1985 Snapshot
""
The Vibe
Pop Culture
Back to Future
Slang
"Word"
Price Check
Gas: $1.12
Notable Deaths
Orson Welles, Rock Hudson, Yul Brynner
Music & Style
Live Aid
World Affairs
Gorbachev Rises
Cold War
Year's Summary
- Global Events: Live Aid concerts in London and Philly raise millions for Africa. Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union, beginning 'Glasnost.' The wreck of the Titanic is discovered.
- Culture & Mood: The 'Brat Pack' era of teen movies (The Breakfast Club). The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) launches in the US, reviving the video game industry.
- Fashion & Slang: Huge shoulder pads and big hair. If something is cool, it's 'Choice.'
- Fun Fact: 1985 was the year 'New Coke' was released and subsequently failed, and Blockbuster Video opened its first store!
- 11 Mar: Mikhail Gorbachev Becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union – Following the death of Konstantin Chernenko, the Politburo elected Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His appointment marked a historic generational shift in Soviet leadership, introducing groundbreaking reform policies of *glasnost* (openness) and *perestroika* (restructuring) that fundamentally reshaped Cold War dynamics and modern world history.
- 29 May: Heysel Stadium Disaster Shocks International European Football – Before the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, spectator rioting caused a retaining wall to collapse. The tragic disaster resulted in thirty-nine fatalities and hundreds of injuries, prompting the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to issue an indefinite ban on all English football clubs from participating in European competitions.
- 23 Jun: Air India Flight 182 Destroyed by Terrorist Bombing Over Atlantic Ocean – Operating on a scheduled journey from Montreal to Delhi, a Boeing 747 carrying Air India Flight 182 suffered a catastrophic mid-air explosion off the coast of Ireland caused by a planted bomb. All 329 passengers and crew on board were killed in the deadliest mass murder in modern Canadian history and one of the worst aviation terror attacks in global history.
- 10 Jul: Sinking of the Greenpeace Vessel Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand – Agents of the French foreign intelligence service (DGSE) detonated explosives attached to the hull of the Greenpeace flagship *Rainbow Warrior* docked in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand. The attack, designed to prevent the vessel from protesting upcoming nuclear testing in the Pacific, killed photographer Fernando Pereira and triggered a major international diplomatic scandal between France and New Zealand.
- 13 Jul: Live Aid Concert Raises Global Awareness and Humanitarian Relief for Africa – Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the dual-venue Live Aid benefit concert took place simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Broadcast live to an estimated global television audience of 1.9 billion people across 150 nations, the historic musical event raised tens of millions of dollars for Ethiopian famine relief and established new standards for global charity initiatives.
- 19 Sep: Catastrophic Earthquake Devastates Mexico City – A massive earthquake measuring magnitude 8.0 struck off the Pacific coast of Michoacán, Mexico, sending destructive seismic waves directly into Mexico City. The severe ground motion collapsed thousands of residential structures and municipal buildings, resulting in an estimated ten thousand casualties, widespread infrastructure failure, and an overwhelming national civil defense rescue effort.
- 19 Nov: Geneva Summit Marks First Cold War Meeting Between Reagan and Gorbachev – United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev met face-to-face for the first time at a historic diplomatic summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Although no formal arms control treaties were signed, the two world leaders established a genuine personal dialogue, issuing a joint declaration stating that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.