I made an 80s pop playlist and listening to it transports me right back to that time.
I graduated from high school at the beginning of the 80s, so this was my 20s, when life was an adventure and anything felt possible.
For some of us it started with college, first jobs for others, all of us stepping into adulthood without really knowing what that meant, making our own decisions, our own money, our own mistakes, learning what worked and what didn’t.
There was a wild freedom in that phase, being on our own for the first time, with rent barely covered, living on ramen, and very little sleep, staying out too late because it felt like the night might actually lead somewhere. Some of us took it further, drank too much, traveling across the country with some cash in our pockets, rolling in on fumes, broke, no cell phones, no safety net, just believing we’d figure it out when we got there.
Relationships felt bigger, more urgent, like everything mattered more than it probably should have, we fell in love fast and got our hearts broken, then did it again.
That was what this playlist brought back.
What’s strange is how life pulled people in different directions, different schools, different cities, different paths, and yet we all shared this soundtrack, the same songs playing in different apartments, different cars, different bars, connecting moments that weren’t actually shared in person.
Music does that, it pulls a thread you didn’t realize was still there, and suddenly you’re back in a room you haven’t thought about in years, with people you haven’t seen, feeling a version of yourself you almost forgot.
That’s what this playlist is, not just songs, but a snapshot of who we were when everything was starting, when we were immortal.
Press play and see what comes back.
Postcards From Dirt 