The Year Was 1987

pervertedjester
The Year Was 1987

Now I know G@G would like us all to write a bit about what's going on in 2017. But I ask you, good people of G@G, do we really need the reminder? I mean I'm sure all of them would go something like this: Something..Something...trump... Something...TRUMP! Still my answer to this task was originally, Why Should I! Luckily @LittleSally did it. And we should all be thankful that Little Sally took one for the team! THANKS SALLY! (Some website should give you a job *Hint-Hint*) Anyways like I was saying I didn't want to review 2017 so I've decided to write about 1987! Why, you may ask? Because I'm bored, why else, so strap in.

On January 3rd of 1987 we all learned how to "Walk like an Egyptian" for the first time. A song that was so catchy that even the Cops danced to it. Surprisingly, by today's standards, no one got offended by the song. I dare say it was the most overplayed song of that year. Well that and "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany or "Mony, Mony" by Billy Idol. (I thought that's how the British said "Money" for years afterwards.)

The Denver Broncos went up against the New York Giants in Superbowl XXI. It was the first Super Bowl to be telecast on commercial television in Asia, it also marked the first Super Bowl to be broadcast live in Rome. MVP of the Game Phil Simms was the first athlete to appear in an "I'm going to Disney World!" television ad. The kinda of Halftime show your used to was completely different back then. It featured George Burns who was, 92 at the time, introducing a Disney "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary." also featuring the Southern California high school drill teams and dancers. And Television watchers got to see Gatorade being dumped on a Coach for the first time in broadcast after the Giants won 39-20. (Which you would've known by now if payed attention to who the MVP was.) Enjoy the 13 minute Halftime Show!

We were introduced to The Bundy's and The Simpson's on that new weird little network called Fox. While most of you know the Simpson's, The Bundy's on "Married with Children" were wildly popular at the same time. That's if you could get the station to come in without some MacGyver type tin foil and hanger set up. Or you were lucky and your expensive cable provider carried the station. And of course on ABC we had the premier of a small corny little show called "Full House" that seemed to be popular as well.

The Year Was 1987

In May, 19-year-old Mathias Rust, a West German citizen, flew a small Cessna airplane into Moscow, landing in Red Square. The daring teenager flew the plane undetected into Soviet airspace, stating that his motivation was to bring peace between the Soviets and the West. When he arrived he was greeted by curious strangers and then arrested for violating Soviet airspace. Rust went on trial and was sentenced to 4 years in a labor camp but was released after 14 months as part of a good will gesture after the signing of a non-proliferation treaty. The stunt humiliated the Soviet defense ministry as it highlighted flaws in their massive system, and eventually the Defense Minister and Head of Air Defense were fired.

Speaking of the German's, United States President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous speech at the Berlin Wall in West Berlin on June 12th. The speech came at the height of the Cold War and was a rallying cry for the unification of Berlin. Reagan implored the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to “tear down this wall,” urging him to include the reunification of Germany as a part of Gorbachev’s “perestroika” (restructuring) that was promised to the world when he assumed power. Reagan also used the speech to encourage Soviet leaders to work with the United States in initiating new arms reduction talks.

The Year Was 1987

The very first Final Fantasy video game is released by Square in Japan during December of 1987. The game was designed for the original Nintendo Entertainment System and was considered a critical and commercial success. It was reported to have sold about 400,000 copies during its original release and went on to sell nearly 2 million more copies worldwide in subsequent releases. The Final Fantasy games were developed into a well-loved series of video games, spawning several follow-up games, various merchandise, soundtracks, and even films.

The hottest personal computer of 1987 was the 16-bit Apple IIGS. It was Apple's first computer with a color graphical user interface and a wavetable synthesis chip for sound. The computer was introduced at $999, as compared to the Apple Macintosh's $2,495 price tag a few years prior.

The Year Was 1987

On October 19, 1987, or Black Monday at the New York Stock Exchange turned into one of the worst crashes in market history when Wall Street's new computerized trading algorithms blindly and aggressively accelerated selling in the face of an already sharp decline. With computers in control, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 508.32 points in a single day, a whopping loss of 22.6 percent. Regulators responded to the crash by creating stock market "circuit breakers" that temporarily stop all trading when the DJIA suffers a similarly large drop over a short time period.

The Year Was 1987

A series of random shootings took place in Hungerford, Berkshire, United Kingdom, on 19 August 1987, when Michael Robert Ryan, an unemployed antique dealer and handyman, fatally shot 16 people, including a police officer, before taking his own life. The shootings, committed using a handgun and two semi-automatic rifles, occurred at several locations, including a school he had once attended. 15 other people were also shot but survived. No firm motive for the killings has ever been established, although one psychologist has theorized Ryan's motive for the massacre had been a form of "anger and contempt for the ordinary life" around him, which he himself was not a tangible part of.

The top three movies of the year were Three Men and a Baby, Fatal Attraction and Beverly Hills Cop 2. But my three favorites at the time were Spaceballs (Because it made front of the Star Wars movies that my brother loved so much.), Who's That Girl (Madonna was pretty and funny to a 7yr old boy.) and Robocop (My older brother showed it to me, to scare me.).

Fashion in 1987 can best be seen in the movie "Pretty In Pink." The whole cast wears just about every trend of that year. Thankfully I didn't understand that film at the time and by the time I did it was too hard to watch for me. I started disliking Molly Ringwald as I got older. But she was the Queen of Moody Teenage Girls in the 80's.

Well that's it for 1987. The 80's were chalk full of Corporate Greed and World Tragedies. Minimum wage was $3.35 per hour and gas was about $0.90 a gallon. So most Families made by with less back then. The world was in a horrible way and still is for the same reason, because an elite somebody wanted a better yacht or another pet tiger. Although "Married with Children" showed them what kind of messed up people the corporations were pushing.

Thanks for Reading!

The Year Was 1987
35 Opinion