Memory Lane: 1980

Pac ManAs the continued miniaturization continues new technology allows for new consumer products that could never have existed to appear including domestic Camcorders and Fax machines.

The release of the Pac-Man arcade game.

Politics enters the Olympic Games, with the boycott by the US of the Moscow Olympics.

War breaks out between Iraq and Iran.

This was also a bad year for natural disasters including Mount St. Helens eruption on 27th March and a major heat wave in the US.

The world tunes in to the answer of “Who Shot JR?” on the popular nighttime soap opera “Dallas.”

In The News

John Lennon is shot and killed in New York

Post-It Notes go on sale

Liberty City, Miami rioting

MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas destroyed by fire

Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act passed


Population/Economy

Population:

  • Wake County: 301,429
  • NC: 5,880,000
  • USA: 226,500,000

National Debt:

  • $907,701,000,000 (1980)
  • $18,152,809,942,589 (2015)

Value of a Dollar: $1 in 1980 is $3.06 in 2015

Cost Of Living 1980:

  • Yearly inflation rate: 13.58%
  • Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average: 963
  • Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve: 21.50%
  • Average cost of new house: $68,700
  • Average cost of a new car: $7,200
  • Average income per year: $19,500
  • Average monthly rent: $300
  • Cost of a gallon of gas: $1.19
  • Pontiac Firebird: $5,992.00
  • Magnavox VHS Recorder: $699
  • VHS Home Movie Camera: $1,599
  • Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head: $4.77
  • Cheeseburger at McDonald’s: $0.30
  • Ticket to Disneyland: Admission plus 12 ticket Adventure Book – $10.50-$11.00

Ounce of Gold Price:

  • The cost of an ounce of gold was $612.56
  • The inflation-adjusted price of an ounce of gold was $1,780.70


Going to the Movies

Cost of a movie ticket: $2.69

Inflation-adjusted price of a movie ticket: $7.82

The cost of a movie ticket in 2015: $7.92

Top 5 Movies:

  1. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
  2. 9 to 5 
  3. Stir Crazy 
  4. Airplane!
  5. Any Which Way You Can 

 

53rd Academy Awards

  • Best Picture: Ordinary People  
  • Best Director: Robert Redford – Ordinary People
  • Best Actor: Robert De Niro – Raging Bull
  • Best Actress: Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner’s Daughter
  • Best Supporting Actor: Timothy Hutton – Ordinary People
  • Best Supporting Actress: Mary Steenburgen – Melvin and Howard


Top 10 TV Shows

  1. Dallas – CBS – 27,565,500
  2. The Dukes of Hazzard – CBS – 21,812,700
  3. 60 Minutes – CBS – 21,573,000
  4. M*A*S*H – CBS – 20,534,300
  5. The Love Boat – ABC – 19,415,700
  6. The Jeffersons – CBS – 18,776,500
  7. Alice – CBS – 18,297,100
  8. House Calls – CBS – 17,897,600
  9. Three’s Company – ABC – 17,897,600
  10. Little House on the Prairie – NBC – 17,657,900

Top 20 Pop Songs

  1. Blondie – Call Me
  2. Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall
  3. Olivia Newton-John – Magic
  4. Michael Jackson – Rock With You
  5. Captain and Tennille – Do That To Me One More Time
  6. Queen – Crazy Little Thing Called Love
  7. Paul McCartney – Coming Up
  8. Lipps, Inc. – Funkytown
  9. Billy Joel – It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me
  10. Bette Midler – The Rose
  11. Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)
  12. Gary Numan – Cars
  13. Smokey Robinson – Cruisin’
  14. Spinners – Working My Way Back To You-Forgive Me Girl
  15. Air Supply – Lost In Love
  16. Elton John – Little Jeannie
  17. Christopher Cross – Ride Like The Wind
  18. Diana Ross – Upside Down
  19. K.C. and The Sunshine Band – Please Don’t Go
  20. Styx – Babe


Top 20 Country Songs

  1. Coward Of The County – Kenny Rogers
  2. I’ll Be Coming Back For More  – T.G. Sheppard
  3. Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight – The Oak Ridge Boys
  4. Love Me Over Again – Don Williams
  5. Years – Barbara Mandrell
  6. I Ain’t Living Long Like This – Waylon Jennings
  7. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys – Willie Nelson
  8. Why Don’t You Spend The Night – Ronnie Milsap
  9. I’d Love To Lay You Down – Conway Twitty
  10. Sugar Daddy – Bellamy Brothers
  11. Honky Tonk Blues – Charley Pride
  12. It’s Like We Never Said Goodbye – Crystal Gayle
  13. A Lesson In Leavin’ – Dottie West
  14. Are You On The Road To Lovin’ Me Again – Debby Boone
  15. Beneath Still Waters – Emmylou Harris
  16. Gone too Far – Eddie Rabbitt
  17. Starting Over Again – Dolly Parton
  18. My Heart – Ronnie Milsap
  19. One Day At A Time – Cristy Lane
  20. Trying To Love Two Women – The Oak Ridge Boys


This Year in Sports

ACC Football Champ: North Carolina

ACC Basketball Champs: Duke (Duke 73 – Maryland 72)

World Series Winner: Philadelphia Phillies over the Kansas City Royals

Heavyweight Boxing Champs: John Tate & Mike Weaver

Super Bowl XIV: Pittsburgh Steelers (Steelers 31 – LA Rams 19)

NASCAR Season Winner: Dale Earnhardt

Masters Winner: Steve Ballesteros (13 under – won $55,000)

Wimbledon Winners:

  • Men’s Singles: Sweden Björn Borg defeated United States John McEnroe, 1–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–7 (16–18), 8–6
  • Women’s Singles: Australia Evonne Goolagong Cawley defeated United States Chris Evert 6–1, 7–6 (7–4)
  • Men’s Doubles: Australia Peter McNamara / Australia Paul McNamee defeated United States Bob Lutz / United States Stan Smith 7–6 (7–5), 6–3, 6–7 (4–7), 6–4
  • Women’s Doubles: United States Kathy Jordan / United States Anne Smith defeated United States Rosemary Casals / Australia Wendy Turnbull 4–6, 7–5, 6–1
  • Mixed Doubles: United States Tracy Austin / United States John Austin defeated Australia Dianne Fromholtz / Australia Mark Edmondson 4–6, 7–6 (8–6), 6–3