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
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 and reunification of Germany
- 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 disasterous millitary campaign in Afghanistan.
- "People Power" in the Philippines topples Marcos dicatorship; inspired a trend of peaceful revolts worldwide
- Salman Rushdie wanted dead by Iranian leader Khomeini
- Students protest on Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China
- 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
- President George H. W. Bush - U.S.
- Mikhail Gorbachev - U.S.S.R.
- President Ronald Reagan - U.S.
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - U.K.
- Deng Xiaoping - China
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - Iran
- President François Mitterrand - France
- Helmut Kohl - West Germany
- Benazir Bhutto - Pakistan
- Nicolae Ceausescu - Romania
- Vaclav Havel - Czechoslovakia
Film
- Ghostbusters
- Meg Ryan
- Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator)
- Charlie Sheen
- Matthews 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
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 (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 (Peter Gabriel (3)
- 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)
- 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
- See also 1980s music groups