your life to be like an 80's movie. You did not specify
    via @genxhumor

  • Be careful what you wish for! Knowing my luck, I'd end up right in one of the many Stephen King book adaptations from the 80s. I'd prefer to end up in The Neverending Story.

  • 05
    Back when MTV was actually Music Television MUSIC TELE ELEVISION
    via @genxhumor
  • 06
    www The greatest guitar players of all time: C ENCHANTM NDER HE J-2
    via @genxhumor
  • 07
    BK Bringing you back to the 80s BRI KNIG Op JAMS
    via @genxhumor
  • 08
    I CAN'T PARTY LIKE I USED TO But if I take an afternoon nap, I can stay up 'til dark
    via @genxhumor
  • 09
    Them: "Why are you scared of clowns?" 80s and 90s kids:
    via @genxhumor
  • 10
    WHEN I SAY I'M “LIVING THE DREAM" - THIS IS THE DREAM I'M REFERRING TO
    via @genxhumor
  • 11
    BEFORE THERE WAS AUTOTUNE & AI THERE WAS TALENT
    via @genxhumor
  • 12
    Molly Bernard @mollygirl_xo14 The best 10 seconds I've ever had... WSZYSHM TY BOSH SOLL YIPES IN ACTION TATTOOS Fruit Stripe 5 JUICY FLAVORS
    via @mollygirl_xo14
  • 13
    20 years later and all of these things fit in your pocket.
    via u/AbbyM1968

  • Sure, the future doesn't look as sleek as it does in Robocop, but it's still pretty impressive that we have all these gadgets – and much, much more – in the palm of our hand! 

  • 14
    TIK TOK IN THE 80's
    via @im.this.old
  • 15
    IF-THIS DOESN'T-REMIND- YOU OF YOUR CHILDHOOD TURBO THROWBACKS E B I'M SORRY
    via @im.this.old
  • 16
    When I was a kid TELEPHONE 1535 This was my mobile phone
    via @im.this.old
  • 17
    الي LIDAYS Trey @continentlbkfst kids who wouldn't let you borrow a pencil in class don't let you merge on the highway now
    via @continentlbkfst
  • 18
    Energizer E Energizer Frankenmute @tranzmute_art Kids today will never know the struggle of trading out de d batteries for partially used batteries like some kind of dystopian scavenger.
    via @tranzmute_art
  • 19
    Quik NET WT 160 Nestle Quik REMEMBER USING A KNIFE OR SPOON TO PRY THE LID OPEN? YES OR NO?
    via @im.this.old
  • 20
    MERLIN BEFORE GAMES ON YOUR PHONE, SOME GAMES LOOKED LIKE A PHONE! NEW GAMM GAME
    via u/Mysterious-Ruby
  • 21
    The '80s "Getting ready for a Friday night" Starter Pack Berry Blossom TEEN Spirit LIP SMACKER 1980 ww AQUA NET shared (OLD)
    via u/Mysterious-Ruby, shared
  • 22
    Kids today will never know what it was like to take a ton of pictures and have to wait a week to find out they were useless Kodak KBS Kodak Gold COLOR PRINT D
    via u/Mysterious-Ruby
  • 23
    Me and my friends playing the Oregan Trail during computer class in the 3rd grade
    via u/CaptainGuyliner2
  • 24
    D haves MED HAS MEMES BACK IN MY DAY THIS IS HOW WE STOLE PAT CATS LIKE YOU LIVE OFF THE BACKS OF US POOR FLEAS!! 6-13 FAT. I HAVE THAT ANTAR Y. SECOND, YJIMA ST. P'M NOT R707 Te NE FROM A MISMOS YEAH THE BORN LOSER by Art an F NOW THEN MR. THORNAPPLEYES THERS HAVE YOUR MAG BOTHERING YOU WIFE DOESN'T ERSTAND YOU WOULD Z Dave Graue and Jack Bender COOL P COOLA TO PRINCESS
    via u/Happy_Face_caller
  • 25
    When the weather man says, "Dress for the mid-80s." A B C 53
    via Lassannn

Tags

throwback elder millennial married with children childhood adulting nostalgia 80s gen x 90s kids 90s memory lane nostalgia memes girlhood gen x memes 1980s
Scroll Down For The Next Article