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1985 History, Facts, and Trivia

Quick Facts from 1985

  • World-Changing Event: Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet Premier in March 1985, launching the era of “Glasnost,” a policy of openness and transparency that began unraveling the Soviet Union from the inside. The Cold War had a new character, and he was surprisingly reasonable.
  • Top Song: Careless Whisper by Wham! featuring George Michael
  • Must-See Movies: Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, The Color Purple, Witness, Cocoon, and The Goonies
  • Notable Books: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, and The Cider House Rules by John Irving
  • Swatch Watch: $29.99; postage stamp: 22 cents; Swiss Miss cocoa (9-pack): 99 cents; 1 oz. gold: $327.00
  • Super Bowl ad (30 seconds): $525,000
  • The Funny Guy: Steven Wright; The Funny Late Night Host: Johnny Carson; The Funny Later Night Host: David Letterman
  • Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Ox, associated with diligence, dependability, and a stubborn refusal to back down
  • The Conversation: Coca-Cola replaced its 99-year-old formula with “New Coke.” It went about as well as you’d expect.
Top Ten Baby Names of 1985

Girls: Jessica, Ashley, Jennifer, Amanda, Sarah Boys: Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua, Daniel

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols

Catherine Bach, Kim Basinger, Jennifer Beals, Joan Collins, Lydia Cornell, E.G. Daily, Elvira, Morgan Fairchild, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Kathy Ireland, Heather Langenkamp, Kelly LeBrock, Heather Locklear, Madonna, Kelli Maroney, Dolly Parton, Tatjana Patitz, Paulina Porizkova, Victoria Principal, Linnea Quigley, Tanya Roberts, Jewel Shepard, Helen Slater, Suzanne Somers, Brinke Stevens, Heather Thomas

Leading Men and Hollywood Heartthrobs

Harrison Ford, Mick Jagger, John Travolta, Robert Redford

The Quotes

“Courage.” — Dan Rather, his new sign-off for the CBS Evening News

“Thank you for your support.” — Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler commercials

“You look mahvelous.” — Billy Crystal as Fernando Lamas on Saturday Night Live

Time Magazine Person of the Year

Deng Xiaoping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, was recognized for opening China’s economy to market reforms and steering the world’s most populous nation toward modernization

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Sharlene Wells, Salt Lake City, UT Miss USA: Laura Martinez-Herring, Texas

We Lost in 1985

Ricky Nelson, the rock-and-roll pioneer and teen idol from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, died on December 31, 1985, in a plane crash in DeKalb, Texas. He was 45.

Yul Brynner, the King and I star, died of lung cancer on October 10, 1985. He had filmed a public service announcement before his death that aired afterward: “Now that I’m gone, I tell you: don’t smoke. Whatever you do, just don’t smoke.”

America in 1985 — The Context

Ronald Reagan was inaugurated for his second term on January 21, 1985, riding the wave of a landslide reelection over Walter Mondale. The economy was recovering from the early-decade recession, the Cold War was the permanent backdrop of daily life, and the culture was loud, colorful, and thoroughly unironic about it. Live Aid raised $127 million for Ethiopian famine relief. The Iran-Contra affair was building in the background. And somewhere in a Pepsi boardroom, someone was greenlighting a decision about Coca-Cola’s formula that would become a masterclass in what not to do.

New Coke

In the spring of 1985, Coca-Cola conducted blind taste tests under the codename “Project Kansas” and determined that people preferred a sweeter formula. On April 23, 1985, the company replaced its 99-year-old recipe with “New Coke.” The public reaction was swift and furious. Hundreds of thousands of complaint calls flooded company lines. ABC’s Peter Jennings interrupted a General Hospital broadcast to break the news that Coca-Cola Classic was coming back. New Coke limped along until 1992, when it quietly disappeared a few years later. The original formula returned as “Coca-Cola Classic” on July 11, 1985, less than three months after it had been pulled — one of the most expensive and embarrassing marketing miscalculations in American corporate history, and arguably the best free advertising Coke ever received.

Live Aid

On July 13, 1985, simultaneous concerts at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia raised funds for Ethiopian famine relief. Roughly 1.5 billion people watched across 150 countries — the largest live television audience in history at the time. Queen’s performance at Wembley was later voted the greatest live rock performance ever by a BBC poll, edging out Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and the Sex Pistols in 1976.

Phil Collins performed at Wembley, then boarded a Concorde supersonic jet to Philadelphia and performed again at JFK Stadium the same evening. On the Concorde, he ran into Cher, who had no idea the concert was happening. She attended and appeared in the We Are the World finale.

Pop Culture Facts and History

Back to the Future was the biggest film of 1985 and one of the most beloved of the decade. The Chinese government banned it for what they considered a disrespectful portrayal of history and its use of time travel. The events in the film are precisely set for October 25-27, 1985 — a Friday and weekend — as accurately depicted.

The 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes was the first feature film to include a fully computer-generated character: a knight emerging from a stained glass window. The effect was created by John Lasseter, who was working at Lucasfilm at the time and would go on to co-found Pixar.

The film Clue had three different endings, which were randomly distributed to theaters in 1985. Home video releases included all three.

The Breakfast Club asked five high school archetypes to spend a Saturday in detention and come out the other side as human beings. John Hughes wrote the script in two days.

The film Mask is based on the true story of Roy Lee “Rocky” Dennis, a boy with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, an extremely rare sclerotic bone disorder that caused abnormal calcium deposits on his skull.

Queen’s 1985 Live Aid performance — featured at the end of the Bohemian Rhapsody film — was voted the greatest live rock performance in history by a BBC poll. Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock was second.

The Titanic was found on September 1, 1985, by a joint American-French expedition led by Dr. Robert Ballard, approximately 370 miles southeast of Newfoundland at a depth of about 12,500 feet. It had been sitting undisturbed for 73 years.

Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. in Japan in 1985. The best-selling book in Japan that year was a strategy guide for the game. The Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America in October 1985, with Super Mario Bros. included, and sold out immediately.

Calvin and Hobbes debuted in 35 newspapers on November 18, 1985. It would become one of the most celebrated comic strips in history before its creator, Bill Watterson, retired it a decade later.

The first WrestleMania was held at Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1985. The main event featured Hulk Hogan and Mr. T defeating “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. Liberace was the timekeeper. Muhammad Ali was the guest referee. It was exactly as unhinged as that sounds.

Hulk Hogan and Mr. T were guests on Richard Belzer’s talk show Hot Properties in 1985. Belzer asked Hogan to demonstrate a wrestling hold. Audience pressure prevailed, Hogan applied a front chin lock, Belzer passed out and hit his head on the floor, and walked away with nine stitches. Hogan later settled a lawsuit.

The plastic table-shaped piece inside a pizza box was invented by Carmela Vitale in 1985 (patent No. 4,498,586). It is officially called a “package saver.” It has prevented more cheese-on-lid tragedies than anyone has ever bothered to count.

Tommy Hilfiger launched his menswear clothing line in 1985.

Robert Downey Jr. was a full-time cast member of Saturday Night Live for the 1985-86 season. It did not go especially well for anyone involved.

The name Madison did not exist as a given name for American girls before 1985. Its rapid rise — eventually reaching #2 nationally in 2001 — is traced to the 1984 film Splash, in which a mermaid picks the name off a Manhattan street sign.

Sour Patch Kids were originally called Mars Men. The name changed in 1985 to capitalize on the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. The flavor did not change.

A 12-year-old girl photographed on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is Sharbat Gula. Her identity was unknown for 17 years until National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry located her in 2002.

Ferris Bueller’s actual day off — as pinpointed by the Braves vs. Cubs game he attended in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — was June 5, 1985.

The most powerful supercomputer on Earth in 1985, the Cray-2, had 1.9 GFLOPS of processing power. A modern iPad has roughly equivalent power. A Nintendo GameCube has 9.4 GFLOPS. The 1985 version of “state of the art” fits in a child’s backpack.

Aretha Franklin’s voice was legally declared one of Michigan’s natural resources in 1985. This remains one of the more accurate official designations in state history.

The McRib has been a permanent menu item at McDonald’s in Germany since 1985. Americans have been staging dramatic “limited time” countdowns ever since.

In 1985, the mayors of Carthage and Rome formally signed a peace treaty, officially ending the Third Punic War after 2,131 years. The casualties were manageable at that point.

The US Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that Long Island is legally not an island. The United States Board on Geographic Names still considers it an island, because it is, in fact, surrounded by water.

Germany passed legislation in 1985 making it illegal to deny the existence of the Holocaust.

Route 66 was officially removed from the U.S. Highway System in 1985 after 59 years. The road remains, the motels remain, and the nostalgia has never stopped.

A-ha’s Take on Me music video — combining pencil-sketch animation with live action — is one of the most innovative music videos ever produced. It cost an extraordinary amount, failed on its first release in 1985, was re-released with the animated video, and became a global hit. The pencil-sketch technique was called rotoscoping.

We Built This City by Starship was named the worst song of all time by Blender, GQ, Rolling Stone, and VH1’s “50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs… Ever.” It reached #1 in November 1985. Both things are true.

Coke became the first soft drink consumed in space when astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger tested a specially designed “Coca-Cola Space Can” on July 12, 1985. The can worked. The cola was reportedly flat.

David Letterman’s very first Top Ten List aired in 1985. The topic: “Top 10 Words That Almost Rhyme With Peas.” Number one was “Meats.”

Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record on September 11, 1985, reaching 4,192 career hits. The record had stood since 1928.

The Scandalous

Jonathan Pollard, an American intelligence analyst, was arrested in November 1985 for passing classified U.S. defense information to Israel. He was convicted of espionage in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison. He was released in 2015 and moved to Israel in 2021.

The Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-61-A in October 1985 carried eight crew members, the largest crew ever flown on a single space mission. The record still stands.

Roberto P. Hernandez was jailed in 1985 for a robbery he did not commit. Authorities had confused him with another man who shared his name, birthday, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and a tattoo in the same location. Their Social Security numbers differed by a single digit.

“Don’t Mess with Texas” launched in 1985 — not as a declaration of state pride, but as an anti-littering campaign commissioned by the Texas Department of Transportation. It worked better than any anti-littering campaign in history, largely because Texans liked the attitude.

The Habits

Debating whether David and Maddie would get together on Moonlighting (they did, in season 3, and then the show promptly fell apart); watching A-ha’s Take on Me video on MTV repeatedly; wearing Swatch watches stacked on both arms; playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES; and quoting The Breakfast Club to anyone who would listen.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics — Klaus von Klitzing — for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect
Chemistry — Herbert A. Hauptman and Jerome Karle — for their development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures
Medicine — Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein — for discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism, which led directly to the development of statin drugs
Literature — Claude Simon — French novelist, associated with the “New Novel” movement
Peace — International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Economics — Franco Modigliani — for his pioneering analyses of saving and financial markets

1985 Christmas Gifts and First Appearances

Swatch Watches, Super Mario Bros. on the NES, She-Ra: Princess of Power action figures, Care Bears, Teddy Ruxpin, My Buddy dolls, Pound Puppies, the Wheel of Fortune board game

David Letterman’s First Top Ten List (1985)

Top 10 Words That Almost Rhyme With “Peas”:
10. Heats
9. Rice
8. Moss
7. Ties
6. Needs
5. Lens
4. Ice
3. Nurse
2. Leaks
1. Meats

Broadway and West End in 1985

Big River (Musical) opened on Broadway on April 25, 1985, and closed on September 20, 1987. Based on Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Me and My Girl (Musical) opened in London’s West End on February 12, 1985 — a revival of the 1937 original — and ran until January 16, 1993.

Les Miserables opened in the West End on October 8, 1985, at the Barbican Centre. It transferred to the Palace Theatre in 1986 and has never really left.

Best Film Oscar Winner

Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman, won Best Picture at the 57th Academy Awards in March 1985, presented for the 1984 film year. F. Murray Abraham won Best Actor for his portrayal of Antonio Salieri. Tom Hulce was nominated for his role in Amadeus but lost to his own co-star, which is a rough evening.

1985 Entries to the National Film Registry

The Library of Congress selected the following films for preservation in 1985, the registry’s inaugural year:

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Casablanca (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The General (1926)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
High Noon (1952)
Intolerance (1916)
The Learning Tree (1969)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Modern Times (1936)
Nanook of the North (1922)
On the Waterfront (1954)
The Searchers (1956)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Star Wars (1977)
Sunrise (1927)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Vertigo (1958)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Birth of a Nation (1915)

Top Movies of 1985
  1. Back to the Future
  2. Rambo: First Blood Part II
  3. Rocky IV
  4. The Color Purple
  5. Out of Africa
  6. Cocoon
  7. The Jewel of the Nile
  8. Witness
  9. The Goonies
  10. Spies Like Us
Most Popular TV Shows of 1985
  1. The Cosby Show (NBC)
  2. Family Ties (NBC)
  3. Murder, She Wrote (CBS)
  4. 60 Minutes (CBS)
  5. Cheers (NBC)
  6. Dallas (CBS)
  7. Dynasty (ABC)
  8. The Golden Girls (NBC)
  9. Miami Vice (NBC)
  10. Who’s the Boss? (ABC)

The Golden Girls premiered September 14, 1985, and immediately found an audience nobody in television had thought to target: older women who were funny, sharp, and not interested in being anyone’s grandmother in the background. It ran seven seasons and has never stopped airing in syndication.

MacGyver also premiered in 1985, establishing that a man with a Swiss Army knife, a paperclip, and a calm demeanor could solve any problem. An entire generation of DIY culture owes him royalties.

1985 Billboard Number One Songs

December 22, 1984 – February 1, 1985: Like a Virgin — Madonna
February 2 – February 15: I Want to Know What Love Is — Foreigner
February 16 – March 8: Careless Whisper — Wham! featuring George Michael
March 9 – March 29: Can’t Fight This Feeling — REO Speedwagon
March 30 – April 12: One More Night — Phil Collins
April 13 – May 10: We Are the World — USA for Africa
May 11 – May 17: Crazy for You — Madonna
May 18 – May 24: Don’t You (Forget About Me) — Simple Minds
May 25 – June 7: Everything She Wants — Wham!
June 8 – June 21: Everybody Wants to Rule the World — Tears for Fears
June 22 – July 5: Heaven — Bryan Adams
July 6 – July 12: Sussudio — Phil Collins
July 13 – July 26: A View to a Kill — Duran Duran
July 27 – August 2: Everytime You Go Away — Paul Young
August 3 – August 23: Shout — Tears for Fears
August 24 – September 6: The Power of Love — Huey Lewis and the News
September 7 – September 20: St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion) — John Parr
September 21 – October 11: Money for Nothing — Dire Straits
October 12 – October 18: Oh Sheila — Ready for the World
October 19 – October 25: Take on Me — A-ha
October 26 – November 1: Saving All My Love for You — Whitney Houston
November 2 – November 8: Part-Time Lover — Stevie Wonder
November 9 – November 15: Miami Vice Theme — Jan Hammer
November 16 – November 29: We Built This City — Starship
November 30 – December 6: Separate Lives — Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
December 7 – December 20: Broken Wings — Mr. Mister
December 21, 1985 – January 17, 1986: Say You, Say Me — Lionel Richie

Phil Collins had three separate #1 singles in 1985 (One More Night, Sussudio, Separate Lives) and performed at both Live Aid venues on the same day. He was having quite a year.

Biggest Pop Artists of 1985

Phil Collins, Madonna, Wham!, Tears for Fears, Dire Straits, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Bryan Adams, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis and the News, Duran Duran, A-ha, Simple Minds, Lionel Richie, Mr. Mister, Stevie Wonder, Starship, Paul Young, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen

Popular and Best-Selling Books of 1985

A Handmaid’s Tale — Margaret Atwood
Baby’s First Words — Lars Wik
Chapterhouse: Dune — Frank Herbert
The Cider House Rules — John Irving
The Class — Erich Segal
Contact — Carl Sagan
Family Album — Danielle Steel
Hold the Dream — Barbara Taylor Bradford
If Tomorrow Comes — Sidney Sheldon
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie — Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond
Jubal Sackett — Louis L’Amour Lake Wobegon Days — Garrison Keillor Love in the Time of Cholera — Gabriel Garcia Marquez Lucky — Jackie Collins The Mammoth Hunters — Jean M. Auel The Polar Express — Chris Van Allsburg Secrets — Danielle Steel Self-Help — Lorrie Moore The Sicilian — Mario Puzo Skeleton Crew — Stephen King The Talisman — Stephen King and Peter Straub Texas — James A. Michener The Vampire Lestat — Anne Rice White Noise — Don DeLillo

Sports Champions of 1985

World Series: Kansas City Royals — defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in a memorable series that included a controversial call in Game 6
Super Bowl XIX: San Francisco 49ers — defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-16; Joe Montana vs. Dan Marino was billed as a battle of quarterbacks, and Montana won decisively
NBA Champions: Los Angeles Lakers — defeated the Boston Celtics 4-2, finally getting Kareem Abdul-Jabbar his ring against his former team
Stanley Cup: Edmonton Oilers — Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and a roster that is still debated as one of the greatest hockey teams ever assembled
U.S. Open Golf: Andy North
U.S. Open Tennis — Men/Women: Ivan Lendl / Hana Mandlikova
Wimbledon — Men/Women: Boris Becker / Martina Navratilova
NCAA Football Champions: Oklahoma
NCAA Basketball Champions: Villanova
Kentucky Derby: Spend a Buck

Sports Highlight: Boris Becker won Wimbledon in 1985 at age 17, becoming the youngest men’s singles champion in the tournament’s history and the first unseeded player to win it. He was a complete unknown before the fortnight began. Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record on September 11, 1985, with his 4,192nd career hit. Cobb had held the record since 1928.

FAQs: 1985 History, Facts, and Trivia

Q: What was the biggest pop culture mistake of 1985?
A: New Coke. Coca-Cola replaced its 99-year-old formula in April 1985 after internal taste tests suggested people preferred a sweeter drink. The public disagreement was swift and sustained. Coca-Cola Classic was back on shelves by July, less than three months later.

Q: What was the #1 song of 1985?
A: Careless Whisper by Wham! featuring George Michael topped the charts, though Phil Collins arguably owned the year with three separate #1 singles: One More Night, Sussudio, and Separate Lives.

Q: What major historical discovery happened in 1985?
A: The wreck of the Titanic was located on September 1, 1985, by a team led by Dr. Robert Ballard, approximately 370 miles southeast of Newfoundland. The ship had been missing since April 1912.

Q: What was Queen’s most famous concert moment in 1985?
A: Their Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985, was later voted the greatest live rock performance in history in a BBC poll. The 20-minute set is still studied by musicians as a masterclass in crowd management and stage presence.

Q: What technology was launched in 1985?
A: Microsoft Windows 1.0 launched on November 20, 1985. It was widely considered underwhelming at the time. The Nintendo Entertainment System also launched in North America in October 1985, with considerably more enthusiasm.

Q: What film was banned in China in 1985?
A: Back to the Future was banned by the Chinese government for what officials described as disrespectful use of time travel and an improper portrayal of history.

Q: Who was the youngest Wimbledon champion in 1985?
A: Boris Becker of West Germany, age 17, won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon in 1985 — the youngest champion in the tournament’s history and the first unseeded player ever to win it.

Q: What cartoon strip debuted in 1985?
A: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson launched in 35 newspapers on November 18, 1985. It ran until December 31, 1995, and is widely considered one of the greatest comic strips ever produced.

More 1985 Facts and History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1985X
1985 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Everything 80s Podcast 1985
Fact Monster
1980s, Infoplease.com World History
Live Aid
1985 in Movies (according to IMDB)
1985 Top Movies (according to BoxOfficeMojo)
New Coke
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
The 80s(History.com)
80s and 90s Classic NES Games (1985-1994)
1980s Slang
Wikipedia 1985