1985

"We Are The World" is recorded by USA for Africa, America's response to the British "Do They Know It's Christmas"

LIVE AID in London and Philadelphi, beamed around the world

Crack coccaine starts to appear.

Billy Joel marries Christie Brinkley... millions of men suddenly feel like they stand a chance with an attractive woman.

Gorbachev becomes (the last) president of the Soviet Union

New coke is introduced in April and quickly replaced with original Coke

Titanic wreckage found and filmed by robotic camera in July

Hole in the ozone layer, first detected in 1977, is now indisputable.

Extra second added to the calender year.

Leaded gas is officially banned in the US

Rock 'n' Roll Hall of fame is opened.

Rock Hudson, the first major public figure to die to AIDS, dies on October 2.

1987, Star Wars' Chewbacca was caught with cocaine.

The San Francisco 49ers win their 2nd NFL Championship in 4 years by defeating the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California.

Mike Tyson makes his professional debut in Albany, New York, a match which he wins by a first round knockout.

An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley.

In Auburn, Washington, police defuse a Unabomber bomb sent to Boeing.

Route 66 is officially decommissioned.

U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush announces that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe will become the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer at the Lincoln Center in New York.

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes in Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.

Howard Stern is fired from WNBC-AM

The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by 4 heavily armed Palestinian terrorists. One passenger, American Leon Klinghoffer, is killed.

American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.


Deaths:
Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
Orson Welles, American film director (b. 1915)
Ricky Nelson, American singer and actor (b. 1940)