1980s

Centuries:	19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years:	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. Informally, the term may also be taken to include a few years at the end of the 1970s and/or the beginning of the 1990s.
Sometimes the 1980s are confounded to the 199th decade, i.e. the ten years from 1981 up to and including 1990.

In the UK, the first major 1980s fashion trend was sparked by the arrival of the New Romantics in the popular music charts in 1980. The election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979 is also considered to be a major turning point. In America, the decade was most poignantly symbolized by the presidency of Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989 (or affectionally termed the "Reagan Years") as it epitomized the rise of conservatism as the dominant creed in American political and cultural life. This extended somewhat into the early 1990s with the first George Bush, but the recession of the late '80s and early 1990s caused significant backlash againt Bush and the Republican Party.

Like the 1960s, the decade was an era of frantic change, characterised by political and economic decentralisation, especially in countries with mixed and command economies. Political events and trends of the 1980s culminated in the toppling of military governments and authoritarian regimes, including every communist Warsaw Pact state in Central and Eastern Europe and the downfall of the military juntas of Brazil, Chile and Argentina, bringing to a close the decades-long Cold War. These changes continued to be felt in the 1990s and on into the 21st Century.

The 1980s is also generally considered to be the transition between the industrial and information ages. The petroleum supply disruptions which had marked the 1970s were not repeated, and new oil-field discoveries boosted supply and helped keep energy prices relatively low in most places during the decade. The 1980s saw rapid developments in numerous sectors of technology which have defined the modern consumer world. Electronics like personal computers, gaming systems, the first commercially available hand-held mobile phones, and new audio and data storage technologies such as the compact disc, are all still prominent well into the 2000s. On the strength of their high-technology industries, the Japanese economy soared to record highs in the 1980s, prompting many American companies to frantically study and adopt Japanese management practices. However, this "bubble economy" collapsed at the end of the decade, plunging Japan into a recession that has persisted to this day.

The population of the world increased more dramatically in the 1980s than any other decade in human history, adding nearly one billion new people in the course of the decade. This is an important fact as such astronomical growth of the human race is unlikely to be repeated in the near future due to current demographic trends, which are consistently showing a decline in birth rates across the globe. Children born in the 1980s are likely to have an extremely prominent position in world business and government affairs from the 2020s all the way through to the 2050s due to their immense population, potential voting powers, relatively good health, and high life expectancy.

1 Technology
2 Science
3 War, peace and politics
4 Economics
5 Trends and fashions
6 Music
7 Television
8 Film
9 Video games
10 Others
11 People
12 Films
13 Television
14 Music
15 External links

Technology

IBM PC

Mir

Bulletin board system popularity.
Compact discs are introduced.
Popularization of personal computers, Walkmans, VHS videocassette recorders, and cassette players .
Introduction of the IBM PC in 1981.
Home video games become enormously popular, most notably Atari until the market crashes in 1983; the rise of Nintendo brings about full recovery.
The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, launched in 1981.
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.
The Soviet Union launches the space station Mir in 1986.
Apple Macintosh, first commercially successful GUI, is released in 1984.
Accident at Chernobyl nuclear reactor, April 1986.
Framework (office suite) launched
In England, Sir Clive Sinclair introduces the environmentally friendly but short-lived C5 car in 1985.
Microsoft release the first versions of Windows
Internet begins to enter general knowledge in late 1980s
First commercial hand-held mobile phone - Motorola DynaTAC 8000X 1983.
Popularization of synthesizers in electronic music.
Nintendo introduce Game Boy in 1989.

Science

Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN.
Development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer.
Discovery of the Carbon allotrope fullerene, also known as buckyballs.
English physicist Tim Berners Lee invents the World Wide Web at CERN.
Geneticist Dr Alec Jeffreys develops DNA fingerprinting, which will be of immense impact on crime-fighting.

War, peace and politics

Berlin Wall

Cold War peaks; fall of the Iron Curtain. Roughly defined as Communism versus Capitalism, or USA versus USSR (via proxy war in communist countries.)
- Jimmy Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow; Eastern Bloc countries boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- Solidarity movement in Poland launched in 1981. It eventually topples the country's Communist regime.
- Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, derided as "Star Wars." Deploys Pershing missiles in Western Europe to counter the Soviet SS-20, to some protests.
- Three Soviet Premiers die in rapid succession: Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko.
- American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visits Russia after writing to Yuri Andropov and becomes involved in the growing peace movement between East and West before her death in 1985.
- Gorbachev introduces Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union.
- Fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany in 1989, preparing the way to German reunification.
- Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia.
- Revolution in Romania, execution of Ceauşescu.
- Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi tackles with a growing Sikh insurgency and the Khalistan Movement. She orders Operation Blue Star on the holy Golden Temple. She is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
- In 1989 students protest on Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China and are eventually suppressed.
- Soviet fighters down Korean Air Flight 007 in 1983, leading to a high point in international tensions.
- Ronald Reagan decides to invade Grenada in 1983 and depose the nascent hard-line communist government.
- The United States launches a covert war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and is condemned by the World Court for mining Nicaragua's harbour, an authority and judgment the U.S. administration did not recognize.
- The Reagan Doctrine implements support for anti-communist or anti-Soviet insurgencies most notably in Nicaragua, Angola, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. This leads to continued civil war, the deposition of several regimes, some democratization, but also the Iran-Contra scandal.
- President Tito of Yugoslavia dies.
- Over 120,000 flee Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift, during which Fidel Castro released many criminals into American harbors.
The continued rise of Islamic Fundamentalism following the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
- Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988 causes an estimated 1 million deaths.
- Israel invades Lebanon in 1982, . A suicide bomber kills 241 U.S. marines stationed there as peacekeepers.
- In 1985, A radical PLO offshoot called Palestine Liberation Front hijacks the Achille Lauro and shoots the wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, throwing him overboard.
- Terror groups Abu Nidal and Hezbollah rise to prominence in Western attention.
- Release of Americans held hostage in Iran.
- Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa urging the killing of Salman Rushdie.
- Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, UK.
Several military dictatorships fell or faced destabilization attempts
- Large protests in the Philippines topples the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship; military rule ends after protests in Argentina and South Korea.
- Under George H. W. Bush, the U.S. invades Panama in 1989 to overthrow Manuel Noriega.
- The Reagan administration bombs Libya in 1986 in response to alleged Libyan support for attacks on U.S. servicemen in Europe.
- King Juan Carlos of Spain prevents a military coup in 1981. Spain joined NATO in 1982; it joined the European Union with Portugal in 1986.
- Augusto Pinochet forms a new constitution, holds a referendum on rule and loses. Democracy is restored.
Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism dominate British politics.
The "Reagan Revolution", beginning with the election of 1980, introduces so-called neoconservatives to Washington.
In 1981, François Mitterrand becomes France's President, the most politically successful Socialist in French history.
Helmut Kohl is elected in West Germany in 1982, leading to the defeat of the anti-deployment movement; in the 1990s he becomes the longest serving Chancellor of Germany so far.
Falklands War; Argentina invades and occupies the Falkland islands in 1982 but is subsequently defeated by the United Kingdom.
P.W. Botha suppresses anti-apartheid activists; international boycotts of South Africa continue.
The Soviet Union ends its disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is exposed as a former Nazi
Vietnam continues its military occupation of Cambodia.
In Europe, rise of alleged neo-fascist parties (Le Pen in France, Schönhuber/Republikaner in Germany, Haider in Austria), parallel to a rise of Green parties.
Political correctness becomes a concern in mainstream politics.
Dark years for Malta and its politics. Violence is culminated by the murder of Raymond Caruana and blocking entry to Nationalist supporters into the southern village of Zejtun.
The Rainbow Warrior is sunk by French secret service agents.

Economics

Dow Jones (19 July 1987 through 19 January 1988)

Reaganomics, Thatcherism and Rogernomics.
In the United States the longest bull market in history begins in 1983; Dow Jones Industrial Average passes 2000 point milestone January 8, 1987.
OPEC controls slip; petroleum prices collapse below $10 per barrel by mid-1986, devastating oil-producing nations such as Mexico.
U.S. Midwest Farm Crisis 1981–1985.
East Asian Tigers' share of world trade rises significantly.
U.S. balance of trade falls into chronic deficit; populists criticize trade relations with Japan.
Stockmarkets across the world crash on Black Monday, October 19, 1987. The New York Stock Exchange suffers its largest one-day stock market drop.
Late 1980s recession

Trends and fashions

See also: 1980s fashion

The video game console begins to outstrip the arcade game.
The Rubik's cube, Cabbage Patch Kids, "Baby on Board" signs, and Trivial Pursuit fads capture the interest of the American and British public.

Rubik's Cube
Nerds are a popular subject.
Alcohol education expands.
Hair becomes big and poofy, or otherwise eccentric. Examples include the Mullet and the Flock of Seagulls cuts.
Gay issues rise to public awareness with the Bowers v. Hardwick Supreme Court decision, gender bending perceptions of Boy George, George Michael, Michael Jackson, and Prince, as well as the increased consciousness of the AIDS epidemic and its perception as a "gay disease."
Power Dressing was a major fashion statement of the decade, characterised by the use of increasingly large shoulder pads - the origins of this trend are often attributed to the American television series Dynasty and, specifically to one of its stars - English-born Joan Collins, who caused quite a stir as the scheming character Alexis Carrington.
Pop stars of the era such as Duran Duran and television shows like Miami Vice brought the trend to the male fashion world, often accompanied by "designer stubble" and blonde highlights.
A much remarked upon new trend in the 1980s in Britain was openly gay pop stars such as Boy George and the Pet Shop Boys.
Women's Liberation movement increases women's role in the workplace, and establishes new precedents for US women. As a carry-over from the 1970s, more and more women take to calling themselves "Ms." versus "Mrs." or "Miss"
No-Fault divorce laws pave the way for increased divorce rate, as depicted in the movie, Irreconcilable Differences. No-Fault divorce catapults record numbers of women and children into the throes of poverty. The increase in single parent homes and, perhaps more significantly, homes in which both parents work leads to the phenomenon of Latch-key children, where children come home to an empty house and watch a lot of television.
Neo-prohibitionism grows in popularity.
The Karate Kid becomes a blockbuster hit. Ninja and martial arts mania sweeps North America due to the popularity of Kung Fu Theater and Ninja Movies. Many instructional books are published and sold by many individuals claiming to be experts. This is often blamed as the beginning of the McDojo or Bullshido trend.
The Postmodern architecture movement gains prominence when Michael Graves' groundbreaking and controversial Portland Building opens in Portland, Ore. in 1982.
Environmental concerns are growing. In Britain, environmentally-friendly domestic products surge in popularity and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher joins the Greens.
Aerobics are huge.

Music

Music videos (and MTV) begin to have an effect on record industry in the United States. Pop artists Michael Jackson and Madonna are pioneers; Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams also become influential; groups such as Duran Duran, Bon Jovi and Flock of Seagulls benefit.
New Wave music, or Synthpop, a form of synthesized pop-rock, popular throughout decade, especially in early 80s.
House music - a new development in dance music mid-way through the decade, growing out of the post-disco scene early in the decade, later developing into acid house - a harder form of dance often associated with the developing late 1980s drug culture.
Hair metal popular in 1980s. Thrash metal becomes underground sensation originating in the Bay Area, California. Bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer are popular.
Popular artists include Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Alabama, Bryan Adams, Queen, U2, Menudo, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, New Order, the New Kids on the Block and a-ha.
American singer Prince, French band Indochine ("3e sexe"), Canadian singer Norman Iceberg ("Be My Human Tonight"), Spanish band Mecano ("Mujer Contra Mujer") were all part of a huge new worldwide movement of artists who wrote innovative lyrics sometimes with sexual innuendos that reflected the then popular and highly fashionable androgynous style.
In the US, contemporary Christian music gains popularity in the mid-80s with such crossover artists as Amy Grant, Kathy Troccoli, and Michael W. Smith.
Massive sales for Ethiopian famine relief records by Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas?") and USA for Africa ("We Are the World"), followed by Live Aid famine relief concert in London and Philadelphia. Other artists push for nuclear disarmament.
The Hip hop scene evolves to become a powerful musical force, bringing with it several dance styles. Hip hop also brings artists like Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and N.W.A. to the forefront; hip hop's spread outside of New York City, especially to Los Angeles, accelerates and then takes off beyond America's shores.

Television

Television networks are challenged by cable television. In the U.S., Cheers and The Cosby Show and Family Ties take top ratings on thursday nights and the Fox network is launched. CNN becomes the first 24-hour news channel.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, 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.
Animation in the United States and elsewhere begins a dramatic comeback in production values and mainstream popular appeal both in feature films and on television. Robotech, Star Blazers, and Voltron spearhead the first wave of organized anime fandom outside Japan.
Soap operas gain popularity among high-schoolers and college students in the United States, thanks in part to the supercoupling of Luke and Laura on the most popular soap of the day, General Hospital.
MTV breaks out influencing pop culture. Played 24 hour Music Videos, with no commercials and very few breaks.
In Britain the Sky Television satellite service is launched in 1989.

Film

Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opens in 1982 and shatters records for box office gross receipts.
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner opens in 1982.
Teen flicks and horror movies reach a high, the two big horror franchises that existed for most (or all) of the 80's were the "Friday the 13th" movies and the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series.
Movie sequels very common
Action movies, present since the 1950s, were being produced en masse, where actors like Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger were pioneers.
Batman sent a wave of "Bat-Mania" throughout most of the country and went on to be the biggest and highest grossing movie of 1989. Some were even calling it, "The movie of the decade".

Video games

The video game becomes popular, along with the video arcade. Although graphics are incredibly primitive by later standards, they would improve much during the latter part of the decade. The popularity of the video game during the 1980s may be compared to the MP3 boom of the 2000s and late 1990s.
Space Invaders, invented in Japan in 1978 and first previewed at a UK trade show in 1979, makes a huge impact on the early 80s gaming scene.
Pac-Man fever craze early in the decade, especially around 1982-1983
Super Mario Bros games popular from 1986 to 1990.
Atari video game company fails to institute proper quality controls on the software for its popular Video Computer System game console- the glut of terrible software causes a massive collapse of the home console industry. Nintendo's Famicom/NES console release rectifies this problem by only being able to play games personally approved by the company, and revives home gaming.

Others

AIDS is identified and named.
Assassination of John Lennon and Olof Palme, attempts on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
Research increases on alcohol and weight.
Remove Intoxicated Drivers grows rapidly.
Crack Cocaine epidemic in urban areas, resulting in violent crime and drug trafficking soaring to record levels in most large American cities.