The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The 1980s: 

 

 

1980
Paul McCartney gets busted for travelling without a Lennon in Japan.
"I've Been To Bali Too" - Redgum

1980 - 1988
Ronald Reagan leads America, although whether as President or stand-up comedian remains unclear
"The Fletcher Memorial Home" - Pink Floyd
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel
"Russians" - Sting

1980
Bon Scott scores most embarassing OD for any Australian: too much beer
"(He'll Never Be An) Old Man River" - This Is Serious Mum

1980
John Lennon is shot and killed, while Yoko Ono stands next to him unharmed, thus illustrating the essential injustice of life
"I Just Shot John Lennon" - The Cranberries
"Far Side of Crazy" - Wall of Voodoo

1980 - 1989
Airline hijacking continue.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1980 - 1989
Teen suicide epidemic largely blamed on Heavy Metal music rather than doing anything about it.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1980 - 1989
"Wheel of Fortune" becomes one the decade's top rating US tv shows.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1980 - 1989
A statistically disproportionate number of Vietnam vets become homeless.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1981
Trevor Chappell resorts to under-handed tactics to salvage cricketing victory for Australia
"The Power and the Passion" - Midnight Oil

1981
Nothing much happends, but Ross Wilson writes a song about it anyway
"Summer of '81" - Mondo Rock

1981 - 1984
Many find no help, but AIDS instead, initially
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel
"Sign O' The Times" - Prince

1982
The Vietnam memorial in Washington DC in constructed.
"Civil War" - Guns N Roses

1982
Israel invades Lebanon.
"Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Dessert" - Pink Floyd

1982
The Falklands War.
"Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Dessert" - Pink Floyd
"Southhampton Dock" - Pink Floyd
"The Post War Dream" - Pink Floyd
"Not Now John" - Pink Floyd

1983
Sally Ride becomes the first woman in space.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1983 - 1991
A new weapon is deployed in the Cola War - celebrity endorsements from rock stars.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1984
Bernhard Goetz innaugrates a new era of vigilante justice.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1985
Ricky Nelson falls victim to Cliched Rick Star Death #3: plane crash
"Air Crash Museum" - The Dead Milkmen

1985
Reagnomics leads to the US having a net foreign debt for the first time in decades.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1985
The crack cocaine epidemic begins.
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1988
Harrison Ford stars in "Frantic", yet another of his inexplicable career moves
"One Week" - Bare Naked Ladies

1988
Used syringes and other trash wash up on the New York and New Jersey shores.

"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

1989
A pro-democractic uprising in China is ruthlessly crushed
"We Didn't Start The Fire" - Billy Joel

 

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Copyright Loki Carbis, 200
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Last tinkered with:
December 2, 2002