The 90's

Music

The 1990s were a decade of many diverse scenes in music. However, they are perhaps best known for grunge, gangsta rap, R&B, teen pop; eurodance, electronic dance music, the renewed popularity of punk rock. Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tree Cool. The band's rock opera, American Idiot (2004), reignited the band's popularity with a younger generation, selling five million copies in the United States. The group has won five Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot, Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams".

Movies

Titanic is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film and becomes a cultural phenomenon throughout the world, and eventually becomes the highest grossing film of all time, grossing over $1.8 billion worldwide. Nominated for fourteen Academy Awards, it won eleven, including the awards for Best Picture and Best Director.

Society

Sony’s PlayStation becomes the top selling game console and changes the standard media storage type from cartridges to compact discs in consoles. Crash Bandicoot  is released on 9 September 1996, becoming one of the most successful platforming series for the Sony PlayStation. Tomb Raider’s (PlayStation) Lara Croft became a video game sex symbol, becoming a recognizable figure in the entertainment industry throughout the late 1990s.

Politics

George Herbert Walker Bush was     born on June 12, 1924, is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States (1989–93), a congressman, an ambassador, a Director of Central Intelligence, and currently the oldest surviving president.

80's

Society

The 1980s was also an era of tremendous population growth around the world, surpassing even the 1970s and 1990s, thus arguably being the largest in human history. Population growth was particularly rapid in a number of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian countries during this decade, with rates of natural increase close to or exceeding 4% annually.

Music

Alphaville is a German synthpop group which gained popularity in the 1980s.

The founding members were Marian Gold (real name Hartwig Schierbaum), Bernhard Lloyd (real name Bernhard Gößling), and Frank Mertens (real name Frank Sorgatz). The band was at first named Forever Young before changing to Alphaville.

They are best known for their two biggest hits, "Big in Japan" and "Forever Young". As of 1984, they had sold over 80 million albums. Most albums were sold in South America and Europe.

Film

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced, directed and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their training and the experiences of two marines of the platoon in the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The film title refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by infantry riflemen.

The film was critically acclaimed and is now regarded widely as one of the greatest war films ever made as well as one of Stanley Kubrick's finest works. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Kubrick, Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford.

Politics

Nuclear threats

Operation Opera - a 1981 surprise Israeli air strike that destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor being constructed in Osirak. Israeli military intelligence assumed this was for the purpose of plutonium production to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons program. Israeli intelligence also believed that the summer of 1981 would be the last chance to destroy the reactor before it would be loaded with nuclear fuel.

President Reagan's decision to station intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe provoked mass protests involving more than one million people.

80's

Music - Madonna

Madonna full name is Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone. Professionally she is an actor, singer, Song writer, Entrepreneur. She was born on 16 August 1958 in Bay City Michigan.

Her childhood was a very hard time for her as she lost her mother very early when she was only five. She trained as dancer of University of Michigan before she moved to the New York City to make her career.
Initially she joined music groups "Emmy" and "Breakfast Club". Her debut album was released in 1983 with the name Madonna. She got more popularity from her next album "Like a Virgin" as compared to her debut album although she had sold around 3 million copies of her first debut. It's more than 20 years since she has sold about 300 million records worldwide. Apart from albums she also appeared in "Desperately seeking Susan" in 1985.

 Movies – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote. It tells the story of Elliott, a lonely boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help the extraterrestrial return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

The concept for E.T. was based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents' divorce in 1960. In 1980, Spielberg met Mathison and developed a new story from the stalled science fiction/horror film project Night Skies. The film was shot from September to December 1981 in California on a budget of US$10.5 million. Unlike most motion pictures, the film was shot in roughly chronological order, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast.
Released by Universal Pictures, E.T. was a blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held for ten years. Critics acclaimed it as a timeless story of friendship, and it ranks as the greatest science fiction film ever made in a Rotten Tomatoes survey. The film was rereleased in 1985, and then again in 2002 to celebrate the film's 20th anniversary, with altered shots and additional scenes.

Politics – Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84). Gandhi was the second female head of government in the world after Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, and she remains as the world's second longest serving female Prime Minister as of 2012. She was the first woman to become prime minister in India.
Gandhi was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. She adhered to the quasi-socialist policies of industrial development that had been begun by her father. Gandhi established closer relations with the Soviet Union, depending on that nation for support in India’s long-standing conflict with Pakistan. She was also the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared a state of emergency in order to 'rule by decree' and the only Indian Prime Minister to have been imprisoned after holding that office. She was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards in retaliation for ordering Operation Blue Star.

Society –  Yuppies


Yuppie was a 1980s acronym for 'Young Upwardly Mobile Professional Person'. The word was coined by the advertising industry to capture the essence of a particular type of work hard, play hard, ambitious minded city career person of either sex. The hectic lifestyle of a yuppie meant that after
long hours of work, rare free time was spent in a self indulgent way frittering away the cash earned on anything, from expensive make up and perfume, to a bottle of fine champagne. Conspicuous wastage was part of the attitude.

For day Yuppies sported wide shouldered jackets and for weekends they wore a Barbour to effect a country aesthetic or a ball-gown to assume the appearance of a more advantaged lifestyle

The 80's

Music

In the United States, MTV was launched and music videos began to have a larger effect on the record industry. Michael Jackson was a popular entertainer of the 1980s and his leather jacket, glove and Moonwalk dance were often imitated. Jackson's 1982 album Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time, with sales estimated by various sources as somewhere between 65 and 110 million copies worldwide.

Movies

Top Gun is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, in association with the Paramount Pictures company. The film stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, and Tom Skerritt. Cruise plays Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young Naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The film depicts Maverick's progress through the training, his romance with a female instructor (McGillis), his overcoming a crisis of confidence following a fatal training accident, and the killing of several enemy pilots of unlisted nationality in a dogfight. Top Gun is slated for a 3D theatrical re-release in 2012.

Society

Blessed Pope John Paul reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the second-longest serving Pope in history and the first non-Italian since 1523. John Paul II was acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He was instrumental in ending communism in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe John Paul II significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.

Politics

The Iran-Iraq war took place from 1980 to 1988. Iraq was accused of using illegal chemical weapons to kill Iranian forces and against its own dissident Kurdish populations. Both sides suffered enormous casualties, but the poorly equipped Iranian armies suffered worse for it, being forced to use soldiers as young as 15 in human-wave attacks. Iran finally agreed to an armistice in 1988.

The 70's

Society

The opposition to the War in Vietnam that began in the 1960s grew exponentially during the early 1970s. One of the best-known anti-war demonstrations was the Kent State shootings. In 1970, university students were protesting the war and the draft. Riots ensued during the weekend and the National Guard was called in to maintain the peace. However, by Monday, 4 May 1970, tensions arose again, and as the crowd grew larger, the National Guard started shooting. Four students were killed and nine injured. This event caused disbelief and shock throughout the country and became a staple of anti-Vietnam demonstrations.

Music

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949, nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter-performer who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and more than 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 21 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century.

Film

The Deer Hunter  is a 1978 drama film directed and co-written by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep and George Dzundza. The story takes place in Clairton, a small working class town on the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh and then in Vietnam, somewhere in the woodland and in Saigon, during the Vietnam War.

The film was based in part on an unproduced screenplay called The Man Who Came to Play by Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker about Las Vegas and Russian Roulette. Producer Michael Deeley, who bought the script, hired writer/director Michael Cimino who, with Deric Washburn, rewrote the script, taking the Russian Roulette element and placing it in the Vietnam War. The film went over-budget and over-schedule and ended up costing $15 million. The scenes of Russian roulette were highly controversial on release.

Politics

During 1973 there was an oil embargo. The Arabs at this time were fighting a war with the Israelis. The Arabs would soon lose this war due to the intervention of the west in aiding the Israelis to victory. In outrage the Arabs would put an oil embargo on the western hemisphere. This was a tragic event as the negotiators of the US would frantically try to negotiate with the Arabs. Due to this inflation rose and this would lead to a political debate over the economy. This event was a huge impact to the west. This showed that the west is so dependent on the Arabs that if they mess up politically with their relations, they will be hurt if the Arabs refuse to give them oil. This was a huge political event because it was an issue in the elections and the economy would be at the top in political discussions.

The 70's

Society – Environmentalism

The 1970s started a mainstream affirmation of the environmental issues early activists from the 1960s, such as Rachel Carson and Murray Bookchin had warned of. The moon landing that had occurred at the end of the previous decade transmitted back concrete images of the Earth as an integrated, life-supporting system and shaped a public willingness to preserve nature. On April 22, 1970, the United States celebrated its first Earth Day in which over two thousand colleges and universities and roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools participated.

Politics – Munich Massacre

The Munich Massacre was a terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympic Games. Eight Palestinian terrorists killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and then took nine others hostage. The situation was ended by a huge gunfight that left five of the terrorists and all of the nine hostages dead. Following the massacre, the Israeli government organized a retaliation against Black September, called Operation Wrath of God.

Movies – Superman

Superman is a 1978 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Richard Donner directed the film, which stars Christopher Reeve as Superman, as well as Marlon Brando. The film depicts the origin of Superman, including his infancy as Kal-El of Krypton and his youthful years in the rural town of Smallville. Disguised as reporter Clark Kent, he adopts a mild-mannered attitude in Metropolis and develops a romance with Lois Lane, while battling the villainous Lex Luthor.

The film was conceived in 1973 by Ilya Salkind. Several directors, most notably, and screenwriters associated with the project before Donner was hired to direct. Donner brought Tom Mankiewicz to rewrite the script, feeling it was too campy. Mankiewicz was credited as creative consultant. It was decided to film both Superman and Superman II simultaneously.

Tensions rose between Donner and the producers, and a decision was made to stop filming Superman II and finish the first film. Donner had already shot 75% of the planned sequel, eventually giving birth to Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Superman was released with critical acclaim and financial success. Reviewers noted parallels between the film's depiction of Superman and Jesus and particularly praised Reeve's performance. The film's legacy helped to foster the establishment of the superhero film genre.

Music - Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, even if they are known as a Boston, Massachusetts band, none of the members are from the city, three of the members Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Tom Hamilton had originally met in Sunapee New Hampshire in the late 60's, but had not yet formed a band with Tyler was from Yonkers, New York, Perry from Hopedale, Mass., and Hamilton from New London, New Hampshire In 1970, the three decided that they would form a band together and to Boston Massachusetts is the place to do it later they met up with Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whitford (guitar)
The band had great popularity in the 1970s with rock anthems like "Dream On" - but they shared the 1979-84 due to severe abuse and drugs.

The 70's

Music

The early 1970s saw the rise of popular soft rock/pop rock music. Led Zeppelin was an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. They are widely considered to be one of the most successful, innovative and influential rock groups in the history of music. Led Zeppelin is one of the best-selling music artists—various sources estimate the group's sales at more than 200 or 300 million albums worldwide.

Movies

The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Based on Puzo's 1969 novel of the same name, the film stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a powerful New York crime family. The Godfather is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema – and as one of the most influential, especially in the gangster genre. The film's success spawned two sequels: The Godfather Part II in 1974 and The Godfather Part III in 1990. It won three Oscars in 1972: for Best Picture, for Best Actor (Brando) and in the category Best Adapted Screenplay for Puzo and Coppola.

Society

Fiction in the early '70s brought a return to old-fashioned storytelling, especially with Erich Segal's. He was an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He was best known for writing the novel Love Story (1970), a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit. In 1967, from the story by Lee Minoff, he wrote the screenplay for The Beatles' 1968 motion picture, Yellow Submarine.

Politics

Margaret Hilda Thatcher is a British politician and the longest-serving (1979–1990) British prime minister of the 20th century, and the only woman ever to have held the post. A Soviet journalist nicknamed her the "Iron Lady", which later became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As prime minister, she implemented conservative policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism.