Timeline of the 80s, 1984

This is a list of important events the occured during 1984. Exact dates are listed when known.

  • The Cosby show premiers.
  • Sikhs occupy Golden Temple in Amritsar, India
  • Indira Gandhi is assassinated.
  • Chemical disaster in Bhopal, India, December 3rd.
  • Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman Vice President running mate.
  • Reagan re-elected in landslide election, Walter Mondale is never heard from again.
  • Congress cuts off aid to Nicaragua, illegal guns sales start to fund the contras.
  • Stonewashed jeans are introduced.
  • The first megabit chip is made at Bell Labs
  • Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, US. The Soviets boycott.
  • Mary Lou Retton wins two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
  • Old nude photos of Vanessa Williams, the current Miss America. She is forced from her throne.
  • The AIDS virus is discovered
  • On January 28, Michael Jackson's hair caught fire during the shooting of Pepsi commercial, many children's rhymes ensued.
  • The first infomercials appear on TV due to de-regulation by the FCC.
  • 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.
  • The term cyberspace is coined by William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer"
  • Bob Geldof and Band Aid release "Do They Know It's Christmas"
  • Vanessa Williams becomes first African American Miss America
  • In 1984 Reagan makes famous joke: "My fellow Americans, I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes." He supposedly didn't know the mic was on.
  • Apple Computer releases the Macintosh personal computer.
  • Calling themselves the PMRC (Parents' Music Resource Coalition), concerned parents, including Tipper Gore, wife of then-Tennessee Senator Albert Gore, Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker, Georgie Packwood, wife of Oregon Senator Robert Packwood, and Nancy Thurmond, wife of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, construct a campaign designed to 'educate' parents about certain alarming new trends in rock music.