Why 1984 was the best year ever, by Matt Wilson.
Something special started in America in late 1983 and carried through all of 1984. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it at the time, but you could feel it.
I'm not sure why it happened, but it did. Perhaps Orwell's book 1984 inspired some people to greater deeds this year, and/or the current political climate that frequently repeated the message that Americans were the best, most capable people in the world. I can't say for certain what all the inspirations were, but this year was a great year to live in America.
Many years may have some positive events, but in 1984 it was like one grand-slam for us after another.
I think people can regard this year as the cultural peak of the "80s".
Below, I've listed some of the reasons why 1984 is the best year of modern American history, however it can all be summed up by saying:
• 1984 was the greatest year that American arts (music, art, film, etc.), technology, innovation and popular culture coalesced to yield the most fruitful year than any other.
I was nine years old for most of this year, and how lucky I was to be the perfect age to take advantage of most of the best of 1984.
Some Examples:
Groundbreaking Movies
• The Terminator
• A Nightmare On Elm Street
• Police Academy
• Ghostbusters
• Gremlins
• The Karate Kid
• Purple Rain
• The Never-Ending Story
• Revenge of the Nerds
• This is Spinal Tap
• Sixteen Candles
• Romancing the Stone
• Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Dune
• Amadeus
• Splash
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Breakin' and Breakin' 2 "Electric Boogaloo" (Two movies in the same year)
• Children of the Corn
• The Last Starfighter
• Johnny Dangerously
• Top Secret!
• Ninja III: The Domination (Ninja's were in their prime in 1984)
Groundbreaking Music
• The first explosion and embracement of Hip-Hop music in the main stream
• Run DMC produced the very first Hip-Hop gold record
• Van Halen released their best album ever, entitled "1984" (they were on to something by pointing out the year!)
• Prince released Purple Rain
• Madonna was at her peak, released "Like a Virgin"
• Weird Al gained stardom with his hit video parody of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"/"Eat It"
• Corey Hart released "Sunglasses at Night"
• Yes released "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
• Lionel Richie released "Hello"
• Cindy Lauper released “Time After Time”
• Tina Turner released “What's Love Got To Do With It”
• Wham! released “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
• Bon Jovi released their debut album
• Megadeth released their debut album
• Skinny Puppy released their debut album
• Dead Can Dance released their debut album
• KMFDM released their debut album
• MTV launched the Video Music Awards
• '80s college music took off -- The Cure-Smiths-REM-Depeche Mode-New Order
• Synthesizers and electronic music started to get popular (Herbie Hancock & others)
• You weren't cool in school unless you knew how to Breakdance.
Groundbreaking TV
• Basic cable expanded
• The Cosby Show debuted
• Miami Vice debuted
• Night Court debuted
• Jeopardy! debuted
• V: The Series started on TV (alien invasion series)
• Voltron debuted
• The Transformers debuted
• NBC's Thursday night lineup: "Cosby," "Family Ties," "Cheers," "Night Court" and "Hill Street Blues."
• The A-Team was the No. 1 TV show in America
Groundbreaking Comics and Books
• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made their debut.
• Marvel Super Heroes "Secret Wars" came out.
• William Gibson started the cyberpunk genre by releasing the book Neuromancer.
• FASA debuted the board game BattleTech; Mech-Warrior was born.
Groundbreaking Toys
• Transformers came out
• Care Bears came out
• Cabbage Patch Kids came out in 1983, and hit sales peak in 1984 (parents started riots in stores all across the country)
Amazing year in American Sports
• Four once-in-a-lifetime athletes hit their primes: Bird, Gretzky, McEnroe, Montana.
• Great year to be a football fan.
o The Bears had Payton and Ditka
o The Dolphins had Marino and Shula.
o The Niners had Walsh and Montana.
o The Bronco's had Elway and Reeves.
o The Raiders had Marcus and Al Davis.
o The Redkins had Gibbs
o The Rams had Dickerson
• The Summer Olympics were in LA with Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Mary Lou Retton and Michael Jordan!
• The Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox played the longest baseball game in MLB history, 25 innings over two days for a total time of 8 hours and 6 minutes (Sox won).
• "The Wave" began.
• Hulk Hogan won his first WWF Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik, and Hulkamania took off.
• Cyndi-Lauper hooked up with Captain’ Lou Albano.
• Roddy Piper started Piper's Pit, where he once slammed coconuts into Jimmy Snuka’s forehead.
Groundbreaking Science
• Space Shuttle Discovery took its maiden voyage.
• Apple released the first Macintosh computer (advertised in the Super Bowl).
• IBM's AT computer was introduced.
• IBM introduces EGA Graphics (16 colors!).
• The 3.5-inch floppy diskette was introduced.
• The Tandy 1000 personal computer was introduced and becomes the best-selling IBM-compatible computer of the year.
• Sierra released the first of a popular game series; Kings Quest 1: Quest for the crown
• Dell Computer was founded
• Richard Stallman started developing GNU.
Year of Politics
• Reagan wins reelection in a landslide.
• The Supreme Court made it legal to tape TV shows with a VCR.
Biggest downside of 1984
• Crack cocaine appeared for the first time in Los Angeles and soon spread to the rest of the country.
Feel free to comment on more reasons why you agree or disagree that 1984 was the best year ever!
• Megadeth released their debut album
• Skinny Puppy released their debut album
• Dead Can Dance released their debut album
• KMFDM released their debut album
• MTV launched the Video Music Awards
• '80s college music took off -- The Cure-Smiths-REM-Depeche Mode-New Order
• Synthesizers and electronic music started to get popular (Herbie Hancock & others)
• You weren't cool in school unless you knew how to Breakdance.
Groundbreaking TV
• Basic cable expanded
• The Cosby Show debuted
• Miami Vice debuted
• Night Court debuted
• Jeopardy! debuted
• V: The Series started on TV (alien invasion series)
• Voltron debuted
• The Transformers debuted
• NBC's Thursday night lineup: "Cosby," "Family Ties," "Cheers," "Night Court" and "Hill Street Blues."
• The A-Team was the No. 1 TV show in America
Groundbreaking Comics and Books
• The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made their debut.
• Marvel Super Heroes "Secret Wars" came out.
• William Gibson started the cyberpunk genre by releasing the book Neuromancer.
• FASA debuted the board game BattleTech; Mech-Warrior was born.
Groundbreaking Toys
• Transformers came out
• Care Bears came out
• Cabbage Patch Kids came out in 1983, and hit sales peak in 1984 (parents started riots in stores all across the country)
Amazing year in American Sports
• Four once-in-a-lifetime athletes hit their primes: Bird, Gretzky, McEnroe, Montana.
• Great year to be a football fan.
o The Bears had Payton and Ditka
o The Dolphins had Marino and Shula.
o The Niners had Walsh and Montana.
o The Bronco's had Elway and Reeves.
o The Raiders had Marcus and Al Davis.
o The Redkins had Gibbs
o The Rams had Dickerson
• The Summer Olympics were in LA with Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, Mary Lou Retton and Michael Jordan!
• The Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox played the longest baseball game in MLB history, 25 innings over two days for a total time of 8 hours and 6 minutes (Sox won).
• "The Wave" began.
• Hulk Hogan won his first WWF Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik, and Hulkamania took off.
• Cyndi-Lauper hooked up with Captain’ Lou Albano.
• Roddy Piper started Piper's Pit, where he once slammed coconuts into Jimmy Snuka’s forehead.
Groundbreaking Science
• Space Shuttle Discovery took its maiden voyage.
• Apple released the first Macintosh computer (advertised in the Super Bowl).
• IBM's AT computer was introduced.
• IBM introduces EGA Graphics (16 colors!).
• The 3.5-inch floppy diskette was introduced.
• The Tandy 1000 personal computer was introduced and becomes the best-selling IBM-compatible computer of the year.
• Sierra released the first of a popular game series; Kings Quest 1: Quest for the crown
• Dell Computer was founded
• Richard Stallman started developing GNU.
Year of Politics
• Reagan wins reelection in a landslide.
• The Supreme Court made it legal to tape TV shows with a VCR.
Biggest downside of 1984
• Crack cocaine appeared for the first time in Los Angeles and soon spread to the rest of the country.
Feel free to comment on more reasons why you agree or disagree that 1984 was the best year ever!
Excellent list, man. I was only 4 around then, but a lot of these items stuck with me throughout my childhood
ReplyDeleteGhostbusters, Transformers, and my favorite movie of all time Amadeus. Good year indeed!
ReplyDeleteThat really IS a great list! I was gonna throw Thundercats at you, but its just shy of the 1984 mark, as it first debuted January 23rd, 1985 :) I also immediately thought of The Goonies, but that was also 1985 >_<
ReplyDeleteI was watching The Last Starfighter the other day, and as campy and star wars-like as it is, they were pushing a cray to its max to get all the graphics into that movie. I thought that was a pretty impressive effort for the movie that ended up getting produced.
ReplyDeleteNice! Here's another blog about whay 1984 was the best year ever!
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=5501180&blogID=426296674
Great list. I've always thought 1984 was a great year, but I could never put my finger on exactly why. This list helps, but I'll never understand why I as 6 year old in 1985 looked back and 1984 and thought to himself "Man that was a great year"
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree. I would tell others that 1984 was the best year in my life. There were very important events and developments that took place in my personal life during that year. I still have the pictures and video with me. I am now 42 and that year does make me nostalgic.
ReplyDeleteKind of late to the party comment wise. 1984 was THE best year of the 80's and better than any year since then. I was 21 in 84 and there was a lot more to do then than there is today. Malls were great places then unlike the few left that are ghost towns. Video game arcades were great to hang out in. Video tape rentals sores were cool places to spend an hour or so just looking at some of the cool art on those old big box clamshell vhs tapes. The horror movie section was usually the best for that. There were actually cool bars and clubs to go to then. The Halloween costume parties at those places were the best then. Hardly any place has them anymore. The only draw back was being with my ex wife then.
ReplyDeleteI was 9 also and I loved this year. It was such a happy time. It offered a great mix of up-and-coming technology but not so much that devices were everywhere, shutting off normal communication. There was a certain hope and happiness for the future. Or maybe I was just a kid, that's why :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI actually googled 1984 as the best year and stumbled upon this writing. I was 8 years old in 1984 and there was some kind of a special energy going on. In retrospect, I would put the magic as a culmination of emerging technology meshed with traditional means of communication. Musicians we're pushing synthesizer technology to the max and getting everything they could out of it which brought about camaraderie amongst musicians and therefore raised everybody's bar to make great music. This was also apparent in movie making with many emerging digital effects. TV commercials or becoming edgy and even fun to watch. Overall I think 1984 is a great example of a perfect balance. This was the Tipping Point for Technologies eventual super take off. It was an exciting time. Now somebody call the DeLorean from 1984 and pick me up and bring me back to......1984!
ReplyDeleteTommy from NJ
Absolutely LOVED 1984...I was the same age as you...great, GREAT year!
ReplyDeleteI agree 1984 was the best year in my opinion. All of the 80’s years were great, and I think the sweet spot was mid ‘82 to mid ‘86. 84 being the peak year. With all of the great entertainment to choose from, if I had to choose a certain thing to sum up the greatness of why ‘84 was the best, the song: “ I want to know what love is “ by Foreigner would be my choice. I don’t think there has be a more raw, to the point (without fear of a dude expressing true emotions), and well composed song ever to get to the core of the soul. (By mixing newer technology of the synthesizer sound to a solid hard rock band). Nothing beats it in those categories to date.
ReplyDeleteBut this is only 1 example. There are other songs, movies, pop culture activities, and styles that said; Anything is possible. The future looks so bright, I gotta wear shades.
Now reinforce this hope with other areas in our society at the time. Kids could play outside all day without supervision, Ethics were way better then, socially and politically. (I believe that ethics are also a trickle down effect). Grandmothers still cooked and acted like grandmothers. There were traditional family routines.
These things gave a feeling of a secure environment and a fair playing field. Also there was a balance of social experiences and technology. People had video games, but also knew their neighbors. Politicians worked across the aisle. Small business were still valued and monopolies were fought against.
I believe all of these things: Reasonable moral structure, integrity in political, social, and family practices, and nature vs a technological balance, gave us the hope to dream and create the unforgettable decade of lifestyle and entertainment that we were lucky to be alive during. That’s why we had so much great entertainment to pick from.
The question is, how can we get it back?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1984 was best year, please think twice and read about Bhopal Gas Tragedy
ReplyDelete1984 was definitely the best year of my life so far. I was 17 and so happy I got to experience it as a teenager. The music and fashion has left a lasting imprint in my mind. There was something magical about that year that I haven't experienced since.
ReplyDeleteThe 1984 NBA draft is also widely considered the greatest draft of all time with superstars such as Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton, and Charles Barkley being drafted.
ReplyDeleteI was 10 & 1984 was the best year ever!
ReplyDeleteNo mention of Ride the Lightning by Metallica. HERESY.
ReplyDeleteThis list is absolute GOLD ! I agree ☝️
ReplyDelete