The 1980s reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

1980s

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s

Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

---

Table of contents

1 Events and trends 1.1 Computers, technology 1.2 Science 1.3 War, peace and politics 1.4 Economics 1.5 Culture 1.6 Others 2 World Leaders 3 Film 4 Television 5 Sports figures 6 Music

Events and trends

Computers, technology

• Bulletin board system popularity
• Popularization of personal computers
• Home video games become enormously popular, most notably Atari until the market crashes in 1983; the rise of Nintendo brings about full recovery
• Space Shuttle Challenger explodes
• Accident at Chernobyl nuclear reactor, April 1986

Science

• Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN
• Development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer

War, peace and politics

• Fall of the Iron Curtain
  • Solidarity movement in Poland eventually topples the country's Communist regime.
  • Gorbachev introduces Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union
  • Fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany, preparing the way to German reunification
  • Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia
  • Revolution in Romania, execution of Ceausescu
• Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism dominate British politics.
• Falklands War Britain fights off Argentine invasion of Falkland islands in 1982
• Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988 kills one million people.
• Soviet Union ends its disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
• Students protest on Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
• "People Power" in the Philippines topples the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship
• In Europe, rise of right wing parties (Le Pen in France, Schönhuber/Republikaner in Germany, Haider in Austria), parallel to a rise of Green parties.
• Political correctness
• Iran-Contra Scandal

Economics

• Reaganomics
• Largest one-day stock market drop, on October 19, 1987

Culture

• Rise of cable television
• Music videos (and MTV) begin to have an effect on record industry in the United States
• 24 hour television news channels (e.g., CNN)
• He-Man, the first animated children's television program built exclusively around a toyline, starts a new trend of increasing the connection between children's programming and toy advertising, alarming many parents and watchdog organizations; an explosive number of toy tie-in cartoons follow
• Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial hits theaters
• Hip hop began to achieve mainstream success in the United States, with artists like Kurtis Blow and N.W.A; hip hop's spread outside of New York City, especially to Los Angeles, accelerates
• The Rubik's cube captures the interest of the American public, then fades to relative obscurity

Others

• Assassination of John Lennon and Olof Palme, attempts on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
• President Tito of Yugoslavia dies.
• Release of Americans held hostage in Iran
• Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini isssues a fatwa urging the killing of Salman Rushdie
• Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland
• The AIDS epidemic is identified and named

World Leaders

• Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (Austria)
• Chancellor Fred Sinowatz (Austria)
• Chancellor Franz Vranitzky (Austria)
• Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Australia)
• Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Canada)
• Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Canada)
• Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
• President Chiang Ching-kuo (Republic of China on Taiwan)
• Erich Honecker (East Germany)
• President Anwar Sadat (Egypt)
• President Hosni Mubarak (Egypt)
• President Urho Kekkonen (Finland)
• President Mauno Koivisto (Finland)
• President François Mitterrand (France)
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
• Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (India)
• Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (Iran)
• President Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
• Prime Minister Menachem Begin (Israel)
• Prime Minister Shimon Peres (Israel)
• Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
• Pope John Paul II
• President Patrick Hillery (Ireland)
• Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Ireland)
• Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald (Ireland)
• Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore)
• Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
• Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)
• Prime Minister Olof Palme (Sweden)
• Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom)
• President Jimmy Carter (United States)
• President Ronald Reagan (United States)
• Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (West Germany)
• Chancellor Helmut Kohl (West Germany)
• President Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)

Film

• Ghostbusters
• Meg Ryan
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator)
• Charlie Sheen
• Matthew Broderick
• Phoebe Cates
• Tom Cruise
• Bo Derek
• Matt Dillon
• Clint Eastwood
• Harrison Ford (as Indiana Jones)
• Jodie Foster
• Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future)
• Mel Gibson
• Batman (Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson)
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• Brat Pack
• Goldie Hawn
• John Hughes
• The Breakfast Club
• Pretty in Pink
• Hairspray
• Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee)
• Top Gun
• Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop)
• Sean Penn
• Sylvester Stallone ()
• Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing)
• Sigourney Weaver
• Lost Boys

Television

• The A-Team (including Mr. T)
• Saturday Night Live
• Miami Vice
• Knight Rider
• Alf
• Three's Company
• Roseanne
• Dukes of Hazzard

Sports figures

• Alexis Arguello
• Wilfred Benitez
• Larry Bird
• George Brett
• Julio Cesar Chavez
• Roberto Duran (Panamanian boxer)
• Ric Flair
• Wilfredo Gómez
• Wayne Gretzky (Canadian ice hockey player)
• Florence Griffith Joyner (U.S. track and field athlete)
• Marvin Hagler (U.S. boxer)
• Thomas Hearns (U.S. boxer)
• Hulk Hogan (U.S. wrestler)
• Larry Holmes (U.S. boxer)
• Bo Jackson
• Jahangir Khan (Pakistani squash player)
• Earvin "Magic" Johnson (U.S. basketball player)
• Michael Jordan (U.S. basketball player)
• Jarmila Kratochvílová (Czech track and field athlete)
• Greg LeMond (U.S. cyclist)
• Sugar Ray Leonard (U.S. boxer)
• Carl Lewis (U.S. track and field athlete)
• Ronnie Lott
• Diego Maradona (Argentinian soccer player)
• John McEnroe (U.S. tennis player)
• Mark Messier
• 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team ("Miracle On Ice")
• Joe Montana (U.S. American football player)
• Martina Navratilova (Czech/U.S. tennis player)
• Jack Nicklaus (U.S. golfer)
• Michel Platini (French soccer player)
• Alain Prost (French racing driver)
• Nolan Ryan
• Ozzie Smith
• Michael Spinks (U.S. boxer)
• Lawrence Taylor
• Isiah Thomas
• Daley Thompson (English track and field athlete)
• Mike Tyson (U.S. boxer)

Music

• Compact Disc introduced, gradually replaces vinyl records.
• see hip hop, old school rap, heavy metal music, twee pop, hair metal, New Wave music, New Romantic, shoegazing, jangle pop, alternative rock, dream pop, techno, house, acid house, two-tone
• Aerosmith (Pump)
• Afrika Bambaataa (Planet Rock)
• Alabama (awarded ACM "Artists of the Decade")
• Anthrax (State of Euphoria)
• a-ha (Hunting High and Low)
• Public Enemy (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back)
• The B-52's (The B-52's)
• Bad Religion (Suffer)
• The Bangles (All Over the Place)
• Beastie Boys (License to Ill)
• Clint Black (Killin' Time)
• Black Flag
• David Byrne (The Catherine Wheel)
• Kurtis Blow (Kurtis Blow)
• The Cars (Heartbeat City)
• Celtic Frost (Into the Pandemonium)
• Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman)
• The Clash (London Calling)
• Cocteau Twins (Head over Heels)
• Phil Collins (Face Value)
• De La Soul (Three Feet High and Rising)
• Def Leppard (Pyromania)
• Devo (Freedom of Choice)
• Dokken (Tooth and Nail)
• Duran Duran (Rio)
• Embrace (Embrace)
• Brian Eno & David Byrne (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts)
• Eric B. & Rakim (Follow the Leader)
• Faith No More (The Real Thing)
• Fields of the Nephilim (Dawnrazor)
• A Flock of Seagulls (A Flock of Seagulls)
• John Fogerty (Centerfield)
• Peter Gabriel (''Gabriel III (melting face cover))
• The Go-Go's (The Beauty and the Beat)
• Amy Grant (Straight Ahead)
• Guns n' Roses (Appetite for Destruction)
• Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (The Message)
• Hüsker Dü (Zen Arcade)
• John Cougar Mellencamp (Scarecrow)
• Menudo (Reaching Out)
• Mercyful Fate (Don't Break the Oath)
• Michael Jackson (Thriller)
• Mission UK (The First Chapter)
• The Jam (Sound Affects)
• Jane's Addiction (Nothing's Shocking)
• Jesus & Mary Chain (Pyschocandy)
• Joy Division (Closer)
• Kraftwerk (Computer World)
• Cyndi Lauper (She's So Unusual)
• k.d. lang (Shadowland)
• LL Cool J (Radio)
• Madonna (Like a Virgin)
• Bob Marley (Uprising)
• Ministry (The Land of Rape and Honey)
• Sugar Minnott (Good Thing Going)
• Mötley Crüe (Shout at the Devil)
• My Bloody Valentine (Isn't Anything)
• My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (I See Good Spirits & I See Bad Spirits)
• Nine Inch Nails (Pretty Hate Machine)
• N.W.A (Straight Outta Compton)
• The Offspring (The Offspring)
• Quiet Riot (Metal Health)
• Augustus Pablo (Earth's Rightful Ruler)
• Pennywise (Pennywise)
• Pixies (Doolittle)
• Poison (Open Up & Say...Ahh)
• The Police (Synchronicity
• The Pogues (Rum Sodomy & the Lash)
• The Pretenders (The Pretenders)
• Prince (Purple Rain)
• R.E.M (Murmur)
• Rainbow (Down to Earth)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers (Freaky Styley)
• The Replacements (Tim)
• Rick Springfield (Working Class Dog)
• Rockin' Sidney (My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues)
• Run DMC (Kings of Rock)
• Sepultura (Beneath the Remains)
• Simple Minds (Once Upon a Time)
• The Sisters of Mercy (Floodland)
• Skinny Puppy ((VIVISect VI)
• Slick Rick (The Great Adventures of Slick Rick)
• The Smiths (The Queen Is Dead)
• Soft Cell (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing)
• Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation)
• Sting (The Dream of the Blue Turtles)
• The Specials (More Specials)
• Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A)
• Stryper (The Yellow and Black Attack)
• Talking Heads (Speaking in Tongues)
• Tina Turner (Private Dancer)
• Randy Travis (Storms of Life)
• Peter Tosh (Mama Africa)
• U2 (The Joshua Tree)
• Van Halen (Women and Children First)
• Violent Femmes (Violent Femmes)
• W.A.S.P (F**k Like a Beast)
• Wham (Make It Big)
• Whitesnake (Saints and Sinners)
• Yellowman (Mister Yellowman)
• Yo La Tengo (New Wave Hot Dogs)
• Dwight Yoakam (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc)
• ZZ Topp (Afterburner)

• Various artists - C-86

See also: 1980s music groups, List of rock and roll albums in the 1980s

This is the "1980s" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.