1980s

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

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Events and trends

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

Science

• Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN
• Development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer

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

Economics

• Reaganomics
• Largest one-day stock market drop, on October 19, 1987
• Late 1980s recession

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

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

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 Urho Kekkonen (Finland)
• President Mauno Koivisto (Finland)
• 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)

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

Television

• The A-Team (including Mr. T)
• Saturday Night Live
• Miami Vice
• Knight Rider
• Alf
• Three's Company
• Roseanne
• Dukes of Hazzard

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)

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