1980’s a decade to be remembered: Part One
March 27, 2006
Tiffany Haynes
VH1 has been broadcasting “I Love the ’80s” for over a year now. I have not actually seen the show, but I thought that it was a really cool idea to research what happened in the 1980s. A lot of students were born in the 1980s, as were a lot of products, fads and great movies.
1980 ? Post-it notes were first introduced by 3M ? The summer Olympics were held in Moscow ? The US hockey team beat Russia in the Winter Olympics ? John Lennon, The Beatles, was assassinated ? Ronald Reagan was President ? Mount St. Helen’s erupted ? CNN started ? Bill Gates licensed MS-DOS to IBM
Movies ?”Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” ? “Superman 2” ? “Nine to Five” ? “Stir Crazy” ? “Airplane!” ? “Coal Miner’s Daughter” ? “Private Benjamin” ? “Smokey and the Bandit” ? “The Shining”
1981 ? Columbia, the spaceship, launched ?The pope was shot by a Turkish man ? Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court ? Princess Diana and Prince Charles married ? “Dynasty” made its debut on primetime television ? Ketchup attempted to become a vegetable ? August brought the birth of MTV, the 24-hour music channel ? PAC-MAN hit the US ? Assassination attempt on President Reagan
Movies ? “Porkey’s” ? “On Golden Pond” ? “For Your Eyes Only” ? “Chariots of Fire”
1982 ? “Thriller,” by Michael Jackson sold millions of albums ? At a concert, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a live bat ?Princess Grace, of Monaco, died in a tragic accident ? Liposuction was introduced ? The Vietnam memorial was erected in Washington, D.C.
Movies ? “E.T.”? “Tootsie” ? “An Officer and a Gentleman” ? “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” ? “Annie”? “Poltergeist” ? “The Verdict”
1983? The Cabbage Patch Kids were introduced ? “Star Wars” hit theaters ? Karen Carpenter, The Carpenters, died of anoroxia ? Sally Ride became the first woman to go into space ? CDs were first introduced ? Camcorders were introduced
Movies ? “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” ? “Terms of Endearment” ? “Trading Places” ? “Octopussy” ? “Mr. Mom” ? “Risky Business”
1984? “The Cosby Show” appeared on television ? Gandhi was assassinated ? Stone-washed jeans made the kids go wild ? Mary Lou Retton won six medals at the Olympics ?Vanessa Williams, Miss America, was forced to give up her crown because of old nude photos that surfaced
Movies ? “Ghost Busters” ? “Beverly Hills Cop” ? “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” ? “Gremlins” ? “The Karate Kid” ? “Police Academy” ? “Footloose” ? “Purple Rain”
1985 ? Billy Joel married Christie Brinkley ? Earthquake in Mexico ? Volcano eruption in Columbia ? Crack-cocaine became popular ? Titanic wreckage found ? Nintendo was introduced ? Lead fuel was banned ? Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame opened
Movies ? “Back to the Future” ? “The Color Purple” ? “Cocoon” ? “The Goonies” ? “Breakfast Club”
1986 ? Challenger exploded ? Haley’s Comet appeared ? The Statue of Liberty celebrated her 100th birthday ? Arnold Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver ? Oprah Winfrey Show began ? America celebrated the first Martin Luther King Jr. day ? Supermodel Gia died of AIDS
Movies ? “Top Gun” ? “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” ? “Platoon”
1987 ? Stock Market dropped by 22% ? Condom commercials appeared on television ? US budget reached the trillion- dollar mark ? Bruce Willis and Demi Moore married ? Global population reached five billion
Movies ? “Three Men and a Baby” ? “Fatal Attraction” ? “Moonstruck” ? “Good Morning, Vietnam” ? “Leathal Weapon” ? “The Witches of Eastwick”
1988 ? Prozac was introduced ? Sonny Bono became mayor of Palm Springs, Florida ? Fires in Yellowstone National Park
Movies ? “Cocktail” ? “Die Hard” ? “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad” ? “Oliver and Company” ? “Rain Man” ? “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” ? “Big” ? “Twins”
1989 ? The Berlin Wall fell ? Protesters killed in Tiananmen Square ? “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” became an instant hit ? Rob Lowe was in a porn with an underage girl ? The Menendez brothers were accused of murdering their parents ? Milli Vanilli won a Grammy, but is later stripped after it is found that they lip-synched ? Colin Powell became a Joint Chief of Staff
Movies? “Batman” ? “Lethal Weapon 2” ? “Look Who’s Talking” ? “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” ? “The Little Mermaid” ? “Parenthood”
Fads of the ’80’s ? Jelly shoes ? Popples ? Slap bracelets ? Wacky wallwalker ? Rubik’s cube ? Boom boxes ? Break dancing ? Friendship bracelets ? Smurfs ? Koosh balls ? Hacky-sack ? Trivial Pursuit ? Vans shoes ? Lace fingerless gloves, thanks to Madonna ? Tetherball ? “Miami Vice” fashion ? “Rainbow Brite” ? “Strawberry Shortcake” ? “He-Man” ? “Care Bears”