Photo courtesy of 99 Designs
The 60s was a time of counterculture, mod fashion and “The Animals.” The 70s had Watergate, bell-bottoms and disco ruled the airwaves. MTV launched in the 80s, and with it brought Michael Jackson to the forefront. The 90s was when The Fresh Prince moved to Bel-Air, and everyone around the world gained five more “Friends.” The 2000s saw the rise of YouTubers, and Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States.
Whether lived through or heard about through stories from those who were “there when it happened,” everyone has a favorite decade they’ve lived through or wish they’d lived through. Posties share their favorite ones below.
Courtney Blackett, Photographer — The 70s
My favorite decade is the 70s because of the music! Donna Summers is my go-to.
Mallory Waligora, Political Reporter — The 80s
My favorite decade is the 80s! Nothing is more iconic than scrunchies, windbreakers, big hair and bright colors.
Not to mention the music and movies – Top Gun, E.T., Dirty Dancing, Michael Jackson and Madonna. Nobody puts Baby in a corner!
Christian Udeozor-Nweke, Graphic Designer — The 2000s
My favorite decade is the early 2000s! Something about the old nostalgic feeling of the music, TV shows, commercials, fashion and food gets me going!
I remember waking up to iconic commercials early in the morning and doing dance battles with iPods blasting music in the background. Those times were honestly some of the best memories I have.
Megan Judy, Graphic Designer — The 80s
My favorite decade is the 80s because of the music. I feel like music changed so drastically in the 80s, and so many sub-genres emerged, such as 80s new wave. Some of my favorite bands are Tears for Fears, Hall & Oates, Wham! and Talking Heads.
I feel that so much creativity and good art/media was born, and I take so much inspiration from that time period. I would definitely use a Walkman if I had one!
Autumn Okuszka, Content Editor — The 80s
My favorite decade is the 80s. As the child of parents who grew up in that era, I’ve known the words to “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” by the Beastie Boys and “Walk This Way” by Run-D.M.C. and have been saying, “I was born in the wrong generation” since the fifth grade.
The ’80s just seemed like such a fun time. From “We Are the World” to Live Aid, what other decade sees the best of the best in the music industry join together for the sake of charity? There will never be another decade quite like the 80s.
Brock Heilig, Sports Editor — The 90s
I love everything about the 90s. I would have loved to grow up in such an awesome decade. Music was great, and fashion was solid, but the selection of TV shows in the ‘90s is truly unmatched. Headlined by “Friends” (the greatest show of all time, in my opinion), the ‘90s featured some of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. “Boy Meets World,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “King of Queens” are all shows I still watch to this day.
Additionally, the University of Michigan featured the Fab Five, two Heisman Trophy winners (Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson) and a football national championship in 1997. The ‘90s might be the best decade in human history.
Ana Gjorgjevski, Features Reporter — The 70s and 80s
My favorite decade is a toss-up between the 70s and 80s. Both had iconic fashion trends and media that became the blueprint for later decades. I love the big hair and bold colors of the 80s combined with the amazing sitcoms such as “Designing Women” that incorporated both those aspects wonderfully as well as many iconic soundtracks from movies during that time.
The sitcoms of the 70s were another ballpark, and nothing, to this day, can compare. “One Day At A Time,” ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and movies like “What’s Up Doc?” were all born in the 70s and left an everlasting impression on the industry. I have most of these on VHS, DVD box set, or vinyl!
Moe Del Rosario, Arts Reporter — The 80s
My favorite decade is probably the 80s. It’s a mix of loving the movies that came out from that decade, like “E.T.,” “Heathers,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and also loving the music. My dad is an avid listener of 80s rock, especially when he was first learning English, so I grew up listening to that and was constantly surrounded by it.
I also really enjoy 80s fashion. It was definitely an iconic era, and the use of color is amusing to see. Comics were at a peak in the 80s too, so overall, it was a great decade for media and fashion.
Chloe Kukuk, Campus Reporter — The 60s
I’m obsessed with all things vintage, but if I had to choose only one decade to call my favorite overall, I would probably say the 60s! Not only is the fashion iconic — any other mod fashion fans in here? — but I enjoy reading about the culture (and counterculture) of the time period.
The 1960s was also when the New Journalism movement began, and that movement established a lot of the reasons why I enjoy journalism today.
Noah Francis, Features Reporter — The 90s
The 90s are by far my favorite decade. The fashion was iconic, it was the golden age of hip-hop music, many classic TV shows started, but my favorite aspect would be strides in video game history.
Starting the decade off with the Super Nintendo, many unforgettable gaming experiences originated here. Sega unleashed “Sonic the Hedgehog” into the world a year later, with his classic trilogy taking the gaming scene by storm. Gaming leaped into the third dimension with Sony’s first Playstation, the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. For the gaming scene, the 80s walked so the 90s could run.
Noah Thomason, Political Reporter — The 2000s
I think the 2000s is my favorite decade. The video games from this era were some of the most stand-out games to this day that are still great to play, like Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 and Demon’s Souls. These games and many others from this decade would go on to define their respective genres, and while none of these series or genres started in the 2000s, I think many of them were mastered by this time.
This decade also improved 3D games significantly over what was possible in the late 90s. It essentially did what the early 90s did for 2D gaming compared to the 80s. This time period also had some incredibly fun shows like “Codename: Kids Next Door,” “Chowder” and “Teen Titans.”
Kurt Szymanski, Sports Reporter — The 80s
My favorite decade is, hands down, the 80s. Everything was on point: the music, the movies, the hair, the clothes, the TV shows. I will shamelessly admit that my favorite part of my day is peeling out onto Squirrel Road while I blast DeBarge and Bobby Brown.
It was also such an exciting decade for Detroit sports. The Tigers won a World Series in 1984; the Red Wings had a dominant playoff streak, heck, even the Lions made a couple of playoff appearances and drafted the greatest running back of all time: Barry Sanders. But let’s not forget about the two-time champion Piston’s Bad Boys team that still has NBA legends like Micahel Jordan mad at them to this day.
Olivia Chiappelli, Arts Editor — The 90s
The 90s was undoubtedly the decade of the rom-com, which automatically makes it my favorite. Truly nothing can live up to the absolute rom-com machine that was the ’90s, and I don’t know if anything ever will. Something magical must’ve just been in the air to produce iconic films like “While You Were Sleeping,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Clueless,” “Notting Hill,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “You’ve Got Mail” and “Pretty Woman” all within 10 years.
The 90s also hosted one of my favorite decades of fashion with muses like Carolyn Bessette Kennedy for Calvin Klein, iconic designer takeovers like Tom Ford for Gucci and whimsically extravagant runways by Vivienne Westwood to juxtapose the minimalism that the 90s was so known for.
Arianna Heyman, Editor in Chief — The 1920s
My favorite decade by far is the 1920s. The “Roaring Twenties” seemed like the most fun era to live through (until 1929 of course). Also, who wouldn’t dream of attending a Gatsby-style party? The jazz age seemed like an all-around exhilarating time. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the fashion of that era –– I wish I could dress like a flapper every day!
