1980s  

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The 1980s refers to the period of and between 1980 and 1989. In the United Kingdom particularly, this decade is often referred to as "the Me decade" and "the Greed decade", reflecting the economic and social climate. In the United States and UK, "yuppie" entered the lexicon, referring to the well-publicized rise of a new middle class within the upper economic strata. College graduates in their late 20s/30s were entering the workplace in prestigious office professions, holding more purchasing power in trendy, luxurious goods.

It was also known as "the purple passage of the late 1980s". The Autumn of Nations led towards the withdrawal of Soviet troops at the conclusion of the Soviet-Afghan War, fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of Cold War. The era was characterized by the blend of conservative family values alongside a period of increased telecommunications, shift towards liberal market economies and the new openness of perestroika and glasnost. This transitional passage also saw massive democratic revolutions such as the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in China, the Czechoslovak velvet revolution, and the overthrow of the dictatorial regime in Romania and other communist Warsaw Pact states in Central and Eastern Europe. These changes continued to be felt in the 1990s and on into the 21st century.

The 1980s was also an era of tremendous population growth around the world, comparable only to the 1970s or 1990s to being among the largest in human history. This growth occurred not only in developing regions but also developed western nations, where many newborns were the offspring of the largely populated Baby Boomers.

Popular culture

The most prominent events and trends in popular culture of the decade include:

Music

The decade saw the emergence of new wave, electronic music (e.g., synthpop) the use of the synthesizer, and the introduction of hip hop and sampling.

The decade began with a backlash against disco music and a movement away from the orchestral arrangements that had characterized much of the music of the 1970s. Music in the 1980s was characterized by electronic sounds accomplished through the use of synthesizers and keyboards, along with drum machines. The music channel MTV began the trend of the music video. The first video to be aired on MTV was Buggles's "Video Killed The Radio Star".

The 1980s saw two new developments, the demise of disco the rise of electronic dance music.

By the late 1970s many major US cities had thriving disco club scenes which were centered around discothèques, nightclubs, and private loft parties where DJs would play disco hits through powerful PA systems for the dancers. Some of the most prestigious clubs had elaborate lighting systems that throbbed to the beat of the music.

The largest world cities like New York (Paradise Garage, The Loft), Manchester (The Haçienda), Paris (Les Bains Douches), Ibiza (Pacha), Antwerp (Ancienne Belgique) played a significant role in the evolution of clubbing, DJ culture and nightlife.

New genres included New Wave, Synthpop, Hip Hop, House, Acid House, Techno, Rave, Freestyle, Electro, Eurodisco, Italo Disco, Hi-NRG, Balearic, jazz-funk, post-disco, Northern soul and 80s groove

Playlists

• Paradise Garage classics
• Ancienne Belgique (Antwerp)
• Liaisons Dangereuses (radio program)
• Towards a Balearic playlist
• Loft classics

Film

The films of the 1980s covered many genres, with hybrids crossing between multiple genres. The trend strengthened towards creating ever-larger blockbuster films, which earned more in their opening weeks than any previous film, due in part to staging releases when audiences had little else to choose.

• blockbusters - The decade started by continuing the blockbuster boom of the mid-'70s. The sequel to 1977's Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back opened in May of 1980 becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. The film is considered among the best of films of the decade (it being the highest rated '80s film on IMDb). It was followed by Return of the Jedi (1983) finishing the trio. It perfectly set the euphoric fanastical tone of many of the similar films to come. Superman II was released in Europe and Australia in late 1980 but not distributed in the United States until June 1981. It was directed by two directors creating a long controversy over the film that caused a second version to be released in 2006. Though now seen as campier over the original 1978 Superman, Superman II was received with a positive reaction. From the success of The Empire Strikes Back, creator George Lucas teamed up with director Steven Spielberg to create one of the most iconic characters in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Harrison Ford, who had also co-starred in The Empire Strikes Back. The story about an archaeologist and adventurer, Indiana Jones (Ford), hired by the U.S. government to go on a quest for the mystical lost Ark of the Covenant, created waves of interest in old 1930s style cliffhanger serials. It became the highest grossing film of 1981, leading to sequels all in the top-10 films of the decade. In 1982, Spielberg directed his family, fairy-tale science-fiction blockbuster E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which shattered all records, earning 40% more than any Star-Wars film, and double or triple the renevue of 46 of the top 50 films.

• science-fiction - Continuing the eighties' science-fiction boom was Australian post-apocalyptic science fiction Mad Max 2, with a leather-clad outlaw fighting road barbarians in the futuristic desert wasteland. Another futuristic adventure released the same year, Escape from New York, also saw an anti-hero set in a dystopian future. In 1982, yet another film set in a dystopian feature, the Tech-noirish Blade Runner starred Harrison Ford as a detective searching for renegade androids. Science fiction films aimed at younger audiences included the two Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the Back to the Future trilogy and Steven Spielberg's E.T..

• thriller - The eighties saw an immense amount of thriller films, many being of an erotic nature, including 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987) and Body Heat (1981). Perhaps one of the most influential examples of 80s thriller films was David Lynch's bizarre cult classic Blue Velvet (1986), which dealt with the underworld of a seemingly idealic American suburbia, a subject which has spawned many inferior imitations well into the 2000s and Stanley Kubrick's horror/thriller The Shining (1980).

• fantasy - Fantasy film saw a resurgence particularly in sword and sorcery films. In 1981, Dragonslayer, Excalibur and Raiders of the Lost Ark started it off, but it was 1982's Conan the Barbarian which caused the fantasy explosion. The epic starred Arnold Schwarzenegger in his acting breakthrough as he began his ascent to stardom. Loosely based on the original tales by Robert E. Howard, the film was written by the unlikely pairing of Oliver Stone and John Milius. Its sequel followed in 1984 with the light-weight Conan the Destroyer. Schwarzenegger returned again to a similar sword-wielding role in 1985's Red Sonja. The same year similar films followed such as The Sword and the Sorcerer, The Beastmaster and the Ator films. Fairy-tale fantasy was also popular such as The Neverending Story (1984), Legend (1985), and The Princess Bride (1987). Disney's Return to Oz a big-budget sequel to 1939's classic The Wizard of Oz, became a major flop, yet became a major success on home video.

• drama - Among the historical, romantic, and dramatic films, several were well-received at the box office, including Rain Man (1988), Fatal Attraction (1987), On Golden Pond (1981), Terms of Endearment (1983), The Color Purple (1985) and Out of Africa (1985). Also notable in critical success were Sophie's Choice (1982), A Passage to India (1984) and Gandhi (1982).

• westerns - A stylish form of western was evolving, with films such as Silverado (1985).

• horror - Creativity from 1970s horror films extended toward the early part of the '80s, except having more gore, with many successful '80s horror films having numerous sequels. Stanley Kubrick directed his horror film The Shining (1980). The creative and gory The Evil Dead (1981) with its secluded atmosphere is seen by many as one of the best in its genre leading to its inevitable sequel Evil Dead II in 1987. Halloween director John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) shocked audiences in its effects. Sequels to Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) were the popular face of horror films in the 1980s, a trend reviled by most critics. David Cronenberg's graphic and gory Scanners (1982) and the remake of The Fly were both released in 1986, about a few weeks from the James Cameron film Aliens. Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985), Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead, and Lloyd Kaufman's The Toxic Avenger (all 1985), soon followed. And films such as Ghostbusters, Joe Dante's Gremlins, (both 1984,) and Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) started a trend for horror comedies.

• comedies - The #5, #11 and #13 top films of the 1980s were comedy films: Ghostbusters (1984), which out-sold all the Indiana Jones films, Tootsie (1982) and Three Men and a Baby (1987). The disaster films of the previous decade were spoofed in the gag comedy Airplane!, paving the way for more of the same including its 1982 sequel Airplane II: The Sequel, Top Secret! (1984) and the Naked Gun films. Popular comedy stars in the '80s included Leslie Nielsen, John Candy, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. Many had come to prominence on the American TV series Saturday Night Live, including Bill Murray, Steve Martin and Chevy Chase. Eddie Murphy made a success of comedy-action films including 48 Hrs. (1982) and the Beverly Hills Cop series (1984–1993). Also in the top-50 films were the romantic comedies Crocodile Dundee (1986), Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and Arthur (1981).

• teen comedies - Influenced largely by 1978's Animal House, the decade also saw the continued rise of teen comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds. Also popular were the films of John Hughes such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). He would later create the Home Alone series of the early 1990s. The latter film helped a revival in comedies aimed at a family audience, along with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its sequels. Heathers (1989) provided a tongue-in-cheek approach to the teenage comedy genre; showcasing the murder (disguised as suicide) of several popular students at an American high school. Other notable comedies of the decade include the gender-swap film Tootsie (1982), Broadcast News (1987), and a brief spate of age-reversal films including Big, 18 Again!, Vice Versa and Like Father, Like Son.

• sequels - Also notable were the Police Academy series of broad comedies, produced between 1984 and 1993. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a trend emerged toward the release of sequels based on previously successful productions. Among the sequels were Trail of the Pink Panther, The Great Muppet Caper, and Porky's II: The Next Day.

• rite-of-passage - Beyond just the teenagers "coming-of-age" stories, more complex "rite-of-passage" movies had older actors changing or transforming through the rituals. So although teenagers were the focus of 1983's Risky Business, 1984's The Karate Kid and 1985's The Breakfast Club or St. Elmo's Fire brat-pack genre, older people with troubled lives were the subjects of Top Gun (1986) or An Officer and a Gentleman in trying to become a fighter pilot, Flashdance 's female welder transforming into a ballet dancer, and Cocoon 's (1985) elderly set overcoming old age. Even the Big Chill (1983) reunion was a rite-of-passage which challenged old classmates to redirect their lives after the suicide of a friend.

• action-films - In the seventies, action films usually focused on maverick police officers, however, the action film did not become a dominant form in Hollywood until the '80s, when it was popularized by actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Bruce Willis. Stallone continued the Rocky series and starred in 82's First Blood about a returning Vietnam War veteran fighting a small town sheriff and its sequel Rambo II. Vietnam War films grew in popularity in the '80s, from being a film subject which was still seen as a taboo in the '70s. Movies like Platoon and Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket made the war a subject. Chuck Norris starred in the Missing in Action trilogy (1984, 1985, 1988) about a Vietnam veteran going back to rescue POWs. Schwarzenegger starred in The Terminator (1984), Commando (1986), and Predator (1987). The 1988 film Die Hard was particularly influential on the development of the genre in the subsequent decade. In the movie, Bruce Willis plays a New York City police detective who inadvertently becomes embroiled in a terrorist take-over of a Los Angeles office block.

• James Bond - The James Bond film series entered its third decade in 1981 with Roger Moore starring in the more realistic For Your Eyes Only after the outlandish excess of Moonraker in 1979. The decade saw the beginning of a new era for Bond since the previous decade's directors originally directed a 1960s Bond, the new director brought to the series, John Glen, criticized for a less stylistic and more "workman" style of direction, directed all the EON Bond films from 1981 to 1989. Moonraker was the last for regular Bernard Lee who portrayed Bond's boss M. For the eighties Bonds, a collection of numerous MI6 superiors would brief Bond on his missions. 1983 was a significant year for the series as a non-EON Bond was released, Never Say Never Again, directed by The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner with Sean Connery returning to the role for the last time since 1971's Diamonds are Forever; it was competing with the next EON film Octopussy at the box-office with media dubbing the situation 'The Battle of the Bonds'. Even lesser known in the same year was one-time Bond George Lazenby appearing in the TV-reunion movie The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. as a Bond-like character "JB". A View to a Kill (1985) was the last for Roger Moore before Timothy Dalton was chosen as the new Bond in 1987's The Living Daylights and lastly in 1989's Licence to Kill.

Television

• MTV was launched in the United States in 1981.
• Teletext was initially introduced.
• The most prominent TV series of the 1980s include: Alf, The A-Team, Dallas, Knight Rider, MacGyver, Magnum, P.I., Miami Vice, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, The Cosby Show, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Night Court, Who's the Boss?, Family Matters, Quantum Leap, Saved by the Bell, Roseanne, Full House, The Golden Girls, Cheers and Family Ties

The very popular British Soap Opera Eastenders aired for the first time on BBC1 on 19 February 1985.

The 1980s was the decade of transformation in television. Cable television became more accessible and therefore, more popular. By the middle of the decade, almost 70% of the American population had cable television and over 85% were paying for cable services such as HBO or Showtime.

The 1980s was also the period of glory for primetime soap operas such as Dallas and Dynasty.

The popular animated sitcom The Simpsons debuted in 1989. There were also the TV talk shows that were increasing in popularity and some of the most viewed were the ones hosted by Geraldo Rivera or David Letterman.

Video gaming

• Popular video games include: Pac-Man, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Digger, Tetris and Golden Axe.
• Handheld electronic LCD games introduced into the youth market segment.
• North American video game crash of 1983
• The Game Boy is released in 1989 by Nintendo.

Fashion

• The kitsch of the 1970s, while itself rejected, influenced the fashion of the 1980s – in the beginning of the decade marked by the New Romantic movement and later by fashion inspired by heavy metal bands, including teased hair, ripped jeans and neon clothing.

Significant fashion trends of the 1980s include:

• Perm, Mullet and Hair gel
• Leggings, Leg warmers
• Shoulder Pads
• Headbands
• Pastel colors
• Ray-Ban sunglasses
• Jean jackets

Miscellaneous

• BMX bicycles gained popularity amongst the youth in the early 1980s.
• The Yo-yo gained popularity amongst the youth in the beginning of the decade as well.
• Fast food chain restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King experienced a strong increase circulation.
• Rubik's cube became a popular fad throughout the decade.

Literature

• 1980 in literature – John le Carré's Smiley's People; Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne trilogy; J. M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians; William Maxwell's So Long, See You Tomorrow; Anthony Burgess's Earthly Powers; Umberto Eco's Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose); John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces; Gay Talese's Thy Neighbor's Wife; Brian Friel's play Translations first performed; Ken Follett's The Key to Rebecca; Death of Jean-Paul Sartre
• 1981 in literature – Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children; Thomas Harris's Red Dragon; Death of Christy Brown
• 1982 in literature – José Saramago's Memorial do Convento (Baltasar and Blimunda); Alice Walker's The Color Purple; Primo Levi's Se non ora, quando? (If Not Now, When?); L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth; Isabel Allende's La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits); Charles Bukowski's Ham on Rye; Roald Dahl's The BFG; Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing; Fernando Pessoa's The Book of Disquiet; Stephen King's The Gunslinger; David Eddings' The Belgariad; Ken Follett's The Man from St. Petersburg; Death of Philip K. Dick
• 1983 in literature – J. M. Coetzee's Life & Times of Michael K; Salman Rushdie's Shame; Terry Pratchett's Discworld; Parker Brothers and Random House publish the first Care Bears books; Ken Follett's On Wings of Eagles; Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings; Stephen King's Pet Sematary; Dean Koontz's Phantoms; Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy; Palanca Awardee's Luha ng Buwaya; Death of Arthur Koestler
• 1984 in literature – Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being; José Saramago's O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis (The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis); Richard Harris' play Stepping Out first performed; Don DeLillo's White Noise; Julian Barnes's Flaubert's Parrot; Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October; Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars; Antonio Tabucchi's Indian Nocturne; Glen Cook's The Black Company; Death of Truman Capote, Michel Foucault
• 1985 in literature – Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; Gabriel García Márquez's El amor en los tiempos del cólera (Love in the Time of Cholera); Patrick Süskind's Perfume; Carlos Fuentes's The Old Gringo; Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express; Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game; Ken Follett's Lie Down with Lions; Death of Italo Calvino
• 1986 in literature – Thomas Bernhard's Extinction; Caryl Churchill's A Mouthful of Birds; Stephen King's It; Brian Lumley's Necroscope; Tony Ross' I Want My Potty; Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart; Brian Jacques' Redwall; Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle; Death of Jorge Luis Borges, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Genet, Christopher Isherwood, Juan Rulfo, Jaroslav Seifert
• 1987 in literature – Toni Morrison's Beloved; Alfred Uhry's play Driving Miss Daisy first performed; Haruki Murakami's Noruwei no mori (Norwegian Wood); Tom Clancy's Patriot Games; Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore; Martin Handford's Where's Wally?; Stephen King's Misery; Dean Koontz's Watchers; Death of Primo Levi
• 1988 in literature – Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses; Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media; Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time; Roald Dahl's Matilda; Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda; Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming Pool Library; Grazyna Miller's Curriculum, Umberto Eco's Il pendolo di Foucault (Foucault's Pendulum)
• 1989 in literature – Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day; John Banville's The Book of Evidence; Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club; Michael Rosen's We're Going on a Bear Hunt; Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth; David McKee's Elmer; Death of Samuel Beckett, Thomas Bernhard

See also

• 1980s subcultures