1980s - NMSU Theatre Arts

The 1980 s
The Reagan Years (1981-89)
The Malling of America
EVENTS
1980
Mt St Helens erupted.
John Lennon shot.
President Carter attempts to rescue the Iran hostages.
CNN launched.
Who Shot JR? (From TV show - Dallas)
Bill Gates licenses MS-DOS to IBM (makes next-to-nothing ).
1981
Charles and Diana wed.
MTV! ( Video Killed the Radio Star ).
Pac Man introduced.
Sandra Day O Connor - First female Supreme Court Justice.
First reports of homosexual men dying of mysterious illness.
Iran hostages released (directly after Carter leaves office).
Jane Fonda publishes Workout Book.
First Compact Disc introduced
1983
US invades Grenada.
Sally Ride - First female in space.
US Embassy in Beirut bombed killing 40.
First Camcorders. 1984
The Cosby Show.
Stonewashed jeans.
Megabit Chip introduced.
First Infomercials .
First use of term Cyberspace .
Apple releases the MAC PC.
1985
Gorbachev elected (final) President of USSR.
Rock Hudson dies (first major public AIDS figure).
Crack cocaine becomes popular.
Nintendo introduced.
Leaded gas banned in US.
Hole in Ozone Layer discovered
1986
The Challenger explodes.
The Iran Contra Scandal.
Dr. King Day first celebrated.
First condom commercials on TV.
Chernobyl Meltdown.
1987
Black Monday - huge stock market crash.
1988
CDs outsell vinyl records.
Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Prozac first introduced as anti-depressant.
1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Exxon Valdez environmental disaster.
Tiananmen Square Massacre - thousands of protestors killed,
labor activists and students (exact number never released by Chinese
Government, estimates range from 200-3000, depending on which figures
you read).
The Menendez brothers murder their parents.
Pete Rose banned from baseball for betting on games
Top MOVIES • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), $435 million
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), $309 million • Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), $290 million
• Batman (1989), $251 million
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), $245 million • Ghostbusters (1984), $238 million • Beverly Hills Cop (1984), $234 million
• Back to the Future (1985), $210 million
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), $197 million
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), $179 million
Top SONGS
• Tainted Love
• Eye of the Tiger • Uptown Girl
• Ghostbusters
• Don’t Stand so Close to Me
• Fame
• Do You Really Want to Hurt Me • Careless Whisper • Hello
• Karma Chameleon • Relax
• Never Gonna Give You Up
• Come on, Eileen Top BOOKS • The Bourne Identity
• Princess Daisy • Firestarter
• The Key to Rebecca
• The Covenant • Cosmos (non-fiction)
• Rage of Angels • The Fifth Horseman
Visual Style
Art
Andy
Warhol Mapplethorpe Willem deKooning
Architecture
IM
Pei
Interior Design
Phillipe
Starck
Nagel (poster art for the masses)
Graphic Design (“slick”)
Keith Haring
Andres Serrano
Richard Serra
Shoes,1980
Andy Warhol
Robert Mapplethorpe
Self-Portrait 1980
Robert Mapplethorpe
Self-Portrait 1982
Art and
Social
Activism
Piss Christ Andres Serrano
1989
Keith Haring
Red Room 1988
Button
late 1980 s
Trump Tower
completed in 1983
designed by Der Scutt
Cincinnati Financial Corp National Headquarters 1986
Interior of Robert Mapplethorpe's apartment
1988
Chair Design
Phillippe Starck
Typical Poster-style 1980 s
graphic design
Grace Jones Album cover for Nightclubbing album
released 1991
1980 s Swatch telephone
Rubik s Cube
Major Movements
of the 1980 s
PUNK
•  The Sex Pistols
–  Sid and Nancy
–  Johnny Rotten
•  The Ramones
•  The Clash
The SEX PISTOLS invented it, THE RAMONES perfected it, THE CLASH popularized it. NEW WAVE
(“an 80s view of the 50s”)
•  Devo
•  The B-52 s
•  Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Adam Ant
SURVIVAL
•  RAMBO-- First Blood – 1981
•  Camo
•  Headbands
MTV
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August 1,1981 Video Killed the Radio Star Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince
Vee-Jays Robert Palmer
Addicted to Love
video
(voted #3 of the Top
20 videos of the
1980s)
VALLEY GIRL
•  1882 Song by Frank Zappa
•  1983 Film with Nicolas Cage and
Deborah Foreman
SKATER / SURFER
•  1982 film-- Fast Times at
Ridgemont High •  Jeff Spicoli
FLASHDANCE
•  1983 Movie
•  Sweatshirts, etc.,with the neck cut out
(Deshabille!)
Brat Pack/John Hughes/Cameron Crowe,
Amy Heckerling, etc
•  Footloose (1984)
•  The Breakfast Club (1985)
•  Pretty in Pink (1986)
•  Ferris Bueller s Day Off (1986)
Annie Potts from Pretty in Pink Molly Ringwald from Pretty in
Pink BREAK DANCE
•  Clothes for movement
•  Breakin (1984)
•  Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo MIAMI VICE
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1984-1989--TV Show
5 o’clock Shadow .
Suit without tie. T-Shirt under Sport Jacket.
Dress shoes without socks.
Dark Sunglasses.
Pale / Pastel colors for men.
No Ironing!!!
HEAVY METAL
•  Began in the 1970s, but enjoyed much popularity
in the 1980s
•  Hair Metal •  British: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden from the 70s to
the 80s
•  1980s Mainstream:
–  Motley Crue
–  Twisted Sister
–  Metallica
Motley Crue
Metallica
Twisted Sister
ANDROGYNY
•  Michael Jackson
•  Prince
•  Boy George / Culture Club
•  Wham!
•  Eurythmics
Boy George and Culture Club
Wham!
Grace Jones
Supermodel
DRESS UP
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DALLAS-- TV Show-- 1978-1991
DYNASTY -- TV Show -- 1981-1987
FALCON CREST-- TV Show--1981-1990
FAMILY TIES-- TV Show--1982-1989
THE COSBY SHOW -- TV Show --1984-1992
•  PRINCESS DIANA (HATS) -- Wedding to prince Charles
on July 29, 1981. Gown designed by Bruce Oldfield RAP
•  Grandmaster Flash
•  Run DMC
•  Beastie Boys
Grandmaster Flash
Beastie Boys and Run DMC
SKINHEAD
•  Neo Nazi
–  Shaved Heads
–  Skinny (red, white, black) suspenders
–  Pants tucked into boots
PREPPIE / YUPPIE
•  1987 - Movie - WALL STREET with Michael
Douglas and Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen
–  Suspenders
–  White collars on colored shirts
–  Pleated pants
–  Slicked back hair
•  1987 - popular TV show-THIRTYSOMETHING •  Preppie Handbook
•  IZOD
IZOD symbol
ALTERNATIVE
•  “Catch-all category”
•  Some “Retro”
Fashion Fads of the 1980s
Rolled up jacket sleevess
Stirrup Pants
The Skinny Tie
The Fanny Pack The MULLET
•  All business on the top and a party in the
back! •  It is characterized by short hair on the top, front, and sides of the head, followed by a long drape of hair on the back, reaching at least to the middle of the spine.
OTHER Fun Stuff…..
Vans
Individualized lacing style
Jellies Doc Martens
Swatch Watches
Adidas and Warm-up
Suits as Fashion
Members Only Jackets
Leg warmers as Fashion
Olivia Newton-John from
Physical Stone and Acid
Washed Denim
Blondie in Colored Denim
Stone and Acid Wash
Iman
in Haute-Couture Denim
Denim at the Berlin Wall
For Girls ONLY Denim
Royalty in Denim
Presidential Denim
Dressy Denim
Denim in Advertising
Denim in Rock
Denim by Men’s Designers
Distressed Denim