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100
This '80s arcade phenomenon is one of highest-grossing video games of all time, having generated more than $2.5 billion in quarters by 1990 and is on display at the Smithsonian. When the Bally people took control of it in 1980, they revised the original name of "Puck Man" to avoid vandalism to the letter "P."
What is Pac-Man?
100
Amid controversy, George Bush Sr. named this man to be his running mate in 1988, after which he became 44th vice-president of the U.S. In this role, he was widely ridiculed in the media and by many in the general public as an intellectual lightweight and generally incompetent public servant.
Who is Dan Quayle?
100
Back in the 1980s, The U.S. Army could have said, "To be or not to be" but then they would be quoting Hamlet. Instead, they fired out this similarly worded slogan to the public.
What is "Be all that you can be?"
100
This 1982 Ailce Walker novel depicted female black life in the 1930s in the south, and its violet-like title reflected shades of pain and suffering. Steven Spielberg directed the 1985 film version, which was maligned for having changed or eliminated much of the book's defense of lesbianism.
What is "The Color Purple?"
100
Surprisingly, Madonna herself was partly responsible for this Weird Al song, and the video took place in a hospital. Both the original video and the parody video feature a male lion, while the tune roared to the 47th position of the Billboard charts.
What is "Like a Surgeon?"
200
This board game's popularity peaked in 1984, when the Genus edition of it was the only one being played. Since then, so many editions have followed that everyone can claim a wedge from many different categories.
What is Trivial Pursuit?
200
In 1981, President Reagan kept a campaign pledge by appointing Sandra Day O'Connor to this particular public office. In so doing, Reagan also made history by appointing the first woman to take her place in the office.
What is The Supreme Court?
200
We all know milk contains fat and cholesterol, but it's the protein, calcium and Vitamins A and D that prompted this grammatically awkward five-word slogan that came gushing out during the eighties.
What is "Milk does a body good?"
200
Journalist Bob Woodward crafted this 1984 portrait of the then-late comedian John Belushi, which utilized interviews with his widow, Dan Aykroyd and James Belushi. Later, they all thought the final product was exploitative and unrepresentative of the man they knew ... they then boycotted the 1989 movie version, which was supposedly even worse.
What is "Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi?"
200
Weird Al screamed for ice scream in this 1983 song. The original had Joan Jett yelling "Ow!" twice but in the parody, Weird Al said "Ow!" in reaction to an ice cream-induced brain freeze, then "Ow!" again in reaction to a kid biting his leg.
What is "I Love Rocky Road?"
300
Light Cycles, battle tanks, and an Input/Output Tower furnished the main obstacles in this video game, which actually made more money than the 1982 Disney movie on which it was based. Jeff Bridges might have felt better in a Big Lebowski video game.
What is Tron?
300
About this particular veggie, George Bush Sr. went on record to state his dislike of it: "I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more... " However, he also said wife Barbara "loves" it and "she has tried to make me eat it."
What is broccoli?
300
Oddly enough, this company credited the inspiration for its trademark slogan to Gary Gilmore, an executed murderer from the 1970s. Aptly, the three words of the slogan, created in 1988, consisted of "Just do it."
What is Nike?
300
This 1980 effort was Tom Robbins' third novel, and it concerned a love affair between an environmentalist princess and an outlaw. Featuring a broad range of topics such as aliens and redheads to consumerism, the building of bombs, romance, royalty, the moon, and a pack of Camel cigarettes, the theme of it all is "how to make love stay."
What is "Still Life with Woodpecker?"
300
This 1986 song mostly describes the terrible "aggravation" and "back pain" you get from the ailment in its title, and Weird Al filmed the parody video for it on the same stage that James Brown filmed the original.
What is "Living with a Hernia?"
400
This fantasy role-playing game departs from traditional wargaming and assigns each player a specific character to play. Some Christian groups have protested the game's alleged devil worship, witchcraft, suicide, and murder, but through it all, the game's players have remained "the epitome of geekdom."
What is Dungeons & Dragons?
400
This former U.S. Senator from Colorado may be remembered for shocking many Democrats by coming out of nowhere to temporarily challenge Walter Mondale for the presidential nomination of 1984 ... and then for being an alleged womanizer caught having an affair with model Donna Rice three years later.
Who is Gary Hart?"
400
This slogan originated in a 1984 fast-food commercial where an old lady receives an enormous hamburger bun, but then inspects the inside of it and finds a miniscule amount of something. Since then, her screaming three-word question has become an all-purpose phrase questioning the substance of an idea, event, or product.
What is "Where's the beef?"
400
This 1982 existential novel by Milan Kundera, about two men, two women, a dog and their lives in Prague became an acclaimed 1988 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis. But original author Kundera denounced the movie, saying many of the existential elements were gone ... he has not permitted any of his other works
What is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being?"
400
Weird Al researched this 1984 song by walking around in fabric stores taking notes. He later remarked, "I got a lot of nasty stares from store managers..." Sting might have given a nasty stare to Al's image on the single's record sleeve, which was made to resemble Sting's image on the real record.
What is "King of Suede?"
500
Released by Nintendo in 1981, this was one of the first "platform games," (requiring the player to jump) and it was also one of the earliest to present a semblence of a game storyline. In this case, Mario goes into an epic battle of simian proportions.
What is Donkey Kong?
500
In 2011, President Obama said this woman "... will forever be remembered as a trailblazer who broke down barriers for women, and Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life. Since presidential candidate Walter Mondale named her as his running mate in 1984, Obama's words commemorated her appropriately.
Who is Geraldine Ferraro?
500
This deodorant used its name as an adjective in its slogan, one that told us to "raise your hand" ... but only do it if you are certain.
What is Sure?
500
This female author penned the 1970s books "Are You There God?" "It's Me, Margaret" and "Blubber" for teenagers and it led to controversy regarding age-appropriate reading later on ... censorship took on a new name after the 1980s presidential election.
Who is Judy Blume?
500
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Weird Al featured this tune on his debut album, a parody of a Tom Petty/Stevie Nicks duet song. The lyrics have him chasing a tow truck "all over town" while another tow truck showed up later in the song in Al's driveway.