What's Going on the the World in the 1980s besides perfume?

What's Going on in the World in the 1980s

The 1980s were called the Reagan years. They were also called the Affluent Eighties as the economy was booming. Under Reagan's first term, the recession ended. Inflation was controlled and taxes were reduced. Americans felt hopeful that they could make money again. It was the decade of the Yuppie and the Me Generation - earning and spending more and more money.

Entertainment in the 1980s showed the interest society placed on financial success. First there were the primetime soap operas full of rich people living in huge homes, wearing beautiful clothes and driving expensive vehicles. Also popular in the 1980s was the television talk show. People appeared on these shows mostly to talk about themselves - about everything and anything. They talked in public about things that were once considered private.

A big change in American life during the 1980s came as a result of the personal computer. Soon millions of Americans had their own and this technology along with a bright economy, filled Americans of the early and middle 1980s with hope. Many felt there were almost no limits on the good life they could lead.

Much of the popular music of the decade reflected all of this. The 1980s saw the emergence of dance music, electronic, new wave and pop-influenced country (presumably from the movie Urban Cowboy). Disco fell out of fashion in the early 1980s and rock music was more precisely defined and split up into subgenres that included Hard Rock, Heavy/Glam Metal, Alternative Rock and Soft Rock. In the late 1980s Glam Metal became the largest, most commercially successful brand of music in the U.S. and worldwide. Throughout the decade R & B, hip hop and rap became more successful and it was the decade that saw the reinvention of Michael Jackson, the superstardom of Prince, the emergence of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson and the launch of MTV. Michael Jackson was the first African-American artist to have his music video aired on MTV and his album from 1982, Thriller, is cited as the best-selling album of all time with as many as 110 million copies sold worldwide. Madonna was the most successful female artist of the decade.

Some of the popular songs of the 1980s were: Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Another Brick in the Wall, The Tide is High, 9 to 5, Bette Davis Eyes, Jack and Diane, Billie Jean, Eye of the Tiger, Footloose, Come on Eileen, When Doves Cry, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Like A Virgin, We Built This City, Rock Me Amadeus, Walk Like an Egyptian, Bad, Like a Prayer and We Didn't Start the Fire. Popular groups/individual artists were Queen, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Billy Joel, Prince, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, Madonna, George Michael/Wham, Cyndi Lauper and Lionel Richie.

Television was transformed in the 1980s due to cable, the creation of a fourth network, Fox, the videocassette recorder and the remote control. It was the decade of CNN, The Weather Channel, Luke and Laura getting married on General Hospital, the prime-time soap opera, the animated sitcom, the mini-series and made-for-TV movies. Favorite shows included Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing, Cheers, Family Ties, Married With Children, The Simpsons, Magnum P.I., Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, thirtysomething, Moonlighting, Geraldo Rivera and David Letterman.

1980

Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran
John Lennon Assassinated
Pac-Man Video Game Released
Rubik's Cube Becomes Popular
Ted Turner Establishes CNN

1981

Assassination Attempt on the Pope
Assassination Attempt on US President Reagon
First Woman Appointed to the US Supreme Court
Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana
New Plague Identified as AIDS
Personal Computers (PC) Introduced by IBM

1982

E.T. Movie Released
Falkland Islands Invaded by Argentina
Michael Jackson's Album Thriller is Released
Reverend Sun Myung Moon Marries 2,075 Couples at Madison Square Garden
Vietnam War Memorial Opened in Washington, DC

1983

Reagan Announces Defense Plan Called Star Wars
Sally Ride Becomes the First American Woman in Space
Soviets Shoot Down a Korean Airliner
US Embassy in Beirut Bombed

1984

Poison Gas Leak in Bhopal, India
Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister, Killed by Two Bodyguards
PG-13 Movie Rating Created

Back to the Future Opens
Famine in Ethiopia
First Internet Domain Name Is Registered
Gorilla Specialist Dian Fossey is Murdered
Hole in the Ozone Layer Discovered
Mikhail Gorbachev Calls for Glasnost and Perestroika
Rock Hudson Dies of AIDS
Serial Killer Known as "The Night Stalker" Starts Killing Spree
Terrorists Hijack TWA Flight 847
Wreck of the Titanic Found

1986

Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
Ferdinand Marcos Flees the Philippines
First PC Virus, Brain, Goes Viral
Halley's Comet Passes By
Iran-Contra Scandal Unfolds
USSR Launches Mir Space Station

1987

DNA First Used to Convict Criminals
Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Butcher of Lyons, Sentenced to Life in Prison
New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge Drop on "Black Monday"
West German Pilot Lands Unchallenged in Russia's Red Square

1988

Pan Am Flight 103 is Bombed Over Lockerbie
U.S. Shoots Down Iranian Airliner

1989

Berlin Wall Falls
Exxon Valdez Spills Millions of Gallons of Oil on Coastline
Romanian Leader Nicolae Ceausescu and His Wife Are Executed
Students Massacred in China's Tiananmen Square
World Wide Web Invented