1980s world news continues to reflect current events

Photo+shows+We+are+the+World+singers+in+the+studio.+Photo+courtesy+of+buzzfeed.com.

Photo shows “We are the World” singers in the studio. Photo courtesy of buzzfeed.com.

 The 1980s was an iconic time, filled with synth, neon and big hair, and new generations are following its style en masse, but the ’80s was filled with a lot of violence and new discoveries like the new century today. From the new generation’s angle, the problems in the world in the 1980s were much different, but weirdly alike with the ones today.

• Sept. 22, 1980: The Iran-Iraq war began. It is also widely known as the First Persian Gulf war.
• Jan. 20, 1981: Ronald Reagan was elected as president of the United States. He held the position till January 1989.
• Dec. 8, 1980: John Lennon, lead vocalist from the ever-famous and beloved band The Beatles, was shot dead by Mark Chapman in New York City. The murderer later pleaded “not guilty” by claiming insanity.
• May 18, 1980: Mt. St. Helens in Washington erupted after precisely 123 years; a total of 34 people were killed.
• May 22, 1980: Pac-Man was released in the U.S., gripping people in an addictive rage.
• June to Sept. 1980: An extremely harsh heat wave killed over 1,250 people in the United States, temperatures soaring to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, almost every day from June to September.
• June 1, 1980: CNN, founded by Ted Turner, had its first broadcast worldwide.
• June 30, 1980: Queen debuted “Another One Bites the Dust.”
• 1980: Post-it notes and Rubik’s cubes swept the nation.
• March 30, 1981: Mark Hinkley attempted to murder then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan. Hinkley was released from his latest psychiatric hospital in 2016.
• May 11, 1981: Reggae legend Bob Marley died. He was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in July 1977, with symptoms showing on his toe. He refused amputation based on his religious beliefs, and eventually, the disease took a toll on him.
• July 29, 1981: Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married in London, with over 700 million TV viewers watching the ceremony. For their son, Prince Harry, only 53 million people tuned in for the 2018 royal wedding.
• Aug. 1, 1981: MTV was born.
• Nov 30, 1982: Michael Jackson released “Thriller” and remained as Billboard’s top 200 No. 1 single for 37 weeks, and the music video became the world’s most successful music video at the time.
• 1983: Crack cocaine was made for the first time in Bahamas and used vastly in the U.S. within a couple of years.
• 1983: Motorola introduced the first mobile phone in the U.S.
• Jan. 27 1984: Michael Jackson suffered from serious burn injuries while shooting for a Pepsi commercial
• Dec. 3, 1984: A large-scale chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, claimed over 2,000 lives overnight. Almost 13,000 others passed away later due to gas-related diseases. Several thousands are still suffering from permanent disabilities to date.
• June 8, 1984: The movie Ghostbusters and its title track debuted.
• 1984: Stormie Jones, age 6, was the first-ever recipient of a heart-liver transplant. Dr. Thomas Starzl, an organ transplant expert and the father of modern transplantation, performed the surgery in Pittsburg. Unfortunately, Jones acquired hepatitis in her new liver, and had to undergo another transplant but didn’t make it. Jones died in 1990 at age 13.
• March 7, 1985: The song “We are the World” debuted many famous singers like Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, Tina Turner.  Sales of the single raised in excess of $63 million ($141 million, adjusted for inflation), of which about 90 percent was sent to Africa for efforts in birth control and food production. The remaining 10 percent of funds was earmarked for domestic hunger and homeless programs in the US.
• June 7, 1985: The Goonies from Steven Spielberg debuted for the first time in the United States.
• Sept. 1, 1985: Dr. Robert Ballard discovered and filmed Titanic wreckage, two miles below the North Atlantic ocean line.
• Sept. 19, 1985: Mexico City was struck by an earthquake of 8.1 magnitude on the Richter scale, leaving more than 9,000 dead.
• Oct. 2, 1985: Actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS — the first known celebrity who passed away due to the disease.
• Jan. 28, 1986: The U.S. space shuttle Challenger went up in flames immediately after its launch, killing all seven astronauts present inside.
• Sept. 8, 1986: The famous Oprah Winfrey Show was born as the show A. M. Chicago, which was later renamed for the host by Roger Ebert.
• Oct. 31, 1986: Bon Jovi released the song “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
• May 2, 1987: Whitney Houston came out with  “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.”
• July 21, 1987: Guns ‘n’ Roses debuted “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”
• 1987: Prozac, the drug that has helped thousands of people battle depression, became available as a prescription drug.
• Nov. 8, 1988: George H. W. Bush was elected as president of the United States after serving as vice president with Ronald Reagan. He is said to have played a key role in improving relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union.
• 1988: Nike debuted its famous tagline “Just Do It.”
• June 13, 1989: The Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• April 1989: Nintendo released the first Game Boy in Japan, and released the handheld video game player in North America in August.

Sources: cnn.com, upi.com, bing.com, history.com, thoughtco.com.