The 1980s

Music

by Avery Kim

Many new genres were created in the 1980s. These genres were dance music and new wave. However many people still enjoyed listening to rock and roll. Many songs began to feature digital recording and synthesisers. Singers such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Bon Jovi were extremely popular. Their songs " Livin On A Prayer", "Beat It", "Thriller", and "Like A Virgin" grew to be heavily liked by the young audience.

"Livin On A Prayer" was released in 1986 by Bon Jovi. On VH1's The 100 Greatest Songs Of The 80s, voters voted "Livin On A Prayer" as No. 1. It is No. 1 on the "Sing-A-Song's-Classic List". The Billboard Hot Anniversary 50, "Livin On A Prayer" was named 46 in the All Time Rock Songs.

"Take On Me" was also a very popular pop song. It was written by the pop band A-ha. It is a synthpop song. Synthpop is a type of music where a synthesizer is the dominant instrument. It has grown to become on of the most successful singles of all time.

"Come on, Eileen" was a single released by Dexys Midnight Runners in 1982. Many remixes and versions have been released of this song. The main section always features a violin along with a drum beat. Bass guitar and piano accompany it. The bridge section gradually gets louder and louder and builds to a crescendo. The melody and key changes very frequently throughout the song. Channel 4 (A UK TV channel) labeled it at number 38 on 100 Greatest Single of All Time. VH1 placed at number three in the 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders of All Time, number 18 in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s, and number one in the 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders of the 80s. The song reached number one on Billboard Top 100.

Thats what many 80s songs were like. Dance and Rock dominated the 80s. "Don't Stop Believing" and "The Final Countdown" are examples of songs that combined the two genres into one song.

Cinematography

By: Laila Palmer

Many very popular movies were either horror or science fiction. Back to the Future, for example spent 11 straight weeks as #1 on the charts after its release on June 3, 1985. Ghostbusters was #1 on the charts for 5 consecutive weeks. Friday the 13th was yet another hit in the box office in the horror genre, credited as the best movie of the year 1980. It gained $5,819,321 in its first week.

Friday the 13th was an extremely popular horror movie. Its main setting was a place called Camp Crystal in the woods. It was reopened after its closing a few years ago due to the death of a camper. The celebration of its reopening was short lived, a string of serial killings, all counselors, soon followed. At the end only one camper survived, and she was able to kill the serial killer. This is a perfect example of the recipe for the typical horror movies:

Add:

1 young (usually white) heroine

2+ extra victims

1 crazy psychopathic killer/supernatural beast

1+ mysterious/creepy setting (i.e. graveyard, forest, old castle, etc.)

Back to the Future was another very popular movie, but in the genre of science fiction. It centers around a teenage boy who travels through time to when his parents were in high school, and, unfortunately for him, his mother gets a crush on him. He is forced to set things right, and figure out a way to get home. This also shows a typical formula for its genre:

Add:

1 young hero (male or female)

1 problem that is theorized to be able to happen in the far future or theorized by scientists in the past (time travel mistakes, aliens attack, etc.)

1 sidekick (optional)

Often the two genres overlap often, resulting in movies like The Thing, or Terror vision. As a result, it makes sense that the two would be hand and hand as the most popular genres of that time. Science fiction and horror are usually a winning team.

1980s Television

By: Ethan Chen

In the 1980s many popular sitcoms were watched and produced. For example The Golden Girls was a sitcom that included older woman such as Rue McClanahan, Beatrice Arthur, Estelle Getty and Betty White. Almost all of the sitcoms were about

The Golden Girls aired from 1985-1992, was about four women who were widows or divorced, living in the same house together. Some episodes that were aired included issues that occurred in that time. For example being gay or lesbian was included in certain episodes. Most of the episodes' scenes were in the house and one of the women would always present an issue in their lives, to the others and would be solved through conversations with all four of them

The Cosby Show starred Bill Cosby who played as Dr.Heathcliff Huxtable. His wife Clair Huxtable and him raised five children.

Alf was a science fiction tv show that starred Gordon Shumway who was an alien. The story behind it is that Gordon was following a signal from Earth and fell into a backyard of the Tanners. The Tanners were played by Max Wright (The father),Anne Schedeen (The Mom), Andrea Elson (their daughter), Benji Gregory (their son) and the family cat Lucky. The family protects ALF/ Gordon from their nosy neighbors and the military from taking him away.

Cheers is similar to the The Golden Girls because they are both about people meeting up in one area socializing. In Cheers a few locals go to a bar to relax and talk. While the show was running this sitcom became one of the most popular series. In some episodes they had special guests such as Luis Tiant and Wade Boggs .

Family Ties was set in Columbus,Ohio and it starred Michael Gross (Hippy Father), Meredith Baxter-Birney (Hippy Mother), Michael J. Fox (their son), Justine Bateman their oldest daughter and Tina Yothers ( their youngest daughter). The children had two hippy parents. Some of the guest stars were Judith Light and Tom Hanks. Family Ties has been referenced in many modern shows such as The Simpsons.

1980s News

By: Timofey Dikarev

In the 1980s many important events in history happened, from the discovery of the AIDS virus to the death of John Lennon. But, what ties all these events together is what not all people understand.

AIDS was a very large problem at the time but, until Ronald Reagan spoke to the public the terror did not stop. Gary Bauer, questioning whether Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the U.S.A., elected in 1981, should be allowed to speak about AIDS to the public. Until Reagan stood up for the cause, and highlighted the importance of safe sex.

John Lennon's death taking place on December eighth, 1980, affected the whole world by taking the hope from the Beatles ever reuniting, and promoted violence. The killer Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon for fame, this might have led to the killing of other celebrities for fame.

The Challenger space shuttle was an attempt at getting high school teachers into space in the year of 1986, but it failed, taking the lives of 7 astronaut teachers. This incident was shown on live television and lacked censorship, this was a very tragic moment in the history of the United States, since everyone was able to share in on the tragedy.

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