[MUSIC PLAYING]
1985, it was the
middle of the decade.
And you could feel the '80s
finding itself, growing up
before our very eyes and
becoming its own era.
In fact, the '80s was when many
of our own viewers grew up.
And learning to grow up,
it's a universal process.
First, there's the
lack of dignity.
You develop a little attitude.
You just watch
your mouth, mister.
And as you get
older and wiser, you
realize not to take
crap from anyone.
It's over.
Enough.
Enough.
Today, we're going to talk
about the news, culture, sports,
and entertainment and all
that was weird in the '80s.
This is Timeline.
Today, the future is going
back to the year 1985.
But before we get moving, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird
History channel and let
us know a story from '85
you would like to
see a full video on.
Now, how alive was your '85?
I feel tremendous.
I'm ready to take on the world.
This is 1985.
1985 started off on a
seemingly positive note,
when National
Geographic published
a cover story of
Koko the Gorilla, who
learned sign language.
Koko got a brand
new kitten, which
she named All Ball,
because she thought
her new pet looked like a ball.
Compared to what my friends
have named their pets,
she is not the worst name giver.
Sadly, All Ball was hit by a
car after the kitten escaped
Koko's cage the month
before, in December of '84.
When Koko was informed, she
signed the words bad, sad, bad.
Frown, cry, frown, sad, trouble.
It wasn't all sad for Koko
though, a few months later,
Francine Patterson, Koko's
instructor and caregiver,
allowed her to pick out two more
kittens, which she did, calling
them Lipstick and Smoky.
In her time, Koko the Gorilla
became quite the star,
meeting celebrities like Robin
Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio,
and Mr. Rogers.
On January 20th, Ronald
Reagan began his second term
as the President of
the United States.
If you think Reagan was
busy during the first half
of the '80s, wait til
you see when he does
during the next four years.
[THUNDERCATS THEME]
Thunder, thunder,
thunder, Thundercats.
What's that?
Sushi.
You won't accept a guy's
tongue in your mouth
and you're going to eat that?
Can I eat?
I don't know.
Give it a try.
Moving into early February, the
World Chess Championship match
in Moscow between Anatoly
Karpov and Gary Kasparov
ended in controversy when
the finals were postponed
due to psychological strain.
Fast forward to September 3rd
when the Championship matches
were resumed and Kasparov
stunned Karpov in the 13 to 11
defeat.
Mickey Mouse made a
surprise visit to China
on February 19th in honor of
Disneyland's 30th anniversary.
China became the first stop on
Mickey's 30-city goodwill tour.
Fast forward 31 years
later to June 16th, 2016,
when Shanghai gets a Disneyland
of its very own, Shanghai
Disneyland Park.
For scale, the cost of two
adults and one child visiting
the park on two-day
weekend tickets
would cost the average Chinese
adult one month's wages.
Speaking of children, we
go to Bloomington, Indiana,
where Hoosier
basketball coach Bobby
Knight took his childlike temper
tantrums to the next level.
On Saturday, February
23rd, just 5 minutes
into the game against Purdue,
Knight lost his [BLEEP]
on a loose ball foul
call and proceeded
to throw a chair onto the court.
The refs rang Knight up with
two technical fouls, which
ejected him from the game.
The Big Ten gave Knight
a one game suspension,
with two years probation.
So how did she get stuck
with a guy like this?
It's you and me, kid.
It's a romantic comedy.
I'm really looking forward
to working with you, kid.
Moonlighting, premiering
Sunday, March 3rd.
It doesn't get any
weirder than this.
Huggies Diapers were awarded
the infamous Pig Award
on March 3rd, given to them
by Women Against Pornography.
The feminist group stated
that Huggies' television
ads crossed the line between
eye-catching and porn.
The Women Against Pornography
called out Huggies
for its gratuitous creep
shot of a mother picking up
her newborn baby.
Mom leans in and exposes
her underwear to the world.
Yeah.
Moving on.
Three days later, on March
6th, in Albany, New York,
Michael Gerard Tyson made his
boxing professional debut.
He was only 18 years old when
he stepped into the ring.
Tyson's first opponent?
It was Hector Mercedes.
And with a vicious body
shot, Tyson quickly
wrecked Mercedes with
a first round TKO.
Tyson would go on to win
26 of his first 28 fights
by KO or TKO, 16 of those
coming in the first round.
In fact, Tyson's
quickest knockout
was a year later
on July 26th, 1986,
when Tyson met Joe
Frazier's son Marvis.
Tyson KO-ed Frazier
in 30 seconds.
Uppercut and Marvis is hurt.
Frazier is down.
We'll see more of Iron
Mike in the coming years.
Back to '85, on March
7th, "We Are the World,"
the charity single for
Ethiopian Famine Relief,
written by Lionel Richie and
Michael Jackson, was released.
It ride the number one
spot for four weeks.
The song was famously
recorded at The Gambler,
Kenny Rogers' Lion Share
Recording Studio in Hollywood.
All of the decade's
most iconic voices
participated, Stevie Wonder,
Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Bruce
Springsteen, and Dan Aykroyd?
The only person who overshadowed
this all-star recording session
didn't even show up to
the recording studio.
Prince, who was at the
peak of his popularity,
spent the night hanging out at
Carlos 'n Charlie's, the Sunset
Strip nightclub at the time.
Prince's night out would
make headlines the next day
when his bodyguard
beat up a paparazzi
as he tried to exit the club.
[ROBOTECH THEME]
Robotech.
Three days later, the Soviet
Union's General Secretary,
Konstantin Chernenko, died after
a long fight with emphysema
and associated lung and
heart damage on March 10th.
He led the Soviets
for just over a year,
from February 13th, 1984.
Mikhail Gorbachev
then took the helm
as the Soviets'
General Secretary.
We'll see a bit more
from Mr. Gorbachev later.
Going from Russia across
the Bering Sea to Alaska,
Libby Riddles made history
when she became the first woman
to win the prestigious
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog
Race on March 31st.
At 29 years old, Riddles
mushed her 14 huskies
through 938 miles of snowy,
cross-country terrain,
with a time of 18 days, 20
minutes, and 17 seconds.
On the very same day, we go to a
sold out Madison Square Garden,
where the very first
Wrestlemania was
seen by one million rabid fans.
The event consisted
of nine matches,
including the Iron Sheik and
Nikolai Volkoff versus the US
Express with Captain Lou Albano,
Andre the Giant versus Big John
Stud, and somehow Cyndi
Lauper became a manager.
The main event was a
battle for the ages,
featuring hulk Hogan and
Mr. T, who doubled up
to defeat Mr. Wonderful Paul
Orndorff and Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Patterson, he got [INAUDIBLE].
He got him.
And of course, who could forget
the honorary guest timekeeper
that night, Liberace?
From New York to
China, on April 7th,
when George Michael and Andrew
Ridgeley, the duo better
known as Wham!,
performed in China,
being the first band from
the west to ever do so.
The gig was actually
supposed to go to Queen.
Freddie Mercury wanted to be
the first ever to play China.
When Wham!'s manager
heard this, he
sent a video of Mercury's
flamboyant performances
to Chinese authorities.
When the event
organizers saw Mercury,
they opted for Wham1,
who was presented
far more conservatively.
Arriving in mid-April, we would
see boxer Marvelous Marvin
Hagler go toe to toe
with Tommy the Hitman
Hearns at Caesar's Palace.
Hagler won in the
third round by knockout
and, despite only going
such a short distance,
is still considered to be
one of the best fights ever.
[INAUDIBLE]
On April 23rd, New Coke was
introduced to the public.
And the public was not OK
with a newer, sweeter flavor.
After an initial
7% boost in sales
the first few days on the
market, consumers revolted.
And Pepsi gained 14% of
Coca Cola's market share.
Fast forward to July,
when Coca-Cola executives
announced a return to
their original formula.
Despite the negative press, New
Coke stuck around until 2002.
On the same day as
New Coke, we go back
to the USSR, when
Mikhail Gorbachev sought
to decentralize the economic
decisions to improve efficiency
by making economic reforms
known as perestroika.
The literal meaning
of perestroika
is restructuring, referring
to the restructuring
of the Soviet political
and economic system.
Fast forward to
October 1990, when
Gorbachev was awarded
the Nobel Peace
Prize, in part for his pivotal
role in ending the Cold War.
We go to mid-May.
And with an average of 28.2
points per game and magically
turning the crappy Bulls
into playoff contenders,
Michael Jordan was awarded
the NBA's Rookie of the Year.
Also, in 1985, Nike
introduced Air Jordans.
The shoes were $65 a
pair, well over the cost
of an average high-top at
the time and, at first,
banned by the NBA.
Air Jordans created
a shoe-crazed nation
and with the coolest high-top
and three-fourth cut shoes
of the decade, and
maybe still are.
Today, the Jordan brand
is worth over $3 billion.
On May 20th, the FBI arrested
John Anthony Walker, a United
States Navy Chief Warrant
Officer and Communication
Specialist who had been spying
for the Soviet Union since 1968
for $1,000 a week.
Walker's ex-wife
turned him into the FBI
after years of pleading
with him to stop.
Fast forward to August when
Walker was tried and sentenced
to life in prison.
Walker died in 2014,
one year before he
was eligible for parole.
No law, no war can stop him.
Sylvester Stallone
is back, as Rambo.
First Blood, Part II.
A notable culinary
first, Bagel Bites
were invented by tennis
partners Bob Mosher and Stanley
Garkzynski, both from
Fort Myers, Florida.
The two invested $20,000 into
the company and sold $1 million
worth of their Bites
in the first year.
On June 1st, when Harold
Faltermeyer's "Axel F" Beverly
Hills Cops theme
song, hit number three
on the billboard charts.
Faltermeyer later said
the film's producers
originally disliked
the direction
he was taking the score and
wanted to throw the music out.
It wasn't until Martin
Brest voiced his approval
that the studio execs showed
enthusiasm about the music.
Later, in June, Larry McMurty's
Western novel Lonesome Dove
was released on the 13th.
The story of the relationships
between retired Texas Rangers
and their old west
adventures was
so well-received it inspired
a coveted mini series.
Fast forward to
February 5th, 1989,
when heavy hitters like Robert
Duvall, Angelica Houston,
and Tommy Lee Jones starred
in a television adaptation.
But really, who could
forget water moccasins?
Water moccasins?
On June 15th,
Danae was attacked.
Rembrandt's life sized
depiction of the character Danae
from Greek mythology,
the mother of Perseus.
Bronius Maigys, a
Soviet-Lithuanian national,
later judged insane, threw
sulfuric acid on the canvas
and cut it twice with a knife.
Maigys claimed that
destroying the painting
was his way to champion
Lithuania's independence
from the USSR.
Later, he said he was
generally against nude art.
So yeah, thanks, Bronius.
In late June, we go to the road,
where you could no longer get
your kicks, because Route
66, the highway which
spanned 2,200 miles
from Chicago, Illinois
to Santa Monica,
California, was officially
removed from the United
States highway system
after it had been
replaced in its entirety
by segments of the
Interstate Highway System.
At the end of June, James
Dower, baker and inventor
of the Twinkie, died
after a lifetime
of working for Hostess
Brands' bakery.
He started as one of the
company's delivery boys
in 1920 in a horse-drawn
cart, retiring in 1972
as the company's Vice President.
Dower became a hero
on April 6th, 1930
in the snack cake industry, when
he filled a tube of shortcake
with banana cream and
called it the Twinkie.
During World War II,
bananas were rationed
and the company was forced
to switch to vanilla cream,
the flavor we enjoy today.
[ELECTRIC GUITAR RIFF]
In Houston, Nolan Ryan
became the first pitcher
to strike out 4,000
batters on July 11th, when
the 38-year-old hurler fanned
New York Mets' outfielder Danny
Heep during the
bottom of the sixth.
Breaking ball, and that's it.
Strike out number
4,000 for Nolan Ryan.
Considered one of the
greatest pitchers ever,
Ryan is known for three things.
He has the current MLB record
for most career strikeouts,
with 5,714.
Ryan could hit 100 miles
per hour on the radar gun,
until he retired at 46 and
this pummeling of Robin Ventura
on August 4th, 1993.
Watch out.
Back to '85.
And on July 13th,
the music industry
from England and America hosted
simultaneous music festivals
at Wembley Stadium in London
and John F. Kennedy Stadium
in Philadelphia.
It was a joint
effort to raise funds
for relief of the
ongoing Ethiopian famine.
While musicians like David
Bowie, U2, Paul McCartney,
and Queen headlined
Wembley, the Philly crowd
saw a shaky Led Zeppelin
reunion, peak Madonna,
Mick Jagger with Tina
Turner, and Tom Petty.
Of course, you also
have the show-off.
After his set at
Wembley Stadium,
Phil Collins caught the Concorde
and landed in Philadelphia
in time to do a
second set at JFK.
The next month, on August
26th, 13-year-old Ryan White
began attending classes
at Western Military
School in Kokomo, Indiana via
a telephone hookup at his home.
Ryan became a national poster
child for AIDS in the US
after his school
administrators barred him
from attending classes
in person once he
acquired the disease from a
contaminated blood transfusion.
Fast forward a year later
to August 31st, 1986,
when Ryan enrolled at Hamilton
Heights High School in Arcadia,
Indiana, after the kids and
parents of Western Middle
School ran him out of town.
Southern Californians were
able to sleep a little better
on August 31st.
That was the day Richard
Ramirez was caught, beaten,
and handed over to the LAPD by
a group of neighborhood locals
who spotted the serial
killer wandering
the streets of East LA.
Flash forward to
September 20th, 1989,
when the night
stalker was convicted
of all charges, 13
counts of murder,
5 attempted murders, 11 sexual
assaults, and 14 burglaries.
Moments after being sentenced
to death by gas chamber,
Ramirez said, big deal.
Death always went
with the territory.
See you in Disneyland.
Moving into the
1st of September,
after decades of disappointing
searches and salvage
expeditions, the RMS Titanic
was finally found off
the coast of Newfoundland.
While the ship's wreckage
is too unstable and delicate
to salvage, divers
recovered thousands
of items, which have
been conserved and put
on public display.
Of course, the
Titanic's popularity
didn't peak until
we fast forward
to November 1997, when James
Cameron's Titanic set sail.
It's been 84 years.
[SMALL WONDER THEME]
(SINGING) Made of plastic,
microchips here and there.
She's the small wonder.
Now, you're always a bit ornery,
unpleasant, impolite, even
downright mean.
That's part of your charm.
Thank you, you
bed hopping relic.
To Silicon Valley, where
Steve Jobs resigned from Apple
on September 16th
after losing a battle
for control of the company
then CEO John Sculley.
The corker is that Jobs poached
Sculley from Pepsi, because
of his marketing genius.
The pair ran Apple as co-CEOs.
But when Jobs wanted more
say in which direction
the company would
go, Apple's board
told Jobs he was too volatile
to hold a leadership role.
On the same day, Jobs
submitted paperwork
to the California
Secretary of State
for the name of his new
company, Next Computer.
Fast forward to 1997, when Apple
would buy Next for $429 million
and give Jobs an advisory
role back at Apple HQ.
Now, when music and
politics collide.
September 21st, Dee Snider,
lead singer of Twisted Sister,
testified before the US Senate
in defense of music censorship.
The Washington Wives, a
small group of high ranking
government officials' wives,
wanted to give albums ratings,
the same way the
MPAA rated movies.
Hoping he'd embarrass
himself, everyone
was shocked when Snider,
dressed like an '80s rock star
Halloween costume,
eloquently made
a case for uncensored music.
As the creator of
"Under the Blade,"
I can say categorically that
the only sadomasochism, bondage,
and rape in this song is
in the mind of Ms. Gore.
The Oregon Trail was first
released for the Apple II.
It was no Burger Time
or Mario Brothers.
But as far as personal
computer games went, it was OK.
Plus, kids learned about the
realities of 19th century
pioneer life on the Oregon
Trail and the many ways to die.
Dysentery again?
Pacman never taught
us anything like that.
Spurred by a controversial,
off-the-cuff remark
from Bob Dylan in
July, during his set
for Live Aid in Philadelphia,
Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp,
and Neil Young took
it upon themselves
to organize Farm Aid.
A wide variety of
musicians, like Johnny Cash,
Tom Petty, Loretta
Lynn, Sammy Hagar,
with Eddie Van Halen,
and 50 other A-listers
arrived in Champaign,
Illinois on September 22nd
to help raise over
nine million dollars
for America's independent
farmers and their families.
From the heartland USA
to the Soviet Bloc,
the USSR suffered from a
national economic crash
during September,
when Saudia Arabia
started rapidly increasing
its petroleum extraction.
Saudi Arabia's increase in oil
production led to a collapse
in the price of a
barrel of oil, which
fell as low as seven dollars.
Fast forward to
December 26th, 1991,
when the Supreme Soviet
voted the USSR itself
out of existence.
Five years after the Saudis'
change in oil exporting
paved the road for the
Soviet Union's collapse.
All right, hot shot, so
you got a golden Palomino
between your knees and no rings.
Now, what?
To video games.
It was on October 18th
Nintendo Entertainment Systems
made its North American debut to
a small test market in New York
City.
The first NES gaming system
cost your parents $149.99.
And it came complete with Super
Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt,
a light gun attachment for Duck
Hunt, and an extra controller.
And let's not forget, you
needed extra lung capacity
for blowing on a cartridge
just to get a game to work.
By 1990, 30% of all
American households
owned Nintendo, compared
to 23% for homes
that had a personal computer.
Three days later,
on October 21st,
former San Francisco
Supervisor Dan White
was found in his home's
garage, dead behind the wheel
of his wife's car, less than
six years after he assassinated
San Francisco Mayor George
Moscone and Supervisor Harvey
Milk.
Both Mayor Moscone and
Supervisor Harvey Milk
have been shot and killed.
Jesus Christ.
You may also remember
White as the man who
defended the murders with
what's now mockingly known
as the Twinkie Defense.
White's legal team claimed that
white killed Moscone in milk,
because the former
health nut had
become addicted to junk food.
The jury didn't buy
White's Twinkie excuse.
And White served five years
on a soft seven-year sentence.
New York Yankees management
fired Billy Martin
on October 27th, officially
ending the Billy IV
era of Yankees baseball.
It was the fourth
time Martin had been
fired as the Yankees manager.
He never admitted it,
but the call most likely
came from Steinbrenner, who
dealt with Martin's fights
on and off the field
and unpaid debts.
Fast forward to 1988,
when the Yankees
would sign Martin as
the season's manager
for the fifth time.
The 60-year-old manager was
fired before the season ended.
But while he was
in the pinstripes
during the '88 season,
he never lost his fury.
And there he is.
Not going to go quietly.
Crack made its first appearance
in The New York Times
on November 17th, when the paper
described it as a super drug.
This wasn't your
daddy's cocaine.
It was addictive,
cheap, and lethal.
In the '80s, the drug would
devastate black communities.
And with tough on crime
policies, as well as
the War on Drugs, harsh
mandatory drug sentencing
would be the catalyst for
the prison population boom.
The nation's response to crack?
Fast forward to 1992,
when Pee Wee Herman
filmed this David Lynch-ian
PSA about the dangers of crack.
Look, everybody wants to be
cool, but doing it with crack
isn't just wrong.
It could be dead wrong.
[HEARTBEAT RACING]
We're not going to show
it, but November 18th
marks the day the New
York Giants' Lawrence
Taylor broke Joe
Theismann's s leg in three
during a Monday
Night Football game.
It was the live,
uncensored, graphic rawness
that would stick in any viewer's
traumatized memory decades
after it happened.
That day would be Theismann's
last day as a football player.
Theismann would move on
to announcing NFL games.
But his big broadcasting
moment came when
he hosted American Gladiators.
Fast forward and to the date of
Theismann's injury on November
18th, 2018, when JJ Watt
and Kareem Jackson inflicted
the same injury to another
Washington quarterback,
Alex Smith.
Worth noting, as of the
making of this video,
Alex Smith is
returning to the NFL.
Yeah.
Now, he's worried.
You cut him.
You hurt him.
You see?
You see?
He's not a machine.
He's a man.
[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
Moving into December,
the Chicago Bears
released the Super Bowl
Shuffle on the 3rd.
Fast forward to
February 1st, 1986,
when the Super Bowl
Shuffle peaked at number 41
on the Billboard Hot 100.
For a decade filled with great
music, how did that happen?
Two days later, on December
5th, Christopher Forbes,
Vice President of
Forbes magazine
Bought a 1787 Chateau
Lafite Claret for $157,000.
The rare 198-year-old
bottle of wine
was said to have once been
owned by Thomas Jefferson.
[GLUGGING]
Mhm.
Fancy.
Fast forward to 2005, when
billionaire wine collector Bill
Koch, yes that Koch of
the shadowy Coke brothers,
bought four bottles
of 1787 Chateau Lafite
from the same batch
Forbes bought his bottle.
Coke staff began the process
of certifying the four bottles
and soon found out
the entire batch,
including Forbes'
bottle, were fakes.
[GLUGGING]
Mhm.
Fakes.
On December 23rd, in Reno,
Nevada, 20-year-old James Vance
and 18-year-old Ray
Belknap shot themselves
in an apparent suicide pact.
Vance's parents lawyered
up and sued Judas Priest,
alleging the boys were
told to shoot themselves
in a subliminal message in
an 8-year-old Priest song,
"Better By You, Better Than Me."
July 1990, when Vance and
Belknap's lawyers finally
got Priest in court, the parents
were asking for $6.2 million
in damages.
Lead singer Rob Halford
said, if he was ever
going to put a subliminal
message in his songs,
it would be to buy more albums.
The judge ultimately decided
that the group was not
responsible.
Turning to true
crime, Dian Fossey,
one of the foremost
primatologists
in the world, best known for her
study of the mountain gorillas,
was found murdered on
December 27th in the bedroom
of her cabin in Rwanda.
Three years later, Fossey's
story would hit the screen.
Universal Pictures
and Warner Brothers
present Sigourney
Weaver, Bryan Brown,
in the true story of one
woman's incredible courage.
Finally, on the last
day of the year, which
would end on a somber
note, on his way
to headline a big New
Year's Eve gig in Texas,
Rick Nelson died when his
plane crashed in a pasture,
less than two miles
from a landing strip.
Nelson, his girlfriend,
and his band died.
The two pilots escaped
the burning wreckage
from their cockpit windows.
After a year-long investigation,
the National Transportation
Safety Board concluded that
a definite cause of the crash
was unknown.
Nelson was 45.
1986 was just around
the corner, when
America would get the
need, the need for speed,
a human chain would
form across the country,
and a future media giant's
show would make its debut.
But you're just going to
have to wait until next year.
Coming up next, 1986.
So what do you think?
What year from the '80s
was your favorite year?
Let us know in the
comments below.
And while you're
at it, check out
some of these only
about the 1980s videos
from our Weird History.
