There are certain sounds and smells that exist across generations, at least so far. The pitter-patter of gentle rain. The musical notes of a bluebird. The scent of sea life in a vast ocean. The fragrant waft of a honeysuckle flower. But many sensory experiences fade with time. A guy on Threads was curious about the idea that certain sounds and smells might be specific to different generations. He asked, “What is a sound or smell that doesn’t exist anymore, but 40 years ago was so common it was considered background noise?” Generation Xers and Baby Boomers were ready to answer, offering nearly 4,000 replies. Sounds “Television static or the sound between radio stations.” Here’s a fun fact: In a recent article on WION, journalist Anamica Singh explains that TV and radio static contain remnants of the Big Bang: “The static hiss contained at least 1 percent of cosmic microwave background (CMB), a remnant of the birth of the universe 13.8 billion years ago. Not only on TV, but the same noise was also heard on radios. Everyone alive at the time these analogue televisions existed inadvertently time-traveled, in the sense that they witnessed the Big Bang, the universe’s past.” “The sound of coins falling into a payphone.” “The dial tone when the phone was left off the hook.” View this post on Instagram “The thump of plopping a phone book on the table, followed by the whispery sound of flipping its onion-skin paper pages, and finally the whir-click of dialing a rotary phone.” “Typewriter bells.” “The sound it made when you push a VHS tape into the VCR.” “The sound of the book-charging machine at the library that the librarian would insert the card into to date your books. Made the most satisfying cha-chunk sound.” “An analog radio with an extendable antenna sitting in the window ledge, playing a crackly country song by Hank Jr., and the hum of static on TV because somebody touched the dial.” Smells “The faint but pervasive smell of cigarettes everywhere all the time.” A no smoking sign in a restaurant. Photo credit: Canva Notably, cities began passing comprehensive laws regulating tobacco use in public spaces. In the mid-1970s, Minnesota enacted one of the first laws requiring restaurants to designate a “smoking area.” By the late 1980s, many other cities and states had followed suit. “The hot, dusty aroma of slide projectors and filmstrip machines projecting weird 1960s/70s educational films, floating through the classroom while you were passing notes under desks” “The smell of freshly printed dittos.” What these commenters are referring to are “ditto” copy machines, often used in schools and churches in the late 20th century. “The sound and smell of a disposable flash.” “Scratch ‘n’ sniff stickers!” “Drakkar Noir” This intense scent, a particularly popular men’s cologne in the ’80s, was mentioned a few times. Another commenter shared a very specific memory: “A Norman Rockwell calendar secured by a pearl-topped push-pin next to a ringing rotary phone, and the calendar smells like bacon grease and fried chicken.” The post Gen Xers and Boomers recall 18 unforgettable sounds and smells from the ’80s that disappeared appeared first on Upworthy.