You won't find these 80s products on store shelves anymore. For this list, we’ll be looking at products or everyday items that were manufactured or widely consumed during the 1980s, but have now disappeared, stopped being produced, or become obsolete.
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00:00 "In my two-tone Ford Explorer, you know how it's done."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 things from
00:09 the 80s that don't exist today.
00:10 "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."
00:16 For this list, we'll be looking at products or everyday items that were manufactured or
00:19 widely consumed during the 1980s, but have now disappeared, stopped being produced, or
00:24 become obsolete.
00:25 Do you have fond memories of these products?
00:27 Let us know in the comments below.
00:29 #10.
00:30 Pagers
00:31 Yes, pagers are still used in the medical industry, especially in times of natural disaster,
00:36 but for the general population, they may as well not exist anymore.
00:39 "For emergencies only, okay?"
00:47 And even then, medical pagers are slowly being phased out.
00:50 While originally developed in the 1950s, pagers exploded in popularity throughout the 80s,
00:55 mostly as a primitive form of texting.
00:57 "Then let the game begin."
01:01 In the early 80s, there were just over 3 million pagers in circulation.
01:05 By 1994, that number jumped to 60 million.
01:07 But it was also around this time that cell phones were becoming more common and far less
01:11 bricky.
01:12 "Can I ask you a question?
01:13 Do you know if the hotel's pager friendly?"
01:15 Just as video killed the radio star, cell phones killed the pager, and they slowly became
01:19 obsolete throughout the early 21st century.
01:22 #9.
01:24 Discovery Zone
01:25 If it doesn't, then you clearly didn't grow up in the 90s.
01:33 However, Discovery Zone is technically from the 80s, having been founded in October of
01:37 1989.
01:38 "You remember that song, right?"
01:39 With Z-Bop as its mascot, Discovery Zone was an entertainment center that catered to young
01:44 children with arcades, ball pits, and indoor playgrounds.
01:47 "I'm going D-Z at Discovery Zone, discovering what I can do on my own."
01:53 "I can jump, swing, crawl, or mountain climb."
01:56 This chain was huge in the early 90s, famously sponsoring Sesame Street and partnering with
02:00 Blockbuster.
02:01 However, the franchise expanded too quickly and eventually fell into bankruptcy.
02:05 Despite some valiant efforts, Discovery Zone didn't make it and went defunct in 2001.
02:10 #8.
02:11 Floppy Disks
02:12 Imagine, a whole 2.8 megabytes of information.
02:15 Oh, the possibilities of such storage.
02:17 "Two-tone Ford Explorer, you know how it's done.
02:22 Sound, bump."
02:23 We jest, but that was the reality back in the day.
02:26 Floppy Disks came in all sorts of sizes, with its storage capacity reaching up to 2.88 megabytes.
02:31 That came from the 3.5-inch ED, which was introduced in 1987.
02:35 For many years, that was as good as it got.
02:37 "What's the matter?
02:38 You've never seen this trick?"
02:42 It wasn't until 1991 that a version with 21 megabytes was released.
02:46 Needless to say, as storage technology and demands increased, floppy disks went the way
02:50 of the dinosaurs.
02:51 However, they live on through those adorable little save icons you see in programs like
02:54 Microsoft Word.
02:55 "That system uses 8-inch floppy disks."
03:01 #7.
03:02 Water Beds
03:03 These are exactly what the name suggests.
03:11 They're beds.
03:12 They're filled with water.
03:13 They're water beds.
03:14 Why, you may ask?
03:15 We don't know.
03:16 Because they were cool?
03:17 The original was actually made back in the 1800s to treat bed sores.
03:20 But the modern version was created in 1968 by a man named Charles Hall.
03:29 They were enormously popular throughout the '80s, with one in five mattresses being a
03:33 water bed.
03:34 But as people who have owned one know, maintaining water beds is a major pain in the rump.
03:38 They're stupid heavy, installation and upkeep is a living nightmare, and God help you if
03:42 you poke a hole in it.
03:49 The novelty quickly wore off and everyone went back to boring old mattresses.
03:53 #6.
03:54 Parachute Pants
03:55 It really is amazing how fast some fashions come and go.
03:57 Case in point?
03:58 Parachute pants.
04:01 These things were everywhere in the 1980s, known for their comfortable and swishy nylon
04:05 material.
04:06 In fact, the nylon felt much like a parachute, hence the name "parachute pants."
04:10 These often came in bright garish neon colors, so they really made a strong fashion statement.
04:15 Nothing screams '80s like neon.
04:17 However, they also had a function.
04:18 Parachute pants were often worn by break dancers, as they allowed freedom of movement and decreased
04:22 friction with the floor.
04:24 Regardless, the fad ended just as quickly as it came, only lasting a couple of years
04:27 in the mid-80s.
04:28 #5.
04:29 MTV Music Videos
04:30 Music streaming is cool and everything, but it really took the fun out of music videos.
04:41 Yeah, of course, they still exist, but watching them on MTV was an experience.
04:58 And yes, they really make you appreciate the modern convenience of Spotify.
05:02 MTV had its heyday in the 1980s with people glued to their TV screens, watching a variety
05:06 of music videos.
05:08 Maybe you just wanted to vibe to whatever was on, or maybe you wanted a certain song
05:11 and were forced to listen to hours of music in the hopes of getting it.
05:14 But MTV started moving away from music in the mid-90s and played fewer videos, with
05:19 the president arguing that the "novelty" has worn off.
05:24 #4.
05:26 Arcades
05:27 There was absolutely nothing like getting out of school, heading to the local mall for
05:41 something to eat, and hitting up the arcade.
05:50 Or spending your entire weekend inside of one, trying the new machines and having another
05:53 go on the classics.
05:54 The early 80s are often considered the golden age of arcades, raking in billions of dollars
05:59 and releasing all-time classic titles like Pac-Man, Frogger, and Donkey Kong.
06:03 Their popularity continued through the early 90s, with light gun shooters, 3D games, and
06:07 beat-em-ups dominating the market.
06:09 But a variety of forces came together in the late 90s to kill arcades as they were originally
06:13 created for good.
06:14 Their demise is typically dated to 1998, when home consoles finally overtook arcades in
06:19 popularity and revenue.
06:25 #3.
06:27 Film cameras
06:28 Today, you go to the Eiffel Tower and take 20 selfies in front of it because the first
06:32 19 didn't look quite right.
06:34 Well, there was none of that back in the 80s.
06:36 You took a few pictures, hoped they turned out good, flew home, took the camera film
06:39 to the drugstore, waited a few days, and finally got to see your pictures.
06:43 And darn it, your eyes were closed.
06:50 Such is the magic of photographic film.
06:57 Is magic the right word?
06:58 Sales of film peaked in 1998, before the tech went obsolete thanks to digital cameras, which
07:03 are now also obsolete thanks to smartphones.
07:06 Film is still used by some camera purists, but they comprise a very small niche.
07:14 #2.
07:18 Walkman
07:19 Raise your hand if you know what this is.
07:22 The Sony Walkman changed the music game when released in the summer of 1979.
07:26 A portable cassette player, Walkman significantly altered not just the music business, but culture
07:30 in general.
07:31 It made headphones more ubiquitous and commonplace.
07:33 They helped kickstart the aerobics boom of the early 80s.
07:36 "But Sony saw something quite different."
07:39 They popularized simple walking as a form of exercise.
07:47 They helped cassettes overtake vinyl in sales, and they would remain the dominant form of
07:51 music consumption until CDs killed them off in the early 90s.
08:02 By 1986, the word "Walkman" was in the Oxford English Dictionary.
08:05 But all good things must come to an end, and the original cassette Walkman was finally
08:09 discontinued in 2010.
08:11 It had a great run.
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08:34 Number 1.
08:35 VHS Home video has come a long way.
08:37 Back in the 80s, VHS was your primary method of watching films at home, as it had beaten
08:41 the Sony Betamax in the videotape format war.
08:48 VHS had worse picture quality, but people favored its low cost, and it dominated the
08:59 home video market throughout the 80s.
09:07 It even soldiered through the brief optical disc boom of the early 90s, with Laserdisc
09:11 not really making a splash outside of Japan.
09:20 It wasn't until DVD that the old tech was finally defeated, with DVD rentals surpassing
09:25 VHS for the first time in 2003.
09:27 Today, they're little more than collector's items.
09:30 Just saying, when it's either VHS or 4K Blu-ray with HDR, the choice is pretty obvious.
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09:43 [music]