20 Absolutely Awesome Electronics From The '80s

"Electronic products ate through the decade like a Pac-Man gone wild," said the Los Angeles Times - and with good reason. The '80s saw the public fall in love with VCRs, personal stereos, answering machines, pagers and other gadgets... the work of which can now be managed by the phone in your pocket. Take a look back to 1987 here, courtesy The Good Guys & retro site Click Americana.

1. Televisions - some with remote control

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Back when "cable-ready" was a big deal, these hot TV sets were the standard. (You could even get a new television with clunky dials!)

2. TV sets even bigger than '80s hairstyles

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Ah yes, the ultimate in home entertainment... with, as the pièce de résistance, a HUGE 27-inch TV.

3. VHS or Beta - pick your favorite!

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The latest and greatest VCRs, in the format you desire - including Beta - which was already pretty much obsolete.

4. Video tapes, cassettes, headphones and more

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Nearly everything on this page has been off the market so long, any flea market discoveries of these items would be classified as "vintage."

5. Shoot video with your own camcorder

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You know those static-y, low-res clips on "America's Funniest Home Videos" with the huge date graphic in the corner? These are the kinds of cameras that made it all possible.

6. Turntables & audio component cabinets

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Almost no furniture screams "eighties!" more than a washed-oak entertainment center.

7. Ooh - a cellular telephone... for your car!

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What are those clunky things at the bottom of the page? Oh yeah -- they're cellular telephones! The distant ancestors of our smartphones cost a fortune, weighed several pounds, and had cords.

8. Cordless phones & answering machines

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These landline phones didn't have cords on the handsets, but that doesn't mean they weren't the size of half a brick.

9. Portable cassette players & radios galore

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Walkmans and copycats - complete with awesome headphones with foam earpieces. Style!

10. Boomboxes, baby

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Tiny tape players with headphones not your thing? How about hoisting one of these systems on one of your shoulders, so the whole neighborhood can hear your favorite music?

See more pages from this 1987 Good Guys catalog at Click Americana!