Step Back Into….1985

Pittsburgh 55+ Magazine
Mar 17
3 min read

Route 66 is decertified. The first Block Buster Video store opens in Dallas, Texas.

By Paula Green

On July 13, dozens of top-name musicians and bands perform at the Live Aid concerts at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia and Wembley Stadium in London. The shows benefit African famine victims. Ronald Reagan awards Jimmy Stewart, an actor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and promotes him to Major General on the Retired List. On May 31, a tornado outbreak in Canada and the U.S. sees 41 hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario. Ninety people are killed from these tornadoes.

Average: The average income was $12,747. The cost of a new home is $116,805. Average cost for a new car was $8,845. Gasoline was $1.12 a gallon. A loaf of bread was 74 cents. A gallon of milk was $1.98 and eggs sold for 80 cents a dozen. Bananas sold for 33 cents a pound. An average movie ticket was $3.55. A first-class stamp was .20 cents (22 cents as of February 17).

Firsts: Windows program invented by Microsoft. The lithium-ion battery, rechargeable battery, was introduced. Researchers at IBM develop the scanning tunneling microscope. The first-ever Adopt-a-Highway sign is erected on Texas’s Highway 69. Super Mario Brothers video game is released. Pillsbury launches the breakfast snack, Toaster Streudel.

U.S. Events: Coca-Cola attempts to change its 99-year-old formula in an effort to attract younger drinkers. "New" Coke fizzles out, and the company soon reintroduces the original, "Classic" beverage. Christa McAuliffe is chosen to be the first school teacher to fly in the space shuttle. On October 2, 1985, actor Rock Hudson, 59, becomes the first major U.S. celebrity to die of complications from AIDS.

World News: On September 1, the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic is finally located in the northern Atlantic Ocean. British scientists report the opening of an enormous hole in the earth's ozone layer over Antarctica. In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev succeeds Konstantin Chernenko. On March 26, Pope John Paul II announces the first World Youth Day.

Entertainment: Top five movie releases: Back to the Future, Rambo: The First Blood Part 2, Rocky IV, The Color Purple, and Out of Africa. Other popular releases: Cocoon, Code of Silence, Commando, Kiss of the Spider Woman, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Prizzi’s Honor, and St. Elmo’s Fire. Academy Award winners: Best Picture: Amadeus, Best Actor: F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus, and Best Actress: Sally Field, Place in the Heart.

Television: Popular TV shows -The Cosby Show, Family Ties, Murder She Wrote, 60 Minutes, Cheers, Dallas, Dynasty, Miami Vice, MacGyver, Moonlighting, EastEnders, Growing Pains, The Equalizer, Spenser: For Hire, and The Golden Girls.

Songs: The hit list – Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, I Want to Know What Love Is, I Feel for You, Out of Touch, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Heaven, Money for Nothing, Crazy for You, Take on Me, Everytime You Go Away, Easy Lover, Can’t Fight This Feeling, One More Night, We Built This City, and We Are the World.

Publishing: Calvin and Hobbes comic strip debuts in newspapers. Popular books: The Handmaid's Tale, Ender's Game, Love in Time of Cholera, Perfume, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Polar Express, Lonesome Dove, The Vampire Lestat, The Cider House Rules, Skeleton Crew, and The Accidental Tourist.

Sports: MLB – San Francisco 49ers defeat the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. NHL – Edmonton Oilers are crowned Stanley Cup champs as they beat the Philadelphia Flyers; NBA – LA Lakers are victorious over the Boston Celtics. MLB – Kansas City Royal defeat the St. Louis Cardinals.

Politics: President: Ronald Reagan: Vice President: George H.W. Bush. Ronald Reagan, 73, takes oath for second term as 40th President (Jan. 20).

Quotes:

“There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.” ~ Ronald Reagan, State of the Union Address,

February 6, 1965

“If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” ~ Marty McFly & George McFly

Back to the Future