The 80’s will always be remembered as a decade that has renewed America’s sense of opportunities and created new confidence in its future as well as its leaders. Perceived by many to have been marked by prosperity, many fashion statements were made and music was produced that stood out from all of the rest (Smolan and Cohen). But good always comes with bad, and this decade had its downfalls that separated it from any other, raising the bar and setting the bar for the decades to come. Despite some disastrous events that took the world by surprise, the 80’s was also spontaneous in fashion, music and games that would forever change their industry. Overall, this decade became one of the most prosperous that America has ever seen During the 1980’s, Americans were faced with disastrous events that made jaws drop and eyes bulge. One event in particular was the shocking explosion of the Challenger. At 11:38 a.m., Cape Canaveral launched a 1.2 billion dollar rocket heading to the moon on January 28, 1986 (Maxon). Everything was going smoothly, until, at a height of 47,000ft traveling at a speed of 1977mph, a small flame erupted in the rocket booster igniting half a million gallons of fuel (Kallen, 102). No more than 15 seconds later, the Challenger blows up killing all seven of its passengers instantly as scraps of metal descended through the air and zigzagged ferociously. After this incident, Regan orders for new boosters to be redesigned and luckily, nothing of this sort has ever happened again (Kallen, 103). With America’s heart still bruised, the aids epidemic did not help with the healing process. Aids were overlooked by the government because it was thought that only homosexuals could contract this disease. Overtime, people came to... ... middle of paper ... ... data, now has given us the possibility to talk with relatives and friends who live millions of miles away (Bondi, 286). No one could have thought that you would be able to instant message some one who lives in Germany, and get a reply within seconds. The creation of ipods and mp3 players which stemmed from portable walkman and cd has given people the opportunity to listen to their favorite music on the go (Feinstein, 19). Once again, this decade has proved that they are a force to be reckoned with. The 80’s was a time of survival of the fittest, overcoming obstacles, and raising the bar higher for generations to come. Through all that was disastrous, the 80’s found its niche. Spontaneous fashions and prosperous innovations sparked the flame that still burns today within everything that happens. This decade more than any other, showed what it really had to offer.
A number of other genres, throughout the decade, maintained a significant following. One genre that was slow to start was Hip-Hop, while it emerged in the 1970’s it didn’t become significant until the late 1980’s. Although Classical music began to lose impetus, it gave way to a new generation of composers through invention and theoretical development. The decade was also distinguished for its assistance to electronic music, which rose in reco...
Although the 1980s appeared to be a great time, it was actually mainly in a recession causing many to be jobless. The consumerism culture impacted the lives of many Americans and they were influenced by the people around them to continue to go out and buy the wants and ignore the needs in life; “there was a huge assortment of goods
The 1980s was a decade of reform. A decade when technology was improving and people were reinventing themselves all over the United States. Ronald Reagan was the President at this time from January 20th 1981 until January 20th 1989. Which was actually most of the decade, and between the years Reagan made extravagant and questionable changes for the government and economy. These questionable changes even caused was between two other countries. Drugs even became a problem when crack cocaine was the drug of choice. AIDs was also a complication during this decade being the leading epidemic. The purpose of this essay will be to explain the political and social issues of the 1980s, the following are just a few examples.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the 1980’s? The crazy hair styles, the new and improved things that were being created made this time alive, and fun. To be born in the 1980’s would have a been a privilege, who wouldn’t want to be known as “The decade that defined…. “US!” The 1980s was a decade that began on January 1, 1980, and ended on December 31, 1989. This decade was a great social and economic time period for people living in the 80’s. The world was becoming more developed as well as everyone in it. This decade became the “Look at me” generation of status seekers. The 80’s made a new breed of billionaires and money makers. “The decade began with double-digit inflation, Reagan declared a war on drugs, Kermit didn't find it easy to be green, hospital costs rose, we lost many, many of our finest talents to AIDS which before the decade ended spread to black and Hispanic women, and unemployment rose,” according to Peggy Whitely of Lone Star College. Although this time seemed like all fun and games, there were many problems. People say we lost the meaning of “We” and it suddenly became “I.” Citizens were realizing that you couldn’t depend on others around you; they were coming up with new ideas, and inventions to allow things to be more efficient. Although the 1980’s suffered a huge change for the American people, the fads and fashion part of the people strived, as well as the inventions. These two things will be some of the most historical, yet fascinating parts of the 80’s generation in American History.
Grosvenor Jr., Charles R. “In the 80s.” Glossary of Eighties Terms. In the 80s, 1995-2012.
There are two different positions taken about the 1960's in America. One side says that the sixties were good for America and changed the way Americans live for the better. The other side says that the sixties were bad for America and gave Americans new freedoms and ideas that changed their lives for the worse. Both positions have evidence to support their arguments and make the sixties look like a time of social and economic freedom and reform or make the sixties look like a time of ignorant rebellion and youthful playfulness that is not acceptable in the real world. This essay is going to touch on most of the important reforms of the sixties but concentrate mostly on the Vietnam War in the sixties and its impact on the American people back home and in the war. The essay will also concentrate on the popularization of drug use in the sixties and its effect on the society and America's view on drug use.
The 1990s is a decade full of change for the good but also the bad. There are many events that happen during this decade that affect not only America but the world as a whole. During these ten years Americans experienced things never before though possible. In this time people see the end of a war, the beginning of a war, a huge advancement in technology, and the changing in morals for the country. The American people had two different presidents in the 1990s these two men changed America both in positive ways and negative ways. The culture during the 90s changed drastically from the previous decade. The 1990s will be remembered as a time of advancement and great change that shapes the world still to this day.
Consider for example, the radio and television. The radio and television (before the advent of the internet) were monumental in their effects on transmitting culture, products, and ideas accross vast distances of the United States. Suddenly American’s could relate to the horrors of war overseas, as well as they could learn of each other’s culture, or product. Of course, this was not the same as being able to transport them there, though newer, better, faster forms of mass transit would be developed to help facilitate just this. But all of these developments pale in comparison to almost a half-century later, with the rise of the internet, and with the increasing array uses for it, in the modern day. +++====
A decade of much misfortune and prosperity is the 1960’s. If you can remember anything about it, then you were not apart of it; the 1960’s an era most popular known as the sixties. The sixties, was a time of much change. People’s way of life had completely changed at the turn of the decade. It was the first decade to be radically different, then one’s before. It is the decade to set the trends of all to come. It started a large progressive movement, it created distrust throughout the country, and finally an innovative time that set the path to the technology era.
On a cold winter’s morning on the 28th day of January in the year 1986, America was profoundly shaken and sent to its knees as the space shuttle Challenger gruesomely exploded just seconds after launching. The seven members of its crew, including one civilian teacher, were all lost. This was a game changer, we had never lost a single astronaut in flight. The United States by this time had unfortunately grown accustomed to successful space missions, and this reality check was all too sudden, too brutal for a complacent and oblivious nation (“Space”). The outbreak of sympathy that poured from its citizens had not been seen since President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The disturbing scenes were shown repeatedly on news networks which undeniably made it troublesome to keep it from haunting the nation’s cognizance (“Space”). The current president had more than situation to address, he had the problematic undertaking of gracefully picking America back up by its boot straps.
The 1980’s is one of the most interesting decades that was experienced in the United States. Dealing with the stock market, the coming up of new inventions, all the way to the types of music people listened to. During the 1980s, the only thing that made Americans be “Americans” was because of the things they were provided with. Many Americans had fun throughout the 1980s with materialistic, glamorous, and technological life styles; therefore there were different economical problems that Americans faced.
Many of us don’t get out of bed in the morning without checking our phone and going on the internet to see what the weather will be like for today, calling our friend to see where to meet before school, and instantly turning on our favorite songs to get ready to. Thanks to the 1990s, all of those things are possible. The 1990s introduced technology such as the internet, cell phones, cd’s, and many other things that has changed the world, and made communication and finding information faster and more convenient.
Our nation came a long with our new creativeness, our fearfulness, and our new militaristic ways. Although all of the generations since the 1900’s ended up playing a roll in the way America is sculpted, the 90’s were the final push into the new century. The final push that was made as a nation was defiantly beneficial for America and the rest of the world also. Today has been impacted dramatically from the changes in culture from the 1990’s and is still feeling the effects of all three most significant points of this era.
Television and movies were at its golden moments as majority of Tv shows and movies classics came from the 90s like the simpsons which is “The series currently holds the record for the longest-running prime-time sitcom in the US, running for 25 years since 1989, and becoming the longest-running program on FOX”(Wiki). American movie classics were born like Titanic, Forrest gump, Toys story, and The Matrix. Movies and Tv shows were amazing during this time but the “icing to the cake” of Entertainment came from videogames as gaming companies fought to get more support and purchase of their consoles and games as gaming became popular because of these games Super mario, Pokemon, Mortal Kombat, Sonic, Zelda and Tetris. Fashion of the 1990s was wild and colorful with crazy geometric shapes and If your clothes were not baggy then you were considered lame. Plenty of popular clothing brands in the 21st century made their launch to popularity because of the 90s. The group who molded 90s fashion to be greatest where the youth, the youth were the ones who started so many popular fashion trends that would make the 90s have a unique look. You were not a 90s kid if you did not have a pair or a bunch of Levi’s jeans, Levi’s was the go to jean as the popular 517 and 501 were born and everyone was cutting their Levi’s, Rolling up their Levi’s, or even