Geography
Which city was devastated by an earthquake in 1985 and then hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1986?
a.) Istanbul, Turkey
b.) Mexico City, Mexico
c.) Seoul, South Korea
d.) Lisbon, Portugal
e.) Buenos Aires, Argentina
b.) Mexico City, Mexico
The 1984 NBA draft is thought to be one of the best of all time with four of the first-round picks later being named as the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All Time. The four were Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and...
a.) Dominique Wilkins
b.) Karl Malone
c.) John Stockton
d.) Patrick Ewing
e.) Clyde Drexler
c.) John Stockton
During the seven weeks between 15 April and 4 June 1989, thousands of Chinese students protested for democracy in Beijing, causing the Communist government to send in the army and have hundreds of protesters killed. This event become known as...
a.) Tiananmen Square
b.) Forbidden City Riots
c.) Mulan Massacre
d.) Peking Uprising
e.) Deng Xiaoping War
a.) Tiananmen Square
In the 1985 movie Back to the Future, what was the exact speed the DeLorean automobile had to reach to travel through time?
a.) 68 mph
b.) 78 mph
c.) 88 mph
d.) 98 mph
e.) 108 mph
c.) 88 mph
Which rock guitarist guest-played the entire guitar solo on the 1983 Michael Jackson single “Beat It" for free?
a.) Slash
b.) Eddie Van Halen
c.) Mark Knopfler
d.) Kirk Hammett
e.) Brian May
b.) Eddie Van Halen
In the summer of 1985, the rock concert known as "Live Aid" originated from London's Wembley Stadium and continued at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. The event raised more than £150m for famine relief in which African country?
a.) Cameroon
b.) Senegal
c.) Mauritania
d.) Ethiopia
e.) Chad
d.) Ethiopia
Which NFL team, nicknamed "the Hogs" during the 1980s, won its first Super Bowl in over 40 years in 1982, and went on to win two more titles in 1987 and 1991?
a.) L.A. Raiders
b.) Washington Redskins
c.) Miami Dolphins
d.) San Francisco 49ers
e.) Chicago Bears
b.) Washington Redskins
In 1983, aspartame was approved for use in American soft drinks, Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union "the Evil Empire", Disney opened a theme park in Tokyo, and McDonald's introduced a new fast food item worldwide. What was it?
a.) The Big N' Tasty
b.) The Big Mac
c.) The Chicken McNugget
d.) The McGriddles Breakfast Sandwich
e.) The Egg McMuffin
c.) The Chicken McNugget
What 1983 coming-of-age crime drama directed by Francis Ford Coppola - adapted from a book by S.E. Hinton and starring Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, and Tom Cruise - tells the story of a teenage boy called Ponyboy Curtis who gets caught up in gang fighting between the "greasers" and the "socs" in Tulsa, Oklahoma?
a.) American Graffiti
b.) Rumble Fish
c.) The Outsiders
d.) Stand By Me
e.) River's Edge
c.) The Outsiders
Which of the following U2 songs spent the longest time at number one on the Billboard charts in the 80s?
a.) Sunday Bloody Sunday
b.) Pride (In the Name of Love)
c.) With or Without You
d.) New Year's Day
e.) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
c.) With or Without You
In what U.S. state was the TV sitcom The Dukes of Hazzard set in which brothers Bo and Luke and their cousin Daisy plan various escapades in their 1969 Dodge Charger named "General Lee" to expose and evade county commissioner Boss Hogg and law officer Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane?
a.) Mississippi
b.) Alabama
c.) Georgia
d.) Missouri
e.) Louisiana
c.) Georgia
What is the only baseball team to win multiple World Series in the 1980s? In 1981, this team surprisingly trounced the New York Yankees, while a later Series witnessed one of the most famous pinch hit home runs of all time?
a.) Philadelphia Phillies
b.) San Francisco Giants
c.) Los Angeles Dodgers
d.) St. Louis Cardinals
e.) Oakland Athletics
c.) Los Angeles Dodgers
In which country of the former Soviet Union did a reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explode and melt down in April 1986, spreading a cloud of radioactive dust across much of mainland Europe?
a.) Ukraine
b.) Belarus
c.) Poland
d.) Lithuania
e.) Estonia
a.) Ukraine
What 1985 John Hughes film features a group of uniquely different high school students, all forced together for Saturday detention?
a.) Ferris Bueller's Day Off
b.) The Breakfast Club
c.) Fast Times at Ridgemont High
d.) Heathers
e.) The Big Chill
b.) The Breakfast Club
Which British rock bank released the 1983 hit single "Every Breath You Take" that was later sampled in 1997 by Puffy Daddy for "I'll Be Missing You"?
a.) Eurythmics
b.) The Clash
c.) Genesis
d.) Queen
e.) The Police
e.) The Police
In the 1980s, frustrated with limited City Council representation, which of New York City's five boroughs attempted to secede and become an independent city?
a.) Manhattan
b.) Bronx
c.) Queens
d.) Staten Island
e.) Brooklyn
d.) Staten Island
Which boxer did Mike Tyson knock out in 91 seconds to become the undisputed lineal heavyweight champion of the world on 27 June 1988?
a.) Larry Holmes
b.) Michael Spinks
c.) Tony Tucker
d.) James "Bonecrusher" Smith
e.) Trevor Berbick
b.) Michael Spinks
Robert Mugabe became the Prime Minister of which African country in 1980?
a.) Nigeria
b.) South Africa
c.) Kenya
d.) Zimbabwe
e.) Uganda
d.) Zimbabwe
Which actor teamed up with Eddie Murphy in the 1983 comedy Trading Places about a Wall Street broker and a poor street hustler whose lives cross paths when they are unwittingly made the subject of an elaborate bet to test how each man will perform when their life circumstances are swapped?
a.) Dan Aykroyd
b.) Tom Cruise
c.) Bill Murray
d.) Mel Gibson
e.) Danny DeVito
a.) Dan Aykroyd
Which women's musical group had Number 1 hits in the 1980s including "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Eternal Flame"?
a.) The Bangles
b.) 4 Non-Blondes
c.) Bananarama
d.) Sister Sledge
e.) The Pointer Sisters
a.) The Bangles
In 1988, which country elected its first female Prime Minister - Benazir Bhutto - who became the first woman to lead a Muslim state? She was later assassinated in 2007.
a.) Afghanistan
b.) Turkey
c.) Indonesia
d.) Bangladesh
e.) Pakistan
e.) Pakistan
Which tennis player born in Hoboken, New Jersey became the youngest male winner of a Grand Slam event when he won the 1989 French Open at the age of 17?
a.) Pete Sampras
b.) Andre Agassi
c.) Boris Becker
d.) Jim Courier
e.) Michael Chang
e.) Michael Chang
On 22 September 1980, which country did Saddam Hussein order Iraqi forces to invade, thereby instigating a bitter conflict that would last nearly 8 years, witness the indiscriminate use of chemical agents and deliberate human wave suicide attacks, and cost over 100,000 civilians their lives? This war is often seen as the Middle East's version of World War I.
a.) Iran
b.) Kuwait
c.) Turkey
d.) Israel
e.) Syria
a.) Iran
Which of the following was the highest-grossing movie of the 1980s?
a.) Batman (1989)
b.) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
c.) Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
d.) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
e.) Top Gun (1986)
d.) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
What Norwegian group scored a worldwide smash hit with their 1985 single "Take On Me"? The song currently has over a billion views on YouTube.
a.) Golden Earring
b.) A-Ha
c.) Scorpions
d.) Roxette
e.) Tears for Fears
b.) A-Ha