It’s 1980, I’m just a rugrat at 3 years old and the 70′s is behind us. Ronald Reagan has been beat out Jimmy Carter as US President, John Lennon was shot and killed, kids are going crazy over the Rubik Cube, the Intellivision is introduced and a bunch of amazing arcade games such as Pac-Man have launched. Obviously quite a bit of other notable events occurred in 1980, but this post is going to focus on the entertainment aspect of the great year of 1980.
MOVIES
Top 10 Grossing U.S. Films in the US
- The Empire Strikes Back – $209 Million
- 9 to 5 – $103 Million
- Stir Crazy – $101 Million
- Airplane! – $83 Million
- Any Which Way You Can – $70 Million
- Private Benjamin – $69 Million
- Coal Miner’s Daughter – $67 Million
- Smokey and the Bandit II – $66 Million
- The Blue Lagoon – $58 Million
- The Blues Brothers – $57 Million
Academy Awards
- Best Picture: Ordinary People
- Best Director: Robert Redford – Ordinary People
- Best Actor: Robert De Niro – Raging Bull
- Best Actress: Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner’s Daughter
Notable Births
- Feb 12th – Christina Ricci
Rubik Cube
- Jul 18th – Kristen Bell
- Dec 19th – Jake Gyllenhaal
Notable Deaths
- Apr 29th – Alfred Hitchcock
- Jul 24th – Peter Sellers
- Nov 7th – Steve McQueen
TELEVISION
Events
- Black Entertainment Television debuts as a block of programming on USA Network
- Millions of viewers tune in to find out who shot J.R. Ewing in TV Series Dallas.
- Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting
- Hollywood Squares presents its 3,536th and final network telecast on NBC
- The David Letterman Show debuts on NBC as a morning show
- Eddie Murphy debuts on Saturday Night Live
- Spin-Off of All in the Family, The Jeffersons, ranks at #3 on the Nielsen Ratings for three seasons in a row: 1979-80, 1980-81 and 1981-82
Television Debuts
- Mystery! premieres on PBS (1980-present).
- Nightline officially debuts on ABC following the success of the network late-night Iran Crisis updates.
- Moneyline, now known as Lou Dobbs Tonight, premieres as one of the first shows on the newly launched CNN.
- Solid Gold premieres in syndication (1980-1988)
- Too Close for Comfort premieres on ABC (1980-1985)
- Bosom Buddies premieres on ABC (1980-1982)
- Magnum, P.I. premieres on CBS (1980-1988)
Top 10 TV Shows
- Dallas
- 60 Minutes
- The Dukes of Hazzard
- Private Benjamin
- M*A*S*H*
- The Love Boat
- The NBC Tuesday Night Movie
- House Calls
- The Jeffersons
- Little House on the Prairie
MUSIC
Top Billboard Hits
- Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) – Pink Floyd
- Upside Down – Diana Ross
- Woman in Love – Barbara Streisand
- Funky Town – Lipps Inc.
- (Just Like) Starting Over – John Lennon
- Rock With You – Michael Jackson
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
- Call Me – Blondie
- Lady – Kenny Rogers
- Another One Bites the Dust – Queen
- Magic – Olyvia Newton-John
- It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me – Billy Joel
- Coming Up – Paul McCartney and Wings
Grammy Awards
Notable Births
- Jan 25th – Alicia Keys
- Jul 10th – Jessica Simpson
- Dec 18th – Christina Aguilera
Notable Deaths
- Feb 19th – Bon Scott, Lead Singer of AC/DC dies of Alchohol Poisoning
- Jul 23rd – Keith Godchaux, keyboardist of Greatful Dead dies in car accident
- Sep 25th – Jon Bonham, Drummer of Led Zepellin dies by choking on vomit
- Dec 7th – Darby Crash, member of the Germs, dies of suicide
- Dec 8th – John Lennon, singer, guitarist and songwriter of the Beatles dies by gunshot
VIDEO GAMES
Gaming Platforms
- Mattel releases the Intellivision Video Gaming Console
- Sinclair Research releases the ZX80 home computer
Intellivision
Games
- Namco releases Pac-Man
- Stern Electronics releases Berzerk
- Atari releases Missile Command and Centipede
- Williams Electronics releases Defender
- Infocon releases Zork
I hope you’ve enjoyed the listing. I’ve learned quite a bit rooting around in 1980 on the net. Thanks to Wikipedia, I was able to gather quite a bit of information, relive some childhood memories and thoroughly enjoy this entry. Does any of the content above bring back memories?
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Wow, thanks for the trip down memory lane. It's a cliche', but seeing "The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980 changed my life. I saw most of the other films in the top 10 on HBO in 1981. My favorite singers at that time were Olivia Newton-John and Hall & Oates (I still have multiple CD's by both artists). My all-time favorite arcade game is Gyruss though I was also a fan of Ms. Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. My favorite TV shows were "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Three's Company" while my brothers were lovin "The Dukes" and "The Incredible Hulk".
I thought of you when I did this post. I love the 80s and will continue with the series in the future as i get time. I have never played Gyruss, but was also a fan of Ms. Pac Man and Donkey Kong. Frogger, Pitfall, etc. I watched all those shows too and loved them!