Entertainment events in the 1980s

Music

1980 – Deaths of John Lennon, Ian Curtis, Bon Scott, Darby Crash and John Bonham; Sony Walkman becomes available in the States
1981 – Launch of MTV; Ozzy Osbourne bites the head of a dove at a CBS Records gathering
1982 – Release of Thriller by Michael Jackson; Ozzy Osbourne bites the head of a bat while performing
1983 – CDs go on sale in the States; Kiss begins their makeup free period, starting with the release of their eleventh album Lick It Up
1984 – Release of Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution; Joe Perry and Brad Whitford rejoin Aerosmith
1985 – Live Aid; First Rock in Rio held
1986 – Queen's Live at Wembley; Death of Cliff Burton
1987 – Sony buys CBS Records; Launch of MTV Europe
1988 – Billboard introduces the Hot Modern Rock Tracks; Death of Roy Orbison
1989 – Madonna causes controversy among Catholics with "Like a Prayer" music video, thus prompting Pepsi to pull their sponsorship deal with their singer; Ice Cube quits NWA

Film

1980 – Deaths of Alfred Hitchcock and Peter Sellers; Darth Vader is revealed to be Luke Skywalker's father Anakin in The Empire Strikes Back
1981 – MGM buys United Artists, following the failure of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate; First Indiana Jones instalment Raiders of the Lost Ark is released
1982 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ends Star Wars' five-year reign as highest grossing film of all time; Coca-Cola buys Columbia Pictures
1983 – THX debuts at the premiere of Return of the Jedi; Deaths of Luis Buñuel and David Niven
1984 – PG-13 rating is introduced; Establishments of Touchstone Pictures and Tristar Pictures
1985 – Release of Back to the Future; Roger Moore steps down from his role as James Bond after 12 years playing the British spy
1986 – Founding of Pixar; Arnold Schwarzenegger marries JFK's niece Maria Shriver
1987 – Star Wars celebrates its tenth anniversary with the first officially sponsored convention for the franchise Starlog Salutes Star Wars; Deaths of Rita Hayworth, Jackie Gleason, Fred Astaire and Lee Marvin
1988 – Tim Burton releases his breakthrough film Beetlejuice; Release of Die Hard
1989 – Release of Batman, which marks the first resurgence of superhero films; Sony acquires Columbia Pictures from Coca-Cola

TV

1980 – J.R. Ewing is shot in the season three finale of Dallas; Launch of CNN
1981 – Fourth Doctor regenerates into the Fifth Doctor in the 18th season finale of Doctor Who; 30 million viewers watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer
1982 – Launches of Channel 4, S4C, Satellite Television (now Sky One) and ITV franchisees Central Television, TVS and TSW; Late Night with David Letterman debuts on NBC
1983 – MASH airs its finale, which becomes the most watched series finale in US TV history with 121.6 million viewers; Launch of Disney Channel
1984 – Launches of Canal+ and RTL plus (now RTL Television); Death of Tommy Cooper
1985 – Launch of Discovery Channel; EastEnders debuts its run on BBC1
1986 – Launch of Fox Broadcasting Company; Dallas season nine is revealed to be a dream in the season ten premiere
1987 – The Simpsons makes their first appearance on The Tracey Ullman Show; Launch of Movietime (now E!)
1988 – St. Elsewhere finale reveals the entire series was all an imagination of an autistic boy; Introduction of Comic Relief
1989 – The Simpsons' eponymous show debuts its run on Fox; Launches of Sky News, Sky Movies (now Sky Cinema) and Eurosport

Video games

1980 – Release of Pac-Man; Launch of Game & Watch
1981 – Release of Donkey Kong; Electronic Games begins publication
1982 – Founding of Electronic Arts; Release of Q*bert
1983 – The video game crash of 1983; Release of Mario Bros.
1984 – Release of Tetris; Warner Communications sells the home computing and game console part of Atari to Jack Tramiel
1985 – Launch of Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan; Release of Super Mario Bros.
1986 – Founding of Ubisoft; Releases of Metroid and The Legend of Zelda
1987 – Release of Street Fighter; Launch of Sega Master System
1988 – Activision renamed as Mediagenic; Launch of Sega Genesis / Mega Drive in Japan
1989 – Launches of Game Boy, Atari Lynx, TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis / Mega Drive outside Japan; Release of Super Mario Land

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