ICM - Leeds Design Agency

Nine was a great age to be; not much in the world seemed to phase me, there were no big decisions to make, world news was rarely important, tea was usually on the table at 6pm and you could play out in the streets until the streetlights came on.

It was around the age of nine when you would start talking to your mates about the future; ‘big-school’ was only a couple of years away, the year 2000 seemed like a lifetime away.

In the year 2000 I would turn 26. What would that guy be like? Would he have a job, be married, have kids? Big questions that at the time were never really answered, someone would be handing out sweets, there were bikes to ride and football grudges to be settled.

Television only offered up the three channels in ’83, it seemed enough then. There would be national uproar today! The mobile phone didn’t exist apart from in the wealthiest briefcases of pin-striped southerners. Our kitchen didn’t have a microwave, I’m not sure we even had a video recorder?

By the year 2000 we would all be driving hover-cars and eating space food, our daily work would be performed by robots and there would be at least ten channels on the TV.

Looking back at these halcyon days I never realised just exactly what was going on around me. Ronald Reagan was announcing his plans to take his wars into space, there were numerous bombings at various embassies around the globe, airports and aircraft seemed prime targets for terrorism and hijacking, earthquakes, tsunamis, disasters, at nine years old didn’t really register.

Modern media is all-too in-your-face. All too often I hear the phrase ‘kids are growing up too quickly these days’. I fear they have no option. Bombarded by information and advertising wherever they turn; Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, the events of the world are there, unfolding in real-time, their lives played out in status-updates and instant messaging.

It makes me thankful I grew up in one of the last generations not subjected to this info-stream. An age where you could leave the house giving parents a rough guide as to where you were going (although that’s not where you were), who you were with and what time you would be home. No mobile phone in your pocket. No worries.

The year is 2009, Richard wishes he was 9 again…

So to help, here’s a little playlist of some of my favourites of ’83:

1. Down Under – Men at Work
2. Karma Chameleon – Culture Club
3. Electric Avenue – Eddy Grant
4. Too Shy – Kajagoogoo
5. Baby Jane – Rod Stewart
6. We Are Detective – Thompson Twins
7. Candy Girl – New Edition
8. Double Dutch – Malcolm McLaren
9. Give It Up – Kc & The Sunshine Band