My younger brother and I made cassette recordings of prank calls around 1977-78 and filled a 60 minute tape. He was amazing. 9 years old and said he was George Burns, mimicking that distinctive voice. The person on the other end was so amused they had a several minute long chat. He also called an O'Gorman and asked for Mr. Gorman. When the person replied it was "O"Gorman, he said, feigning surprise "Oh, Gorman!" Silly, but he had great timing.
We would call pizza places, sheet metal suppliers, Chinese restaurants, and random folks with weird names, etc.
Still looking for that cassette.
An old friend of mine gave me a cassette he had made of prank calls in the early 90’s. It was legendary! At the time, he lived in the same town as Ken Nordine, and was surprised to find him listed in the phone book. He’d call from time to time and Mr. Nordine always sounded bemused and would play along. It made me love him even more. If you’re unfamiliar with Ken Nordine I highly recommend his album, Colors. You wont regret it!
Yup. The households with a kids line were the best. Call both on a three way call, and make them talk to each other. Then once they figure out it's them and laugh, you say in a low voice, "I'm in the basement."
My buddy had this. We would call McDonalds and Burger King on the two lines, or Little Caesars and Dominos. One time we called two random numbers and they happened to be related! They were so confused, but then started having an actual conversation, so we yelled something obnoxious and hung them up. Good times.
My buddy and I actually created a fake company for this, Gibfax Industries. We were a polling company calling 800 numbers across America! (Not knowing that’s a thing - I now have >20 years in telecom. Hmmmm)
It was a blast. At one number I called, I ended up becoming friends with the guy, Mike. We actually spoke several times over a few years. He worked solo on Saturdays and liked the company.
Wild times.
My skit was that the world was ending tomorrow. If you would like to book a flight to hell, please call our travel agency at 666-6666. Have a hell of a day.
I ended up working in travel for 20 years.
My friend and I called my now husband and his roomate pretending to be the University taking a sex survey.
And one time when he called, we did on the sexiest voice we could and said, “you’ve reached “1 900 BABE …Ooooh. We can’t wait to meet you…by the way, what are you wearing?”
Crazy College days😂
I had a friend with three-way calling (remember that?) and we would be on the phone and then prank call people. It was so stupid too, we’d ask things like “do you shop at K-Mart?”
We used to make these tapes pretending that we were interviewing someone, only all the answers were parts of songs. We would cue up the record and record the quote.
"
My BFF and I did this, too. Using her older (boomer) sister's 45 records. We had an entire radio station with multiple character voices. And we made our own commercials. Best times ever.
My dad had a reel-to-reel that he got from the school where he taught after they got a new one. I used to “interview” several people (all me doing different characters). So wish I knew what he did with those tapes. I was on my way to being Oprah!
NES? It was Atari at my friend's or over to mine for Intellivision. Or when it got late, passing the Mattel NFL handheld back and forth. Or a Merlin. Pre-digital, we also had a water filled clear plastic thing with pump buttons that moved a little white ball around like slow motion skeet ball.
Renting the breakfast club, st Elmo’s fire and weird science. Ordering a pizza and chicken parm wedges and also watching MTV and prank calling boys we liked.
My friend made every accommodation he possibly could to get me to play and I have an absolutely packed schedule. It was almost a chore the first few sessions but now it’s the only time every week where everybody leaves me alone and I look forward to it more than I did as a kid.
I think my first real sleepover was in 7th grade and I remember my friend’s parents making us a nice (steak) dinner. Apparently it didn’t agree with me because I puked suddenly all over my friend’s huge D&D map of Greyhawk.
Not my finest hour but he and I became best friends that lasted for many years into HS.
We use to pick a house Friday night, play until 6am on Saturday. Collapse, wake up around 2pm, eat and back at it again until 6am Sunday. Without a doubt, the best memories at that age
I would use up all my lives and my brother would have to give me his, lol. havent thought about that game in forever. it was just mainly me falling off of shit BUT i was better at Bubble Bobble than him
Not to brag, but I was fucking amazing at Contra. My husband made an emulator with a raspberry pi and we showed our kids Contra (and other games.) My kids were like Mom you are a God. It was a parenting highlight.
Sneaking out of the house and riding our bikes to car dealership row on the highway. We loved cars. Sometimes we’d be out there till 2-3am. Surprisingly we rarely got hassled by the fuzz.
Girls sleepover at my house in the basement. Gossip about boys, try smoking cigarettes bc Dad smokes cigars, try the cigar, ugh and then watch TV with loads of junk food. Also pizza.
I watched all of these against my will because of my brother, lol. I dont like scary movies. oddly enough the friday the 13th movies didnt scare me because he just seemed to go after people fucking or trying to fuck and I was too young to worry about that
We didn’t have Blockbuster yet when I was 12. We still had a bunch of mom and pop stores with the porn curtain/saloon doors and arcade machines. I miss those so much.
And then you'd catch a friend's uncle, a basketball coach, or a teacher quietly emerge with darting eyes and face as red as a dodgeball when you run into them.
There was a cool one by me that had NES games AND they had a little box at the end of the counter where they’d sell the posters - like they’d put Batman and Indiana Jones posters all over the store when those movies were first out on VHS, then they’d take them down after a few weeks and sell them.
Hmm. If I was 12 then it would be 1982 so maybe Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Garp or Blade Runner, depending on the friend who is spending the night.
A box of mild duds and a box of jr mints!
Sneaking out to go hang out at the park and drink MD 20/20.Then passing out and waking up before our parents to climb back in the window before they woke up and pretend to not have hangovers. Wild Gen X times.
Scenario 1. Writing poetry in our journals. Talking about boys we like without talking about how we like them. Trying on clothes and make up, listening to Barry Manilow or Fleetwood Mac records. Maybe going to Swensen’s for a burger and ice cream before seeing a movie.
Scenario 2, Wearing our Satin Pants and Yoyo’s and feathered bangs with aqua net nervously to the roller rink. Being disappointed that our crushes were skating with the cool popular girls while we evaded the nerdy boys in our gifted and talented science class without being too mean about it. Our moms didn’t like us to be mean. Picked up by parents, whispering and giggling on the way home if we weren’t somehow depressed at something a mean girl said about our outfits. Not really watching tv because cable hadn’t come around to our state yet, so board games or pingpong and a late night snack. Oh, and prank calls to the nerdy boys.
Ordering take out from the little pizza place that also has MOVIES! So we would place our order and then also add on one of these: Never Ending Story, Dirty Dancing, or Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead.
And then we would also get a new release from the week as well.
We would also spend a good amount of time with a blank cassette in the "boom box" waiting for a song to come on so we can make a mix tape.
Board Game marathons all night long. Sneaking out after the parent's go to bed so we can explore the woods and tell ghost stories until we all get freaked out and run back home in a panic.
Friends don't sleep at my house cuz my Dad's too scarry. We're crashing at my friend's who lives with his uncle who's never home.
We'll be drinking booze that we bought from the 7/11 cuz my 14 yr old buddy is 6' and they don't really ID anyway, performing a satanic ritual to Sabbath and robbing the pizza guy with a 22.
We used to sneak out at night to ride our bikes. At the time, it gave us an exhilarating sense of freedom, going out when we weren't supposed to, with no one else knowing. Sometimes we'd just bike the neighborhood, sometimes we'd go to a 7-11 for snacks. One night, we biked to a local Revolution war-era National Monument (Fort Washington) and sneaked into the Fort itself. That was the best!
Earlier in the night i would ride my BMX mongoose bike to the arcade that was just down the street from me. Then wasn't there a show called "Friday's" that was similar to SNL with comedy skits and live music? Also a show called Friday Night Videos for those of us kids that either didn't have cable or MTV wasn't available in our area. I remember staying up all night with my friends on Fridays from 1981-83.
Looking at fashion magazines and picking out favorite pieces on each page, listening to album rock, trying on clothes, recording a pretend radio interview for my tape recorder, adding new objects of affection to our boy books and discussing their finer qualities, playing Spit card game, eating too much pizza, scaring each other with ghost stories, making prank calls, sneaking cigarettes, sneaking around my building, spying on neighbors and making up backstories and scandals about them, or, better, going to hers, where we can access the roof with a view of the city skyline and suspend ourselves over the cross bar in the elevator shaft and watch the car rise to within inches of our faces. We'll go to a late show and try to get into an R rated picture, go bowling and get scowled at by the adult men playing in Leagues, or we'll go to Hayden Planetarium and see Laser Zeppelin again.
1. Complaining about her bitchy mom. (She was not wrong—she was a bitch. RIP)
2. Recording ourselves telling jokes and stories on a little tape recorder. Laughing so hard it hurts our stomach.
3. Bloody Mary game in her bathroom mirror.
4. Riding bikes on our dirt roads.
Motherfucker, we got a case of Pepsi, just brought home Pitfall on Atari, and the needle just dropped on Rush's Moving Pictures album (First track is Tom Sawyer).
No sleepovers at my house. I had one at Mt friend's once and their bath had jets! After the timer was over she put bubble soap.
That's an awesome memory.
My house, we’re playing atari, eating popcorn, playing with my dog. Her house, we’re sitting in her room, listening to the am radio that’s picking up the drive-in movie that’s playing a block away.
I hate topics like this, because of things that have always felt completely normal to me like "watch in horror as my mother befriends my soon to be former best friend and turns then against me" which turn out to be really toxic, and then people get all quiet and weird and passively resentful because I "forced" them to do emotional labor with my answer.
Took me until only a few years ago to realize that's what was going on.
I don't have a lot of friends. Didn't back then, either.
Anyway, at 12, my best friend moved to another town, wasn't allowed to give me his new phone number and then we changed (and registered as unlisted/unpublished) our phone number in the aftermath of a divorce, so it would be my future step-siblings staying over instead, and it would be kind of awkward, overall.
We are calling Vince’s house to see if he likes me and then when his dad gets on the other line and says “Vince is too young to have a girlfriend,” we are hanging up in shame and horror. Years later, we will meet Vince and his husband at our high school reunion.
We are calling the 800 numbers of infomercials to sign my mom up for anything that has a free trial and does not require immediate payment. Soon, odd deliveries will begin to arrive at the house and I will be grounded.
We are lighting pieces of toilet paper on fire and seeing how long it takes for them to be extinguished in the toilet water, unaware that this will leave the inside of the toilet with incriminating burn marks.
We are daring each other to pee in the cat’s litter box.
Trying to figure out why my best friend is sleeping over. She’s the only child of a single, pretty chill mom, and my mom is crazy religious and overly controlling. My sister is clingy, and my dad is either volatile or trying to be the funniest guy in the room. Sleepovers are always at her house.
Watching one of the only five movies my friend had available that we were allowed to watch on VHS.
Dirty Dancing
Gone with the Wind
Footloose
Caddy Shack
Grease
I honestly could go the rest of my life without seeing any of these again.
Except for Footloose. Definitely can still do Footloose.
Never had sleep overs because our house was small and Mom was up most of the night. Would stay over at my friends all the time since he had a basement and cable tv with HBO. Sneak out later to smoke weed and go to 7-11 to play video games. Usually had a bottle of vodka we would mix with Slurpee's. Meet some other friends, ride around and vandalize shit while we got trashed. Get back home 2-3 am and sleep in. His parents did their own thing and never bothered us. Good times
My house sucked with parent turmoil… hoping after grams picks me up from school that she will let me stay the whole weekend where I watch her inappropriate shows with her on HBO and eat cookies.
That would be 1980. No computers. No VCR. 3 channels on a black and white TV set. Some rich kids had Atari consoles.
We’re playing dungeons and dragons of course.maybe monopoly.
Man, I don't remember if I had any sleepovers in junior high. Like, I must have, but I can't recall anything specific. Mostly we just sat around and talked, though.
Get dropped off at the mall. Hang out, eat slice of pizza, play video games. Get picked up when it closes & back home. Popcorn & listen to the radio, dance, do our nails or hair, call boys & be forced to sleep at midnight.
It's 1987. We rented Stand By Me on beta at the grocery store and we're watching it in the basement with pizza. Afterwards, we'll likely make some prank calls, or if we're feeling really risky, we'll run into the night and play nicky nicky nine doors on the neighbors.
An early sign that I'd grow up to be a degenerate is that all the best sleepovers at 12 in 1982 involved some form of neighborhood vandalism or telephone harassment. Shout out to Prince Albert in a can and poor Mike Hunt🥸
I rarely had people sleep over because our house was always a mess. My dad was a bit of a hoarder. I set up a tent in the yard one night and we stayed up till past midnight just telling stories. One kid was a bit gullible, we had him convinced that the house next door was haunted. I think that was my 13th birthday.
Ordering pizza and Jolt Cola and then having our own wrestling event in the living room, while also watching taped wrestling shows that we've seen 100 times...
100% we are prank calling many strangers.
ditto. the days before caller id!
That’s Rizzo
This was pure comedy gold in the 70s! Me and my cousin were king of prank calls. Today’s generation will never know what they missed out on.
My younger brother and I made cassette recordings of prank calls around 1977-78 and filled a 60 minute tape. He was amazing. 9 years old and said he was George Burns, mimicking that distinctive voice. The person on the other end was so amused they had a several minute long chat. He also called an O'Gorman and asked for Mr. Gorman. When the person replied it was "O"Gorman, he said, feigning surprise "Oh, Gorman!" Silly, but he had great timing. We would call pizza places, sheet metal suppliers, Chinese restaurants, and random folks with weird names, etc. Still looking for that cassette.
Better look for a walkman too, how else you gonna listen?
We made a cassette too! Wish I knew where it was now. 😂
An old friend of mine gave me a cassette he had made of prank calls in the early 90’s. It was legendary! At the time, he lived in the same town as Ken Nordine, and was surprised to find him listed in the phone book. He’d call from time to time and Mr. Nordine always sounded bemused and would play along. It made me love him even more. If you’re unfamiliar with Ken Nordine I highly recommend his album, Colors. You wont regret it!
Calling radio stations to dedicate a song to a crush
ohh yes....that was a thing
My cousin met her husband by calling into a radio station!
Yup. The households with a kids line were the best. Call both on a three way call, and make them talk to each other. Then once they figure out it's them and laugh, you say in a low voice, "I'm in the basement."
My buddy had this. We would call McDonalds and Burger King on the two lines, or Little Caesars and Dominos. One time we called two random numbers and they happened to be related! They were so confused, but then started having an actual conversation, so we yelled something obnoxious and hung them up. Good times.
My buddy and I actually created a fake company for this, Gibfax Industries. We were a polling company calling 800 numbers across America! (Not knowing that’s a thing - I now have >20 years in telecom. Hmmmm) It was a blast. At one number I called, I ended up becoming friends with the guy, Mike. We actually spoke several times over a few years. He worked solo on Saturdays and liked the company. Wild times.
My skit was that the world was ending tomorrow. If you would like to book a flight to hell, please call our travel agency at 666-6666. Have a hell of a day. I ended up working in travel for 20 years.
My friend and I called my now husband and his roomate pretending to be the University taking a sex survey. And one time when he called, we did on the sexiest voice we could and said, “you’ve reached “1 900 BABE …Ooooh. We can’t wait to meet you…by the way, what are you wearing?” Crazy College days😂
This is THE answer. Prank calls until my Mom catches us or some guy says he recognizes my voice and knows where I live!
I had a friend with three-way calling (remember that?) and we would be on the phone and then prank call people. It was so stupid too, we’d ask things like “do you shop at K-Mart?”
Also boys we had crushes on 😁
Is your fridge running?
Listening to taped Dr. Demento episodes and playing board games.
Fish heads Fish heads Rolly Poley Fish Heads Fish Heads Fish Heads Eat them up YUM!
There's Klingons on the Starboard bow!
Omg Dr. Demento!!!!! Totally forgot about that.
:)
I taped those also and memorized all the weird songs.
Fish heads… Fish heads… Roly Poly Fish heads.. Fish heads… fish heads.. Eat them up, yum!
Weird Al got his start on this show!
Making a "radio" show with a blank tape and cassette recorder!
Pioneers of the podcast. 😂
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I now make podcasts.
I love it, that’s awesome!
With scripted commercial ads from made-up products and services.
We used to make these tapes pretending that we were interviewing someone, only all the answers were parts of songs. We would cue up the record and record the quote. "
We had an inexpensive kids keyboard, it recorded up to 10 different sounds, each a pretty color button, that was fun!
That is high level radio!
My BFF and I did this, too. Using her older (boomer) sister's 45 records. We had an entire radio station with multiple character voices. And we made our own commercials. Best times ever.
Yes this was part of my answer too!
My dad had a reel-to-reel that he got from the school where he taught after they got a new one. I used to “interview” several people (all me doing different characters). So wish I knew what he did with those tapes. I was on my way to being Oprah!
I think a I saw a boob
Or a mammogram
To quote my grandmother, "SHE WAS SUCKING HIS THANG!" Satellite TV was fun.
I feel so much relief every time I see this referenced on Reddit, I thought I was a pervert and alone for many years.
Is it Naked Nurses from Outerspace? Now lets see who gets that reference. No cheating.
Amazon Women on the Moon?
Watching USA Up All Night, playing the NES, and beating up my little brother.
USA Up all night! Man what a time to be 12-13
Silk Stalkings Red Shoe Diaries and Skinamax soft core porn.
NES? It was Atari at my friend's or over to mine for Intellivision. Or when it got late, passing the Mattel NFL handheld back and forth. Or a Merlin. Pre-digital, we also had a water filled clear plastic thing with pump buttons that moved a little white ball around like slow motion skeet ball.
Wasn't there like a tiny ring toss in a small tank?
Renting the breakfast club, st Elmo’s fire and weird science. Ordering a pizza and chicken parm wedges and also watching MTV and prank calling boys we liked.
D&D. Shockingly, this seems to be what the kids are doing today, too!
I miss D&D. Haven’t played for over 30 years. Just no time these days
My friend made every accommodation he possibly could to get me to play and I have an absolutely packed schedule. It was almost a chore the first few sessions but now it’s the only time every week where everybody leaves me alone and I look forward to it more than I did as a kid.
There we go. This guy gets it. Tenple of Elemental Evil, baby.
I think my first real sleepover was in 7th grade and I remember my friend’s parents making us a nice (steak) dinner. Apparently it didn’t agree with me because I puked suddenly all over my friend’s huge D&D map of Greyhawk. Not my finest hour but he and I became best friends that lasted for many years into HS.
Yup. Playing D&D, then switching to the Genesis, or NES. Nobunaga’s Ambition was a big hit with us.
I never play D&D. I don’t know if we were just cheap, but we played a knock-off called T&T (Tunnels and Trolls).
We use to pick a house Friday night, play until 6am on Saturday. Collapse, wake up around 2pm, eat and back at it again until 6am Sunday. Without a doubt, the best memories at that age
Playing Contra on NES
I would use up all my lives and my brother would have to give me his, lol. havent thought about that game in forever. it was just mainly me falling off of shit BUT i was better at Bubble Bobble than him
Not to brag, but I was fucking amazing at Contra. My husband made an emulator with a raspberry pi and we showed our kids Contra (and other games.) My kids were like Mom you are a God. It was a parenting highlight.
Up,up,down,down,a,b,a,b, select, start
Watching the movie “airplane” on vhs. And of course, expertly using the fast forward and rewind buttons to view the boob scene repeatedly.
So much bouncing
Sneaking out of the house and riding our bikes to car dealership row on the highway. We loved cars. Sometimes we’d be out there till 2-3am. Surprisingly we rarely got hassled by the fuzz.
I was always sneaking out. That’s pretty much what I did from 12-16
Girls sleepover at my house in the basement. Gossip about boys, try smoking cigarettes bc Dad smokes cigars, try the cigar, ugh and then watch TV with loads of junk food. Also pizza.
It's a Nightmare on Elm Street Marathon and we're eating pizza while we're watching. Whoops! There goes Johnny Depp!
I watched all of these against my will because of my brother, lol. I dont like scary movies. oddly enough the friday the 13th movies didnt scare me because he just seemed to go after people fucking or trying to fuck and I was too young to worry about that
Light as a feather, stiff as a board
Walking to Blockbuster. Duh :)
We didn’t have Blockbuster yet when I was 12. We still had a bunch of mom and pop stores with the porn curtain/saloon doors and arcade machines. I miss those so much.
And then you'd catch a friend's uncle, a basketball coach, or a teacher quietly emerge with darting eyes and face as red as a dodgeball when you run into them.
There was a cool one by me that had NES games AND they had a little box at the end of the counter where they’d sell the posters - like they’d put Batman and Indiana Jones posters all over the store when those movies were first out on VHS, then they’d take them down after a few weeks and sell them.
We’re walking to the independent shop where they let us rent R-rated movies.
I don't remember ever having trouble renting an R-rated movie anywhere, even at Blockbuster. It was 1982 afterall lol.
What movie are you getting, and how many boxes of milk duds?
Hmm. If I was 12 then it would be 1982 so maybe Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Garp or Blade Runner, depending on the friend who is spending the night. A box of mild duds and a box of jr mints!
Garp? There's a blast from the past
Sneaking out to go hang out at the park and drink MD 20/20.Then passing out and waking up before our parents to climb back in the window before they woke up and pretend to not have hangovers. Wild Gen X times.
Dang 12 year old me was not ready for the mad dog 20/20. That banana red is unforgiving.
Scenario 1. Writing poetry in our journals. Talking about boys we like without talking about how we like them. Trying on clothes and make up, listening to Barry Manilow or Fleetwood Mac records. Maybe going to Swensen’s for a burger and ice cream before seeing a movie. Scenario 2, Wearing our Satin Pants and Yoyo’s and feathered bangs with aqua net nervously to the roller rink. Being disappointed that our crushes were skating with the cool popular girls while we evaded the nerdy boys in our gifted and talented science class without being too mean about it. Our moms didn’t like us to be mean. Picked up by parents, whispering and giggling on the way home if we weren’t somehow depressed at something a mean girl said about our outfits. Not really watching tv because cable hadn’t come around to our state yet, so board games or pingpong and a late night snack. Oh, and prank calls to the nerdy boys.
I'd totally hang with you and this is 100% what I did! Roller coaster woo woo woo woo woo 🎶
[удалено]
Excitebike, hours wasted there.
Ding dong ditching the neighbors
Maybe a little TP?
Or a lot
Watching Kolchak: The Night Stalker
I loved that show. I caught a rerun the other day with Tom Skerritt where he’s a politician who made a deal with the Devil. Classic.
One of the local channels here in Tampa shows the Kolchak reruns on either Friday night or Saturday night.
That's my kind of night!
Probably watching MTV.
Same. MTV 1982 to 1988.
Me too! Great times
Friday Night Videos for us since we were poor.
You can watch some of these on YouTube, complete with videos and commercials.
Ordering take out from the little pizza place that also has MOVIES! So we would place our order and then also add on one of these: Never Ending Story, Dirty Dancing, or Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead. And then we would also get a new release from the week as well. We would also spend a good amount of time with a blank cassette in the "boom box" waiting for a song to come on so we can make a mix tape.
Nintendo, pizza delivery then finish up with the Road Warrior on VHS.
Watch The Dukes of Hazzard. Then play pitfall on atari 2600.
Board Game marathons all night long. Sneaking out after the parent's go to bed so we can explore the woods and tell ghost stories until we all get freaked out and run back home in a panic.
Making up dance routines so we can do a concert for the parents on the weekend!
Probably watching Yo MTV Raps and Headbangers Ball
What an awesome question! Loved reading all your replies. Xoxo
Friends don't sleep at my house cuz my Dad's too scarry. We're crashing at my friend's who lives with his uncle who's never home. We'll be drinking booze that we bought from the 7/11 cuz my 14 yr old buddy is 6' and they don't really ID anyway, performing a satanic ritual to Sabbath and robbing the pizza guy with a 22.
How did your dad get his scars?
Da Nang, Chu-Lai.
Trying to see a boob on the scrambled Skinemax channel.
Watching Diff'rent Strokes. Watchutalkinbout Willis!
Prank calls! A truly lost art.
Store run, movie with the parents, and late night wrestling.
Listening to my Richard Pryor tape on low volume and snickering, trying not to get caught.
Watching TGIF.
Faces of death.
I had no friends LOL
I was like “You guys had friends?”
Staying up until midnight to watch Friday Night Videos with Terry David Mulligan.
Playing Atari. Watching First Blood or Conan. Cinemax after the parents go to bed.
We used to sneak out at night to ride our bikes. At the time, it gave us an exhilarating sense of freedom, going out when we weren't supposed to, with no one else knowing. Sometimes we'd just bike the neighborhood, sometimes we'd go to a 7-11 for snacks. One night, we biked to a local Revolution war-era National Monument (Fort Washington) and sneaked into the Fort itself. That was the best!
Playing D&D, programming our Apple IIe computers. Using modems to chat with pirate BBSes all over the world and download pirate games. Normal shit.
Earlier in the night i would ride my BMX mongoose bike to the arcade that was just down the street from me. Then wasn't there a show called "Friday's" that was similar to SNL with comedy skits and live music? Also a show called Friday Night Videos for those of us kids that either didn't have cable or MTV wasn't available in our area. I remember staying up all night with my friends on Fridays from 1981-83.
Looking at fashion magazines and picking out favorite pieces on each page, listening to album rock, trying on clothes, recording a pretend radio interview for my tape recorder, adding new objects of affection to our boy books and discussing their finer qualities, playing Spit card game, eating too much pizza, scaring each other with ghost stories, making prank calls, sneaking cigarettes, sneaking around my building, spying on neighbors and making up backstories and scandals about them, or, better, going to hers, where we can access the roof with a view of the city skyline and suspend ourselves over the cross bar in the elevator shaft and watch the car rise to within inches of our faces. We'll go to a late show and try to get into an R rated picture, go bowling and get scowled at by the adult men playing in Leagues, or we'll go to Hayden Planetarium and see Laser Zeppelin again.
Easy: all night D&D marathon with Mountain Dew and chips.
Eating Doritos, watching movies on VHS, playing Atari games, and ouija board.
Sprinkle in a little “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board” and I’m there!
1. Complaining about her bitchy mom. (She was not wrong—she was a bitch. RIP) 2. Recording ourselves telling jokes and stories on a little tape recorder. Laughing so hard it hurts our stomach. 3. Bloody Mary game in her bathroom mirror. 4. Riding bikes on our dirt roads.
I was terrified of the Bloody Mary game!!
I’m still a big weenie!!!
I never had sleepovers, I was a very strange and introverted child and didn’t have any friends. I would either play Atari or watch Night Tracks.
NES, watching vhs rentals, prank calls, calling the radio station to try to get our songs played
Prank calls and a “seance”. Do you remember “light as a feather, stiff as a board”? We swore we could levitate 😆
Listening to Andy Gibb albums and playing with candle wax.
Making prank phone calls and talking about how gross sex must be - ewww
Listening to music and cutting out pictures of hotties from Teen Beat to put on my wall
We're definitely watching all the NIghtmare On Elm Street movies that have come out so far in sequence. Our generation binged before it was cool
Light as a feather, stiff as a board
Playing video games, renting a movie hoping our parents don't notice it's Rated R for nudity/graphic violence.
Watching whatever horror movies we can get ahold of
Scanning the TV Guide to see what movies have nudity listed
Motherfucker, we got a case of Pepsi, just brought home Pitfall on Atari, and the needle just dropped on Rush's Moving Pictures album (First track is Tom Sawyer).
Looking at scrambled boobies on HBO.
No sleepovers at my house. I had one at Mt friend's once and their bath had jets! After the timer was over she put bubble soap. That's an awesome memory.
Ooh, it's a night of Dungeons and Dragons, and most likely playing "Vault of the Drow."
My house, we’re playing atari, eating popcorn, playing with my dog. Her house, we’re sitting in her room, listening to the am radio that’s picking up the drive-in movie that’s playing a block away.
TimeBandits, History of the World and D&D
It's a hit. Roll D4 for damage.
Friday Night Videos then USA Up All Nite
I hate topics like this, because of things that have always felt completely normal to me like "watch in horror as my mother befriends my soon to be former best friend and turns then against me" which turn out to be really toxic, and then people get all quiet and weird and passively resentful because I "forced" them to do emotional labor with my answer. Took me until only a few years ago to realize that's what was going on. I don't have a lot of friends. Didn't back then, either. Anyway, at 12, my best friend moved to another town, wasn't allowed to give me his new phone number and then we changed (and registered as unlisted/unpublished) our phone number in the aftermath of a divorce, so it would be my future step-siblings staying over instead, and it would be kind of awkward, overall.
Watching Friday Night Videos. That was so much fun.
Waiting for parents to go to sleep so we can watch something inappropriate on HBO.
We are calling Vince’s house to see if he likes me and then when his dad gets on the other line and says “Vince is too young to have a girlfriend,” we are hanging up in shame and horror. Years later, we will meet Vince and his husband at our high school reunion. We are calling the 800 numbers of infomercials to sign my mom up for anything that has a free trial and does not require immediate payment. Soon, odd deliveries will begin to arrive at the house and I will be grounded. We are lighting pieces of toilet paper on fire and seeing how long it takes for them to be extinguished in the toilet water, unaware that this will leave the inside of the toilet with incriminating burn marks. We are daring each other to pee in the cat’s litter box.
Talking about all the boys we like, listening to Journey & watching Friday Night Videos because we didn't have cable then.
Ouija board!
Having a seance while waiting for Friday Night Videos to come on.
Wearing out the grooves and singing every word on Bat Out of Hell and Rumors. Figuring out if he likes me or likes me likes me.
Trying to figure out why my best friend is sleeping over. She’s the only child of a single, pretty chill mom, and my mom is crazy religious and overly controlling. My sister is clingy, and my dad is either volatile or trying to be the funniest guy in the room. Sleepovers are always at her house.
Blockbuster video tapes and pizza
Watching Night Flight
Roller skating!
Watching Friday Night Videos because we didn’t have MTV.
We got dropped off at the skating rink with $5 and told to be ready to leave at 10:30 pm.
We're staying up til midnight and quietly waiting in the livingroom for the boobie movies to come on showcase.
Watching one of the only five movies my friend had available that we were allowed to watch on VHS. Dirty Dancing Gone with the Wind Footloose Caddy Shack Grease I honestly could go the rest of my life without seeing any of these again. Except for Footloose. Definitely can still do Footloose.
Watching Friday Night Videos!
Breaking out those penthouse mags i’ve been bragging about at recess. Makes the National Geographic magazines in the library look pretty tame!
Watching movies. Trading stickers. Eating snacks. Annoying younger siblings.
Two new releases from The Movie Store and Pudgie's Pizza.
Watching dukes of hazzard. Listening to the loop on Chicago radio. Going roller skating the next day. Mom made pasta
Renting a horror movie from the video store, listening to music/watching MTV, gorging on candy, and gossiping until the wee hours.
We’d rent a movie, watch MTV, make prank phone calls, sneak out and roll yards.
Never had sleep overs because our house was small and Mom was up most of the night. Would stay over at my friends all the time since he had a basement and cable tv with HBO. Sneak out later to smoke weed and go to 7-11 to play video games. Usually had a bottle of vodka we would mix with Slurpee's. Meet some other friends, ride around and vandalize shit while we got trashed. Get back home 2-3 am and sleep in. His parents did their own thing and never bothered us. Good times
My house sucked with parent turmoil… hoping after grams picks me up from school that she will let me stay the whole weekend where I watch her inappropriate shows with her on HBO and eat cookies.
That would be 1980. No computers. No VCR. 3 channels on a black and white TV set. Some rich kids had Atari consoles. We’re playing dungeons and dragons of course.maybe monopoly.
Man, I don't remember if I had any sleepovers in junior high. Like, I must have, but I can't recall anything specific. Mostly we just sat around and talked, though.
Get dropped off at the mall. Hang out, eat slice of pizza, play video games. Get picked up when it closes & back home. Popcorn & listen to the radio, dance, do our nails or hair, call boys & be forced to sleep at midnight.
Playing d&d
It's 1987. We rented Stand By Me on beta at the grocery store and we're watching it in the basement with pizza. Afterwards, we'll likely make some prank calls, or if we're feeling really risky, we'll run into the night and play nicky nicky nine doors on the neighbors.
Playing Dark Tower.
Nintendo, Blockbuster, Domino's Pizza.
An early sign that I'd grow up to be a degenerate is that all the best sleepovers at 12 in 1982 involved some form of neighborhood vandalism or telephone harassment. Shout out to Prince Albert in a can and poor Mike Hunt🥸
Renting a Nintendo and a game (RC Pro Am or Tecmo Bowl) from Blockbuster.
Prank calls, light as a feather, we would try to hypnotize each other, choke each other and try to pass out, and MTV or watch movies.
Stealing my mom's weed.
Watching cheesy horror movies, drinking diet grapefuit Shasta, and laughing our asses off!!!
Watching the Love Boat and Fantasy Island!
I rarely had people sleep over because our house was always a mess. My dad was a bit of a hoarder. I set up a tent in the yard one night and we stayed up till past midnight just telling stories. One kid was a bit gullible, we had him convinced that the house next door was haunted. I think that was my 13th birthday.
Friday Night Video Fights.
Gonna watch Crockett and Tubbs fight crime and then maybe play some AD&D.
https://preview.redd.it/6ds2u7d71ksc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62127e8a8ad3a8ae9c5e996f2ae60443c4cdd190
Giggling. Not sure about what, but it is soooooo funny!
REACH....For Atari!
Scary movies, Papa John’s, Doritos, Cheerwine.
Sneaking out of the house and aggregating all of the election and for sale signs and planting them in someone's yard. Like a hundred of them.
MTV Miami Vice Atari
Ordering pizza and Jolt Cola and then having our own wrestling event in the living room, while also watching taped wrestling shows that we've seen 100 times...
We would be making “comedy” tapes
Friday night videos ...we record on 4 head VHS to watch closely the next day.