MTV’s Origins in the 80s
On August 1, 1981, something happened to cable television – something that would define pop culture, change generations, and shape an industry. That something had a name. The name was MTV. It launched at 12:01 in the morning, ushered in by John Lack (then the Executive Vice President of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment) saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” And so it began. Prior to 1981, MTV didn’t...
Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” Commercial
1984 had a lot to offer. The Apple Macintosh went on sale for the first time, Michael Jackson caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial, the Space Shuttle Discovery took off on its maiden journey, and Clara Peller first asked the question, “Where’s the beef?” Wendy’s used this as their ad campaign from 1984 until 1985. The phrase caught on faster than you can say “wake me up before you go go”...
Top 5 “How were these movies PG?” movies of the 80s
By Ryan Zimmerman Ryan here. Back with my weekly top 5. This week’s top 5 is “Top 5 ‘How were these movies PG?’ movies of the 80s.” I watched a TON of movies as a kid. I learned quite a few 4 letter words from them as well. As I watch them nowadays, I am quite surprised by the rating given to them back in the day. For some, I think the MPAA might have been on C-R-A-C-K. Here are some of them and why they may have been a...
80s TV – Nielsen Ratings Top Shows by Year
We were clearly obsessed with the Ewing and Huxtable families in the 80s; of the eleven years shown below (stretching slightly back into 1979 and forward into 1990 to account for the span of a television season), “Dallas” and “The Cosby Show” took the top spot a whopping eight times! Top 80s TV Show by Year 1979–1980: 60 Minutes (CBS) 1980–1981: Dallas (CBS) 1981–1982: Dallas (CBS) 1982–1983: 60 Minutes (CBS)...
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year: 1980 – 1989
We can tell a lot about a decade by the people (or things in this case) chosen by Time Magazine as their person of the year. It gives us a sense of the important events and societal changes that were going on during the 1980s. 1980 Ronald Reagan (b.1911–d.2004) 1981 Lech Wałęsa (b.1943) 1982 The Computer (first non-human “abstract” chosen) 1983 Ronald Reagan (b.1911–d.2004) (2nd time) & Yuri Andropov...
