SMELLS LIKE GEN X BLOG
Explore the written archive for 70s nostalgia, 80s nostalgia, and 90s nostalgia across music, movies, TV shows, toys, fads, commercials, trends, and the weird pop-culture debris that never fully left your brain.
Use this page as the main written gateway into Smells Like Gen X: start with a decade hub, follow a topic lane, search the archive, or jump straight into the latest post.
Looking for a specific year, song list, movie countdown, TV ranking, toy post, fad archive, commercial rewind, or category lane? Search the archive directly instead of scrolling the whole feed.
The blog works best when you use the decade hubs as your map. Start with the 70s, jump into the flagship 80s hub, or head into the expanding 90s archive.
Start here for 70s songs, movies, TV, toys, and the slower, stranger, more analog version of Gen X memory.
Big hooks, bigger movies, iconic toy aisles, prime-time TV, mall culture, and now the full 1980–1989 fads archive in one decade hub.
Alt-rock, sitcom empires, CDs, snack-branding overload, holiday toy panic, and the polished late-era Gen X archive.
These topic lanes route into the main category hubs, so visitors can browse the archive by what they actually care about.
Start here for year-end countdowns, chart rewinds, radio nostalgia, and the songs that permanently colonized your brain.
Dive into year-by-year movie countdowns, box office rewinds, poster-wall nostalgia, and video-store-era comfort watches.
Network giants, sitcom empires, Nielsen-era countdowns, forgotten shows, and the TV memories that still feel weirdly personal.
Holiday toy panic, weird products, year-by-year toy posts, and the kind of childhood plastic that still lives in your head rent-free.
Schoolyard crazes, mall fads, bad hair decisions, logo flexes, and the short-lived obsessions that defined everyday Gen X life.
Dive into classic commercial rewinds, catchphrases, mascots, cola wars, beer ads, Super Bowl spots, and the campaigns that completely colonized Gen X memory.
These are the strongest written entry points into the current Smells Like Gen X archive.
The strongest decade page on the site right now, with clear paths into songs, movies, TV, toys, fads, commercials, and broader 80s nostalgia.
One of the most distinctive lanes on the site now that the full 1980s fad run is live. Great for fast nostalgia hits and everyday-memory weirdness.
Classic ad campaigns, mascots, cola wars, beer slogans, and the TV spots that got so big they stopped feeling like ads.
Fresh nostalgia, deep cuts, countdowns, weird trends, and beautifully unnecessary rewinds across the Gen X archive.
The top 10 toys of 1983 capture the year the 80s toy aisle went fully berserk. From Cabbage Patch Kids and Atari 2600 to Care Bears, He-Man, Rubik’s Cube, and Strawberry Shortcake, this countdown revisits the toys that made 1983 one of the wildest and most unforgettable retail years of the decade.
Read more →The top 10 toys of 1982 capture the moment the 80s toy aisle became fully commercialized, character-driven, and impossible to ignore. From Rubik’s Cube and Atari 2600 to Strawberry Shortcake, E.T., G.I. Joe, and Smurfs, this countdown revisits the toys that made 1982 feel bigger, brighter, and more branded than ever.
Read more →The top 10 toys of 1981 capture the moment the 80s toy aisle fully turned into a neon mix of puzzle mania, video games, scented dolls, licensed characters, and electronic play. From Rubik’s Cube and Atari 2600 to Strawberry Shortcake, Smurfs, Simon, and Barbie, this countdown revisits the hottest toys of a year when the decade’s identity really started to click.
Read more →The top 10 toys of 1980 capture the exact moment the toy aisle went electronic, branded, and unmistakably 80s. From Rubik’s Cube and Atari 2600 to Strawberry Shortcake, Simon, and Star Wars, this countdown revisits the hottest toys that kicked off the decade in style.
Read more →From Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to Lethal Weapon 2, When Harry Met Sally..., Dead Poets Society, and Parenthood, these were the top 10 movies of 1989. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through the year the 80s balanced giant event movies with warmth, wit, and surprisingly emotional crowd-pleasers.
Read more →From Rain Man and Who Framed Roger Rabbit to Coming to America, Big, Die Hard, and Beetlejuice, these were the top 10 movies of 1988. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through one of the broadest, weirdest, and most crowd-pleasing box office years of the 80s.
Read more →Top 10 Movies of 1987: Three Men and a Baby, Fatal Attraction, and the Year the 80s Turned More Adult
Read more →From Top Gun and Crocodile Dundee to Platoon, Aliens, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Karate Kid Part II, these were the top 10 movies of 1986. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through one of the slickest, biggest, and most unexpectedly varied box office years of the 80s.
Read more →From Back to the Future and Rambo: First Blood Part II to Rocky IV, The Color Purple, The Goonies, and Witness, these were the top 10 movies of 1985. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through one of the most iconic, crowd-pleasing, and culture-shaping movie years of the 80s.
Read more →From Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, and Footloose, these were the top 10 movies of 1984. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through one of the boldest, glossiest, and most iconic box office years of the 80s.
Read more →From Return of the Jedi and Terms of Endearment to Flashdance, Trading Places, WarGames, and Risky Business, these were the top 10 movies of 1983. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through one of the most varied and memorable box office years of the 80s.
Read more →From E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Tootsie to Rocky III, Poltergeist, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, these were the top 10 movies of 1982. A Smells Like Gen X rewind through the biggest box office hits of one of the most important movie years of the 80s.
Read more →DON’T MISS THE REWIND
Countdowns, forgotten media, weird rabbit holes, and peak Gen X nostalgia across every category.