Jul 1, 2019
Topics: The Cold War, Run-DMC, New Edition, Bill Cosby
(Himself), Eddie Murphy (Delirious). (Bonus Artist: Luck
Pacheco)
1983 Notes
1. Ronald Reagan President
2. Feb - The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, setting a record
for most-watched television broadcast in American history.
3. Mar - Strategic Defense Initiative: U.S. President Ronald
Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to
intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star
Wars".
4. Mar - Michael Jackson performs the dance move that will
forever be known as the "moonwalk" at Motown 25.
5. Apr - The April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut kills
63 people.
6. Sep - Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by
a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters
Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed including U.S.
Congressman Larry McDonald.
7. Sep - Vanessa Lynn Williams becomes the first African
American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New
Jersey.
8. Oct - United States troops invade Grenada at the behest of
Eugenia Charles of Dominica, a member of the Organization of
American States.
9. Oct - Microsoft Word is first released.
10. Nov - The first United States cruise missiles arrive at
Greenham Common Airbase in England amid protests from peace
campaigners.
11. Dec - Michael Jackson's music video for "Thriller" is
broadcast for the first time. It becomes the most often repeated
and famous music video of all time, increasing his own popularity
and record sales of the album "Thriller".
12. Misc.: McDonald's introduces the McNugget and The Cabbage
Patch Kids dolls make their national debut, their popularity leads
to the Cabbage Patch riots.
13. Top 3 Pop Songs
14. 1 - "Every Breath You Take", The Police
15. 2 - "Billie Jean", Michael Jackson
16. 3 - "Flashdance... What a Feeling", Irene Cara
17. Record of the Year: "Beat It" – Michael Jackson, Quincy
Jones
18. Album of the Year: Thriller – Michael Jackson, Quincy
Jones
19. Song of the Year: "Every Breath You Take" – The Police
Sting (songwriter)
20. Best New Artist: Culture Club
21. Top 3 Movies
22. 1 - Return of the Jedi
23. 2 - Terms of Endearment
24. 3. Flashdance
25. Top 3 TV
26. 1 - Dallas
27. 2 - 60 Minutes
28. 3 - Dynasty
29. Debuts: The A-Team / Webster
30. Black Snapshots
31. Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female: Chaka Khan – Chaka
Khan
32. Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male: "Billie Jean" –
Michael Jackson
33. Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal:
"Ain't Nobody" – Chaka Khan & Rufus
34. Best R&B Instrumental Performance: "Rockit" – Herbie
Hancock
35. Best Rhythm & Blues Song: "Billie Jean" – Michael
Jackson
36. Best Comedy Recording: "Eddie Murphy", Comedian – Eddie
Murphy (Also shows up in TV)
37. Apr - Harold Lee Washington became the first African
American Mayor of Chicago.
38. Aug - STS-8: Space Shuttle Challenger carries Guion S.
Bluford (Col, USAF, Ret.), the first African American astronaut,
into space.
39. Nov - Reagan signed a bill, proposed by Representative
Katie Hall of Indiana (a black woman), to create a federal holiday
honoring MLK Jr. Although the federal holiday honoring King was
signed into law in 1983 and took effect three years later, not
every U.S. state chose to observe the holiday at the state level
until 1991.
40. Nov - Jessie Jackson announced his campaign for President
of the United States in the 1984 election, becoming the second
African American (after Shirley Chisholm) to mount a nationwide
campaign for president.
41. Sept - Vanesa Williams becomes the first African American
recipient of the Miss America title.
42. Misc.: The Color Purple wins the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for
Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.
43. The Women of Brewster Place is the debut novel of American
author Gloria Naylor. It won the 1983 National Book Award for
"First Novel".
44. “Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?”, Maya Angelou's fourth
volume of poetry, is published.
45. Nikki Giovanni publishes her 9th poetry collection, "Those
Who Ride The Night Winds". Included are poems about John Lennon,
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, as well as friends,
lovers, mothers, and the poet herself.
46. Economic Snapshots
47. New House: 82k
48. Avg Income: 21k
49. New Car: 9k
50. Avg. Rent: 350
51. Tuition to Harvard: 8K
52. Movie Ticket: 2.50
53. Gas: 1.20
54. Stamp: 20c
55. Social Scene: The Cold War Becomes A Real Thing for Gen
X.
56. Brief Overview -
[http://www.american-historama.org/1945-1989-cold-war-era/strategic-defense-initiative.htm]
57. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star
Wars because it promoted ideas such as lasers and computer-guided
projectiles, was the US response to possible nuclear attacks and it
was introduced on March 23, 1983 during the presidency of Ronald
Reagan.
58. The objective of the SDI program was to develop an
advanced anti-ballistic missile system to enable the United States
to prevent missile attacks from the USSR and other countries during
the Cold War.
59. The idea was to set up many space satellites that would
detect the launch, and then shoot down, any enemy missiles.
60. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was cancelled in
1993 and replaced with the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
(BMDO) renamed the Missile Defense Agency in 2002.
61. 10 SDI Highlights
62. #1: Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was the military
strategy adopted during the Cold War Arms Race. It assumed that
both the USSR and the US would refrain from launching nuclear
weapons, knowing that the other country would retaliate and cause
the complete nuclear annihilation of both the attacker and the
defender.
63. #2: The Strategic "Defense" Initiative program focused on
strategic defense and replaced the "Offensive" doctrine of mutual
assured destruction (MAD).
64. #3: SDI became the subject of intense political
controversy. A Washington Post article published the day after the
speech, quoted Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy describing the
proposal as "reckless Star Wars schemes."
65. #4: Critics in the media used that term frequently
(despite Reagan's request that they use the program's official
name), implying it was an impractical science fiction. This did
much damage the program's credibility.
66. #5: Many critics believed that it would extend the arms
race into space and cause the USSR to expand its own offensive
nuclear weapons.
67. #6: SDI began extremely expensive research projects
costing billions of dollars every year. The research projects
included space-based laser weapons, spy satellites and space-based
interceptors.
68. #7: In response to the US research projects, the Soviets
began work on developing their own version of Strategic Defense
Initiative.
69. #8: The efforts by the Soviet Union to match the
expenditure of the U.S. in the Cold War Arms Race contributed
greatly to nation's economic problems.
70. #9: Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev realized that the
USSR could not afford the Cold War Arms Race or match the massive
expenditure involved in the US Strategic Defense Initiative. In
1991, Mikhail Gorbachev fell from power and the Soviet Union was
dissolved.
71. #10: The SDI had itself become an economic weapon and was
instrumental in causing the downfall of the Soviet Union and the
end of the Cold War.
72. Audio Clip:
73. Question: Do you think the threat of Nuclear War has grown
or shrunk during your lifetime?
74. Music Scene
75. Top R&B Singles (from Billboard's Year-End Top 40 Pop
Songs)
76. #2 - "Billie Jean", Michael Jackson
77. #3 - "Flashdance... What a Feeling", Irene Cara
78. #5 - "Beat It", Michael Jackson
79. #7 - "Maneater", Hall & Oates
80. #8 - "Baby, Come to Me", Patti Austin and James
Ingram
81. #15 - "She Works Hard for the Money", Donna Summer
82. #25 - "Little Red Corvette" Prince
83. #29 - "You" Lionel Richie
84. #32 - "Sexual Healing" Marvin Gaye
85. #29 - “One on One" Hall & Oates
86. #41 - "1999" Prince
87. Other Notable 1983 R&B Singles
88. Apr - "Atomic Dog", George Clinton
89. May - "Candy Girl", New Edition
90. May - "Save the Overtime (For Me)", Gladys Knight and the
Pips
91. Jun - "Juicy Fruit", Mtume
92. Oct - "Ain't Nobody", Rufus & Chaka Khan
93. Oct - "All Night Long (All Night)", Lionel Richie
94. Dec - "Time Will Reveal", DeBarge
95. Vote
96. Top R&B Albums (from Billboard's number-one R&B
albums)
97. Jan - Midnight Love, Marvin Gaye
98. Jan - Thriller, Michael Jackson
99. Jul - Between the Sheets, The Isley Brothers
100. Jul - Thriller, Michael Jackson
101. Sep - Cold Blooded, Rick James
102. Nov - Can't Slow Down, Lionel Richie
103. Vote
104. Key Artist #1: Run - DMC
105. Run (Joseph Simmons) @ 19 yrs old / DMC (Darryl
McDaniels) @ 19 yrs old / Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell) @ 18 yrs
old
106. The trio grew up in Hollis, Queens, a moderately stable
African American community in New York. / DMC was born to a teenage
mother and was adopted three months later.
107. Run and DMC were childhood friends
108. 1978: JMJ discovers the turntable at age 13. By age 14 he
is spinning for live crowds at block parties.
109. 1980: The trio met via the emerging hip-hop scene at
Hollis' "Two-Fifths Park". Simmons and McDaniels rapped in front of
Mizell at the park, and the three became friends.
110. 1981: Fortunately for them, Run’s older brother, Russell
Simmons, had his foot in the music business, as the manager for
rappers Kurtis Blow and Whodini. Russell made Run Kurtis Blow's DJ
and helped him record the single “Street Kid,” but it went nowhere.
Later that year, the friends decide to become a crew.
111. 1982: Russell agreed to help the new group record a
single and get a record deal, but on one condition –McDaniels
change his stage name, from “Easy D” to “D.M.C.”
112. 1983: Run DMC hit the scene with their debut 12-inch
single for “It’s Like That,” with “Sucker MCs” as the B-side. The
out-of-the-box success of these two songs was the beginning of a
new era for hip-hop.
113. Run-D.M.C. exploded out of Hollis, changing popular
culture in general. Not only was their sound different, so was
their dress. Earlier rap stars fashioned their looks after the
spangled superhero costumes of 1970s funk acts like
Parliament-Funkadelic and Rick James, Run-DMC appeared in their
signature bowler hats, black leather jackets, unlaced Adidas
athletic shoes, and black denim pants, establishing the more casual
look of hip urban youth.
114. They were the first rappers to have a gold album -
Run-D.M.C. (1984). The first rap act to appear on MTV, becoming
popular with the cable channel’s largely white audience with their
fusion of hip-hop and guitar solos on hits such as “Rock Box”
(1984) and a 1986 remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”.
115. Although the group never officially disbanded, their
recording and performing activities decreased significantly in the
1990s and in 2002 Jam Master Jay was fatally shot at a recording
studio in Jamaica, Queens.
116. Run-DMC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 2009 and received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in
2016.
117. Meanwhile, up the coast near Boston… In 1978, Robert
Barisford Brown (@ 9 yrs old), Michael Lamont Bivins (@ 10 yrs
old), and Ricardo "Ricky" Bell (@ 11 yrs old) started a vocal
group.
118. Ricardo’s friend Ralph Edward Tresvant (@10 yrs old), and
the nephew of the group’s manager and choreographer, Ronald Boyd
DeVoe Jr. (@11 yrs old) soon joined.
119. Key Artists #2: New Edition
120. For a complete history go watch "The New Edition Story"
on BET
121. But the short story is this...They all lived in the
Orchard Park Projects in Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, and where
heavily influenced by Michael Jackson and The Jackson
5.
122. They scored its big break in 1981, when they finished 2nd
in a local talent show. They impressed the singer/producer Maurice
Starr, and he brought the group to his studio the following day and
started recording their debut album, Candy Girl.
123. Audio Clip
124. Question: These two groups are primarily responsible for
hip-hop crossing over to rock and R&B, and therefore a wider
and whiter audience. Has that been a good thing?
125. Movie Scene
126. Bill Cosby: Himself
127. After I Spy and before The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby left
his own inimitable mark on the arena of stand-up comedy in this
live concert showcasing his down-to-earth observations on the
rigors and joys of family life. Cosby, using only a microphone and
a chair, discusses his take on raising kids and the illogical
nature of children and the futility of trying to argue with a child
that in the end may be smarter than you. Notable highlights include
Cosby's ruminations on the meaning of the all-purpose phrase "I
don't know" to kids, and Cosby describing the effect raising
children has on his wife Camille's mental state and the pitch of
her voice. Containing the basis for the humor of his long-running
situation comedy, Bill Cosby: Himself is a polished, occasionally
insightful, and frequently hilarious night of comedy from one of
the longtime masters of the form. --Robert Lane:
https://www.quotes.net/movies/bill_cosby%3A_himself_1089
128. Born poor, the son of a sailor and a maid, he excelled at
school, in both sport and academic study, becoming class president
and winning a university scholarship while doing part-time jobs to
help support his family. Giving all that up, he instantly became
successful as a comedian, going on to be the first African American
to star in a network TV series (I Spy), as well as the first to win
an acting Emmy (three of them, plus one for variety shows and nine
Grammies). By the time this performance was recorded, he had
completed a doctorate in education, and was about to launch The
Cosby Show, the decade's biggest sitcom, which would make him the
best-paid entertainer in the world for two years running (1986 and
1987). He also sings and can play jazz guitar and drums. At 75,
he's still extremely funny. -
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jul/19/comedy-gold-bill-cosby-himself
129. Television Scene
130. Delirious (1983) is an American stand-up comedy
television special directed by Bruce Gowers, written by and
starring Eddie Murphy. The comedy became a TV Special for HBO
released August 30, 1983.Eddie Murphy in stand-up before all the
prosthetic flesh happened. For a generation of naughty schoolboys,
this was the video to have; no parent-free gathering or playground
conversation was complete without repeating some of Eddie’s
profanity-strewn, impression-laden genius. The homophobic opening
gambit and an alarmingly ignorant bit on AIDS are jaw-dropping, but
there’s no denying Murphy’s supreme on-stage talent — when he’s on
more timeless material (ice cream, cookouts, shoe-throwing
mothers), few in the world were ever as funny as this. It’s easy to
forget how funny Murphy's stand-up really was. Despite being a
little dated in subject, this still slays. -
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/eddie-murphy-delirious/review/
131. “The most homophobic standup routine I’ve ever seen,”
says another. “Can’t believe all the messed-up things he says about
AIDS, including saying how you’ll catch AIDS from your girlfriend
if she kisses her gay friend. 80s hateful prejudice in full
force.”
132. Murphy apologized for the routine back in 1996, saying,
“I deeply regret any pain all this has caused. Just like the rest
of the world, I am more educated about AIDS in 1996 than I was in
1981. ”I know how serious an issue AIDS is the world over. I know
that AIDS isn’t funny. It’s 1996 and I’m a lot smarter about AIDS
now. I am not homophobic, and I am not anti-gay. My wife and I have
donated both time and money to AIDS research. I’ve had people close
to me die from the disease as well. I don’t know a person who
hasn’t been touched in some way by this disease. Everybody knows
somebody who is sick. Black people have been hit harder by this
disease than any other group of people on the planet.” -
https://www.queerty.com/eddie-murphys-homophobic-comedy-special-delirious-now-streaming-netflix-20161229
133. Question: Does he get a pass?
134. The A-Team
135. Four Vietnam vets, framed for a crime they didn't commit,
help the innocent while on the run from the military. It’s THE
A-TEAM
136. Led by master of disguise, Lieutenant Colonel John
“Hannibal” Smith played by the gruff but loveable George Peppard,
this group of falsely convicted commandos now work as fugitive
mercenaries. Dirk Benedict is the team’s master manipulator and con
man, Templeton “Face” Peck. Dwight Schultz plays the certifiable
master aviator, Captain H.M. “Howling Mad” Murdock. And you can’t
spell The A-Team without Mr. T as master mechanic, Mohawked muscle
man, and van driver (with a serious fear of flying), Bosco “B.A.”
(“Bad Attitude”) Baracus. But enough jibba jabba. Tune in and watch
the plan come together, fool!
137. The show ran for five seasons, with several minor cast
changes along the way; the show's eventual decline was attributed
to the constantly recycled and extremely formulaic plot. Attempts
to win viewers back, by both changing the overall premise and
having the A-Team overseen by a former antagonist, worked for only
a short while.
138. Logic and credibility were usually ignored for the
series' trademark over-the-top explosions, but the show never took
itself particularly seriously, anyway: most of Hannibal's disguises
were paper-thin, the villains were usually mostly-inept and
somewhat one-dimensional, and the weapons that the Team cobbled
together from miscellaneous parts were invariably more effective
than the machine guns that the episode's villains used.
139. A big-screen version was released in June 2010, with Liam
Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley and Quinton Jackson as the
team. The trailer can be seen on YouTube. Tropes go to the
respective page.
140. Question: Does anybody care?
141. Webster
142. The post-retirement season is suddenly disrupted for
football player George Papadapolis and his wife Katherine when
Webster, the orphaned son of a former teammate, moves in. Laughter,
and life lessons, in every episode. Webster was ABC's answer to the
long-running NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes ... especially with its
showcase star and even down to the basic concept (a young African
American child being adopted by a white family).
143. The showcase star on Webster was Emmanuel Lewis, who
played the title character. At 4-foot-3, the 12-year-old Lewis
easily passed for 6 or 7 (the character's age at the start of the
series in 1983), which was Webster's age when he was adopted
by
144. Clark's production company. After the third season ended,
Emmanuel Lewis Entertainment Enterprises, Inc. was established and
became a third production company. This was actually part of an
agreement between Karras and Clark, Paramount, and ABC, in which
Emmanuel Lewis would get production credit alongside them for ABC
to stop making the story lines be "all Webster, all the time. “The
series ran from 1983-1987 on ABC before spending its final two
first-run years in syndication. By the time the final first-run
episode aired in 1989, Webster was 12 years old and getting ready
to enter junior high school; in real life, Lewis had just turned
18.
145. Question: Why didn’t we riot in the streets?
146. Final Vote: Favorite pop culture event/item for
1983?