Welcome to 1980!
I was born in 1980. I thought it would be entertaining to look back and make a post about what the year of 1980 was like! Here is what I have found!
- According to the Billboard charts, the number 1 song in 1980 was “Call Me” by Blondie.
- Rap music began taking the place of disco on the airwaves.
- Former Beatle John Lennon died in the hospital. He was shot outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman.
- The number 1 movie was Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
The Big Movies: (according to boxofficemojo)
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. 9 to 5
3. Stir Crazy
4. Airplane!
5. Any Which Way You can
6. Private Benjamin
7. Coal Miner’s Daughter
8. Smokey and the Bandit II
9. The Blue Lagoon
10. The Blues Brothers - Magnum P.I. was one of the top new shows on television.
- Mount St Helen’s erupted in 1980! 7 people died and it cost $3 billion in damage.
- Jimmy Carter was president. He signed a bill requiring 19- and 20-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft.
- It was a presidential election year. Ronald Regan was elected president at the end of the year. He defeated Jimmy Carter by a landslide.
- The New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot took place. This was the most violent prison riot in history, killing 33 inmates and injuring more than 200.
- The NASA space probe Voyager I made its closest approach to Saturn. It flew within 77,000 miles of the planet’s cloud-tops and sent the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.
- The Pittsburgh Steelers became the first NFL franchise to win 4 Super Bowls. They defeat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The final score was 31-19.
- The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeats the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the Winter Olympics.
- The Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series beating the Kansas City Royals in game six. The score was 4-1.
- Genuine Risk wins the Kentucky Derby with a time of 2:02.00.
- Dale Earnhardt Sr won the Winston Cup.
- Alfred Hitchcock died. He was a British film director who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.
- Gold reached a record high of $850 per ounce.
- The PacMan Arcade was created.
- Post It notes were released.
- The computer modem was invented.
- Cost of living:
You could get a loaf of bread for $0.50.
A gallon of milk was $2.19.
Eggs were $0.91.
A postage stamp was $0.15.
A new car was around $7,000.
The price of gas was $1.22.
The price of a new house was around $65,000 - The top 10 baby names in 1980 were
Let’s get to know each other while looking at our own history! Tell me what some of the notable events were from the year you were born.
The very first mobile phone came out the year I was born in 1983! It also became mandatory in my country (UK) to wear seatbelts in the front seats of cars that year. The song at number one the day I was born was Give It Up by KC & The Sunshine Band, which I love. This was a really interesting post, thank you for sharing!
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I didn’t know that the first mobile phone came out in 1983! It’s so fun to learn interesting new facts!
Love this post! I’ve always liked looking back and seeing how things were then versus now. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve always enjoyed history, but I’ve never thought of things in my lifetime as a part of history, until now. I remember learning about some of the things listed in my high school history class, but specific dates were never given, do I didn’t realize at the time that they happened the year I was born. I loved growing up in the 80’s! It was a great decade!
So much fun to read through your facts. In 1980, I was in high school. I remember lots of things you noted, but some surprised me. Wouldn’t it be great if we could still get a car for $7k?!?!?! Yet the price of milk is very similar to today. Thanks for sharing!
I remember learning about some of it as a part of history. But specific dates were never given, so I didn’t realize they happened the year I was born.
Fab idea. I was already around when the 80s hit (Not for long) but it was z great decade. I love it and much if is it still well known x
I loved growing up in the 80s. I don’t think kids born today would have survived though, we didn’t have all the technologies that are around today.
Love this idea! Michael Jackson released Thriller the year I was born.
I had so much fun looking the information up! I did it to be a fun post and it was! It’s neat to find out what happened the year you were born.
Great idea for a post. Remember seeing some of movies when they first came out.
I enjoyed looking up the information. There were a few movies that I was familiar with, and others that I wasn’t. But I couldn’t tell you today what movies are out either, so it doesn’t surprise me.
1980 was a good year…lots of good music came out of it!
(BTW, my info says the average new car in 1980 was about $7000, not $21k.)
I researched a little more and found that the luxury models were around $22,000 but most averaged $7,000 and changed it accordingly. The other that got me is gas being over a dollar, because I have clear memories of when gas went from $0.99 to $1.00 and what my grandparents had to say about rising costs even then. But multiple sources had it $1.22.
You are right, some good music definitely came out of 1980 and the 80s in general!
This was a really fascinating post! Awesome idea 🙂 I’m surprised how much a car cost! Especially in relation to a house.
I had fun looking the information up. Someone corrected me as far as cars are concerned. The luxury models were between 21k and 22k. But many averaged around 6k to 7k, so I have corrected that in my post. I was surprised at the cost of gas, because I can remember clearly gas under a dollar and when gas hit a dollar, there were complaints about rising cost of living. But perhaps the $1.22 was an average, because gas prices are different in different area of the US now. I can currently get gas for $1.86, but I spoke to someone the other day who is still paying almost $3 a gallon.