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1980s
Events and Trends
* Assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan
* Reaganomics
* Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism dominate British politics.
* Falklands War Britain fights off Argentine invasion of Falkland islands
in 1982
* Political correctness
* President Tito of Yugoslavia dies.
* Solidarity movement in Poland eventually topples the country's
Communist regime.
* Revolution in Romania, end of the communist period
* Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union
* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* In Europe, rise of right wing parties (Le Pen in France,
Schnhuber/Republikaner in Germany, Haider in Austria), parallel to a
rise of Green parties.
* Bulletin board system popularity
* Popularization of personal computers
* Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial hits theaters
* Release of Americans held hostage in Iran
* Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988 kills one million people.
* Iran-Contra Scandal
* Soviet Union ends its disastrous millitary campaign in Afghanistan.
* "People Power" in the Philippines topples the Ferdinand Marcos
dictatorship
* Salman Rushdie wanted dead by Iranian leader Khomeini
* Students protest on Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
* Accident at Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear reactor, April 1986
* Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland
* Largest one-day stock market drop, on October 19, 1987
* Space Shuttle Challenger explodes
* 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
* Rise of cable television
* Fall of economic security in the United States
* 24 hour television news channels (e.g., CNN)
* Music videos (and MTV) begin to have an affect record industry in the
United States
World Leaders
* 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)
* President Anwar Sadat (Egypt)
* President Hosni Mubarak (Egypt)
* President Franois 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
* Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore)
* Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
* Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)
* 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)
* Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Republic of Ireland)
* Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald (Republic of Ireland)
Film
* Ghostbusters
* Meg Ryan
* Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator)
* Charlie Sheen
* Matthew Broderick
* Phoebe Cates
* Tom Cruise
* Matt Dillon
* Clint Eastwood
* Harrison Ford (as Indiana Jones)
* Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future)
* Mel Gibson
* Batman (Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson)
* Ferris Bueller's Day Off
* Brat Pack
* 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)
Television
* The A-Team (including Mr. T)
* Saturday Night Live
* MASK
Sports figures
* Nolan Ryan
* George Brett
* Ozzie Smith
* Bo Jackson
* Joe Montana
* Lawrence Taylor
* Ronnie Lott
* Larry Bird
* Earvin "Magic" Johnson
* Isiah Thomas
* Wayne Gretzky
* Mark Messier
* 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team ("Miracle On Ice")
* John McEnroe
* Martina Navratilova
* Jack Nicklaus
* Greg LeMond
* Mike Tyson
Music
* 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
* 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 (Licensed 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)
* Hsker D (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)
* Mtley Cre (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)
* 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)
* 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)
* Y La Tengo (New Wave Hot Dogs)
* Dwight Yoakam (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.)
* ZZ Top (Afterburner)
* Various artists - C-86
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