href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WD9mYaJin5I/SUF2F7TKjoI/AAAAAAAAAG0/RK62aKbzLo0/s1600-h/Timeline.jpg">
-1980
The first all news service started by Turner Cable Network begins
John Lennon is assassinated by Mark David Chapman.
Richard Pryor gets badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.
-1981
The first IBM-PC's begin to roll of the lines.
The first DeLorean sports cars roll off the assembly line.
August 1, The birth of MTV, the 24 hour-a-day music television station
Pac-Man is introduced in the US and sparks a huge craze.
-1982
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" sells 20 million albums to become the largest selling record ever.
Ozzy bites the head off a live bat thrown at him at a January 20 performance.
-1983
Atari releases its jt storage video game consol.
C.D’s are released.
N.W.A. & Ice T helps pioneer gangsta rap in the west coast with his rapcore singles “Body Rock" and "Killers.”
-1984
The Cosby show premiers.
Stonewashed jeans are introduced.
Old nude photos of Vanessa Williams, the current Miss America. She is forced from her throne.
The first all rap radio format is introduced at LA's KDAY
Run-D.M.C. are the first ever rap group to have an album certified gold.
Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin team up to launch one of the most important record labels ever, Def Jam Records.
-1985
Crack coccaine starts to appear.
LIVE AID in London and Philadelphi, beamed around the world
Nintendo home entertainment system introduced
Extra second added to the calender year.
Rock Hudson, the first major public figure to die to AIDS, dies on October 2
-1986
Fox Network starts in America
"A.M. Chicago" changes its name to the "Oprah Winfrey Show" and goes national September 8th.
America celebrates national holiday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day for the first time
-1987
Thatcher re-elected (again)
Black Monday - Stock market drops 22% on October 19th
Condom commericals begin to appear on TV for the first time.
-1988
CDs outsell vinyl for the first time ever.
Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland; Lybian terrorists are suspected of planting the bomb.
World's longest undersea tunnel is completed. Work begins on the Channel which will then become the world's longest undersea tunnel.
-1989
The fall of the Berlin wall on November 9th.
Arsenio Hall becomes first African-American to host a nightly talk show January 3rd.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles become an over night sensation
