1980s in music, North America, Country music
Country music groups and bands continued to rise in popularity during the 1980s. The most successful of the lot was Alabama, a Fort Payne-based band that blended traditional and pop-country sounds with southern rock. Their concerts regularly sold out, while their single releases regularly reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.


1980s in music, North America, Country music
Their mellow love ballad side would be most prominent in songs like "Feels So Right," "When We Make Love," "There's No Way" and "If I Had You," while their southern rock influences and Southern pride were most evident on songs like "Tennessee River," "Dixieland Delight" and "Song Of the South." In 1989, Alabama was named the Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music. By the end of the 1980s, the group had sold more than 24 million albums in the United States.


1980s in music, North America, Country music
Ranking just behind Alabama in popularity, as far as groups were concerned, were The Oak Ridge Boys and The Statler Brothers, both four-part harmony groups with the gospel and country-pop stylings. The Oak Ridge Boys found their biggest successes with songs like "Elvira," "Bobbie Sue" and "American Made." The Statlers began the decade with tenor singer Lew DeWitt, but health issues forced his retirement, and he'd be succeeded by Jimmy Fortune; with Fortune, the Statlers had three No. 1 hits, the biggest of which was "Elizabeth." The popularity of those three groups sparked a boom in new groups and bands, and by the end of the 1980s, fans were listening to such acts as Restless Heart and Exile, the latter which previously enjoyed success with the pop hit "Kiss You All Over".


1980s in music, North America, Country music
Despite the prevailing pop-country sound, enduring acts from the 1970s and earlier continued to enjoy great success with fans. George Jones, one of the longest-running acts of the time, recorded several successful singles, including the critically acclaimed "He Stopped Loving Her Today". Conway Twitty continued to have a series of No. 1 hits, with 1986's "Desperado Love" becoming his 40th chart-topper on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, a record that stood for nearly 20 years.


1980s in music, North America, Country music
The movie Coal Miner's Daughter profiled the life of Loretta Lynn (with Sissy Spacek in the lead role), while Willie Nelson also had a series of acting credits. Dolly Parton had much success in the 1980s, with several leading movie roles, two No. 1 album and 13 number one hits, and having many successful tours; she also teamed up with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt in 1987 for the multi-platinum Trio album. Others who had been around for a while and continued to have great success were Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Ray Price, Hank Williams Jr. and Tammy Wynette.


1980s in music, North America, Country music
In 1981, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline, two artists who died in the 1960s (both in plane crashes), re-emerged in the spotlight when producer Bob Ferguson electronically created the "duet" "Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)." Neither Reeves nor Cline recorded together during their lifetimes but both recorded some of the same songs, and it was the style of "Have You Ever Been Lonely" that was the most conducive to a duet. The song was a top-5 success on the country chart in early 1982, and even got minor pop airplay.


1980s in music, North America, Country music
In addition to newcomer Whitley, top classic country and influential performers who died during the decade included Red Sovine, Whitey Ford, Marty Robbins, Merle Travis, Ernest Tubb, Wynn Stewart and Tex Williams. Although not directly associated with country music, Roy Orbison, a popular performer with many country music fans and whose styles wound up being influential with many newcomers, died in 1988.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Post-punk
Some of the most successful post-punk bands at the beginning of the decade, such as Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Psychedelic Furs, also continued their success during the 1980s. Members of Bauhaus and Joy Division explored new stylistic territory as Love and Rockets and New Order respectively.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Post-punk
The second generation of British post-punk bands that broke through in the early 1980s, including the Smiths, the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Cure, the Fall, the Pop Group, the Mekons, Echo and the Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes, tended to move away from dark sonic landscapes.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Post-punk
Even though the Police's first hit song "Roxanne" was written by Sting in 1978 (reaching number 12 in the UK Charts that year), the song continued to grow in popularity in the 1980s along with the band. Even though The Police had their roots in post-punk, their eventual success (four consecutive UK number one studio albums) and mega-stardom came from being able to pack the biggest stadium rock venues such as Wembley, the Oakland Coliseum and the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Post-punk
Aside from U2, they are the only other band with post-punk origins to go on and achieve the kind of global success they did. Ireland's U2 incorporated elements of religious imagery together with political commentary into their often anthemic music, and by the late 1980s had become one of the biggest bands in the world.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Post-punk
Although many post-punk bands continued to record and perform, it declined as a movement in the mid-1980s as acts disbanded or moved off to explore other musical areas, but it has continued to influence the development of rock music and has been seen as a major element in the creation of the alternative rock movement.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, New wave music
The arrival of MTV in 1981 would usher in new wave's most successful era. British artists, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on. Several British acts signed to independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American artists that were signed with major labels. Journalists labelled this phenomenon a "Second British Invasion".


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, New wave music
In autumn 1982, "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock of Seagulls entered the Billboard Top Ten, arguably the first successful song that owed almost everything to video. They would be followed by bands like Duran Duran whose glossy videos would come to symbolize the power of MTV. Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" gently poked fun at MTV which had helped make them international rock stars. In 1983, 30% of the record sales were from British acts. 18 of the top 40 and 6 of the top 10 singles on July 18 were by British artists.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, New wave music
Overall record sales would rise by 10% from 1982. Newsweek magazine featured Annie Lennox and Boy George on the cover of one of its issues while Rolling Stone Magazine would release an England Swings issue. In April 1984 40 of the top 100 singles were from British acts while 8 of the top 10 singles in a May 1985 survey were of British origin. Veteran music journalist Simon Reynolds theorized that similar to the first British Invasion the use of black American influences by the British acts helped to spur success.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, New wave music
Commentators in the mainstream media credited MTV and the British acts with bringing colour and energy to back to pop music while rock journalists were generally hostile to the phenomenon because they felt it represented image over content. MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by new wave-oriented acts until 1987 when it changed to a heavy metal and rock dominated format.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, New wave music
New Romanticism emerged as part of the new wave music movement in London's nightclub including Billy's and The Blitz Club towards the end of the 1970s. Influenced by David Bowie and Roxy Music, it developed glam rock fashions, gaining its name from the frilly fop shirts of early Romanticism. New Romantic music often made extensive use of synthesisers. Pioneers included Visage and Ultravox and among the commercially most successful acts associated with the movement were Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. By about 1983, the original movement had dissolved, with surviving acts dropping most of the fashion elements to pursue mainstream careers. Other New Romantic artists included Classix Nouveaux, A Flock of Seagulls, Gary Numan, Japan, Landscape, Thompson Twins, Soft Cell, ABC, the Teardrop Explodes, Yazoo and Talk Talk.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Gothic rock
Gothic rock music developed out of the post-punk scene in the later 1970s. Notable early gothic rock bands include Bauhaus (whose "Bela Lugosi's Dead" is often cited as the first goth record), Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, and Fields of the Nephilim. Gothic rock gave rise to a broader goth subculture that included clubs, various fashion trends and numerous publications that grew in popularity in the 1980s, gaining notoriety by being associated by several moral panics over suicide and Satanism.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Heavy metal
In the early 1980s, the new wave of British heavy metal broke into the mainstream, as albums by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon and Motörhead, reached the British top 10. In 1981, Motörhead became the first of this new breed of metal bands to top the UK charts with No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. After a string of UK top 10 albums, Whitesnake's 1987 self-titled album was their most commercially successful, with hits, "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love", earning them a nomination for the Brit Award for Best British Group.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Heavy metal
Many metal artists, including Def Leppard, benefited from the exposure they received on ATV and became the inspiration for American glam metal. However, as the subgenre fragmented, much of the creative impetus shifted towards America and continental Europe (particularly Germany and Scandinavia), which produced most of the major new subgenres of metal, which were then taken up by British acts.


1980s in music, Europe, Rock, Heavy metal
These included thrash metal and death metal, both developed in the UK; black metal and power metal, both developed in continental Europe, but influenced by the British band Venom; and doom, which was developed in the US, but which soon were adopted by many bands from England, including Pagan Altar and Witchfinder General.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop
Phil Collins had three UK number-one singles in the 80s, seven US number-one singles, another with Genesis, and when his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more top 40 hits on the  Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 1980s than any other artist. His former Genesis colleague, Peter Gabriel, also had a very successful solo career, which included a US number-one single and three top ten UK hits (including a duet with Kate Bush).


1980s in music, Europe, Pop
Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford also enjoyed the several UK and US hits with his project Mike + The Mechanics, which included a US number-one single. David Bowie saw much greater commercial success in the 1980s than he had in the previous decade, scoring four UK number one singles, including "Let's Dance" which proved to be his biggest ever hit. He had a total of ten UK top ten hits during the decade, two in collaboration with other artists.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop
Boy George and his band Culture Club had great success in both the UK and US charts with major hits like "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)" and "Karma Chameleon". As well as Boy George having his own UK number one with his cover of Bread's "Everything I Own", he is considered a major icon of this era. Liverpool band Frankie Goes to Hollywood's initially controversial dance-pop gave them three consecutive UK number ones in 1984, until they faded away in the mid-1980s.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop
Dead or Alive, also from Liverpool, was another popular dance-pop band in the mid-1980s. It was fronted by lead singer Pete Burns. Probably the most successful British pop band of the era were the duo Wham! with an unusual mix of disco, soul, ballads and even rap, who had eleven top ten hits in the UK, six of them number ones, between 1982 and 1986. George Michael released his debut solo album, Faith in 1987, and would go on to have seven UK number one singles. The 1985 concert Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium would see some of the biggest British artists of the era perform, with Queen widely regarded as stealing the show.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop
Bonnie Tyler had major hits with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and  "Holding Out for a Hero", while Robert Palmer's had two iconic music videos for "Addicted to Love" and "Simply Irresistible". The Bee Gees 1987 single "You Win Again" reached number one, making them first group to score a UK #1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. Other British artists who achieved success in the pop charts in the 80s included Paul McCartney, Elton John, Culture Club, Kim Wilde, The Fixx, Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, Kate Bush, Billy Idol, Paul Young, Elvis Costello, Simple Minds, Billy Ocean, Tears for Fears, UB40, Madness and Sade.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop
In 1988, Irish singer Enya achieved a breakthrough in her career with the album Watermark which sold over eleven million copies worldwide and helped launch Enya's successful career as a leading new-age, Celtic, World singer. Dutch band Tambourine received some notoriety in The Netherlands and Belgium toward the end of the decade.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop, Synthpop
Synthpop emerged from new wave, producing a form of pop music that followed electronic rock pioneers in the 1970s like Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre, and Tangerine Dream, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. The sounds of synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s as well as replacing disco in dance clubs in Europe.


1980s in music, Europe, Pop, Synthpop
Other successful synthpop artists of this era included Pet Shop Boys, Alphaville, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, New Order, Gary Numan, The Human League, Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones, Yazoo, Art of Noise, Heaven 17, A Flock of Seagulls, OMD, Japan, Thompson Twins, Visage, Ultravox, Kajagoogoo, Eurythmics, a-ha, Telex, Real Life, Erasure, Camouflage, London Boys, Modern Talking, Bananarama, Yellow Magic Orchestra.


1980s in music, Latin America, Pop
The 1980s gave rise to the teenage groups Menudo, Timbiriche, and Los Chicos, as well as emerging teenage stars such as Luis Miguel, Sasha Sökol and Lucero. By 1988, however, the aforementioned Luis Miguel would transform into an adult superstar at age 18 with the hit La Incondicional (1989). Not too far behind was former Los Chicos' member Chayanne as he became a leading pop star by the end of the decade, with his 1987 hit Fiesta en America.


1980s in music, Latin America, Pop
As young stars begin to rise in Latin music, veterans such as Julio Iglesias, José José, Juan Gabriel, and José Luis Rodríguez El Puma continue their dominance in Latin music. 1985 saw the worldwide breakthrough success of "Conga" by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Argentine-Venezuelan singer Ricardo Montaner joins those veterans with his 1988 hit Tan Enamorado. After the slow decline of Fania All-Stars, the new romantic genre of salsa Romantica would rise beginning in 1984. Younger salseros such as Frankie Ruiz, Luis Enrique, and Eddie Santiago would take advantage of this new genre rising salsa to new heights. Tejano Music starts to give little rise after Mazz crosses over to Mexico after their albums Una Noche Juntos and No Te Olvidare win Grammys.


1980s in music, Latin America, Pop
In 1989, Juan Luis Guerra scores a major Merengue hit with Ojala que llueva cafe. In the 1980s, the regional music scene in both Mexico and the Mexican American community in the United States was dominated by grupera. This style of Mexican music combines cumbia, norteño, and rock music. The lyrics are rooted with romantic themes including heartbroken songs. Several notable grupera ensembles include Los Caminantes, Los Yonic's, Los Bukis, and Los Temerarios.


1980s in music, Latin America, Pop
In 1985 Sheena Easton and Luis Miguel wins the Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Performance for "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres". Eugenia León, representing Mexico, wins the 14th Annual OTI Festival with her song "El Fandango Aquí". in 1986 Vikki Carr wins the Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Performance for Simplemente Mujer.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
The Rock en Español movement began around the 1980s. Until the mid-80s the rock scene of most Spanish American countries was not connected, and it was rare for a rock band to gain acclaim and popularity outside its home country.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
Argentina, which had the largest national rock scene and music industry, became the birthplace of several influential rock acts. Soda Stereo from Buenos Aires is often acclaimed as the most influential rock band of the 80s alongside the solo careers of Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta and the new star Fito Páez from Rosario. Soda Stereo was among the first bands to successfully tour across most of Latin America. Argentina developed also during the 80s a ska rock and punk rock scene. The punk movement, which was pioneered by Los Violadores, led to the rise of the Buenos Aires Hardcore around 1990.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
In Chile, that was ruled by a military dictatorship all over the 80s, Nueva canción protest songs from the 60s and 70s maintained their popularity despite severe censorship. The progressive/folk-rock band Los Jaivas made a Latin American trademark album with Alturas de Macchu Picchu [sic] based on Pablo Neruda's homonymous poem. The rock band Los Prisioneros were successful in combining the protest song atmosphere of the 80s with newer trends in rock including punk, ska, new wave and techno. In the late 1980s, new bands such as Los Tres and La Ley would start to set the trends for the next decade.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
In Brazil, even though the 1960s witnessed the phenomenon of Jovem Guarda and the 1970s saw the appearance of many prolific artists, like Raul Seixas, and bands like Os Mutantes, Brazilian rock's explosion began in 1981 with the first expressions of the Brazilian new wave, later renamed the New Jovem Guarda by the media.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
The alterations of the English new wave movement, with its surprising variety of styles, arrived in Brazil through groups and personalities such as Blitz, Camisa de Vênus, Barão Vermelho, Kid Abelha, Paralamas do Sucesso, Ritchie, Lulu Santos, Rádio Táxi, Marina Lima, Engenheiros do Hawaii, RPM, Graffiti, Ultraje a Rigor, Legião Urbana, Ira!, Titãs, Capital Inicial, Nenhum de Nós, Biquini Cavadão, Lobão & Os Ronaldos, Léo Jaime, and innumerous others.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
In January 1985, the Rock in Rio festival took place in Rio de Janeiro, which brought together over one million people to the Cidade do Rock during the 10 days of the event, and is to this day the country's biggest and most influential festival. It represents a milestone in freedom of expression, as in that same year the country saw the end of the dictatorship, and it is also responsible for establishing Brazil as a venue for international artists - as, so far, foreign attractions had been rarities.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
In Mexico, the Rock music scene at the time first saw a heavy lack of opportunity as musical acts could not make a solid living from playing alone. Other key factors were that of economic and political instability. Many consider this decade as the lost decade. The government would not allow racy themed content on television and the airwaves, music festivals were not allowed. The music that dominated Mexico and much of Latin America during this era were mostly teen flavored acts like Menudo, Timbiriche, Flans and others.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
Rock acts could not land any recording deal because record label executives were much more interested in selling listeners a colourful, hip and trendy image to the general public ranging from youngsters to middle-aged adults.


1980s in music, Latin America, Rock
With the strong impact of Argentine and Spanish rock bands by the mid-1980s, the local scene would begin to develop acts that would generate an identity of its own. Among these were bands like El Tri, Maldita Vecindad, Los Amantes de Lola and Caifanes.


1980s in music, Latin America, Salsa
The salsa music had developed in the 1960s and '70s by Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants to the New York City area but did not enter into mainstream popularity in Latin America until the late 1980s. The salsa music became together with cumbia the two most popular dance music but did not penetrate other countries outside the Caribbean as cumbia did.


1980s in music, Latin America, Salsa
The 1980s was a time of diversification, as popular salsa evolved into sweet and smooth salsa romantica, with lyrics dwelling on love and romance, and its more explicit cousin, salsa erotica. Salsa Romantica can be traced back to Noches Calientes, a 1984 album by singer José Alberto "El Canario" with producer Louie Ramirez. A wave of romantic singers found a wide audience among Latinos in both New York and Puerto Rico. The 1980s also saw salsa expand to Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Europe and Japan, and diversify into many new styles.


1980s in music, Latin America, Salsa
In the 1980s some performers experimented with combining elements of salsa with hip hop music, while the producer and pianist Sergio George helped to revive salsa's commercial success. He created a sound based on prominent trombones and a rootsy, mambo-inspired style. He worked with the Japanese salsa band Orquesta de la Luz, and developed a studio orchestra that included Tito Nieves, Celia Cruz, José Alberto, La India, Tito Puente and Luis Enrique. The Colombian singer Joe Arroyo first rose to fame in the 1970s but became a renowned exponent of Colombian salsa in the 1980s. Arroyo worked for many years with the Colombian arranger Fruko and his band Los Tesos.


1980s in music, Latin America, Merengue
Merengue music would hit its golden years during the 1980s starting in the late 70s with acts such as Wilfrido Vargas, Johnny Ventura, and Fernando Villalona. Their orchestras would also churn future solo acts such as Eddy Herrera and Rubby Perez. By the end of the decade, La Coco Band would reinvent merengue with a more comedic style.


1980s in music, Australia and New Zealand
Australian rock band INXS achieved international success during the decade with a series of hit recordings, including the albums Listen Like Thieves (1985), Kick (1987), and the singles "Original Sin" (1984), "Need You Tonight" (1987), "Devil Inside" (1988) and "New Sensation" (1987).


1980s in music, Australia and New Zealand
Kylie Minogue first single, "Locomotion" became a huge hit in Minogue's native Australia, spending seven weeks at number one on the Australian singles chart. The single eventually became the highest-selling Australian single of the decade. Throughout Europe and Asia the song also performed well on the music charts, reaching number one in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, and South Africa. The Australian rock band Men at Work achieved success in 1981 with the single "Down Under" topping Australian charts for two consecutive weeks.


1980s in music, Australia and New Zealand
In 1980, New Zealand rock band Split Enz released their album True Colours, which became an international success. Their single "I Got You", which was praised for its "Beatle-Esque" chorus, reached the top ten in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, reached number twelve in the United Kingdom, and even charted the United States. Split Enz also received significant exposure in the United States upon the release of MTV, which featured several Split Enz videos in the early days of its broadcast.


1980s in music, Australia and New Zealand
However, after several line-up changes, which included the departure of prominent member Tim Finn, the band broke up in 1984 (another prominent New Zealand/Australian band, Mi-Sex, known for its hit single "Computer Games", disbanded the same year). Neil Finn, the younger brother of Tim Finn who had become Split Enz's de facto frontman after his departure in 1983, went on to form Crowded House in New Zealand in 1985.


1980s in music, Australia and New Zealand
In 1986 Crowded House released their hugely successful self-titled debut album, which went to number one in Australia and number three in New Zealand, as well as reaching the top ten in Canada and top 20 in the United States. It spawned the song "Don't Dream It's Over", which hit number one in New Zealand and Canada, number two in the United States and number eight in Australia, and has since become a pop/rock anthem in Australasia. Crowded House's follow up album Temple of Low Men, released in 1988, did not achieve the same success as their debut, but was still popular in the band's homelands of New Zealand and Australia...


1980s in music, Australia and New Zealand
Back at home, New Zealand continued to have a small and vibrant music scene, and the Eighties saw the formation of many new bands, including The Swingers, Coconut Rough, The Crocodiles and Peking Man. Many of these bands were short-lived and did not see much success outside of New Zealand and Australia.


1980s in music, Asia
In Japan, bands such as Shonen Knife, Boredoms, The Star Club, X Japan, Dead End and The Stalin began in the Japanese rock bands and Visual kei emerged in the 1980s with bands such as X Japan, Buck Tick and D'erlanger. Japanese noise rock emerged in the 1980s with bands such as Melt-Banana, Zeni Geva and Guitar Wolf in the Japanese's indies scene.


1980s in music, Asia
City pop, an adult-oriented genre with western influences of disco, funk, soft rock, and R&B also became popular with the Japanese tech boom. Popular artists in the genre were Anri and Tatsuro Yamashita. Most songs were about love or living in the city. The genre was barely known outside of Japan. However, city pop has been getting increasingly popular in the west with Internet-borne microgenre vaporwave. On May 3, 2019, Light in the Attic, an independent record label, released Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR, and Boogie 1976-1986. It was a compilation album that showcased what city pop is and its style.


1980s in music, Asia
Japanese hardcore emerged with bands such as The Star Club and GISM and Japanese idol group Onyanko Club began as Idol group in the teen fans and youth fans.


1980s in music, Asia
Besides,  Hong Kong saw a rapid growth in pop music, both in terms of variety and popularity. Big stars such as Leslie Cheung, Anita Mui, Danny Chan, Alan Tam and Beyond were icons of the decade. The 1980s is still regarded as the most successful period in Hong Kong music history.


1980s in science and technology
This article is a summary of the 1980s in science and technology.


1980s in sociology
The following events related to sociology occurred in the 1980s.


1980s in video games
The 1980s was the second decade in the industry's history. It was a decade of highs and lows for video games. The decade began amidst a boom in the arcade business with giants like Atari still dominating the market since the late-1970s. Another, the rising influence of the home computer, and a lack of quality in the games themselves lead to an implosion of the video game market that nearly destroyed the industry. It took home consoles years to recover from the crash, but Nintendo filled in the void with its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), reviving interest in consoles.


1980s in video games
Up until this point, most investors believed video games to be a fad that has since passed. In the remaining years of the decade, Sega ignites a console war with Nintendo, developers that had been affected by the crash experimented with the more advanced graphics of the PC, and Nintendo released the Game Boy, which would become the best-selling handheld gaming device for the next two-decades.


1980s in video games, Consoles of the 1980s, Third generation consoles 1983–1995
Starting in 1983 the third generation began with the Japanese release of the Family Computer (or "Famicom"; later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in the rest of the world) by Nintendo. Although the previous generation of consoles had also used 8-bit processors, it was at the end of this generation that home consoles were first labeled by their "bits". This also came into fashion as 16-bit systems like Sega's Genesis were marketed to differentiate between the generations of consoles. In the United States, this generation in gaming was primarily dominated by the NES/Famicom. Other notable consoles included Sega's Mark III, also known as the Master System.


1980s in video games, Consoles of the 1980s, Fourth generation consoles 1987–1996
Starting in 1987 with the PC Engine in Japan and ending in 1996, with the last console being the Neo-Geo in 1991, the fourth generation of video game consoles consisted primarily of games and systems programmed for the 16-bit era. During this generation, 2D graphics had improved over the previous generation and experimentation began to occur with 3D graphics, although 3D games were more prevalent on the PC at the time.


1980s in video games, Consoles of the 1980s, Fourth generation consoles 1987–1996
The fourth generation also was the first time compact discs were considered a viable port for video game retail sales with the CD-i. Some of the most notable systems released during this generation were the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990), the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis (1988), and the Neo Geo (1991). Nintendo's Game Boy was also released during the fourth generation, which would later become the most popular series of handheld gaming systems during the 1990s. A rivalry between Sega and Nintendo occurred during this generation, starting the first ever console war.


1980s in video games, History, Golden age of arcade games
In the early-1980s, arcade games were a vibrant industry. The arcade video game industry in the US alone was generating $5 billion of revenue annually in 1981 and the number of arcades doubled between 1980 and 1982. The effect video games had on society expanded to other mediums as well such as major films and music. In 1982, "Pac-Man Fever" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and Tron became a cult classic.


1980s in video games, History, Third-party development and an oversaturated market
Following a dispute over recognition and royalties, several of Atari's key programmers split and founded their own company Activision in late 1979. Activision was the first third-party developer for the Atari 2600. Atari sued Activision for copyright infringement and theft of trade secrets in 1980, but the two parties settled on fixed royalty rates and a legitimizing process for third parties to develop games on hardware.


1980s in video games, History, Third-party development and an oversaturated market
In the aftermath of the lawsuit, an oversaturated market resulted in companies that had never had an interest in video games before beginning to work on their own promotional games; brands like Purina Dog Food. The market was also flooded with too many consoles and too many poor quality games, elements that would contribute to the collapse of the entire video game industry in 1983.


1980s in video games, History, Video game crash of 1983
By 1983, the video game bubble created during the golden age had burst and several major companies that produced computers and consoles had gone into bankruptcy. Atari reported a $536 million loss in 1983. Some entertainment experts and investors lost confidence in the medium and believed it was a passing fad. A game often given poster child status to this era, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had such bad sale figures that the remaining unsold cartridges were buried in the deserts of New Mexico.


1980s in video games, History, Rise of computer gaming
The brunt of the crash was felt mainly across the home console market. Home computer gaming continued to thrive in this time period, especially with lower-cost machines such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Some computer companies adopted aggressive advertising strategies to compete with gaming consoles and to promote their educational appeal to parents as well. Home computers also allowed motivated users to develop their own games, and many notable titles were created this way, such as Jordan Mechner's Karateka, which he wrote on an Apple II while in college.


1980s in video games, History, Rise of computer gaming
In the late 1980s, IBM PC compatibles became popular as gaming devices, with more memory and higher resolutions than consoles, but lacking in the custom hardware that allowed the slower console systems to create smooth visuals.


1980s in video games, History, Rejuvenation
By 1985, the home market console in North America had been dormant for nearly two years. Elsewhere, video games continued to be a staple of innovation and development. After seeing impressive numbers from its Famicom system in Japan, Nintendo decided to jump into the North American market by releasing the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short. After release it took several years to build up momentum, but despite the pessimism of critics it became a success. Nintendo is credited with reviving the home console market.


1980s in video games, History, Rejuvenation
One innovation that led to Nintendo's success was its ability to tell stories on an inexpensive home console; something that was more common for home computer games, but had only been seen on consoles in a limited fashion. Nintendo also took measures to prevent another crash by requiring third-party developers to adhere to regulations and standards, something that has existed on major consoles since then. One requirement was a "lock and key" system to prevent reverse engineering. It also forced third parties to pay in full for their cartridges before release, so that in case of a flop, the liability will be on the developer and not the provider.


1980s in video games, Financial performance, Highest-grossing arcade games of the decade
The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of each year in the 1980s, in terms of coin drop earnings.


1980s in video games, Financial performance, Best-selling home video games of the decade
The following table lists the top 20 best-selling home video games of the 1980s. Note that video game sales numbers were not as widely reported during the 1980s, with the exception of titles published by Nintendo and Atari, Inc.


1980s oil glut
The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $110 per barrel in 2020 dollars, when adjusted for inflation); it fell in 1986 from $27 to below $10 ($64 to $24 in 2020 dollars). The glut began in the early 1980s as a result of slowed economic activity in industrial countries due to the crises of the 1970s, especially in 1973 and 1979, and the energy conservation spurred by high fuel prices. The inflation-adjusted real 2004 dollar value of oil fell from an average of $78.2 in 1981 to an average of $26.8 per barrel in 1986.


1980s oil glut
In June 1981, The New York Times proclaimed that an "oil glut" had arrived and Time stated that "the world temporarily floats in a glut of oil". However, The New York Times warned the next week that the word "glut" was misleading, and that temporary surpluses had brought down prices somewhat, but prices were still well above pre-energy crisis levels. This sentiment was echoed in November 1981, when the CEO of Exxon also characterized the glut as a temporary surplus, and that the word "glut" was an example of "our American penchant for exaggerated language".


1980s oil glut
He wrote that the main cause of the glut was declining consumption. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, oil consumption had fallen 13% from 1979 to 1981, "in part, in reaction to the very large increases in oil prices by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil exporters", continuing a trend begun during the 1973 price increases.


1980s oil glut
After 1980, reduced demand and increased production produced a glut on the world market. The result was a six-year decline in the price of oil, which reduced the price by half in 1986 alone.


1980s oil glut, Production, Non-OPEC
During the 1980s, reliance on Middle East production dwindled as commercial exploration developed major non-OPEC oilfields in Siberia, Alaska, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, and the Soviet Union became the world's largest producer of oil. Smaller non-OPEC producers including Brazil, Egypt, India, Malaysia, and Oman doubled their output between 1979 and 1985, to a total of 3 million barrels per day.


1980s oil glut, Production, Non-OPEC, United States
In April 1979, US President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order to remove price controls from petroleum products by October 1981 so that prices would be wholly determined by the free market. Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, signed an executive order on 28 January 1981, which enacted that reform immediately, allowing the free market to adjust oil prices in the US. That ended the withdrawal of old oil from the market and artificial scarcity, which encouraged an increase in oil production. The US oil windfall profits tax was lowered in August 1981 and removed in 1988, ending disincentives to US oil producers.


1980s oil glut, Production, Non-OPEC, United States
Additionally, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began pumping oil in 1977. The Alaskan Prudhoe Bay Oil Field entered peak production, supplying 2 million bpd of crude oil in 1988, 25 percent of all US oil production.


1980s oil glut, Production, Non-OPEC, North Sea
Phillips Petroleum discovered oil in the Chalk Group at Ekofisk, in Norwegian waters in the central North Sea. Discoveries increased exponentially in the 1970s and 1980s, and new fields were developed throughout the continental shelf.


1980s oil glut, Production, OPEC
From 1980 to 1986, OPEC decreased oil production several times and nearly in half, in an attempt to maintain oil's high prices. However, it failed to hold on to its preeminent position, and by 1981, its production was surpassed by non-OPEC countries. OPEC had seen its share of the world market drop to less than a third in 1985, from about half during the 1970s. In February 1982, the Boston Globe reported that OPEC's production, which had previously peaked in 1977, was at its lowest level since 1969. Non -OPEC nations were at that time supplying most of the West's imports.


1980s oil glut, Production, OPEC
OPEC's membership began to have divided opinions over what actions to take. In September 1985, Saudi Arabia became fed up with de facto propping up prices by lowering its own production in the face of high output from elsewhere in OPEC. In 1985, daily output was around 3.5 million bpd, down from around 10 million in 1981. During this period, OPEC members were supposed to meet production quotas in order to maintain price stability; however, many countries inflated their reserves to achieve higher quotas, cheated, or outright refused to accord with the quotas.


1980s oil glut, Production, OPEC
In 1985, the Saudis tired of this behavior and decided to punish the undisciplined OPEC countries. The Saudis abandoned their role as swing producer and began producing at full capacity, creating a "huge surplus that angered many of their colleagues in OPEC". High-cost oil production facilities became less or even not profitable. Oil prices as a result fell to as low as $7 per barrel.


1980s oil glut, Reduced demand
OPEC had relied on the price inelasticity of demand of oil to maintain high consumption, but underestimated the extent to which other sources of supply would become profitable as prices increased. Electricity generation from coal, nuclear power and natural gas; home heating from natural gas; and ethanol blended gasoline all reduced the demand for oil.


1980s oil glut, Reduced demand, United States
New passenger car fuel economy in the United States rose from 17 miles per US gallon (14 L/100 km) in 1978 to more than 22 miles per US gallon (11 L/100 km) in 1982, an increase of more than 30 percent.


1980s oil glut, Reduced demand, United States
The United States imported 28 percent of its oil in 1982 and 1983, down from 46.5 percent in 1977, due to lower consumption.


1980s oil glut, Impact
The 1986 oil price collapse benefited oil-consuming countries such as the United States and Japan, countries in Europe, and developing nations but represented a serious loss in revenue for oil-producing countries in Northern Europe, the Soviet Union, and OPEC.


1980s oil glut, Impact
In 1981, before the brunt of the glut, Time Magazine wrote that in general, "A glut of crude causes tighter development budgets" in some oil-exporting nations. Mexico had an economic and debt crisis in 1982. The Venezuelan economy contracted and inflation levels (consumer price inflation) rose, remaining between 6 and 12% from 1982 to 1986. Even Saudi Arabian economic power was significantly weakened.


1980s oil glut, Impact
Iraq had fought a long and costly war against Iran and had particularly weak revenues. It was upset by Kuwait contributing to the glut and allegedly pumping oil from the Rumaila field below their common border. Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, planning to increase reserves and revenues and cancel the debt, resulting in the first Gulf War.


1980s oil glut, Impact
The Soviet Union had become a major oil producer before the glut. The drop of oil prices contributed to the nation's final collapse.


1980s oil glut, Impact
In the US, domestic exploration and the number of active drilling rigs were cut dramatically. In late 1985, there were nearly 2,300 rigs drilling wells; a year later, there were barely 1,000. The number of US petroleum producers in decreased from 11,370 in 1985 to 5,231 in 1989, according to data from the Independent Petroleum Association of America. Oil producers held back on the search for new oilfields for fear of losing on their investments. In May 2007, companies like ExxonMobil were not making nearly the investment in finding new oil that they did in 1981.


1980s oil glut, Impact
Canada responded to high energy prices in the 1970s with the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980. The program was in place until 1985.


1980s professional wrestling boom
The 1980s professional wrestling boom (more commonly referred to as the Golden Age) was a surge in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and elsewhere throughout the 1980s. The expansion of cable television and pay-per-view, coupled with the efforts of promoters such as Vince McMahon, saw professional wrestling shift from a system controlled by numerous regional companies to one dominated by two nationwide companies: McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The decade also saw a considerable decline in the power of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), a cartel which had until then dominated the wrestling landscape, and in the efforts to sustain belief in the verisimilitude of wrestling.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History
In the early 1980s, professional wrestling in the U.S. consisted mainly of three competing organizations: the promotions the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the Northeast and the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in the Midwest, and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), which consisted of various wrestling promotions which operated within a territorial system around the country.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, National Wrestling Alliance
Multiple NWA territories were very successful in the 1970s and continued that success in the early 1980s. TBS became a cable television superstation based on broadcasting Georgia Championship Wrestling with both Mr. Wrestling II and Tommy Rich being the top headliners in the territory. Ric Flair rose to prominence in Mid Atlantic Wrestling, while Dusty Rhodes was the fan favorite in Championship Wrestling from Florida. Mid South Wrestling had the first significant African American champion babyface Junkyard Dog.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, American Wrestling Association
At the beginning of the 1980s, the AWA had the largest television business with distribution of their weekly broadcast in Chicago, Denver, Green Bay, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Omaha, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Winnipeg. The AWA expanded into the top-ten media market of the Bay Area after Roy Shire ran his last battle royale (the annual Royal Rumble continues this idea) at the Cow Palace on January 24, 1981, demonstrating that the AWA was positioned to prosper as other promotions failed.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, American Wrestling Association
The AWA had the talent that would ultimately lead Vincent K. McMahon's World Wrestling Federation to pre-eminence in professional wrestling. Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan were AWA's major on-air talent. Hulk Hogan became the top babyface after Verne Gagne retired from full-time wrestling in 1981 and Nick Bockwinkel became the AWA World Heavyweight Champion. Hogan faced Bockwinkel on April 18, 1982, and on April 24, 1983, with both matches being decided with "Dusty finishes" where Hogan pinned Bockwinkel for a three count, but was then stripped of the title.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, American Wrestling Association
Hogan said Gagne offered him the championship on the latter occasion in exchange for his merchandise rights and money from touring with other promotions which would show that Gagne understood wrestling was becoming a bigger business in the 1980s; however, Hogan refused. Gagne's failure to keep his fortunate position is a significant factor in the history of professional wrestling.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, World Class Championship Wrestling
In 1982, Continental Productions, a subsidiary of Dallas independent station KXTX, began syndicating a one-hour show internationally from the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas, of former NWA affiliate World Class Championship Wrestling run by Fritz Von Erich. Channel 11 had broadcast Von Erich's professional-wrestling television program as Saturday Night Wrestling for over a decade before Channel 39 began the second broadcast.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, World Class Championship Wrestling
The channel 39 broadcast was innovative because it was more like professional sports with host Bill Mercer, a former broadcaster for the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers, mobile cameras at ringside with multiple shotgun microphones as used by Don King to capture and enhance the sound of impacts and crowd noise for boxing pay per views, and vignettes and interviews inspired by the Rocky movies to accentuate the heel or babyface of a wrestler outside of the ring.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, World Class Championship Wrestling
The show featured the babyface Von Erich brothers David, Kerry, and Kevin against heels from the stable of Gary Hart, who culminated nearly two decades of his career in Texas by booking the feud between the Freebirds and the Von Erichs in 1982, and then Skandor Akbar's Devastation, Inc. stable in 1983. The channel 39 syndicated show earned extremely high ratings - higher than Saturday Night Live and many wrestling promotions in the United States, including the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and the WWF.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, World Class Championship Wrestling
The Von Erichs were the most recognizable babyfaces in professional wrestling throughout the United States in 1982 and 1983. The fall of the Von Erichs and death of nearly every wrestler associated with the promotion are attributed to abuse of drugs, primarily steroids, stimulants including cocaine, and pain-killing opiates.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
In 1982, Vince McMahon purchased the business from his ailing father Vincent J. McMahon. On December 23, 1983, he signed AWA superstar Hulk Hogan to return to the organization in 1984. To play Hogan's nemesis, he signed talents including World Championship Wrestling heel "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and AWA manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. McMahon stated in the documentary The UnReal Story of Professional Wrestling that he did not think his father would have ever sold him the company if he knew what he was planning to do. "He probably would have said, 'Vinny, what are you doing? You're gonna wind up at the bottom of a river'," he explained.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
At the end of 1983, two major developments increased competition to be the premier professional wrestling promotion. On November 24, 1983, Ric Flair defeated Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the closed-circuit wrestling event Starrcade, which inaugurated Flair's golden era and was credited with showing that a major event could earn significant income across many locations. On December 23, 1983, WWF signed Hogan to return after appearing in Rocky III in 1982 and developing a babyface gimmick in the AWA.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
Fortune for the WWF came at the expense of WCCW and AWA. On January 23, 1984, Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at Madison Square Garden. Shortly after the match, the WWF began promoting wrestling shows with Hogan in the main event in parts of the United States outside the Northeast, which changed a long-standing non-aggression pact between the WWF and other wrestling promotions. On February 10, David Von Erich died in Tokyo, Japan.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
Although there was a short-term boost culminating in Kerry Von Erich's victory over Ric Flair for the NWA World title in front of a packed Texas Stadium crowd on May 6, WCCW rapidly lost momentum as the death of Gino Hernandez and the suicide of Mike Von Erich placed a cloud over the promotion that became its legacy. The AWA signed a TV contract with ESPN, but the revenue was insignificant compared to the WWF's pay-per-view business, which was based on annual March/April events featuring Hogan in a landmark world-championship match each year from 1986 to 1991.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
With competition from cable superstations broadcasting WCCW, AWA and NWA, McMahon syndicated WWF television shows outside of the promotion's traditional Northeastern territory and began a home-video distribution label called Coliseum Video. McMahon would use the additional income generated by advertising, television deals, and video sales and rentals to further his bold ambition to tour nationally. However, such a venture required huge capital investment — one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
McMahon did not meet immediate success. In May 1984, in a failed attempt to garner a greater appeal in the Southeast, McMahon bought a controlling interest in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), an NWA member which held the lucrative Saturday time slot on Atlanta-based independent station WTBS—known outside of Atlanta as "Superstation TBS." On July 14, 1984 — later dubbed "Black Saturday" — WWF programming began airing in the TBS timeslot formerly occupied by GCW programming. The WWF programming was not successful and viewed as comical compared to the NWA.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
Due to low ratings and viewer protests, TBS began airing wrestling by Ole Anderson's promotion, as well as Bill Watts's Mid-South Wrestling, both of which garnered higher ratings than McMahon's WWF show. Later, McMahon sold the TBS timeslot to rival promoter Jim Crockett, Jr. for $1 million. In the WWE documentary The Rise and Fall of WCW, Crockett explained that his purchase of the timeslot basically paid for McMahon's first WrestleMania.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
By the end of 1984, the regional territory system of the NWA in Canada and the United States was clearly in jeopardy. In June 1984, Jack Tunney transferred his control in Maple Leaf Wrestling to the WWF. The AWA, WCCW and Memphis-based Continental Wrestling Association formed Pro Wrestling USA in 1985 but the endeavor failed by the end of the year.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The World Wrestling Federation expands
Many fans, especially those in the Deep South, were angered by the collapse of their local wrestling promotions. Some of the more well-known promotions included Championship Wrestling from Florida and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in Charlotte, North Carolina, were affected. These fans turned to Atlanta-based WCW broadcast on TBS. In most of these areas, WWF shows were not financially successful until 1997–98.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection
The WWF would go on to a period of unprecedented success in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. The success was in part precipitated by the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection," a period of cooperation and cross-promotion between the WWF and elements of the music industry. The idea was formed by WWF manager Lou Albano, who met singer Cyndi Lauper on a trip to Puerto Rico. Lauper asked Albano to appear as her father in her video for the single "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" in 1983. McMahon later booked Lauper and Albano on a segment of Piper's Pit. During the segment, the Rock 'n' Wrestling storyline began when Albano called Lauper a "broad", while Lauper retaliated by hitting him with her purse. She then challenged Albano to a match between two female wrestlers of their choice.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection
MTV broadcast the first live wrestling match on cable television as well as the first live women's professional wrestling  match. Lauper chose Wendi Richter, while Albano chose The Fabulous Moolah. The match was scheduled for July 23, 1984, at The Brawl to End it All, broadcast live on MTV. During the match, Lauper interfered on Richter's behalf by hitting Moolah in the head with her purse, dubbed "The Loaded Purse of Doom".


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection
At the conclusion of the match, Richter defeated Moolah for the WWF Women's Championship, which the WWF had promoted as having been held by Moolah for the previous 28 years. The connection between Lauper and the WWF continued with the video for the song "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough", "Time After Time," and "She Bop," all of which featured WWF wrestlers. Richter later had a match with Moolah's protégé Leilani Kai at The War to Settle the Score, with Lauper and Moolah in their respective corners. Kai won the title with the help of Moolah. Richter and Kai had a rematch at the inaugural WrestleMania, where Richter regained the title.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection
On September 14, 1985, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, an animated television series starring the character of Hulk Hogan, premiered on CBS. The series ran until June 6, 1987, in the process expanding Hogan's young fanbase.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The inaugural WrestleMania
In 1985, to counter the AWA's Super Sunday, the NWA's Starrcade and WCCW's Star Wars, the WWF created its own flagship show, WrestleMania I, held at Madison Square Garden and broadcast on 135 closed-circuit networks. The future of not just the WWF's national experiment but the whole professional wrestling industry came down to the success or failure of this pay-per-view. WrestleMania was an extravaganza marketed as "the Super Bowl of professional wrestling".


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The inaugural WrestleMania
The concept of a wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had been running Starrcade a few years prior to WrestleMania, and even the elder McMahon had marketed large Shea Stadium cards viewable in closed circuit locations. However, Wrestlemania I drew the interest of the mainstream media by including celebrities such as Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper to participate in the event. MTV's popularity and coverage of the women's wrestling feud generated a great deal of interest in WWF programming at this time.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The inaugural WrestleMania
The show was a huge success. Hogan, who won in the main event, appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated which, after the swimsuit issue, was the magazine's best seller of 1985. Professional wrestling began to become mainstream, thanks, in large part, to the appeal of Hulkamania among children. Large television networks took wrestling into their weekly programming, including Saturday Night's Main Event, premiering on NBC in May 1985, as well as the syndicated weekly show WWF Championship Wrestling (which was also broadcast internationally). While Championship Wrestling was generally taped in Poughkeepsie, New York, Saturday Night's Main Event was taped in front of packed arenas around the country.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, The inaugural WrestleMania
WrestleMania's popularity and ratings appeal made professional wrestling a television mainstay. Professional wrestling, now synonymous with the WWF, began to throw more grandiose matches. In November 1985, a second pay-per-view "The Wrestling Classic" took place. The concept, a one-night tournament, was a huge success and would become a regular event, titled King of the Ring.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, NWA competes with WWF
Jim Crockett, also envisioning a nationwide promotion, absorbed several other NWA members into a single entity known as Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). In 1986, he renamed JCP "NWA World Championship Wrestling". He would acquire several more promotions, including some non-NWA members, in the following year. By late 1987, Crockett's ownership of so many NWA affiliates, coupled with his continued presidency of the NWA, gave him considerable power. However, Crockett's spending had left JCP indebted, with the promotion facing a $5 million deficit.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, NWA competes with WWF
Crockett's attempt to generate revenue with the broadcast of the highly promoted Starrcade pay-per-view in late 1987 was thwarted by McMahon, who held his Survivor Series pay-per-view on the same day. The WWF threatened to cancel their contracts with cable companies that dared to carry Starrcade. As a result, only five cable companies opted to remain loyal to Crockett, which gave them only an $80,000 profit after expenses. A similar situation arose in January 1988, when Crockett's Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view was counter-programmed by the inaugural Royal Rumble, which aired for free on the USA Network.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, NWA competes with WWF
On November 21, 1988, Crockett was obliged to sell his promotion to Ted Turner. Under the ownership of Turner, the promotion was rechristened World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After years of financial turmoil and the constant changing of bookers, WCW would resume competition with McMahon's WWF when former AWA commentator Eric Bischoff was appointed as the promotion's Executive Vice President.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Randy Savage, and Miss Elizabeth
WWF held its most successful event, WrestleMania III, in March 1987. It achieved the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America. The main event, during which Hogan scoop-slammed (later dubbed "the body slam heard around the world") and defeated André the Giant, helped the show go down in wrestling history as one of the greatest ever produced and made the WWF's popularity soar.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Randy Savage, and Miss Elizabeth
In February 1988, Hogan and André faced each other in a special WrestleMania III rematch on the Friday night prime time spin-off of Saturday Night's Main Event, titled The Main Event I which saw Hogan lose to André by manipulation of the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. After the match, André handed the title to DiBiase as promised, resulting in the title being vacated and setting the stage for a WWF World Heavyweight Championship tournament at WrestleMania IV.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Randy Savage, and Miss Elizabeth
On a previous edition of the same show, "Macho Man" Randy Savage made his official transition from heel to babyface in his match against The Honky Tonk Man, with Miss Elizabeth bringing in Hogan to aid Savage against The Honky Tonk Man and The Hart Foundation. This eventually struck a friendship between Savage and Hogan.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Randy Savage, and Miss Elizabeth
At WrestleMania IV, Savage won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship tournament, with Miss Elizabeth and Hogan at his side. Months later, Hogan and Savage teamed up as The Mega Powers; and at the first ever SummerSlam, they faced off against DiBiase and André's tag team known as The Mega Bucks.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Randy Savage, and Miss Elizabeth
Though friends and tag partners, over the period of a year tensions began to build for various reasons, finally resulting in Savage striking Hogan in early 1989, turning Savage heel once again, and setting up a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania V, which saw Hogan after over a year once again hold the title. Savage and Hogan continued to feud until the February 1990 edition of The Main Event III, where Hogan successfully defended the title in a special WrestleMania V rematch.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, End of an era
Generally, WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990, is acknowledged as the end of the 1980s wrestling boom. The event saw one of the last WWF appearances of André the Giant (as a member of the Colossal Connection), who had become barely mobile in the ring due to real life health issues, and his parting with long-time manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. In addition, Nikolai Volkoff (then part of The Bolsheviks) played his standard part as the evil Soviet Russian for one last time before turning babyface and embracing America, reflecting the end of the Cold War.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, End of an era
The main event was a title-for-title match between WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan and Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior. It not only pitted the WWF's two biggest faces against each other, but was intended as the "passing of the torch" from Hogan, the star of the 1980s, to Warrior, who was immensely popular and considered to be Hogan's successor. Hogan's clean pin fall loss signaled the end of an era. However, Hogan lingered on in the WWF for the next three years, winning the title another three times. By the early 1990s, Hogan started appearing with much less frequency on WWF events, with Warrior taking the main-event spot through all of 1990 and 1991.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, End of an era
In 1992, allegations of anabolic steroid abuse and sexual harassment were harming the WWF's family-friendly image. Around this time as well, Dr. George Zahorian, a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, was accused of selling anabolic steroids to many WWF wrestlers, including Hogan, who took a long hiatus from the WWF after WrestleMania VIII.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, End of an era
Fans who were kids in the mid- and late 1980s were teens by the 1990s, and many grew bored with the comic book style of wrestling of the 1980s, turning their attention away from their childhood favorites such as Hogan, Junkyard Dog, and "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, in favor of newer and grittier wrestlers like The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, and Bret "Hitman" Hart; then in the Attitude Era in favor of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Mick Foley (whether competing as Cactus Jack, Dude Love, or Mankind), and The New Age Outlaws.


1980s professional wrestling boom, History, End of an era
Miss Elizabeth left the WWF in April 1992, and divorced Randy Savage that August. Hogan's return to the WWF in February 1993, episode of Monday Night Raw (which replaced another WWF program during the 1980s, Prime Time Wrestling) received a lackluster reaction from the crowds. Hulk Hogan left the WWF in the summer of 1993, and joined WCW the following spring. Randy Savage left the WWF for WCW in November 1994.


1980–1982
1980–1982 is a double album compiled, digitalized and mastered for CD in Netherlands, containing the first single (1980), cassette (1981) and LP (1982) by Esplendor Geométrico in Spain.


1980–1985 The New Mix in One Go
1980–1985 The New Mix in One Go is a compilation of remixed songs by the Swiss band Yello. It was released on March 17, 1986. The album peaked at No. 99 in Australia on the Kent Music Report chart in December 1986.


1980–1989 world oil market chronology, 1981
Saudis flood market with inexpensive oil in 1981, forcing unprecedented price cuts by OPEC members. In October, all 13 OPEC members align on a compromise $32 per barrel benchmark. Later, benchmark price is maintained, but differentials are adjusted.


1980–1989 world oil market chronology, 1982
Indications of a world oil glut lead to a rapid decline in world oil prices early in 1982. OPEC appears to lose control over world oil prices.


1980–1989 world oil market chronology, 1983
Oil glut takes hold. Demand falls as a result of conservation, use of other fuels and recession. OPEC agrees to limit overall output to 17.5 Mbbl/d (2,780,000 m3/d). OPEC agrees to individual output quotas and cuts prices by $5 to $29 per barrel.


1980–1989 world oil market chronology, 1986
Average world oil prices fall by over 50 percent in 1986. There is wide use of netback pricing in 1986.


1980–81 1.Lig, Overview
It was contested by 16 teams, and Trabzonspor won the championship. 1981–82 European Cup Winners' Cup spot goes to Second League team Ankaragücü, who was also promoted and went back to 1. Lig at the end of the 1980/81 season.