ROB: Every decade has its vivid highlights and
lowlights, the 80's, more so than most.
ROB (off-screen): It was a decade we viewed through the
world of our TV screens and sometimes we couldn't
believe our own eyes.
OPRAH: The very first national Oprah Winfrey show!
TIFFANI: I went bonkers, this is unreal.
KEVIN: Oh my God!
Like this is craziest, sexiest thing I ever saw.
ROB (off-screen): Big events, were shared events.
STACY: The world stopped that day.
LONI: It was all over the news.
TV PRESENTER: Who shot JR?
FREDDIE: Ay-oh!
DMC: I'm talking about world changing.
ROB: In this show, we're focusing on the good times,
the wild moments that were discussed around watercoolers.
ROB (off-screen): And in the 80s,
there was a lot to talk about.
GIRL: Well, that was something to remember,
that's for sure.
ROB (off-screen): In a decade packed with indelible memories,
ten define the word unforgettable,
but only one can top them all.
ROB: At number ten, a wild ride into some late-night shenanigans.
LETTERMAN: I enjoy seeing a grown man do that, do it again.
Go ahead.
NARRATOR: In the early 80s, a new generation of stand-up comics...
EDDIE: Scum bucket.
NARRATOR: ...were breaking all the rules.
At the head of the pack, David Letterman.
But Letterman had taken over a bigger stage,
an idiosyncratic late-night talk show.
PAUL: What made him different?
In a nutshell, anything could happen,
you know, and that was the kind of show it was.
LORRAINE: Letterman really broke the mold in terms of
a late-night host.
NARRATOR: At the same time, another comedian was inventing
an entire new reality.
His name was Andy Kaufman.
ANDY: Everybody sing.
(fake foreign dialogue)
(laughter)
PAUL: Andy Kaufman would just screw with the audience's
sense of reality.
ANDY: I thought this was going to be a real contest and
I think you are making joke.
JEN: It was really hard to distinguish what was a joke
and what wasn't.
NARRATOR: In July, 1982, Letterman and Kaufman's worlds collide
in an explosive encounter that changes TV history.
LETTERMAN: Just need some identification, get the hose.
(applause)
No, no.
AUDIENCE: Oh!
NARRATOR: That night, Letterman's other guest was
Jerry Lawler, a future WWE Hall of Fame wrestler and a
man who Kaufman had a very public grudge with.
Kaufman had been causing huge controversy,
wrestling women as part of his avant-garde comedy act.
Three months earlier, Lawler had publicly challenged
Kaufman to fight a man.
JEN: Jerry Lawler was a big actual wrestler,
like a legitimate scary opponent for him and
it didn't go very well.
COMMENTATOR: Kaufman is out cold.
NARRATOR: Stretchered off, apparently unconscious with a
neck injury, Kaufman agrees to face off with Lawler again,
this time on Letterman's show.
LETTERMAN: Tonight for the first time on Network Television,
they meet face to face.
(cheers)
PAUL: Things escalated and they started insulting each other.
ANDY: I could have sued you for everything you're worth,
but I didn't, because I'm not that kind of a guy.
LETTERMAN: Yeah, you know what, uh.
JERRY: What kind of a guy are you?
(laughter)
(applause)
LETTERMAN: I'll just be over here.
We're going to pause here for station identification and get
the hoses out here.
JON: And when Jerry Lawler hit him, it was like,
"Whoa, what just happened? This is crazy."
PAUL: I was, of course, on stage,
on set, on camera, in it and saying,
"Oh my God, what, you know, is this show business?
What's happening here?"
BRIAN: Is security gonna break this because Kaufman loses it.
ANDY: You are full of (bleep) my friend,
I will sue you for everything you have.
You hear me?
A (bleep) (bleep) (bleep) (bleep)
DEE: Everybody was like stunned.
BRIAN: You had to ask somebody else,
"Did you watch Letterman last night?"
"Yeah, I did," "Did you see Andy,
what was going on there?"
JON: Everyone was like, "Was that real or not real,"
and I go, "It was real, it was real."
LETTERMAN: Well, that about wraps this segment up,
I want to thank my guests, Mister Lawler,
Jerry, thank you very much for being here.
NARRATOR: Kaufman, Lawler and Letterman,
all maintained the brawl was entirely unscripted.
No-one knew for certain at the time.
But what we do know is that tragically,
less than two years later, Andy Kaufman's life was
struck short by lung cancer.
Then in 1994, ten years after Kaufman's death,
Jerry Lawler finally admitted that the feud was staged.
JON: That's how great of an actor Jerry Lawler is.
I said to him, "You fooled everyone."
NARRATOR: But there's one final twist, in a 2019 podcast,
the now retired "King of the late-night talk show,"
finally admits he was also in on the setup.
LETTERMAN: He would say, "Here's what's gonna happen
and then Jerry Lawler will come out and we're gonna get
into an argument and then he's gonna hit me and then I'll go
down and that'll be the segment.
And I said, "Okay," and, and then it happens and
even though I knew roughly what was gonna happen,
it was still, "Oh my God, he wasn't kidding."
BRIAN: Look, it got everybody talking and 30 years later,
we're still talking about it.
ROB: Imagine the reaction of music executives when a couple
of headstrong artists decided to mash up their respective
musical genres, risking commercial disaster.
Meet our moment number nine.
♪ New York, it's Tricky to rock a rhyme, ♪
♪ To rock a rhyme that's right on time, ♪
♪ It's Tricky ♪
♪ It's Tricky, Tricky, Tricky, Tricky ♪
NARRATOR: In 1985, Run DMC are on a mission,
to break down barriers and bring hip-hop to a mainstream audience.
DMC: See people thought hip-hop's for black people and
rock is for white people.
SECURITY: Hey, this is a Rock and Roll Museum,
you guys don't belong in here.
(laughs)
NARRATOR: Rick Rubin, Run DMC's record producer,
comes up with a wild way to shake things up.
JASON: It's his idea to have Run DMC cover Aerosmith's
"Walk This Way".
It was an incredible game changer.
KEVIN: You've got to remember,
like, this was a rock and roll band.
This was a hip-hop band.
NARRATOR: Despite obvious musical differences,
the two bands bond and cut a staggering crossover version.
But in the mid 80s, it's not enough to just be heard,
you also have to be seen.
They need airtime on MTV, but there's a big problem.
JASON: MTV, in its earliest years, focused only
on their target demographic which they envisioned as
young white males who were into rock music.
BOWIE: It occurred to me,
having watched MTV over the last few months,
I'm just floored by the fact that there's so few
Black artists featured on it, why is that?
MARK: I wish that MTV would have taken the lead sooner,
but it was that interview that made us realize
we have to move forward.
NARRATOR: MTV broadens its playlist of Black artists,
but hip-hop remains strictly off limits.
To break down the remaining walls,
Run DMC needs a knockout video.
JON: I had to make this great,
that they had no choice of airing it.
DMC: He said, "I'm gonna show the world their problem.
They put up walls that don't need to be there."
JON: Music has no boundary,
a good song is a good song.
NARRATOR: In the Summer of 1986,
the bands reunite on a New Jersey film set.
JON: We built a wall in the center of the stage.
MAN: Keep that noise down, man.
MAN: Yo! What's up with this.
JON: And set up the whole scenario.
Aerosmith was annoyed at Run DMC because their noise
was coming through their side.
You know, it's funny, him trying to break through the
wall, I thought it was great.
You know, I think he thought he was gonna get through it in one shot.
♪ She told me how to walk this way ♪
♪ She told me to ♪
♪ Walk this way ♪
NARRATOR: The idea is simple, the message crystal clear,
and at last, MTV gets it.
On July 3rd, 1986, MTV premiere the video bringing hip-hop to
the mainstream and changing popular music forever.
MARK: Oh God, I think we played it every hour.
(laughs)
It was non-stop airing.
DMC: You know, MTV was a foundation of exposing hip-hop
to the world because it put us in everybody's living room.
It was revolutionary and ground-breaking and
innovative, I'm talking about world changing.
ROB: Now, you might be asking yourself,
how did we arrive at our top ten?
Good question.
We recruited eight brilliant cultural historians who rank
the highlights from ten to one,
by carefully considering two factors.
80's wow, their important at the time and
impact, their legacy today.
Our number eight celebrates a moment when America gave
a mass salute to some men and women who had served
the nation very well.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: In 1983, MASH's theme tune rings out
for the last time.
This marks the end of an era and not just in terms of TV.
BRIAN: We all wanted to watch the last episode of MASH,
we all loved MASH.
PATRICK: During the 80s, you would be hard pressed to find
a better crafted show than MASH.
ALAN: I just feel very lucky that I have a chance to
go in every day and do work that I can be proud of.
NARRATOR: 13 years earlier, MASH began life as
a controversial movie, a film that grappled with
the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
LORRAINE: America was pretty burned out on Vietnam and
almost didn't even want to talk about it,
didn't want to look at it.
NARRATOR: Fusing comedy and drama around medics
in the earlier less divisive Korean War,
MASH held up a mirror to the nation's mixed feelings about armed conflict.
LORRAINE: MASH was a way to look at a clean war and look
at good guys doing good things in a war,
saving people.
NARRATOR: But by the early 80s,
MASH's anti-establishment vibe is out of step with America's
rediscovered military swagger.
LORRAINE: It was the end of something that it started in
another decade that was very different from the 80s.
It embodied a lot of different values than the 80s and there
was something about letting that go.
NARRATOR: MASH's time was up, but the producers wanted to
ensure it went out with a bang.
(explosion)
TRAPPER JOHN: Fore!
ALAN: Oh no!
REPORTER: Next Monday night, MASH 4077 will fold up their
tents and head for home.
NARRATOR: The announcement of MASH's final episode creates a
massive outpouring of affection for the show.
MAN: The main reason I like to watch it is because of the
portrayal of the characters.
MAN 2: 8:30, I'm gonna be there watching it.
ADAM: I remember the very last episode and I remember
what a big deal it was.
NARRATOR: On February, 28th, 1983,
a two hour special brings the show and the war it portrayed
to a heartfelt close.
The cast's poignant on-screen farewells seemed to speak for
the nation, a nation that also needed to say goodbye.
HAWKEYE: Look, I know how tough it is for you to say goodbye,
so I'll say it, I'll miss you.
BRIAN: I always ask people this question,
"Tell me what the last line of MASH is."
HUNNICUTT: I left you a note.
BRIAN: And the last line of dialogue is actually.
HAWKEYE: What?
BRIAN: And then you get the goodbye in the rocks,
that you can see from Hawk, because BJ,
who would never say goodbye,
has spelt it out in the rocks at the end.
I think that's one of the reasons that we loved MASH is
because MASH always surprised us.
NARRATOR: Nearly 106 million Americans watched the finale,
a record for a TV drama that still stands today.
PATRICK: They honored themselves and the audience
and it deserved to win all records.
NARRATOR: So far, we've had a meltdown at number ten,
broken down walls at number nine
and broken records at number eight.
But our number seven helped change the way we watch TV.
ROB: Cynics have said that bad news sells best because
good news is no news.
But our number seven revolves around bad news that became
good news and kept the world watching a newfangled kind of TV network.
BROKAW: And in West Texas tonight, the saga
of little Jessica McClure has been going on since
mid-morning yesterday.
The 18 month old girl fell through an eight inch opening
into a well in Midland Texas.
LONI: Oh, we were so, we were so scared.
NARRATOR: Jessica is trapped in a dry well,
22 feet deep and encircled by thick rock.
JACKIE: The mom was so upset and it was just like,
"Is she gonna be okay?"
NARRATOR: Baby Jessica's distraught teenage parents,
Chip and Cissy, can do nothing but watch on helplessly.
BROKAW: NBC's Dan Molina is standing by now in Midland,
with an update on that dramatic situation.
NARRATOR: The rescue effort has been mounting every hour,
eventually reaching 400 strong.
JACKIE: I was seven at the time, you can
kind of almost put yourself in her shoes and be like,
"Oh my God, could I fall down a well?
Could that happen to me?"
NARRATOR: As rescuers commandeer a large rig to dig
a precarious 28 foot hole parallel to the well,
TV networks scramble to cover the ongoing rescue.
Among them, a struggling new 24/7 news channel called CNN,
whose fate will become inextricably linked to
Jessica's story.
TONY: Jessica can be heard to call to her mother,
she has been singing and occasionally crying.
She said she's hungry, she hasn't had anything to eat or
drink for more than a day.
But medical personnel on the scene say,
they don't want anything passed down to her
for fear she'll choke.
NARRATOR: After 48 hours, Jessica is still trapped,
all the world can do is watch, wait and fear for the worst.
ANCHOR: The nail-biting tension continues as rescuers
get ever so close.
NARRATOR: CNN'S 24/7 coverage helps transform baby Jessica's
plight from personal tragedy into national obsession.
JAMES: Ted Turner, the guy who started CNN,
realized that people wanted to watch the news when
they wanted to see it, not when it comes on
at 7:00 on the network.
REPORTER: We are told that they are now lowering an
engineer into that hole.
NARRATOR: All the networks cover the ongoing rescue,
but CNN now owns the story.
ANCHOR: For the latest, let's switch again live to
our exhausted CNN personnel on the scene,
here again, correspondent, Tony Clark.
Tony.
TONY: You can see the same thing we're seeing here,
the rescuers are all standing around the,
the shaft, they're looking down there, there's a paramedic.
NARRATOR: Millions watch as the rescue unfolds.
LONI: I mean, literally, I was up for two days cos I just got
so involved, like, they gotta get Jessica,
baby Jessica get baby out of there, please.
NARRATOR: After 58 hours trapped in a well.
TONY: We're obviously still waiting, it's...
NARRATOR: Time is running out to save baby Jessica.
TONY: It looks like they're bringing her up right now,
we're seeing a lot of activity,
the ropes are being pulled up, Jessica's mother is running
over to the area where she is.
This is the moment that we've been waiting for.
(cheers)
You can see the enthusiasm, you can hear the applause,
as Jessica is, is brought out.
It has taken a long time.
JACKIE: Everyone cried when they pulled baby Jessica out,
it was such a relief.
(applause)
TIFFANI: The story of baby Jessica became extremely
personal for so many people.
NARRATOR: Even the President and Nancy Reagan are
caught up in the moment.
They call Jessica's parents from the hospital where the
First Lady has been admitted for a biopsy.
REAGAN (over phone): It's Ronald Reagan and Nancy's on the other phone.
NANCY (over phone): Hello?
CISSY (over phone): Hello Mrs. Reagan, how are you feeling?
NANCY (over phone): Well, I wan you to know that I was supposed
to get ready for the operation the next morning and
I couldn't do it until I sat there and watched her come up.
CISSY (over phone): We appreciate it.
REAGAN (over phone): I think you must be aware by now,
that everybody in America became godfathers and
godmothers of Jessica, we'd all been praying.
NARRATOR: CNN's coverage marks a turning point in news media.
It is the moment when people began to expect,
even demand, what we take for granted today,
instant updates at the touch of a button.
CHIP: I don't know how to say thank you enough.
ROB: 1972 was the last time we walked on the moon ever.
The American space program went into hibernation,
but like so many things, it came roaring back in the 80s.
Our number six.
LAUNCH (over radio): Four, three, two, one and lift off.
NARRATOR: On January 28th, 1986,
the space shuttle Challenger, exploded upon lift off.
The whole world watched and the whole world grieved.
But a very different emotion attended the shuttle's
maiden voyage five years earlier.
LAUNCH (over radio): We have no down link.
NARRATOR: April 12th, 1981.
The space shuttle Colombia's launch has already been
delayed two days due to technical problems and
no-one wants to think of the disastrous consequences of failure.
FRANK: Well Sam, it's had its problems.
A few years behind schedule and more than a few dollars over budget.
NARRATOR: The shuttle is intended to be a game-changer,
the world's first reusable space vehicle.
MIKE: This thing was unbelievable what it could do,
you know, launch like a rocket and land like an airplane,
nothing before could ever do that.
LAUNCH (over radio): This is shuttle launch control at T-20
minutes and holding.
NARRATOR: But that's only if it can get off the ground.
REPORTER: Mile after mile of campers and crowds,
well over a million people.
NARRATOR: A nation's hopes and prayers fix on astronauts,
John Young and Robert Crippen.
REPORTER: Everybody here anxiously hoping,
waiting, watching.
LAUNCH (over radio): 35 seconds
REPORTER: All they're thinking about is the word, lift off.
LAUNCH (over radio): 25 seconds
Launch sequencer.
Five, four, we've gone for main engine start,
we have main engine start.
The launch of America's first Space Shuttle and
the shuttle has cleared the tower.
PATRICK: The sense of being an American at that particular
time was prideful.
MAN: United States of America!
MIKE: So it was kind of, hey, we're back in business.
CHILD: Well, that was something to remember, that's for sure.
MAN: America's back in space finally and I hope we're there to stay.
NARRATOR: For the watching millions,
it's an inspiring moment,
heralding a new age of space travel.
Especially for an aspiring astronaut.
MIKE: If you would have told me,
"Hey, you're gonna fly on that spaceship some day,"
I'd have been, "No way," but that's the spaceship I flew on.
MIKE (over radio): I'm moving one of his shoulder straps out of the way there.
MIKE: I got to fly on space shuttle Colombia on my first flight.
LAUNCH (over radio): Okay, we copy that.
NARRATOR: The shuttle blazed a trail,
encouraging a new generation of space explorers to boldly
go where no-one has gone before.
MIKE: It was really an amazing accomplishment.
NARRATOR: Next, the burning question that was on
everyone's lips in the summer of 1980.
JON: It was all everybody was talking about and can you believe it?
(gunshot)
ROB: So far, we've seen tragedy averted,
surreal talk show theatre,
and the last call for a beloved TV show.
Our number five had the highest rated 80s factor,
the shot literally heard around the world.
JON: Who shot JR? CRISTELA: Who shot JR?
MEATLOAF: Who shot JR? LONI: Who shot JR?
JR: Who's there?
♪ ♪
(gunshots)
WOMAN: His wife probably did it.
MAN: I have a hunch his brother did.
MALE 2: I would, he's a son of a...
(laughs)
NARRATOR: Dallas is America's leading primetime soap opera
and actor, Larry Hagman, makes arch villain, JR Ewing,
the man that everybody loves to hate.
JR: Alright, this is what I want you to do.
Close down that field.
That's right.
PATRICK: The reason he became a main character in the show
was because Larry Hagman played him.
JON: You didn't think, "Oh, that's Larry Hagman,"
you'd got "That's JR. "
BRIAN: JR was, was sort of our first reality show villain in a way.
NARRATOR: But in 1980, a suddenly extended run means
the show's writers have to create a new season finale,
in a hurry.
PATRICK: They were sitting in the writers room,
they were going, "What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do?"
and somebody just said, "Well, let's shoot somebody."
And then unanimously, everybody went,
"It's got to be JR."
NARRATOR: At the last minute, unsure of exactly who will shoot JR,
the writers decide to buy time,
by building in a cliff-hanger.
PATRICK: They didn't know who did it at the end of that season.
They didn't care.
They said, "We have all summer now to try and figure out
who did it and why."
NARRATOR: But no-one realizes that this writers room
creative block will unleash a global obsession.
TV REPORTER: They have now been labelled the shots heard
round the world, who shot JR, says Time,
is the most tantalizing secret since Watergate's Deep Throat.
BRIAN: You heard it discussed on kids shows,
it was on the radio, the DJs would banter about it,
it was everywhere.
NARRATOR: The producers realize they've created the
ultimate hook for the next season and to keep everyone,
including the cast, guessing, they even film multiple
versions of the big reveal.
PATRICK: We were the last people in the world to know,
the cast of Dallas.
Larry didn't know who shot him.
INTERVIEWER: Whodunnit?
LARRY: I don't know who did it.
INTERVIEWER: You must know.
LARRY: I don't, I swear I don't,
they're, they're not gonna tell me.
NARRATOR: In November, 1980, after eight months of feverish
speculation, the nation is on tenterhooks,
anticipating the big reveal.
LORRAINE: All of America was like tuned in to finding out who killed JR.
PATRICK: That hour of Dallas, everybody said,
"Shut up, we're watching, no eating, don't crinkle the paper."
ANCHOR: If you still don't know,
you may not wanna watch in the next 20 seconds,
especially you on the west coast,
if you want to wait and see it in just a bit.
Here it is...
(gunshot)
SUE ELLEN: It was you, Kristen.
NARRATOR: The shooter turns out to be Kristen,
JR's mistress, who is also his sister-in-law,
of course she was.
The world finally exhales after holding its breath for
most of 1980 and
"Who Shot JR?" sets a precedent for season finales.
BRIAN: I can't remember another time that there was
a gigantic cliffhanger, that the entire world was tuned into,
to see how it was gonna resolve.
LARRY: Yeah, he's just about the best liar I've ever met,
with the exception of myself of course.
ROB: The Yang to JR's Yin in the 80s,
was a very real person, who was also self-made,
rich and powerful,
only, she used her unique talents for good.
REPORTER: This is Eye Witness News.
SAM: I'm Sam Donald.
NARRATOR: At the start of the 1980s,
whatever channel you tune into.
HOST: Well, the number one television show.
NARRATOR: TV news and talk shows, looked very similar
BROKAW: That's the news for this Tuesday night,
I'm Tom Brokaw, goodnight from all of us at NBC News.
NARRATOR: But an ambitious young reporter from
rural Mississippi, is out to change that.
ANNOUNCER: Oprah Winfrey and the Eyewitness News Team.
NARRATOR: Oprah Winfrey had landed her first job as a TV
anchor at just 19 years old.
OPRAH: President Carter announced just this morning.
NARRATOR: Becoming the youngest woman to anchor the
news at the Nashville TV station and the only African American.
Her personable style wins admirers and the audience but
not TV bosses, she is demoted to daytime for being what her
male bosses call, um, too emotional?
OPRAH: I have a gift, I understand that it's a gift to
be myself in front of the camera,
I am as comfortable in front of the camera,
as I am breathing.
NARRATOR: In 1984, Oprah takes over a low-rated half hour
morning talk show, AM Chicago, and the emotion she showed too
much of on news, becomes a talk show secret weapon.
OPRAH: I'm trying not to let my feelings show here.
(laughter)
JASON: In the year or two that she was on AM Chicago,
she took the ratings from I think what was like zero,
it was like last place to, you know, the top.
♪ Everybody loves Oprah ♪
OPRAH: You mean me?
NARRATOR: Less than a year later,
they name the show for her.
♪ Chicago ♪
♪ Start your day out with a smile ♪
NARRATOR: And once Oprah starts beating daytime talk show king,
Phil Donahue, in Chicago's TV ratings,
the stage is set for Oprah's national syndication.
OPRAH: Whoo! Woo.
Hello, everybody. Thanks.
Thank you, I'm Oprah Winfrey and welcome to the very first
national Oprah Winfrey Show!
(applause)
NARRATOR: Oprah and her creative team know this first
episode will be make or break.
They are desperate to make a big celebrity splash.
OPRAH: Oprah, who are the guests for the first show?
Is it Mother Theresa?
Is it the Pope?
Is it Greta Garbo?
NARRATOR: But with no takers, Oprah's solution is an
intuitive masterclass in connecting with a mass audience
a class act that sets Oprah apart from the competition,
that will soon have no hope of competing.
OPRAH: We decided to do what we do best and that is
a show about and with everyday people.
LORRAINE: Sure, the celebrities are great later on,
but you have to make that connection with the audience.
AMBER: Regular people being on stage talking about world
issues and it feels very before her time.
NARRATOR: Oprah takes a record 48% of the afternoon audience.
OPRAH: But two things have bugged me for years,
the first, my thighs, the second...
LORRAINE: Like, what woman in America didn't wanna hear that
at that point, it was like,
"Oh my gosh, thank you for saying that."
NARRATOR: And she's determined to have their thoughts,
feelings and aspirations aired on national TV.
WOMAN 1: Oprah is a real woman, a real person.
WOMAN 2: Oprah is a friend.
WOMAN 3: And I'd like to say that Oprah, you are beautiful.
NARRATOR: Oprah's capacity to be as one with her audience,
opens the way for a whole new dialogue on daytime TV.
AMBER: Honestly, I feel like Oprah changed the narrative of
what Black women are and who they are.
People started seeing us in a more professional light.
She showed vulnerability, but she also showed strength at
the same time and I just think that that's really dope.
WOMAN: It's Oprah Winfrey.
OPRAH: Hi, everybody.
(applause)
NARRATOR: Oprah's national TV debut marks the start of
something big, really big.
The Oprah Winfrey Show will run for 25 unbroken years and
become the foundation for her enduring empire of empathy.
LORRAINE: It was really revolutionary for daytime TV.
OPRAH: Thank you, America!
(applause)
ROB: Oprah's a pretty tough act to follow,
but our top three is gonna do just that.
FREDDIE: Ay-oh! AUDIENCE: Ay-oh!
ROB: So, I know we've missed some iconic moments of the 80s
and here's why, they revolved around tragedy, not triumph.
The Challenger explosion, the attempted assassination
of Ronald Reagan, the actual assassination of John Lennon.
But today, we're here to remember the good times and
that is front and center as we approach our top three.
Like our next moment, when a withdrawn, publicity shy
introvert transformed into a world superstar.
All right, the only part of that sentence that's actually
true is the superstar part.
NARRATOR: Men have been strutting their funky stuff
ever since rock and roll began.
But women were different, and usually portrayed only as
passive objects of desire.
When in 1981, punk singer Wendy O'Williams of the
Plasmatics, dared to be sexually suggestive on stage,
she was arrested.
But three years later at the 1984 VMA's,
one woman would confront these double standards head on.
MARK: We wanted the VMA's to be the anti- Grammys and so,
the more outrageous stuff that happened, the better.
NARRATOR: Dressed in a wedding gown with a 17 foot cake
behind her, Madonna seizes her moment.
MARK: She went down, as she started to roll around and her
dress started to come up.
MADONNA: I wasn't even sure of what I was doing,
you know, I just kind of went for it.
♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪
NARRATOR: And she kept the writhing and rolling going,
on her blockbuster Virgin tour.
KATIE: She was this unfettered expression of female sexuality.
♪ When you hold me and you hug me and you love me ♪
KEVIN: Oh my God, like this is the craziest,
sexiest thing I ever saw.
TIFFANI: And I was like, "Wow."
♪ Can't you hear my heart beat, for the very first time ♪
MADONNA: The fact that people are interested in what
I'm doing only pushes me more to, you know,
keep coming up with new and interesting ways to express myself.
NARRATOR: Parents may hate Madonna's particular form of
self expression, but for the nation's teenagers,
an icon and yes, role model is born.
TEENAGER: I like her attitude and the way she
presents herself, she doesn't like let anybody step on her.
CRISTELA: I wasn't allowed to like Madonna,
but I loved Madonna.
MARK: It was a harbinger of what this artist was going to do.
NARRATOR: Mainstream America can't hold back the tide.
Madonna's sensational performance inspires female
artists everywhere to own their sexuality and create
their own empowerment and the world would never be the same again.
TIFFANI: A woman can go up there,
look like a rock star, but then be extremely feminine and
I just thought she was amazing.
ROB: All the world's a stage, but sometimes the stage
becomes the entire world
and our number two moment is truly momentous,
both for the cause and the band who stole the show.
NARRATOR: July 13th, 1985, the curtain rises on one of the
biggest pop concerts in the history of music.
A devastating famine in Ethiopia has inspired
Irish rocker, Bob Geldof to stage a world-wide concert
to raise awareness and raise money.
ANNOUNCER: It's 12 noon in London,
7:00 AM in Philadelphia and around the word
it's time for Live Aid.
NARRATOR: This mega concert was designed to reach
a mega-audience.
JASON: It was broadcast all over the world,
I think about two billion or more people watched and tuned in,
it felt like something incredibly special was happening.
NARRATOR: And despite performances by the likes of
Sting, Run DMC and Black Sabbath,
the cash just isn't coming in.
BOB: Get your money out now, and phone up and give us the money.
NARRATOR: Live Aid needs a big-hitter performance.
Next up: 70s band, Queen.
But with allegations that the band is burnt out and that
Freddie's personal life is falling apart,
the big question is, can Queen deliver?
BRIAN: Freddie Mercury had that audience right where he
wanted them from the moment he got out there on stage.
MARK: There was such a joy, there was so much energy in
that performance.
♪ I sit alone and watch your light ♪
LORRAINE: They blew most everybody out of the water.
♪ You had your time, you had the power, ♪
♪ You've yet to have your finest hour ♪
♪ Radio ♪
♪ Everybody ♪
♪ All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, ♪
♪ Radio ga ga ♪ ♪
PETE: I had helped put Queen on stage and I was standing in the wings
and when he did "Radio Ga Ga",
it seemed that the tension in the air had changed,
it seemed like gravity had dropped or something.
♪ Someone still loves you ♪
JEN: You look at that sea of people and they're all pumping
their hands in unison, it's, I mean even just watching it
on TV and not being there, you feel,
you know, goosebumps watching it.
LORRAINE: When you watch that performance,
it's like, wow.
MARK: It's considered one of the greatest live performances
in rock and roll.
NARRATOR: Live Aid has finally arrived and a rock legend is born.
Freddie's voice is dubbed the note that's heard around the
world and the cash donations flood in.
FREDDIE: Aaaay-o.
AUDIENCE: Aaaay-o.
FREDDIE: Ay-o.
BRIAN: It was a mythic performance that you knew was mythic when
you were seeing it and that doesn't happen very often.
FREDDIE: Aaaaaaay-o.
AUDIENCE: Aaaaaaay-o.
BRIAN: Just chill inducing to watch.
NARRATOR: Queen's performance i the turning point for Live Aid,
which went on to raise over $125 million and
sets a trend for big charitable concerts in aid of the needy.
A trend that continues to this day.
ROB: It's been an amazing journey and we are nearly at the summit.
So far we've met three queens, Oprah, Madonna and the band,
which I think is a hint for our number one coming up.
ROB: We've witnessed some cultural weddings in our top ten,
hip-hop and heavy metal.
Oprah, tying the knot with the entire civilized world,
Madonna and her 17 foot tall cake,
but the wedding of the 80s, combined all of the themes of
our watercooler moments.
Here's our number one.
NARRATOR: November, 17th, 1980.
19 year old Diana Spencer is returning from work,
when she is besieged by reporters.
Everyone wants to know if Prince Charles has popped
the all important question.
REPORTER: Is there any possibility that any
announcement of your marriage in the near future,
can you tell me?
(shouting)
Can you tell if there's any possibility?
DIANA: I'm not going to say anything.
Oh sorry.
REPORTER: But Prince Charles did give us a hint himself,
he said we wouldn't have to wait too long.
DIANA: Oh, careful.
NARRATOR: On February 24th, 1981,
the engagement is finally made official,
the whole world is watching and now contracts wedding fever
ANCHOR: Well, the guest list for the royal wedding reads
like a who's-who of beautiful and powerful people.
REPORTER: The British prove once again,
that when it comes to pomp and circumstance,
they have no peers.
BRIAN: We as Americans, as a nation,
we all kind of wanted to be looking in the windows and
watch what was going on and to be a part of that somehow.
NARRATOR: But just one thing becomes the center of
everyone's obsession...
LONI: Who did the dress, what would the dress look like,
it was better than who shot JR,
it was just a great secret.
NARRATOR: Diana chooses British designers
David and Elizabeth Emanuel to create the dress.
ELIZABETH: Lady Diana turned up,
it was a big surprise and she said,
"Will you and David, do me the honor of making my wedding
dress, but we have to keep it secret,
nobody must know."
I think even the Palace underestimated the interest.
We became aware of photographers and they were
leasing apartments opposite us with their long range cameras.
NARRATOR: As speculation about the dress reaches fever pitch,
the Emanuels are forced to make elaborate back-up plans.
ELIZABETH: Every night, before we went home,
the dress went into this huge metal case and it was guarded.
What we did do, just as a bit of an insurance policy,
was to create another dress in case it got out.
We hoped she'd never have to wear it,
but it was a different style.
Then we realized people were also going through our rubbish bins,
so we started laying false trails and gathering
bits of different color fabrics to put in our bins.
NARRATOR: The Emanuels manage to keep the real dress under
wraps and on July 29th, 1981,
750 million people around the globe
gather to watch the wedding of the decade.
FRANK: Good evening and now for a little while,
a respite from reality, it's fairy-tale time.
STACY: The world stopped that day.
I mean I don't remember anybody who wasn't watching.
NARRATOR: At just after 10 AM, Diana starts the procession to
St Paul's Cathedral.
REPORTER: At her side, her father, the Earl Spencer.
And the wedding dress that has been a carefully guarded secret.
LONI: It's a glass coach, and all you saw was all this material.
REPORTER: And here she comes.
Quite a job, getting all those yards of silk,
what a dream she looks, what a dream she looks.
TIFFANI: She looks like an angel,
and, and it took my breath away,
like it really took my breath away.
REPORTER: The dress is made of yards of ivory pure silk
taffeta and if you asked a little girl to draw a
princess, I think she'd draw a dress just like that.
TIFFANI: As a young girl, it's like,
"Oh, is this what it's like to marry Prince Charming?"
REPORTER: And there she goes up the steps.
JEREMY: Her look.
Our affection for her, globally,
it's one of those moments that mark that time period.
LONI: It was one of those events that you will never forget.
And everybody celebrated it.
ARCHBISHOP: I, Diana Frances.
DIANA: I, Diana Frances.
ARCHBISHOP: Take thee Charles Philip Arthur George.
JEREMY: I could only imagine what that must have been like for her,
kind of being slightly obscure and then
being thrown into the world's complete spotlight.
ARCHBISHOP: I pronounce that they be man and wife together.
NARRATOR: The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana,
combines the essence of the 80s zeitgeist,
a compelling, empathetic personality,
a cliffhanger surprise and a unique news event that
transforms a moment into an enduring memory and our number one.
BRIAN: It was giving us something that we culturally
thought we needed and really wanted,
which was glamour.
STACY: It was an exaggeration and sort of a display of
wealth and aristocracy that you only saw in the 80s.