QUICK: THINK 80S!
WHAT DO YOU SEE?A blur of regrettable haircuts?
That synth-pop song you hate yourself for humming?
A supercut of shoulder pads, boxy hatchbacks and trickle-down economics?
Its hard to know how to feel about this change-filled decade.
Sometimes is seems long agoa distant world dominated by three TV channels and something called the Soviet Union.
So asked some survivors to reflect on the high and low-lights of an oft-maligned era.
No doctor had been able to diagnose him.
These guys were some of the first.
Then the cases began to accumulate.
It was so sudden, and they were so young."
Activist and author Larry Kramer cofounded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1982.
Being the one who shot J.R. made me a trivia question.
Mary Crosby played Kristin Shepard, sister-in-law and assailant of Larry Hagmans J.R., on the CBS seriesDallas.
1980
Miracle on Ice
THE HOSTAGES HADBEEN TAKENin Iran.
We had gas lines, inflation.
Americans needed something to feel good about.
I dont know how many times people told me, I remember where I was when we won.
That game touched our whole country.
People saw it as a way to show the world what we still could do.
Mike Eruzione led the U.S. hockey team that defeated the Soviet Union at the Winter Olympics.
Hes now director of special outreach at Boston University.
Magic is Here
WE GOT TOthe airport and I saw the faces of everybody.
I knew that Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] wasnt going to play.
I said, Were still going to win.
They looked at me: Man, rookie, sit down.
When we got on the plane, I sat in Kareems seat.
I said, Never fear, Magic is here.
By the time we landed, they started believing.
Earvin Magic Johnson became the first rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP award.
But did American women really care that much about 20-year-old Princess Di?
The issue sold extremely well.
That next June, I went to a ball at Broadlands, an estate in the English countryside.
The royal couple were the guests of honor.
Diana wore a white and silver one-shoulder gown and was very slender and very beautiful.
We shook hands, and I told her how much American women loved her.
The public couldnt get enough of the fairy tale that ended more than a decade later as a tragedy.
I wasnt sure it was going to last six months.
A VJ was a whole new animal.
I figured there was a rock star in town doing autographs and I asked my driver, Whos here?
He said, You.
Nina Blackwood was one of MTVs five original VJs.
Today she is a DJ on SiriusXM Radio.
Myrna Blyth is the editorial director of AARP Media
Fernandomania!
I WAS A20-year-old rookie pitching against the Yankees in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series.
We were back in Dodger Stadium after dropping the first two games; I had lost the first one.
It was the end of a long season.
When I took the mound, I knew I didnt have my best pitches.
But I hung in there and pitched the whole game.
We won, 5-4, and went on to win the Series.
Fernando Valenzuela won Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same year.
