1980s
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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 |
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Events and trends
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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
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Science
- Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN
- Development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer
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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
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Economics
- Reaganomics
- Largest one-day stock market drop, on October 19, 1987
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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
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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
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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 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)
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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 (Rambo: First Blood)
- Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing)
- Sigourney Weaver
- Lost Boys
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Television
- The A-Team (including Mr. T)
- Saturday Night Live
- MASK
- Miami Vice
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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)
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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
