#1 SONGS
1980 – Call Me by Blondie
1982 – Physical by Olivia Newton-John
1983 – Every Breath You Take by The Police
1984 – When Doves Cry by Prince
1985 – Careless Whisper by Wham!
1986 – That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne and Friends
1987 – Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
1988 – Faith by George Michael
1989 – Look Away by Chicago
1990 – Hold On by Wilson Phillips
1991 – Everything I Do For You by Bryan Adams
1992 – End of the Road by Boyz II Men
1993 – I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston
1994 – The Sign by Ace of Base
1995 – Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio
1996 – Macarena by Los del Rio
1997 – Candle in the Wind 1997 by Elton John
1998 – Too Close by Next
1999 – Believe by Cher
Billboard
1980’s FIRSTS
1980 – draft registration / cordless phones / CNN /
1981 – Donkey Kong / Strawberry Shortcake doll
1982 – AIDS Epcot / CDs
1983 – break dancing / Cabbage Patch dolls
1984 – Trivial Pursuit / PG-13 / sheep cloned
1985 – crack cocaine / Wrestlemania / female Globetrotter (Lynette Woodard)
1986 – aerobics
1987 –
1988 –
1989 – Lexus
THE USS STARK INCIDENT
On May 17, 1987 the USS Stark was hit by two missiles from an Iraqi jet. 37 crewmen were killed. The incident occurred in the Persian Gulf during the waning days of the Iran-Iraq War. The frigate was on routine patrol outside the designated war zone. When what appeared to be a Mirage fighter jet approached, the Stark took no defensive action. It turned out to be a modified Dassault Falcon 50 business jet. The Iraqi plane had been modified to carry two Exocet missiles for anti-ship attacks. The pilot later claimed he mistook the American warship for an Iranian tanker. By the time the Stark issued two warnings to the jet, two missiles had been launched. The first hit the port side. It did not explode, but it spewed rocket fuel which caused a massive fire. 30 seconds later, the second missile detonated, blowing a 10×15’ hole in the side. 37 sailors died and 21 were wounded. Pres. Reagan accepted Saddam Hussein’s apology. A Navy investigation blamed Capt. Glenn Brindel for lax defensive procedures. Although recently briefed about the possibility of attacks, he did not prepare his crew. The ship was not put on alert when the jet was picked up on radar. The defense systems were not up and running. Key personnel failed to do their jobs, but the captain was ultimately responsible for the screwups. He avoided a court-martial, but he was reprimanded and relieved of duty. The incident went on the long list of examples of how the American military is seldom ready for surprise attacks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Stark_incident
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/only-successful-missile-strike-warships/
https://news.usni.org/2017/05/17/the-attack-uss-stark-at-30
THE FIRST YOU TUBE VIDEO
One of the most important companies in the world was formed because a man wanted to see Janet Jackson’s breast. Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim were wealthy from employment with PayPal. When the company was bought by eBay, they were looking for a new opportunity. Hurley had a degree in design and the other two were computer scientists. According to the official version, Chen and Hurley were frustrated by the inability to share videos made at a dinner party. But Karim insists the idea came from his having trouble finding videos of Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl. Oh, and he also wanted to see footage of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Whatever the motivation, the trio came up with the idea of an online dating service where hot women would upload videos of themselves. They would be paid $100 for each video. When the number of videos submitted was underwhelming, they opened the platform for any videos. On April 23, 2005, Karim uploaded the first video to YouTube. It was entitled “Me at the zoo” and showed Karim at the San Diego Zoo. It is 18 seconds long and shows Karim standing in front of naked elephants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
HEAVEN’S GATE CULT
In 1972, Marshall Applewhite met a nurse named Bonnie Nettles at a psychiatric hospital. Applewhite, the son of a Presbyterian minister, had been fired from his job as a music professor for having an affair with a male student. He and Bonnie bonded over their common beliefs in Biblical prophecies. They convinced themselves that they were reincarnations of the “two witnesses” mentioned in the Book of Revelations. They referred to themselves as “The Two” or “The UFO Two”. Applewhite began to push the idea that he was the successor of Jesus. They added science fiction and belief in UFOs to their philosophy. In 1975, they recruited about 20 people who got rid of all their possessions to form a cult. They traveled the country living in tents and begging. Nettles died in 1985 and the cult began to lose steam, but the Internet facilitated new recruiting. In 1995, the discovery of the Comet Hale-Bopp gave Applewhite the idea that a spacecraft was hidden in the wake of the comet. They would be “beamed aboard” to reach a higher plane of existence. In 1996, the cult settled on an estate near San Diego. They called it “The Monastery”. In March, 1997, the time for “The Demonstration” had arrived. Applewhite convinced 38 disciples to join him in ritual suicide which would result in them boarding the spacecraft. They ingested a drug mixed in apple sauce and drank vodka. They were all dressed alike, in black shirts, black sweat pants, and Nike Decade sneakers (they had gotten a good deal on the shoes). Each had a $5 bill and three quarters in their pockets. (The idea came from a reference in “Huckleberry Finn” about needing $5.75 to ride the tail of a comet to reach Heaven.) From March 22-26, they died in three groups. 21 women and 18 men, including the brother of Star Trek’s Nichelle Nichols (Uhura).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_(religious_group)
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/heavens-gate-cult-members-found-dead
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/heavens-gate-20-years-later-10-things-you-didnt-know-114563/
THE USS VINCENNES INCIDENT
In 1983, the U.S. was outraged when a Soviet jet shot down a Korean airliner killing 269. Five years later, the U.S. was on the other side of a similar tragedy. With the Iran-Iraq War ongoing, a U.S. fleet was cruising the Persian Gulf to protect Western interests. On July 3, 1988, the cruiser USS Vincennes was on patrol near Iran. It engaged some Iranian gunboats and chased them into Iranian territorial waters. At the same time, Iran Air Flight 655 took off from Bandar Abbas International Airport. The 290 passengers and crew (including 66 kids) had seven minutes to live. The plane was picked up on the Vincennes’ radar and identified as a F-14 fighter from the Iranian Air Force. One year earlier, the USS Stark had been hit by a missile from an Iraqi jet, killing 37 sailors. The crew of the Vincennes was determined that the same fate would not befall them. The ship made numerous attempts to warn off the potentially hostile plane. Unfortunately, the Iranian jet was not monitoring that particular frequency. With the supposed F-14 approaching launch range, the Vincennes fired two missiles. One hit the plane and it disintegrated, killing everyone. The U.S. had some ‘splainin to do. It was described as a tragic accident. The Vincennes was following appropriate rules of engagement. President Reagan issued a statement of deep regret, but not an apology. In 1996, the U.S. paid Iran $131 million (of which $61 million went to the families). Although certainly an accident, there are some factors that make the U.S. the villain in the incident. The Vincennes’ Captain William Rogers III had a reputation for aggression. He had chased the gunboats into Iranian territorial waters. It took some creative thinking to identify the airliner as a jet getting ready to launch a missile. For instance, the airliner was climbing, when an aggressor would have been descending to attack. It seems obvious the crew of the ship allowed stress to get the best of them. One expert described it as an example of “scenario fulfillment”. The crew had trained for defending against this time of attack and they played it out like their training. Also, the attitude of taking no risks (after the Stark incident) played a role. The incident was quicky forgotten in the U.S., but it still enrages Iranians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/middleeast/iran-air-flight-655-us-military-intl-hnk/index.html
A COLD WAR TRAGEDY
On Sept. 1, 1983 the passengers and crew of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 were enjoying a peaceful flight across the Pacific Ocean. The flight had begun at New York City and after a stopover at Anchorage, Alaska, was on the last leg to Seoul. Suddenly, there was an explosion that deprived the pilots of control of the plane. Twelve horrifying minutes later, the plane crashed in the ocean with 269 people not knowing what had caused their deaths. For a while, the world did not know either, but the truth eventually came out. It turned out that the jet airliner was the victim of a particularly tense period of the Cold War. President Reagan had turned up the heat and the Soviet’s reacted with some paranoia. We’ll never know for sure why the Boeing 747 was 200 miles off course, which caused it to cross Kamchatka Peninsula. Either the pilots did not set the autopilot correctly or there was a computer malfunction. The peninsula was the location of top secret military installations. A missile test was scheduled for the next day. An American spy plane was monitoring the facilities at the same time KAL 007 was passing over. It was a terrible coincidence. Soviet radar may have mistaken the two. Jet fighters were scrambled. Several made contact and it was clear it was a passenger jet, but those could be disguised as a spy plane and the lead pilot did not bother to report that the plane was a 747. He did try to make radio contact, unsuccessfully. He fired shots in front of the plane, but they were not tracers and could not have easily been seen. Maj. Gennadiy Osipovich did not question the order to open fire. He fired two heat-seeking missiles at point blank range. He could not have missed. The Cold War got colder as the Soviets lied about the circumstances and Reagan called it a “massacre”. As time passed it became clear it was probably just a tragic accident.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/korean-airlines-flight-shot-down-by-soviet-union