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Logan Carnes, Heather Haas, Russell Lang, Kylie Lynch

Mr. Wren

US History, Pd 3

13 May 2019

Life in the 80’s

The decade of the 1980’s was a time of change in politics, technology, culture values, and

pop culture movements, that are still prominent in modern society. The standard of living was

completely altered for many Americans during this time period. Although cable television was

available to people during the 70s, it became more common in the average household during the

80s. This offered a whole new way of entertainment for the average family. Sport lovers would

watch ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network), which was accessible 24 hours

a day. Nickelodeon was directed to children specifically, but enjoyed by people of all ages.

Along with this, CNN (Cable News Network) was broadcasted for Americans to keep up to date

with the current world news.

TECHNOLOGIES

The Videocassette recorder (VCR), although invented in the late 1970s, was produced

throughout the 80s. This allowed users to conveniently record anything off of the television,

allowing them to keep up with shows on their own time. VCRs also gave people access to

feature films in the comfort of their own home. Due to more convenient technologies such as
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Netflix and Hulu, VCRs are rarely used in modern society. Along with this, the personal

computer was invented in 1977 by Apple and drastically impacted the life of Americans

throughout the 1980s. This gave people easy access to manage finances and word-processing.

There were also business advantages associated with the introduction of this advanced

technology. Specifically, businesses were able to manage payroll, inventories, and mailing lists

from one device. The personal computer has definitely become more advanced and relied upon,

but it would not be what it is today without the growth made from this first model.

MUSIC

As we look back on music from the past, it is apparent that each decade has a different

style that it is remembered for. In America, music plays an important role in culture because the

sounds produced by each artist tends to reflect the mood of the overall country. The 80s was a

huge decade for music and with disco’s declining popularity early in the decade, room was made

for new genres. These include Soft Rock, Glam Metal, Thrash Metal and also the rise of R&B,

Hip-Hop and Rap. Much of this decade’s music was characterized by its recognizable

synthesizers, distortion and pinch harmonics.

Major mainstream pop artists of the 80s include Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and

Whitney Houston. While in rock the biggest names out there were bands such as Queens , Van

Halen, AC/DC, Mӧtley Crüe, Scorpions, Whitesnake and many more. The 80s also saw the rise

of many successful solo artists such as Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Suzanne Vega and

Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks. Also with the rise of R&B, Hip-Hop and Rap along came many

new artists introducing the new genres. In R&B, mainstream artists Michael Jackson, Prince,
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Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie were decade defining icons. Along with new artists also came

the comebacks of many popular artists of the 70s including Diana Ross, Donna Summer and

Tina Turner. Some major Hip-Hop and Rap artists of the 1980s includes big names such as Slick

Rick, Eazy-E and Ice Cube. While rap groups existed at the time such as the all female group

Salt-N-Pepa and EPMD.

MTV also rose to fame in the 80s with the rise of music videos this carried on through the

90s and the early 2000s. On August 1, 1981, MTV debuted on television and it lead to the more

widespread airing of many music videos and live performances. In fact, before MTV music

were almost unheard and it was MTV that was what popularized them. With this came the the

original VJs. J.J. Jackson, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn

served as the first five video jockeys of the new show. Along with the new popular show came

the MTV Music Awards which MTV launched in 1984. Some huge names that were featured on

the show were musicians such as Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

These artists were featured on MTV’s “I want my MTV” campaign which depicted the story of

the revolution of music videos. A successful turning point for MTV was the airing of Michael

Jackson’s “Thriller”. The famous 13 minute long music video that premiered on the show on

December 2, 1983 not only revolutionized music video production but broke the opened up

racial diversity on the show. Some of the other most famous music videos premiered on MTV

were Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”, Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and a-ha’s

“Take On Me” among many others.

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MOVIES

Films from the 1980s were made with simple plots that could be outlined in only a few

sentences. This allowed most movies to be understood by an audience of all ages. Along with

this, film franchises became more emphasized in the film industry. Some of the more popular

franchises include science fiction, horror, and action. While most movies in the 80s were

marketed toward a large audience, there were many movies that did not have appropriate content

for children and young teens. In this time period, nudity became more common in movies. An

example of this came out in 1980 and was titled The Blue Lagoon. This popular movie showed

female-frontal nudity, and showcased multiple sex scenes.

In 1984, PG-13 became a new rating offered to describe movies that fit between PG

(parental guidance) and R (restricted). This was created due to the complaints filed by parents

regarding violence in PG movies such as Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom;

both of which are still enjoyed by viewers today. With this new rating, films are able to be

reviewed and categorized in a more specific manner. Some critics claim that in terms of quality,

the 1980s is actually qualified as one of the weaker decades for American film production.

Although, a film theorist, David Bordwell, disagrees with their views, and believes that the

“megapicture mentality” continued into this decade from the 70s.

As in every decade, movies in the 1980s had many trends that were apparent in the work

of many different production teams. The blockbuster boom that occured in the 1970s was

strengthened during the 80s. These films would make such a large income because they would

release their movies when there was little competition in the theaters. Viewers would watch their
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movies out of interest, or simply because there was nothing else that looked interesting. In the

1980s some movies were hybrids that contained multiple genres in one film. This made

certain movies appeal to a much wider audience.

DRUGS

Popular drugs in the 80’s included Ecstasy, Marijuana, Crack, LSD, Meth and Cocaine.

Cocaine users outnumbered Alcohol-Abusers in the 1980’s. Cocaine was everywhere because it

was so addictive, available and cheap. This increased gang violence, especially in big gangs like

Supreme Team in New York and the Young Boys inc in Detroit. Studies in the Mid 80’s showed

the link between cocaine and babies, and the range of damaging effects. Drug cartel forms began

in 1981, led by Carlos Lehder. General manuel Noriega allows Pablo Escobar also known as

“The King of Coke” to ship cocaine through Panama. Even by 1982, Cocaine passed coffee as an

eport. College basketball store Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose two days after being drafted

to the Boston Celtics at Number two.

This strong stimulant mostly used as a recreational drug is typically either dissolved,

snorted and injected into the veins or inhaled as smoke. German chemist Albert Niemann

isolated cocaine from coca leaves in 1860. He noticed that the powdery white substance made his

tongue feel numb. Around the same time, French chemist Angelo Mariani concocted a tonic

made from Bordeaux wine and coca leaves. He called it Vin Mariani. Advertisements claimed

the popular drink could “restore health and vitality.” Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist

who founded the field of psychoanalysis, was fascinated with cocaine. Sigmund Freud and

William Halsted were two medical revolutionaries, Freud, the well-known father of
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psychoanalysis, Halsted, the less well-known father of modern surgery. But just beneath the

black-and-white success, there's another story. Both men shared a blinding addiction to cocaine.

Early in his career, he began to experiment with the drug.

In 1899, Coca-Cola began selling its drink in bottles. The lower classes and minorities

now had access to the cocaine-infused tonic. This is what really started addition to coke in

America and what began Coca-Cola’s brand. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was one of the

country’s first forays into national drug legislation. Dr. Howard Markel describes the coke

addiction as, “All they saw were the good aspects. No one knew — down the road, it was very

obvious when you had all these addicts that were created. And it was overprescribed, as was

morphine and opium, for everything.” And it wasn't until about five or 10 or 20 years later, that

people started to say, hey, everybody I know is addicted to this stuff. There was no such thing as

controlled substances either. You didn't need a prescription. You could just buy it at a drugstore

on your own. It really outlines the morality play that continues to this day of every blockbuster

pharmaceutical agent: This drug, when it comes out, is the greatest, the newest, the best. And

then, as we find out more and more, well, it's not so great. It has to be used under certain

conditions.

COCAINE 80’S

Cocaine is a stimulant drug that’s made from the leaves of the South American coca

plant. For thousands of years, indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest and Andes Mountains

have chewed coca leaves to get an energetic high. European scientists first isolated cocaine from

coca leaves in the 1850s. Once lauded as a medical “wonder drug,” experts now recognize
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cocaine as one of the most addictive substances on Earth. Crack cocaine—a crystallized form of

the drug—became popular in the 1980s. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency

(DEA), the price of illegal cocaine dropped by as much as 80 percent during the late 1970s as a

glut of the white powder flooded the U.S. market. Dealers looking for new ways to sell their

products turned to crack.Crack could be produced by dissolving powdered cocaine in a mixture

of water and ammonia and boiling it down until a solid formed. Broken into smaller chunks, or

“rocks,” this solid form could be smoked.Smoking crack brings a short, intense high, making the

substance more addictive than powdered cocaine. Crack was also a lot cheaper than cocaine

powder. In 1985, crack sold for about five dollars a rock in most cities.When the first crack

house was discovered in Miami in 1982, it drew little national attention. The DEA thought it was

a localized phenomenon. But by 1983, crack appeared in New York and soon spread to other

major cities.

Crack usage began to surge in the 1980s. Between 1985 and 1989, the number of regular

cocaine users jumped from 4.2 million to 5.8 million people. Around the same time, crime in

some major cities spiked. A 1988 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that crack use

was tied to 32 percent of all homicides and 60 percent of all drug-related homicides in New York

City. Public concerns over illicit drug use had been building throughout the 1980s, and political

tensions erupted as the nation entered a so-called “crack epidemic.”

POPULAR CULTURE

In some respects, the popular culture of the 1980s reflected the era's political conservatism. For

many people, the symbol of the decade was the "yuppie": a baby boomer with a college
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education, a well-paying job and expensive taste. Many people derided yuppies for being

self-centered and materialistic, and surveys of young urban professionals across the country

showed that they were, indeed, more concerned with making money and buying consumer goods

than their parents and grandparents had been. However, in some ways yuppiedom was less

shallow and superficial than it appeared. Popular television shows like “thirtysomething” and

movies like “The Big Chill” and “Bright Lights, Big City” depicted a generation of young men

and women who were plagued with anxiety and self-doubt. They were successful, but they

weren't sure they were happy.

At the movie theater, the 1980s was the age of the blockbuster. Movies like “E.T.: The

Extra-Terrestrial,” “Return of the Jedi,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Beverly Hills Cop”

appealed to moviegoers of all ages and made hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.

The 1980s was also the heyday of the teen movie. Films like “The Breakfast Club,” “Some Kind

of Wonderful” and “Pretty in Pink” are still popular today.

At home, people watched family sitcoms like “The Cosby Show,” “Family Ties,”

“Roseanne” and “Married...with Children.” They also rented movies to watch on their new

VCRs. By the end of the 1980s, 60 percent of American television owners got cable service–and

the most revolutionary cable network of all was MTV, which made its debut on August 1, 1981.

The music videos the network played made stars out of bands like Duran Duran and Culture

Club and made megastars out of artists like Michael Jackson (1958-2009), whose elaborate

"Thriller" video helped sell 600,000 albums in the five days after its first broadcast. MTV also

influenced fashion: People across the country (and around the world) did their best to copy the
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hairstyles and fashions they saw in music videos. In this way, artists like Madonna (1958-)

became (and remain) fashion icons. As the decade wore on, MTV also became a forum for those

who went against the grain or were left out of the yuppie ideal. Rap artists such as Public Enemy

channeled the frustration of urban African Americans into their powerful album “It Takes a

Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.” Heavy metal acts such as Metallica and Guns N’ Roses

also captured the sense of malaise among young people, particularly young men. Even as Reagan

maintained his popularity, popular culture continued to be an arena for dissatisfaction and debate

throughout the 1980s.

ROYAL WEDDING

Rewind Breaking News The History Channel: British Movietone covers one of the most

famous weddings in history: the marriage of Prince Charles of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

3,500 guests in St. Paul's Cathedral witness the event, as well as an estimated global television

audience of 750 million. The Archbishop of Canterbury leads the traditional Church of England

service. Diana's nerves showed briefly when she mixes up her husband's many first names during

the recitation of the wedding vows. This video clip is courtesy of The History Channel.

AIDS

The sexual revolution was growing uncontrollably with the spread of AIDS, or Acquired

Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This common disease was transferred to people through the

sharing of needles or sexual activities, particularly between people of the same sex. By 1980, this

incurable disease had been spread to five major continents: Europe, Australia, Africa, North

America, and South America. In June of 1983, there were reports of children affected with
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AIDS, and at first they believed it could spread through casual content. This was proved wrong

when it was realized that it could be acquired from their mothers in the birth process. In March

of 1995, the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) licensed blood tests to detect the virus in

the USA blood supply. By the end of this year, AIDS had already been reported in every region

of the world. In May of 1986, the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses declared

that the virus that leads to AIDS would be called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). By the

end of the 1980s, there was a world count of 400,000 cases of AIDS. Even to this day, this

terrible disease is still being spread throughout the entire world.

COLD WAR

Political, propaganda, and economic fronts all contributed to the Cold war. At the

beginning of the decade, as the Cold War showed no signs of warming, arms control advocates

argued for a "nuclear freeze"; agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. In

1982, almost a million people rallied in support of the freeze in New York City's Central Park.

Many historians believe this was the largest mass demonstration in American history. Like many

other American leaders during the Cold War, President Reagan believed that the spread of

communism anywhere threatened freedom everywhere. As a result, his administration was eager

to provide financial and military aid to anti communist governments and insurgencies around the

world. This policy, applied in nations including Grenada, El Salvador and Nicaragua, was known

as the Reagan Doctrine.

The Cold War came to the Olympics in 1980 as the United States led the way in a mass

boycott of the Moscow Games in protest at the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
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The Olympics have always tried to be a politics-free event but in 1980, it became a pawn in the

ongoing Cold War cat-and-mouse between the two superpowers; the United States and the

Soviet Union. In an attempt to force the Soviets to pull out of Afghanistan, President Jimmy

Carter issued an ultimatum that the United States would boycott the Moscow Games if Soviet

troops had not withdrawn from the country by 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 20,

1980. After the deadline passed and the Soviet-Afghan War continued unabated, Carter

confirmed the boycott of the Games on March 21. The US was joined in its boycott by the likes

of Japan, West Germany, China, the Philippines and Canada. The United Kingdom, France and

Greece supported the boycott but allowed their athletes to participate if they wished. The United

Kingdom and France sent a much smaller delegation of athletes than usual. However, the UK

delegation was the largest from Western Europe, with 170 athletes applying to compete. The

nations that fully boycotted the Games held their own event in the Philippines.

FALL OF BERLIN WALL

For twenty-eight years the Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold

War. A literal "iron curtain" dividing Europe. The Berlin Wall’s fall enforced the ideology of

the Western countries (capitalism) and symbolized the defeat of what was supposed to be a

government which brought about equality for all. This system was ultimately flawed because

there will always be people who work too little or too much. The fall of the Berlin wall ended

communist rule and allowed capitalism to become the primary government in the modern world.

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or

East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifaschistischer Schutzwall,” or
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“antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall

was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state,

but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin

Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party

announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night,

ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought

hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin Wall

remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

REAGAN

Ronald Reagan born February 6, 1911 served as the 40th president of the United States of

America. Reagan was raised on a farm in the small towns of northern Illinois to a poor family.

After graduating from Eureka College in 1932 he worked as a sports announcer and moved to

California in 1937. In California he began working as a Hollywood actor an starred in many big

films. He was then elected twice as a union leader to Screen Actors Guild where he worked to

annihilate Communist Influence. Early in his years, Ronald Reagan had been a Democrat but

later became a conservative and became a part of the Republican Party in 1962. In 1962, Reagan

made a speech which gave him attention for his political ideas and in 1966, he was elected to be

the 33rd governor of the State of California. As a Republican he successfully served two terms

as the governor.
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After eight years in office as California’s governor Reagan ran as a Republican for the

Presidential Campaign, won the nomination and presidency against Jimmy Carter and at 73,

Reagan has been the oldest president to ever be elected. This marked the beginning of the

decade nicknamed the “Reagan Era”. Not long after taking office as President, Reagan dropped

taxes, cut government spending and deregulated the economy. Soon the economy began to take

off and inflation dropped from 12.5% to 4.4% within his two terms as president. Some of his

major accomplishments as president was the ending of the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin

Wall, the bombing of Libya, the Iran-Iraq War and the War on Drugs. As well as these

accomplishments, Ronald Reagan also held an approval rate of 68% meeting that of President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Ronald Reagan’s presidency symbolized the 1980s and is known to

many as the president who changed the course of the United States for the better.
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xxxx​www.ushistory.org/us/59d.asp

“1980s In Film.” ​Wikipedia,​ Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Apr. 2019,

)))))))​)​en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_in_film.

“History of HIV and AIDS Overview.” ​AVERT,​ 26 Nov. 2018,

JJJJJJJ​www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Cold War.” ​Encyclopædia Britannica,​ Encyclopædia

XXXX​Britannica, Inc., 22 Jan. 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War.

“History of Drug Abuse: The 80's.” ​Palm Partners,​ 29 July 2013,

XXXX​www.palmpartners.com/history-of-drug-abuse-the-80s/.

“Cocaine: How 'Miracle Drug' Nearly Destroyed Sigmund Freud, William Halsted.” ​PBS​, Public

XXXX​Broadcasting Service, 17 Oct. 201​1, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cocaine-how-mi.

“History Rewind: The Royal Wedding 1981.” ​Google​, Google,

XXXx​www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/topics/1980s/history-rewind-the-royal-

XXXx​wedding-1981-video.

“Ronald Reagan.” ​Wikipedia​, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 May 2019,

XXX​en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan.

Editors, History.com. “Ronald Reagan.” ​History.com​, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009,

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Table of Contents

Technologies………………………………………………………...……………………….1

Music……………………………………………..………………………………………….2

Music (continued)....................................................................................................................3

Movies…………………………………………………………………….………………....4

Drugs………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Cocaine 80’s………………………………………………………………………………....6

Popular Culture……………………………………………………………………………...7

Popular Culture (continued).....................................................................................................8

Royal Wedding………………………………………………………………...……………..9

AIDS………………………………………………………………………………………...9

Cold War…………………………………………………………………………………….10

Fall of Berlin Wall……………………………………………….…………………………...11

Reagan………………………………………………………………………………………..12