1981

1981  was one of the years in the lovable 80's that so much happened. Living in 1981, you may be able to think back to drinking Tab Cola (or wondering why the hell people were drinking it), watching action/drama television shows such as Battle Star Galatica, The Greatest American Hero, Falcon Crest or maybe even Magnum P.I.  Perhaps you were sitting back drinking that tab cola while laughing at the fine comedy shows the 80's are notorious for such as Bosom Buddies, Different Strokes, The facts of Life, Gimme a Break, One Day at a Time or you set sail for Fantasy Island or the Love Boat. If you were lucky, the Love boat WENT to Fantasy Island.

    in 1981, you may have seen big block buster hits at the theater that we now call classic hits such as Halloween II, Escape from New York, Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, Porky's, Arthur, or Stripes.

  If you were a sports fan then you will remember the champions of the year were  MLB - Los Angeles Dodgers NFL - Oakland Raiders NBA - Boston Celtics NHL - New York Islanders

You music lovers remember the now classic hits of "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield, "Rapture" by Blondie, "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes , "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang ,"I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbitt.

The big headlines in the news in 1981, some that could be found in some history books today, are;

• Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the USA 

• President Reagan is wounded in an assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton.

• On August 1, The birth of MTV, the 24 hour-a-day music television station .

• Space shuttle Columbia, the world's first re-usable spacecraft, is sent into space.

• IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands dies in the Maze Prison after 65 days without food.

• Peter Sutcliffe is convicted of the Yorkshire Ripper murders.

• Mark Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of John Lennon.

• Pope John Paul ll survives an assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square.

• Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer marry at St. Pauls Cathedral.

• President Reagan appoints Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman on the Supreme Court.

• Suspended walkway in Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapses killing 113 and injuring 186.

• Actress Natalie Wood is found dead.

• Pink Floyd release the compilation album "A Collection Of Great Dance Songs".

• Lech Walesa and 'Solidarity' call for national strike in Poland.

• Musician Bob Marley dies of cancer (36).

The one thing that you would not have heard about was the report of a "new found disease" called AIDS. You also would not have heard anything of the deaths and cases that were sweeping across the United States. If you did happen to catch what little was said about this new infectious agent, you heard that it was a small amount of "gay men" that were stricken down this strange new disease. you would NOT however have been told that their were already 27 KNOWN people who had died of AIDS,  and by the end of 1981 this jumped to 169 KNOWN cases and 139 KNOWN deaths. No big deal I guess, not such big news, right into 1982 when it doubled to 628 KNOWN cases and 427 KNOWN deaths. You also would not have heard any mention (nor will you today) that the Blood Banks were addressed that this new blood born virus was in fact in the blood supply, and that they refused to spend the money to test the blood, that not enough people had come down with this to worry. As a result, over 1200 people were infected before they decided it to be a good thing to test the blood. 

    Yes, 1981 was a busy year indeed with many good memories, and so many bad memories that were swept under the carpet so fast that they did not become memories. I , and others though do remember the memories of those who were swept up into the new disease called AIDS and still continue to be swept up into the once again growing numbers of cases in the United States alone. I am hoping that if you read this far, you now possess the memories of 1981 and the years to come that you may not have known about. Educate, prevent and remember!