Curated category
1980s fads and trends
- House musicIn 1977, a dimly lit basement club named the Warehouse opened its doors on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Frankie Knuckles stood behind the turntables…
- MTVAt 12:01 a.m. on the 1st of August 1981, the first image to appear on the new cable channel was not a music video but a montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
- Slasher filmA killer stalking a group of people with a bladed tool defines the core of this horror subgenre. Film analysts distinguish these movies from monster films or…
- Gangsta rapPhiladelphia rapper Schoolly D released a self-titled debut album in 1985 that contained the song "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" This track is widely regarded…
- Shopping mallThe first covered shopping passage appeared in Paris in 1798, called the Passage du Caire. London followed with the Royal Opera Arcade opening in 1816 and…
- New wave musicSeymour Stein launched a campaign in October 1977 to replace the word punk with new wave. He was the founder of Sire Records and believed that calling bands…
- Amusement arcadeThe term penny arcade emerged between 1905 and 1910 to describe venues filled with coin-operated entertainment devices. Early machines included bagatelles…
- Electronic dance musicIn 1973, a Jamaican-American DJ named Kool Herc introduced large bass-heavy speaker rigs to the Bronx. His parties kick-started the New York City hip-hop…
- BreakdancingOn the 11th of August 1973, a back-to-school party took place in the rec room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in The Bronx.
- Pac-ManIn early 1979, Toru Iwatani began work on a project that would change the video game industry forever. He was just twenty-four years old when he joined…
- Trivial PursuitOn the 15th of December 1979, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott sat in a Montreal living room to play Scrabble. The game ended abruptly when they could not find…