1980s

Women were stepping up and smashing the glass ceiling with their stilettos, big hair and shoulder pads. Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female Prime Minister in 1979 and held on to the position throughout the eighties. Following the winter of discontent she famously took up a broom and said that she would sweep in changes - she did.

The British landscape was changed forever as the Iron Lady wielded her power.

Margaret Thatcher

Still in the political arena porn star Cicciolina won a seat in the Italian parliament in 1987 as the rest of the world shook their heads in amazement.

In 1988 Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to head an Islamic nation when she became Pakistan's Prime Minister.

Even in the justice system women were 'doing it for themselves' with Sandra Day O'Connor becoming the first female Supreme Court Justice in the USA.

In the world of entertainment the Queen of Chat, Oprah Winfrey burst onto our screens in the 80s with The Oprah Winfrey Show airing for the first time in 1986.

Oprah Winfrey

The title of Ms came to the fore in the eighties as opposed to Miss and Mrs. Ms could be used regardless of marital status. The eighties also saw the rise of women continuing to use their maiden name after marriage. As more and more women continued into higher education and gained qualifications in their maiden names it was only a matter of time before they would keep them in their working lives at least.

As women embraced the corporate world they also embraced suits. Women threw away the florals and wore suits with shoulder pads to appear more powerful. They also teamed their suits with big hair and big jewelry.

One of the biggest television events of 1980 occurred on November 21st with the infamous Dallas season finale in which Larry Hagman's character JR Ewing was shot. The Who Shot JR? question kept audiences on their toes.

Then in December we were shocked as news came that the peace loving ex-Beatle John Lennon had been shot outside of his New York apartment. A candlelight vigil was held by fans and the entertainment world was in morning.

1981 saw two 'big news' assassination attempts made. The first took place on March 30th when John Hinkley tried to kill US President Ronald Reagan in a misguided attempt to impress Jodie Foster.

On May 13th 1981 an assassination attempt was made on Pope John Paul II by a mentally disturbed Turk.

Pope John Paul II

In 1985 Swedish premier Olaf Palme was assassinated.

1989 saw the decade end with some shocking shootings - Menendez brothers shooting, Tiannamen Square carnage and the Montreal Massacre.

Warning - tampons can cause Toxic Shock Syndrome. In 1980, Procter and Gamble announced a recall of it's Rely brand of tampons when federal studies concluded that their use increased the chances of toxic shock syndrome. Tampons were so convenient for women to use that this information caused quite a jolt. Companies switched to unbleached cotton and, thankfully, tampons were considered safe again.

AIDS hit the headlines when Rock Hudson died. I can remember it being on the front page of the papers and all of a sudden everyone was talking about this disease that homosexuals were passing around. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - AIDS. Of course we soon learnt that it could be spread by any unsafe sex, but initially gays in the 80s were treated very much like the blacks of the 50s.

Rock Hudson

I remember a friend of my father's refusing to drink out of cans any more, because anyone could have touched the can at some point and could have left AIDS germs on it! It seems totally pathetic now, but people were really paranoid because of lack of information. AIDS was the stuff of nightmares.

People were also shocked when Karen Carpenter died. Her death brought with it an awareness of Anorexia Nervosa and the senseless waste of a beautiful singer's life.

Musically punk was dead, but there was still room for a little disco vibe. The New Romantic movement began in the UK in the 1980s with Spandau Ballet. The use of synthesizers brought with it a blend of electro pop that was extremely popular.

One of the most dramatic changes that would shape the music of the eighties was a new television channel that came into being on August 1st 1981. MTV, the 24 hour music channel that would encourage bands to produce fantastic music videos. The first song played on MTV? It just had to be the Buggles with Video Killed the Radio Star.

Trevor Horn (the man behind the Buggles) continued to be influencial throughout the eighties as a producer. Another influence in the music industry was Malcolm McLaren, most famous for being the manager of the Sex Pistols in the 70s, Malcolm sensed that change was coming.

After advising Adam Ant, he stole his band away and formed Bow Wow Wow. He also gave George O'Dowd his first shot at singing on stage under the name Captain Lush......George O'Dowd would become better known as Boy George the lead singer of Culture Club.

On the other side of the Atlantic Michael Jackson had broken away from his brothers to start a solo career and his album Thriller was released in 1982. This album earnt Michael Jackson the nickname the King of Pop as it became the most successful album of all time.

Also making her mark in the eighties was the Queen of Pop - Madonna.

The power ballad was huge in the eighties and it seemed that every where you looked rockers were belting them out. The eighties also seemed to have a record number of one hit wonders including annoying songs such as shaddup you face and the birdie song.

The biggest musical event of the decade was Live Aid. The idea for this event started in 1984 with Band Aid, then USA for Africa followed in 1985 and finally Live Aid. All of the top musical acts of the time performed on both sides of the Atlantic in a free concert to raise money for the Ethiopian famine.

The biggest musical scandal had to be Milli Vanilli, after being awarded a Grammy it was revealed that the duo were just lipsyncing!!

Milli Vanilli

Before Bush's gaffs we enjoyed Reaganisms - Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980. The former actor entertained us with comments that he made such as my favorite (when he didn't realize that the microphone was turned on) - "My fellow Americans, I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbochov became the leader of the USSR and with his leadership change came to the Soviet Union - by the end of the decade the first McDonalds was even opened in Moscow!

Mikhail Gorbochov also brought a couple of Russian words into the English language - glasnost & perestroika. This wasn't the only way that language changed during the 80s, we also found that we embraced acronyms and all of a sudden people were talking about Yuppies and dinkies etc.

Then the world was introduced to Trivial Pursuit. (Photo courtesy of Olivander.)

The Cabbage Patch dolls, complete with their own birth certificates, were first born in the 80s and Barbie dolls were still popular. There were also Sindy dolls which were a poorer version of Barbies, but they still came with their own houses, horses and a huge range of clothes.

Who can forget the 80s video games?

Space Invaders (technically 1979) was a game I used to be able to play when the carnival came to town - I wasn't allowed into the Games Arcades that were starting to spring up around the country. Pac-Man was also huge during the 80s (we had a cheaper version at home on our personal gaming system - way cool!).

IBM-PC's rolled off the factory lines and some of the lucky people were able to own their own PC. My folks worked two jobs in order to get my brother and I one. I remember teaching myself BBC Basic one summer holiday and writing a little computer program.....what ever happened to BBC Basic??

Forget memory sticks Floppy discs were what you used in these computers!

Floppy Disk Journal

The first Nintendo home entertainment system was introduced - who could have envisaged the game systems we have now?

There were some great movies during the 80s - ones that won Oscars such as Platoon and ones that won a place in 80s pop culture such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Oliver Stone made his writing and directing debut in the 80s
John Hughes owned the teen movie market in the eighties with movies such as The Breakfast Club & Sixteen Candles.

Wes Craven introduced us to Freddy Kruger which kept audiences awake in his Nightmare on Elm Street series of movies.

There were also the dance movies of the 80s. One of these movies was Fame which also spawned a television series. Other dance movies of the eighties were Flashdance, Footloose and Dirty Dancing.

This 80s webpage was last updated by lou16 on 4th February 2012