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1980 in Film
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
The Shining
Raging Bull
Airplane!
The Elephant Man
The Blues Brothers
The Fog
Caddyshack
Kagemusha
Dressed to Kill -
1980 in Music
Rush - Permanent Waves
David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Uprising
Motörhead - Ace of Spades
Judas Priest - British Steel
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart & Closer (both posthumous)
The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta
Genesis - Duke
Kate Bush - Never For Ever
Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz -
Miracle on Ice
At the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, the US hockey team makes a stunning victory against the Soviet team, considered the best hockey team in the world. -
Rubik's cube
The Rubik's Cube, created by Hungarian sculptor Ernő Rubik in 1974, hits store shelves worldwide in May. -
CNN
Cable News Network, the 1st 24-hour news Network, launches on June 1st. -
1981 in Film
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Das Boot (The Boat)
Evil Dead
The Road Warrior
Escape from New York
An American Werewolf in London
Halloween II
Blow Out
Possession
Time Bandits -
1981 in Music
Rush - Moving Pictures
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Juju
Phil Collins - Face Value
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Prince - Controversy
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Duran Duran - eponymous debut
Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog
Journey - Escape -
Ronald Reagan: 40th President of the United States
Ronald Reagan is sworn in. -
End of the Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iranian government frees 52 American hostages the day of Ronald Reagan's election. The hostages were kidnapped from the US Embassy 444 days earlier by pro-Ayatollah Khomeini students outraged that the Shah of Iran was allowed to travel to New York for dire cancer treatment. -
Sandra Day O'Connor: 1st Supreme Court Justice
Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court on July 7th. She was confirmed in September by a Senate vote of 99-0, and she was sworn in on September 25th. -
1982 in Music
Rush - Signals
Billy Idol - eponymous debut
Marvin Gaye - Midnight Love
The Cure - Pornography
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Bad Brains - The Yellow Tape
Fleetwood Mac - Mirage
Toto - Toto IV
Prince - 1999
Michael Jackson - Thriller -
1982 in Film
Blade Runner
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
The Thing
The King of Comedy
Poltergeist
Tootsie
Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan
Koyaanisqatsi
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Sophie's Choice -
Breakup of the Bell System
The American Telephone & Telegraph company/AT&T, which had held a monopoly over the phone system across the continental US and parts of Canada since 1885, is ordered to break up, or "divest", into smaller, regional companies. -
Argentina Invades Falkland/Malvinas Islands
The Argentine military launches an amphibious invasion of the Falkland/Malvinas islands off the coast of mainland Argentina. The attack begins a 10-week undeclared war between Argentina and Great Britain, with the latter coming out victorious. -
1983 in FIlm
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Cujo
Risky Business
Videodrome
Rumble Fish
Flashdance
Christine
Octopussy
The Hunger
A Christmas Story -
1983 in Music
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Nena - "99 Luftballons"/"99 Red Balloons"
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Dio - Holy Diver
U2 - War
David Bowie - Let's Dance
Culture Club - Colour by Numbers
The Police - Synchronicity
Madonna - eponymous debut -
Ronald Reagan's Star Wars
Ronald Reagan publicly initiates the Strategic Defense Initiative in a televised address. The program is derisively called "Star Wars" by critics who believe the program is infeasible. -
Harrods Bombing
The historic Harrods department store in central London is bombed by the IRA during the busiest shopping season of the year. 6 are killed and 75 are wounded. -
1984 in Film
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Footloose
The Terminator
Once Upon a Time in America
This Is Spinal Tap
Repo Man
Ghostbusters
Sixteen Candles
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind -
1984 in Music
Rush - Grace Under Pressure
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Run-D.M.C. - eponymous debut
Van Halen - 1984
Talk Talk - It's My Life
Echo & the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
The Smiths - eponymous debut
Madonna - Material Girl
Prince & the Revolution - Purple Rain -
🍎1984 Commercial
Apple launches a commercial during the Super Bowl themed on George Orwell's 1984, with Ridley Scott directing. Apple was the first mass-produced PC, and despite a price tag north of $2,000, sold like hotcakes, at least partially due to the commercial's impact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErwS24cBZPc -
Madonna's VMA performance
Madonna performs her hit single "Like A Virgin" on the MTV Video Music Awards. After she loses a shoe, she wings her performance, ending the song with a highly controversial dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spp0k1gb4fk -
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, an Irish new wave musician, recruits the most famous musicians from the UK and Ireland to record a single, "Do The Know It's Christmas?", to raise money for starving children in Ethiopia. -
1985 in Film
Back to the Future
The Breakfast Club
The Color Purple
The Goonies
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome
After Hours
Brazil
Day of the Dead
Pale Rider
Ran -
1985 in Music
Rush - Power Windows
Bryan Ferry - Boys and Girls
Killing Joke - Night Time
Run-D.M.C. - King of Rock
Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm
Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love -
Live Aid
The first Live Aid concert to raise money for starving Ethiopian children begins at Wembley Stadium in London, and at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. The performing acts included, but were not limited to, the following: Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Santana, Run DMC, Sade, Sting, Bryan Adams, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Duran Duran, U2, the Who, Tom Petty, Neil Young and Eric Clapton. -
NES in the USA
The Nintendo Entertainment System launches in North America. -
'80s Men's Fashion
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'80s Women's Fashion
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1986 in Film
Aliens
Stand By Me
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Blue Velvet
Top Gun
The Fly
Labyrinth
Big Trouble in Little China
An American Tail
Castle in the Sky -
1986 in Music
Cinderella - Night Songs
Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In
Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
Talk Talk - The Color of Spring
Genesis - Invisible Touch
Bad Brains - I Against I
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Peter Gabriel - So
Madonna - True Blue -
Challenger Disaster
The American space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff, killing all 7 aboard. -
The Phantom of the Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart's musical premieres at London's West End. -
1987 in Film
Full Metal Jacket
Predator
Hellraiser
The Lost Boys
Empire of the Sun
Wall Street
Spaceballs
Dirty Dancing
Spaceballs
The Princess Bride -
1987 in Music
Rush - Hold Your Fire
Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night
Death - Scream Bloody Gore
Sting - ...Nothing Like the Sun
The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show
Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Michael Jackson - Bad -
Baby M
William Stern, biological father of "Baby M," a baby carried by surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead, is awarded custody of the baby by a New Jersey judge. It is a landmark ruling for surrogacy in the US. -
Full House
Full House debuts on TV. -
1988 in Film
Die Hard
Rain Man
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
They Live
Heathers
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Cinema Paradiso
My Neighbor Totoro
Grave of the Fireflies
AKIRA -
1988 in Music
The Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace with God
Lita Ford - Lita
Living Color - Vivid
Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
Geinoh Yamashirogumi - AKIRA score
Tracy Chapman - eponymous debut
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Slayer - South of Heaven -
Iran-Contra Affair
Oliver North (pictured), John Poindexter, Richard Secord, and Albert Hakim are indicted by a Grand Jury on conspiracy charges, accused of defrauding the US government. What was uncovered was a convoluted plan of selling arms to Iran to free US hostages held in Iran and Lebanon, then use the money from the deal to fund the Contras, an anti-Communist group in Nicaragua, opposing the governing Sandinistas. -
1989 in Film
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Dead Poets Society
The Little Mermaid
Back to the Future Part II
Batman
Driving Miss Daisy
Pet Sematary
Sex, Lies & Videotape
Kiki's Delivery Service
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure -
1989 in Music
Rush - Presto
Gloria Estefan - Cuts Both Ways
XTC - Oranges & Lemons
Aerosmith - Pump
Mötley Crüe - Dr. Feelgood
The Cure - Disintegration
Nirvana - Bleach
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk
Kate Bush - The Sensual World
Madonna - Like A Prayer -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Chinese students took to Tiananmen Square in April, beginning months of protests for democracy, free speech and free press in their nation. The number of demonstrators swelled to 5 figures by May. On June 4th and 5th, the government sends the army to crush the protest and massacre the gathered throng. -
Game Boy
The first Game Boy handheld console is released in the US. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
After the Malta Conference, the gates of the Berlin Wall are ordered open. A crowd eventually growing to 2+millions flock to the gate, and people walking out of East Berlin are greeted by the West Berliners with flowers and champagne. -
Sources pt2
*https://www.biography.com/musicians/madonna-like-a-virgin-vmas-1984
*https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/harrods-bomb-blast-kills-six-people/znjnt39
*https://www.historyfactory.com/insights/this-month-in-business-history-bell-system/
*https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/28701139/inside-miracle-ice-how-team-usa-defied-numbers-beat-soviet-union-1980-olympics -
Sources pt1
*imdb.com
*rollingstone.com
*history.com
*thepeoplehistory.com
*smithsonianmag.com
*udiscovermusic.com
*thecinemaholic.com
*classicpopmag.com
*https://www.familysourceconsultants.com/first-contested-surrogacy-case-story-baby-m/
*https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/04/01/judge-awards-baby-m-to-her-biological-father/8e0dfa58-5e60-4792-ad10-edc81ad8039f/
*https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/everything-about-andrew-lloyd-webbers-the-phantom-of-the-opera