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The 1980s (pronounced "nineteen-eighties", shortened to "the '80s" or "the Eighties") was a decade that began on January 1, 1980, and ended on December 31, 1989.
The decade saw a dominance of conservatism and free market economics, and a socioeconomic change due to advances in technology and a worldwide move away from planned economies and towards laissez-faire capitalism compared to the 1970s. As economic deconstruction increased in the developed world, multiple multinational corporations associated with the manufacturing industry relocated into Thailand, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. Japan and West Germany saw large economic growth during this decade. The AIDS epidemic became recognized in the 1980s and has since killed an estimated 40.4 million people (as of 2022[update]).[1] Global warming theory began to spread within the scientific and political community in the 1980s.
The United Kingdom and the United States moved closer to supply-side economic policies, beginning a trend towards global instability of international trade that would pick up more steam in the following decade as the fall of the USSR made right-wing economic policy more powerful.
The final decade of the Cold War opened with the US-Soviet confrontation continuing largely without any interruption. Superpower tensions escalated rapidly as President Reagan scrapped the policy of détente and adopted a new, much more aggressive stance on the Soviet Union. The world came perilously close to nuclear war for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, but the second half of the decade saw a dramatic easing of superpower tensions and ultimately the total collapse of Soviet communism.
Developing countries across the world faced economic and social difficulties as they suffered from multiple debt crises in the 1980s, requiring many of these countries to apply for financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Ethiopia witnessed widespread famine in the mid-1980s during the corrupt rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam, resulting in the country having to depend on foreign aid to provide food to its population and worldwide efforts to address and raise money to help Ethiopians, such as the Live Aid concert in 1985.
Major civil discontent and violence occurred, including the Angolan Civil War, the Ethiopian Civil War, the Moro conflict, the Salvadoran Civil War, the Ugandan Bush War, the insurgency in Laos, the Iran–Iraq War, the Soviet–Afghan War, the 1982 Lebanon War, the Falklands War, the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency, and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Islamism became a powerful political force in the 1980s and many jihadist organizations, including Al Qaeda, were set up.
By 1986, nationalism was making a comeback in the Eastern Bloc, and the desire for democracy in socialist states, combined with economic recession, resulted in Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika, which reduced Communist Party power, legalized dissent and sanctioned limited forms of capitalism such as joint ventures with companies from capitalist countries. After tension for most of the decade, by 1988 relations between the communist and capitalist blocs had improved significantly[2] and the Soviet Union was increasingly unwilling to defend its governments in satellite states.
1989 brought the overthrow and attempted overthrow of a number of governments led by communist parties, such as in Hungary, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China, the Czechoslovak "Velvet Revolution", Erich Honecker's East German regime, Poland's Soviet-backed government, and the violent overthrow of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime in Romania. Destruction of the 155-km Berlin Wall, at the end of the decade, signaled a seismic geopolitical shift. The Cold War ended in the early 1990s with the successful Reunification of Germany and the USSR's demise after the August Coup of 1991.
The 1980s was an era of tremendous population growth around the world, surpassing the 1970s and 1990s, and arguably being the largest in human history. During the 1980s, the world population grew from 4.4 to 5.3 billion people. There were approximately 1.33 billion births and 480 million deaths. Population growth was particularly rapid in a number of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian countries during this decade, with rates of natural increase close to or exceeding 4% annually. The 1980s saw the advent of the ongoing practice of sex-selective abortion in China and India as ultrasound technology permitted parents to selectively abort baby girls.[3]
The 1980s saw great advances in genetic and digital technology. After years of animal experimentation since 1985, the first genetic modification of 10 adult human beings took place in May 1989, a gene tagging experiment[4] which led to the first true gene therapy implementation in September 1990. The first "designer babies", a pair of female twins, were created in a laboratory in late 1989 and born in July 1990 after being sex-selected via the controversial assisted reproductive technology procedure preimplantation genetic diagnosis.[5] Gestational surrogacy was first performed in 1985 with the first birth in 1986, making it possible for a woman to become a biological mother without experiencing pregnancy for the first time in history.[6]
The global internet took shape in academia by the second half of the 1980s, as well as many other computer networks of both academic and commercial use such as USENET, Fidonet, and the Bulletin Board System. By 1989, the Internet and the networks linked to it were a global system with extensive transoceanic satellite links and nodes in most developed countries.[7] Based on earlier work, from 1980 onwards Tim Berners Lee formalized the concept of the World Wide Web by 1989. Television viewing became commonplace in the Third World, with the number of TV sets in China and India increasing by 15 and 10 times respectively.[8]
The Atari Video Computer System console became widespread in the first part of the decade, often simply called "Atari". 1980 Atari VCS port of Space Invaders was the first killer app. The video game crash of 1983 ended the system's popularity and decimated the industry until the Nintendo Entertainment System re-established the console market in North America. The hand-held Game Boy launched in 1989. Super Mario Bros. and Tetris were the decade's best selling games. Pac-Man was the highest grossing arcade game. Home computers became commonplace. The 1981 IBM PC led to a large market for IBM PC compatibles. The 1984 release of the Macintosh popularized the WIMP style of interaction.
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See also: List of sovereign states in the 1980s |
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Main article: List of wars 1945–89 § 1980–1989 |
The most prominent armed conflicts of the decade include:
The most notable wars of the decade include:
The most notable internal conflicts of the decade include:
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Main article: List of terrorist incidents § 1970–present |
The most notable terrorist attacks of the decade include:
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Main article: List of coups d'état and coup attempts § 1980 - 1989 |
The most prominent coups d'état of the decade include:
Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| April 12, 1980 | William R. Tolbert Jr., 20th President of Liberia, is killed during a military coup. His death marks the end of Americo-Liberian rule in Liberia.[11] |
| March 30, 1981 | Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, was shot in Washington, D.C. by a mentally disturbed individual. Reagan's press secretary, James Brady, was also shot, along with a police officer and a U.S. Secret Service agent.[12] |
| May 13, 1981 | Pope John Paul II is shot and wounded in Saint Peter's Square.[13] |
| August 30, 1981 | Mohammad-Ali Rajai, 2nd President of Iran and Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, 48th Prime Minister of Iran, are both killed when a bomb explodes in Bahonar's office. Iranian officials alleges the bomb was planted by elements of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, though others allege the bombing was orchestrated by political rivals within the Islamic Republican Party.[14][15] |
| October 6, 1981 | Anwar Sadat, 3rd President of Egypt, is assassinated at a military parade in Cairo.[16] |
| August 21, 1983 | Benigno Aquino Jr., a longtime political opponent of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, is killed after landing in the Philippines after three years of self-imposed exile.[17] |
| October 12, 1984 | Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, avoids being the target of a bombing at a hotel orchestrated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The blast does kill five including Anthony Berry, an MP and Deputy Chief Whip.[18] |
| October 31, 1984 | Indira Gandhi, 3rd Prime Minister of India, is assassinated by her own bodyguards in response to the Indian Army's attack on Golden Temple to destroy Sikh Militant stronghold in Amritsar earlier in the decade.[19] |
| February 28, 1986 | Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated while walking home from a cinema in Stockholm.[20] |
| October 15, 1987 | Thomas Sankara, 1st President of Burkina Faso, is assassinated in a coup organized by his former colleague, Blaise Compaoré.[21] |
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Main article: 1980s in science and technology |
The 1980s had many fundamental advances in medicine and biology. The first surrogate pregnancy of an unrelated child took place on April 13, 1986, in Michigan.[6] The first genetically modified crops, tobacco (Nicotiana) plants were grown in China in 1988.[22]
Gene therapy techniques became established by the end of the 1980s, allowing gene tagging and gene therapy to become a possibility, both of which were first performed in human beings in May 1989 and September 1990, respectively.
Arcade and video games had been growing in popularity since the late 1970s, and by 1982 were a major industry. But a variety of factors, including a glut of low-quality games and the rise of home computers, caused a tremendous crash in late 1983. For the next three years, the video game market practically ceased to exist in the US. But in the second half of the decade, it would be revived by Nintendo, whose Famicom console and mascot Mario had been enjoying considerable success in Japan since 1983. Renamed the Nintendo Entertainment System, it would claim 90% of the American video game market by 1989. The 1980s are considered to be the decade when video games achieved massive popularity. In 1980, Pac-Man was introduced to the arcades, and became one of the most popular video games of all time. Also in 1980, Game & Watch was created; it was not one of the most well known game systems, but it facilitated mini-games and was concurrent with the NES. Donkey Kong, released in 1981, was a smash arcade hit and market breakthrough for Nintendo. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, and the Mega Man series would become major hits for the console.
The personal computer experienced explosive growth in the 1980s, transitioning from a hobbyist's toy to a full-fledged consumer product. The IBM PC, launched in 1981, became the dominant computer for professional users. Commodore created the most popular home computers of both 8-bit and 16-bit generations. MSX standard was the dominant computer platform in Japan and in most parts of Asia. Apple Computer superseded its Apple II and Lisa models by introducing the first Macintosh computer in 1984. It was the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse,[23] which started to become general features in computers after the middle of the decade. Electronics and computers were also at the forefront of the advertising industry, with many commercials like "1984" from Apple achieving acclaim and pop-culture relevance.[24]
![The Macintosh 128K, the first commercially successful personal computer to use a graphical user interface, was introduced to the public in 1984.[25]](/en/File:Macintosh_128k_transparency.png)
![The Amiga 500, the first "low-end" 16 and 32 bit multimedia home/personal computer, was introduced in October 1987.[26]](/en/File:Amiga500_system.jpg)
Walkman and boomboxes, invented during the late 1970s, became very popular as they were introduced to various countries in the early 1980s, and had a profound impact on the music industry and youth culture. Consumer VCRs and video rental stores became commonplace as VHS won out over the competing Betamax standard. In addition, in the early 1980s various companies began selling compact, modestly priced synthesizers to the public. This, along with the development of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), made it easier to integrate and synchronize synthesizers and other electronic instruments, like drum machines, for use in musical composition.
High definition television (HDTV) of both the analog and digital variety were first developed in the 1980s though their use did not become widespread until the mid-2000s.
In 1981, Hayes Microcomputer Products started selling the Smartmodem. The Smartmodem paved the way for the modern modems that exist today, mainly because it was the first modem to transform what had previously required a two-stage process into a process involving only one stage. The Smartmodem contributed to the rise in popularity of BBS systems in the 1980s and early 1990s, which were the main way to connect to remote computers and perform various social and entertainment activities before the Internet and the World Wide Web finally became popular in the mid-1990s.
American interplanetary probes continued in the 1980s, the Voyager duo being the most known. After making a flyby of Jupiter in 1979, they went near Saturn in 1980–1981. Voyager 2 reached Uranus in 1986 (just a few days before the Challenger disaster), and Neptune in 1989 before the probes exited the Solar System.
No American probes were launched to Mars in the 1980s, and the Viking probes, launched there in 1975, completed their operations by 1982. The Soviets launched two Mars probes in 1988, but they failed.
The arrival of Halley's Comet in 1986 was met by a series of Soviet, Japanese and European Space Agency (ESA) probes, namely Halley Armada.
After a six-year hiatus, American space flights with astronauts resumed with the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia in April 1981. The shuttle program progressed smoothly from there, with three more orbiters entering service in 1983–1985. But that all came to an end with the tragic loss of the Challenger (STS-51-L) on January 28, 1986, taking with it seven astronauts, including Christa McAuliffe, who was to have been the first teacher in space. In full view of the world, a faulty O-ring on the right solid rocket booster allowed hot gases to burn through the external fuel tank and cause it to explode, destroying the shuttle in the process. Extensive efforts were made to improve NASA's increasingly careless management practices, and to make the shuttle safer. Flights resumed with the launch of Discovery in September 1988.
The Soviet program with cosmonauts went well during the decade, experiencing only minor setbacks. The Salyut 6 space station, launched in 1977, was replaced by Salyut 7 in 1982. Then came Mir in 1986, which ended up operating for more than a decade, and was destined to be the last in the line of Soviet space stations that had begun in 1971. One of the Soviet Union's last "superprojects" was the Buran space shuttle; it was only used once, in 1988.
The American auto industry began in the 1980s in a thoroughly grim situation, faced with poor quality control, rising import competition, and a severe economic downturn.[27] Chrysler and American Motors (AMC) were near bankruptcy, and Ford was little better off.[28] Only GM continued with business as usual. But the auto makers recovered with the economy by 1983, and in 1985 auto sales in the United States hit a new record. However, the Japanese were now a major presence, and would begin manufacturing cars in the US to get around tariffs. In 1986, Hyundai became the first Korean auto maker to enter the American market. In the same year, the Yugoslavian-built Yugo was brought to the US, but the car was so small and cheap, that it became the subject of jokes. It was sold up to 1991, when economic sanctions against Yugoslavia forced its withdrawal from the American market.
As the decade progressed, cars became smaller and more efficient in design. In 1983, Ford design teams began to incorporate aerodynamic styling to decrease drag while in motion. The Thunderbird was one of the first cars to receive these design changes. In 1985, Ford released the Taurus with a design that was revolutionary among domestic mass market automobiles.
General Motors began suffering significant losses in the late 1980s, partially the result of chairman Roger Smith's restructuring attempts, and partially because of increasingly dated cars. An example were customers who increasingly purchased European luxury cars rather than Cadillacs. In 1985, GM started Saturn (the first new American make since the Edsel), with the goal of producing high-quality import fighters. Production would not begin until 1990.
Chrysler introduced its new compact, front-wheel drive K-cars in 1981. Under the leadership of Lee Iacocca, the company turned a profit again the following year, and by 1983 paid off its government loans. A succession of models using this automobile platform followed. The most significant were the minivans in 1984. These proved a to be popular and they would dominate the van market for more than a decade. In 1987, Chrysler purchased the Italian makes of Lamborghini and Maserati. In the same year, Chrysler bought AMC from Renault laying to rest the last significant independent U.S. automaker, but acquiring the hugely profitable Jeep line and continuing the Eagle brand until the late 1990s.[29]
The DMC DeLorean was the brainchild of John DeLorean, a flamboyant former GM executive. Production of the gull-winged sports car began in Northern Ireland in 1981. John DeLorean was arrested in October 1982 in a sting operation where he was attempting to sell cocaine to save his struggling company. He was acquitted of all charges in 1984, but too late for the DeLorean Motor Company, which closed down in 1983. The DeLorean gained renewed fame afterward as the time machine in the Back to the Future film trilogy.
The imposition of CAFE fuel-mileage standards in 1979 spelled the end of big-block engines, but performance cars and convertibles reemerged in the 1980s. Turbochargers were widely used to boost the performance of small cars, and technology from fuel injection began to take over from the widely used application of carburetors by the late 1980s. Front-wheel drive also became dominant.
The Eighties marked the decline of European brands in North America by the end of the decade. Renault, Citroen, and Peugeot ceased importation by the end of the decade. Alfa Romeo would continue until 1993. Fiat also ceased imports to North America in the Eighties.
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Main article: 1980s in music |
In the United States, MTV was launched and music videos began to have a larger effect on the record industry. Pop artists/bands such as Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna mastered the format and helped turn this new product into a profitable business. New wave and synthpop were developed by many British and American artists, and became popular phenomena throughout the decade, especially in the early and mid-1980s. Music grew fragmented and combined into subgenres such as house, goth, and rap metal.[33]
The advent of numerous new technologies had a significant impact on 1980s music, and led to a distinct production aesthetic that included synthesizer sounds, drum machines and drum reverb.
Duran Duran, the biggest band of the 1980s, created a teen frenzy similar to that of The Beatles during the first British Invasion of the 1960s. They were Princess Diana's favorite band. In 1982, they released their world famous, omnipresent Rio which ignited a global craze. Their catchy flagship song from the album, Hungry Like the Wolf, reached number 1 in Canada, number 3 in the United States, number 4 in Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa and number 5 in the United Kingdom and Australia. It won a Grammy Award in 1984. The title track was another mega hit song that was issued worldwide in October 1982 and became a Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart. As of October 2021, "Rio" was the third most streamed Duran Duran song in the UK. "The Reflex" became the band's most successful single, topping the UK chart on 5 May 1984. It was their second UK No. 1, after 1983's "Is There Something I Should Know?" By 1985, the musical band stood on top of the world as absolute conquerors of music and music video. They were the darlings of MTV and the center of female teen fan's attention. In that same year, the A View to a Kill theme song to the same-titled James Bond movie reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and it remains the only Bond theme to achieve this chart placing. Notorious (Duran Duran song) was a massive commercial success internationally. It debuted at number 14 and peaked the following week at number 7 in the UK Singles Charts, and also performed extremely well in the US, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was also a success in other countries reaching the top 10 in Sweden, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, New Zealand, the Netherlands and did even better particularly in Italy, where it went to number 1 for 4 consecutive weeks, becoming one of the best-selling singles of 1986 in the country. Their massive appeal was widespread on a worldwide scale in music, video and fashion. Their influence was so intense that they helped shape how music was defined throughout the 80s decade. They extensively toured the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Mexico, South America, Japan and other parts of Asia. Highly stylized videos showcasing their other mega hit songs like, Planet Earth, New Moon on Monday, The Wild Boys, Save a Prayer and Notorious made Duran Duran a popular household name.
Michael Jackson was one of the icons of the 1980s and his leather jacket, white glove, and Moonwalk dance were often imitated. Jackson's 1982 album Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time, with sales estimated by various sources as somewhere between 65 and 110 million copies worldwide. His 1987 album Bad sold over 45 million copies and became the first album to have five number-one singles chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Jackson had the most number-one singles throughout the decade (9), and spent the most weeks at number one (27 weeks). His 1987 Bad World Tour grossed over $125 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing world tour by a solo artist during the decade. Jackson earned numerous awards and titles during the 1980s, the most notable of which were a record eight Grammy Awards and eight American Music Awards in 1984, and the honor of "Artist of the Decade" by U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Jackson was arguably the biggest star during this time, and would eventually sell more than one billion records around the world.
Prince was a popular star of the 1980s and the most successful chart act of the decade. His breakthrough album 1999, released in 1982, produced three top-ten hits and the album itself charted at number nine on the Billboard 200. His sixth studio album Purple Rain was an international success, boosting Prince to superstardom and selling over 25 million copies worldwide. The album produced the US number-one singles, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" and sold 13 million copies in the U.S. as of 1996. Prince released an album every year for the rest of the decade, all charting within the top ten, with the exception of Lovesexy. In the 1990s, he infamously changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in response to a record dispute with Warner Brothers. He went on to sell over 120 million records worldwide and win seven Grammy Awards.
The '80s were above all a time of international corporatization... [Rock music] was reconceived as intellectual property, as a form of capital itself... The '80s were when stars replaced artists as bearers of significance... The '80s took rock sexuality and rock sexism over the top... The '80s were a time of renewed racial turmoil after ten-plus years of polite resegregation... Technology changed everything in the '80s. Cable brought us MTV and the triumph of the image. Synthesizers inflected the sounds that remained. Sampling revolutionized rock and roll's proprietary relationship to its own history. Cassettes made private music portable—and public. Compact discs inflated profitability as they faded into the background of busy lives.
—Robert Christgau in Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990)[34]
Madonna and Whitney Houston were groundbreaking female artists of the decade.[citation needed] The keyboard synthesizer and drum machine were among the most popular instruments in music during the 1980s, especially in new wave music. After the 1980s, electronic instruments continued to be the main component of mainstream pop.
Hard rock, heavy metal, and glam metal became some of the most dominant music genres of the decade, peaking with the arrival of such bands as Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison, Europe, Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura, Exodus, Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, Pantera (then-a glam metal band) and virtuoso guitarists such as Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen. The scene also helped 1970s hard rock artists such as AC/DC, Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple, Queen, Van Halen, KISS, Ronnie James Dio, Rush and Judas Priest reach a new generation of fans.
The 1980s were also known for song parodies becoming more mainstream, a trend led by parodic musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. He was best known for his Michael Jackson parodies "Eat It" and "Fat" as well as other parodies like "Another One Rides The Bus" (parody of "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen).
By 1989, the hip hop scene had evolved, gaining recognition and exhibiting a stronger influence on the music industry. This time period is also considered part of the golden age of hip hop. The Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C., Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five, Boogie Down Productions, N.W.A, LL Cool J, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice-T, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, 2 Live Crew, Tone Lōc, Biz Markie, the Jungle Brothers, The Sugar Hill Gang and others experienced success in this genre.
Country music advanced into a new realm of popularity with youth appeal and record-breaking marks. Groundbreaking artists such as Alabama, Hank Williams Jr., Reba McEntire, George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, Janie Fricke, The Judds, and Randy Travis achieved multiple platinum and award status, foreshadowing the genre's popularity explosion in the 1990s. Country legends from past decades, however; such as George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Conway Twitty, the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Don Williams, Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, Barbara Mandrell, and the Statler Brothers; also continued to score hits throughout the decade.
The techno style of electronic dance music emerged in Detroit, Michigan, during the mid- to late 1980s. The house music style, another form of electronic dance music, emerged in Chicago, Illinois, in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino and gay communities, first in Chicago, then in New York City and Detroit. It eventually reached Europe before becoming infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide.
Punk rock continued to make strides in the musical community. With bands leading the significance of this period such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Suicidal Tendencies, D.O.A., Bad Religion, Minutemen, Social Distortion, and Dead Kennedys, it gave birth to many subgenres like hardcore, which has continued to be moderately successful, giving birth in turn to a few counterculture movements, most notably the Straight Edge movement which began in the early era of this decade. College rock caught on in the underground scene of the 1980s in a nationwide movement with a distinct D.I.Y approach. Bands like the Pixies, R.E.M., The Replacements, Sonic Youth, XTC, The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, Hüsker Dü, The Stone Roses, The Jesus and Mary Chain etc. experienced success in this genre. The 1980s also saw the birth of the grunge genre, with the arrival of such bands as Soundgarden, Green River, Melvins, Screaming Trees, Malfunkshun, Skin Yard, The U-Men, Blood Circus, Nirvana, Tad, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone and Alice in Chains (the latter of whom formed in 1987, but did not release their first album until three years later).
Several notable musical artists died of unnatural causes in the 1980s: Bon Scott, at the time lead singer of rock band AC/DC, died of acute alcohol poisoning on February 19, 1980; English drummer John Bonham of the rock band Led Zeppelin also died that year in a similar manner; The Beatles member John Lennon was fatally shot outside his home in New York City on the night of December 8, 1980; Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose on December 29, 1980; Reggae musician Bob Marley died from a lentiginous skin melanoma on May 11, 1981; Harry Chapin died of a car accident on July 16, 1981; Motown singer Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father at his home in Los Angeles on April 1, 1984, one day before what would've been his 45th birthday; Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist Randy Rhoads died in an airplane crash on March 19, 1982; Karen Carpenter died from heart failure caused by her anorexia condition on February 4, 1983; Metallica bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a bus accident in Sweden on September 27, 1986; and lastly, Andy Gibb died in 1988 as a result of myocarditis.
In 1984, the British supergroup Band Aid was formed to raise aid and awareness of the economic plight of Ethiopia. In 1985's Live Aid concert, featuring many artists, promoted attention and action to send food aid to Ethiopia whose people were suffering from a major famine.
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Main article: 1980s in film |
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Critically acclaimed films
The film industry
The 1980s saw the return of studio-driven films, coming from the filmmaker-driven New Hollywood era of the 1970s.[36] The period was when 'high concept' films gained popularity, where movies were to be easily marketable and understandable, and, therefore, they had short cinematic plots that could be summarized in one or two sentences. The modern Hollywood blockbuster is the most popular film format from the 1980s. Producer Don Simpson[37] is usually credited with the creation of the high-concept picture of the modern Hollywood blockbuster. In the mid-1980s, a wave of British directors, including Ridley Scott, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne and Tony Scott (with the latter directing a number of Don Simpson films) ushered in a new era of blockbusters using the crowd-pleasing skills they had honed in UK television commercials.[38]
A significant development in the home media business is the establishment of The Criterion Collection in 1984, an American company "dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality". Through their releases, they were able to introduce what is now a standard to home video: letterboxing to retain the original aspect ratio, film commentaries and supplements/special features.[39][40]
Live-action films
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The 1980s also saw the golden age of "teen flicks" and also spawned the Brat Pack films, many of which were directed by John Hughes. Films such as Class, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Mannequin, Porky's, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, St. Elmo's Fire, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, and Valley Girl were popular teen comedies of the era and launched the careers of several major celebrities such as: Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Forest Whitaker, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage and Michael J. Fox. Other popular films included About Last Night..., Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Dirty Dancing, Flashdance, Footloose, Raging Bull and St. Elmo's Fire which also launched the careers of high-profile celebrities like Demi Moore, Joe Pesci, Keanu Reeves, Kevin Bacon, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and River Phoenix.
Horror films were a popular genre during the decade, with several notable horror franchises being born during the 1980s. Among the most popular were the Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Child's Play, Hellraiser, and Poltergeist franchises. The Shining although a popular film from 1980 decades later, it was initially met with mixed reviews from critics and even the author of the book, and was moderately successful financially. Aside from these films, the concept of the B horror film gave rise to a plethora of horror films that went on to earn a cult status. An example of such is the 1981 film The Evil Dead, which marked the directorial debut of Sam Raimi. Comedy horror films such as Beetlejuice and Gremlins also gained cult status.
Several action film franchises were also introduced during the 1980s. The most popular of these were the Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and Rambo franchises. Other action films from the decade which are of notable status include The Terminator, Aliens, Escape from New York, Red Dawn, Predator, and RoboCop. These films propelled the careers of modern celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver, Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and Charlie Sheen to international recognition. On the other side of the globe, Hong Kong action cinema and martial arts films were being revolutionized by a new wave of inventive filmmakers that include Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Tsui Hark, and John Woo, while the American martial arts film movement was being led by actors like Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal.
Five more James Bond films were released, with Roger Moore continuing in the role in For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View To A Kill, before handing over the role to Timothy Dalton who starred in The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill.
The post-2000 popularity of blockbuster superhero films is attributed in part to the start such blockbuster films gained in the 1980s, starting with Salkind's Superman film series 1978-1987 and bookended at the end of the decade with Tim Burton's 1989 Batman.[41] Similarly, the popularity of science fiction films in the 1980s is attributable to the popularity of the Star Wars original trilogy (1977-1983).[42]
Animated films
Although animated feature films did not gain mainstream popularity until the mid to late-1990s due to public preference of television animation, some important films were produced during the decade. After leaving Disney in 1979, Don Bluth formed his own studio and went on direct The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go To Heaven. At the same time, the Disney studio wasn't having good times and almost bankrupted after The Black Cauldron bombed at the box office. However, in later years, they slowly recovered with the modest success of Ron Clements and John Musker directed The Great Mouse Detective, the live-action animated hybrid Robert Zemeckis directed Who Framed Roger Rabbit co-produced with Steven Spielberg, and eventually regained public confidence following the release of The Little Mermaid. Other animated films from the decade also gained notable status: Films based on popular works include Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!), Heavy Metal, The Adventures of Mark Twain, The Care Bears Movie, The Transformers: The Movie, The Chipmunk Adventure and Daffy Duck's Quackbusters; while original films include The Last Unicorn, The Plague Dogs, Rock & Rule, Fire and Ice, The Brave Little Toaster and The BFG.
The 1980s also saw a surge of Japanese anime films: Hayao Miyazaki's The Castle of Cagliostro and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind were extremely successful enough to lead the foundation of Studio Ghibli which would then produce several successful films of the decade including Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies and Kiki's Delivery Service. Other well-known anime films of that decade include Golgo 13: The Professional, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Lensman, Vampire Hunter D, Akira, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland and the Urusei Yatsura film series. Additionally, the first-ever theatrical animated franchise: the Doraemon film series (based on the anime and manga series of the same name) began in 1980 with the release of Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur.
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Main article: 1980s in television |
Music video channel MTV was launched in the United States in 1981 and had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture further ahead, especially during its early run in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The 1980s was a decade of transformation in television. Cable television became more accessible and therefore, more popular. By the middle of the decade, almost 70% of the U.S. population had cable television and over 85% were paying for cable services such as HBO or Showtime.[43] People who lived in rural areas where cable TV service was not available could still access cable channels through a large (and expensive) satellite dish, which, by the mid-1990s, was phased out in favor of the small rooftop dishes that offer DirecTV and Dish Network services.
The 1980s also saw the debut of prime-time soap operas such as Dallas, its spin-off Knots Landing, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, EastEnders and Neighbours.
In 1980, the anime television series Astro Boy was remade in color.
During the 1980s, police procedural television series The Bill, stop-motion animated television series Pingu, Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and Bertha, and sitcoms were also becoming popular, including Bosom Buddies, Family Ties, Cheers, Newhart, Too Close for Comfort, The Cosby Show, Night Court, Full House and Married... with Children, which was the first show to hit the Fox airwaves on launch in 1987.
In 1984, Britt Allcroft and Rev W. Awdry original television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.
In 1985, two sitcoms premiered on the same day: The Golden Girls, starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, which lasted for seven seasons and was also the first comedy ever to feature four older women in title TV roles, and 227, which was originally the sitcom vehicle for Marla Gibbs, who previously starred in The Jeffersons, and which also launched Jackée Harry's career. Sketch comedy and variety show Saturday Night Live experienced turbulence for much of the 1980s, however, it propelled the successful careers of cast members like Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The year 1986 marked the debut of the legal drama Matlock, which was the comeback vehicle for Andy Griffith, as the title character,[44] which also launched the careers of Nancy Stafford, Clarence Gilyard Jr. and Daniel Roebuck.
TV talk shows expanded in popularity; The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson remained popular into its third decade, and some of the most viewed newer shows were hosted by Geraldo Rivera, Arsenio Hall and David Letterman.[45]
TV documentary shows of the 1980s that were popular included Frontline, Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days, Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack, and Rescue 911 with William Shatner.
On July 29, 1981, The Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer was watched by a television audience of an estimated 750 million people from around the world.
Scandal rocked TV evangelism when in 1987 evangelist Jim Bakker, founder of PTL and Heritage USA, was defrocked for having an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn years earlier and later sent to prison for fraud. One year later, evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was defrocked for allegedly having sexual relations with a prostitute.
The 1980s also was prominent for spawning several popular animated shows such as The Smurfs, ThunderCats, Voltron, The Transformers, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Henry's Cat, Danger Mouse, Count Duckula, Alias the Jester, Yakari, Diplodos, Lucky Luke, Heathcliff, The Family-Ness, Jimbo and the Jet-Set, Penny Crayon, The Ratties, The Raggy Dolls, Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Fist of the North Star, Inspector Gadget, Bananaman, Muppet Babies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DuckTales, Dennis the Menace, M.A.S.K., The Telebugs, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, The Littles, Garfield and Friends, as well as earliest The Simpsons shorts which aired on The Tracey Ullman Show, and original animated television series The Simpsons.
In 1988, the original anime television series Wowser.
In 1989, the original television series Tugs and stop-motion animated series Wallace and Gromit.
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See also: 1980s in video gaming |
Popular video games include: Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Metroid, Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Digger, and Tetris. Pac-Man was the first game to achieve widespread popularity in mainstream culture and the first game character to be popular in his own right.
Handheld electronic LCD games was introduced into the youth market segment. The primary gaming computers of the 1980s emerged in 1982: the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Nintendo finally decided in 1985 to release its Famicom (released in 1983 in Japan) in the United States under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was bundled with Super Mario Bros. and it suddenly became a success. The NES dominated the American and Japanese market until the rise of the next generation of consoles in the early 1990s, causing some to call this time the Nintendo era. Sega released its 16-bit console, Mega Drive/Genesis, in 1988 in Japan and in North America in 1989. In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, a monochrome handheld console.
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Main article: 1980s in fashion |
The beginning of the decade saw the continuation of the clothing styles of the late 1970s and evolved into heavy metal fashion by the end. However, fashion became more extravagant during the 1980s. The 1980s included teased and colourfully-dyed hair, ripped jeans, neon clothing and many colours and different designs which at first were not accepted.
Significant hairstyle trends of the 1980s include the perm, the mullet, the Jheri curl, the hi-top fade, and big hair.
Significant clothing trends of the 1980s include shoulder pads, jean jackets, leather pants, leather aviator jackets, jumpsuits, Members Only jackets, skin-tight acid-washed jeans, Izod Lacoste and "preppy" polo shirts, leggings and leg warmers (popularized in the film Flashdance), off-the-shoulder shirts, and cut sweatshirts (popularized in the same film).
Miniskirts returned to mainstream fashion in the mid-1980s after a ten-year absence, mostly made of denim material. From that point on, miniskirts and minidresses have remained in mainstream fashion to this day.
Makeup on the 1980s was aggressive, shining and colourful. Women emphasised their lips, eyebrows and cheeks with makeup. They used much blush and eyeliner.
Additional trends of the 1980s include athletic headbands, Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses (popularized in the film Top Gun), Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses (popularized in the films Risky Business and The Blues Brothers and the TV series Miami Vice), Swatch watches, and the Rubik's Cube (became a popular fad throughout the decade). Girls and women also wore jelly shoes, large crucifix necklaces, and brassieres all inspired by Madonna's "Like a Virgin" music video.
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According to decadeology, cultural decades do not necessarily line up with their numerical counterparts. For example, the 1980s are said by some to have begun in 1979 with the New Romantic movement (of which new wave music was a part), the Iranian Revolution, and the election of Margaret Thatcher.[51] And the Chicago Sun-Times declared the 1977 Star Wars as the first movie of the eighties.[52] As for the cultural end of the decade, Reagan's last day in office January 20, 1989, marked the "end of an era".[53] Music saw a change, with the premier of Yo! MTV Raps was on August 6, 1988, which was coincidentally the same date as the last broadcast of Casey Kasem hosting American Top 40. The years 1988-1993 are sometimes called the neighties for being a cultural bridge between the 1980s and 1990s.[54]
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