Are These the ’80s Most Notable Moments?
CNN is debuting a new original series tonight called The Eighties and as part of an intense marketing campaign has been highlighting some of the decade’s biggest political, cultural and technological impacts on today. Recently, it released 80 moments from the ’80s that it thinks are the most notable events of the decade. The list includes events like: February 22, 1980: Miracle on ice happens as U.S. hockey team defeats...
New Spotify Ad Says ‘The NeverEnding Story’ Streamed Every Day
It’s been thirty years since the 1980s classic The NeverEnding Story hit theaters, but a clever new Spotify advertisement reminds us that while stories might end- songs are forever. At least one person every single day listens to the movie’s title track, The NeverEnding Story by English singer Limahl, Spotify says. It’s even hard to believe for the movie’s hero, Atreyu. who makes a brief cameo in the Spotify ad with none other than...
80s Vespa Scooters Revived As The World’s Coolest Office Chair
1980s Vespa scooters are considered to be somewhat of a design icon- in fact, many people seek out 80s Vespa scooters for their classic look and reliable make. But for those who don’t necessarily have what it takes to pull off being seen riding around town in a vintage scooter, Spanish company Bel & Bel has created the “Scooter Chair.” The Scooter Chair is totally cool in that it combines vintage art- which was...
Why Aren’t Neighborhood Kids Shoveling Driveways to Earn Money Anymore?
You’ve most likely seen the viral memes that begin circulating once again every winter. It seems like every cold season, folks reminisce about how children in the 70s and the 80s used snowstorms as an opportunity to make some extra cash, going around from house to house to offer their services shoveling snow. Gone are those days, they say, thanks to the distraction of social media and video games and texting. Kids simply...
80s Time Capsules
There’s nothing better than cracking open a time capsule and reminiscing about times gone by, especially when it’s all about the 80s! Each yearly capsule provides lots of information — nuggets on the good, the bad, and the ugly of history & politics, music, movies, television, sports, people who died and people who were born. So dive on in, remember the totally bodacious 1980s, and maybe even learn something new!...
What Happened in 1982?
The advances in technology that began in previous years continue to gain speed in 1982 with the release of the Commodore 64 computer and the first CD player by Sony. The shift is so significant that Time Magazine names The Computer as the person of year in 1982. Other big news items include the opening of Epcot Center, the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Tylenol scare, the death of John Belushi, and the birth of...
What Happened in 1981?
The glamour and excitement typified by the 80s really kicks into gear in 1981. Charles and Diana marry, MTV launches and IBM releases the original 5150 IBM PC. Music and technology are changing at a rapid pace. The American hostages in Iran are finally released after 14 months of captivity, the first heart-lung transplant is performed an the first female Supreme Court Justice is appointed. Amid so much progress and change, however,...
What Happened in 1980?
It was a new decade, and 1980 started off with a bang in the form of both natural and man-made disasters – including the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the assassination of John Lennon. Ronald Reagan is elected towards the end of the year, the beginning of his almost decade-long reign as the leader of the free world. Music was getting a shake up as well with a move away from the disco and singer-songwriter sounds of the 70s. New...
What Happened in 1986?
Timbuk 3 said it best in one of the year’s top songs, “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.” 1986 was marked by both advances and setbacks. Technology advances helped the Soviet Union launch the Mir Space Station and had the UK and France building the Chunnel. Sadly, it also saw the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and the explosion of one of the nuclear reactors at Chernobyl. We saw Fergie get married to the Duke of York and...
What Happened in 1988?
1988 was a politically active year with indictments handed down in the Iran-Contra affair, a presidential election in which George HW Bush beats out Michael Dukakis, and the election of Sonny Bono as the new mayor of Palm Springs. To escape the politics and the natural and manmade disasters, people flocked to the movies to see some great cinema. This was the year of Rainman, Coming to America, Die Hard, Beetlejuice, and A Fish Called...
What Happened in 1985?
In world events and culture, 1985 can be characterized as heralding in the new. Windows 1.0 is released, the FDA develops a test for screening blood for AIDS, the first successful artificial heart transplant occurs, Gorbachev becomes the de facto leader of the Soviet Union, and the NES game system hits the US. Heck, even Coke was new in 1985. On the music front, this was the year of both “We Are the World” and “Live Aid.” Big singles...
What Happened in 1987?
1987 saw its share of strife and turmoil. The current events of the time included an Amtrak train crash, the Iran-Contra affair, the Unabomber bombing Salt Lake City and the Black Monday stock market crash on October 19th. Add in a typhoon in the Philippines and two different plane crashes and it’s no wonder that this was also the year that Prozac hit the market for the first time. It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though. Aretha Franklin...
What Happened in 1989?
In many ways, 1989 provided the perfect bookend to this decade that saw so much change. It continued the social, political and technological changes that mark the 1980s. The Berlin Wall came down, the first GPS satellite was put into orbit, and the first black governor in the US was elected. Progress indeed. On the darker side, we suffered through Hurricane Hugo, the Tiananmen Square massacre, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The music...
What Happened in 1984?
Some would argue that the launch of “Miami Vice” alone is enough to claim 1984 as the height of the 80s. If that weren’t enough, it saw the release of the first Apple Macintosh and had us asking “Where’s the Beef?” With Reagan re-elected, Space Shuttle Discovery taking off on its maiden voyage and Michael Jackson burned in the filming of Pepsi commercial, 1984 certainly had its share of excitement. 1984 gave us too many great 80s...
What Happened in 1983?
One site reader described the awesomeness of 1983 as follows. 1983, hands down. Michael Jackson and The Police dominate the Billboard charts, while “Murmur” is released and the Smiths put out their first single. Hair bands have not yet screwed up MTV for the rest of us. “National Lampoon’s Vacation” and “Valley Girl” are in the theaters, but George Lucas has hinted at the suck in our movie...
