1985 Facts: Will Think Twice After Reading This Article!

The year 1985 is remembered as the 'Year of Extreme Weather.'

Every state east of the Rockies saw bitterly cold temperatures. Phoenix received 3 in (7.6 cm) of snow, and 41 tornadoes struck Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada, all on the same day.

1985 was a year full of trivia and fun facts. Two star-studded concerts raised over $70 million for African famine relief. Coca-Cola was to be reformulated because Coke was selling poorly. Two global leaders were meeting for the first time. All this in one year!

Two years after the 1983 theatrical release of 'Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi', in 1985, 'Star Wars: The Power of the Force' power action figures debuted. This series succeeded Kenner's hugely successful Star Wars original trilogy line, but it failed to revive economic interest at a time when the Star Wars brand was declining.

Microsoft Corporation introduced Windows in 1985, which included a graphical user interface with drop-down menus, scroll bars, and other features. The next year, the firm relocated to Redmond, Washington, and went public, garnering $61 million at $21 per share.

Ashley Young is a famous English footballer, born in 1985. Scott Carson is another English footballer born in 1985.

Mario Gómez, although not an English footballer, is a well-known German footballer, was born on July 10, 1985. Melanie Behringer, another well-known German footballer, was born on November 18, 1985. Lukas Podolski, a notable German footballer, was born on June 4, 1985.

New Coke would have a smoother, sweeter taste similar to Diet Coke, but sweetened with corn syrup. New Coke was probably the biggest ever marketing blunder by Coca-Cola.

Sylvester Stallone, an American actor, launched 'Rambo: First Blood Part II', which went on to become a huge success. Another famous American actor, Charles Robert Redford Jr., played the lead male part in the 1985 film 'Out of Africa', which was a huge box office hit and won seven Academy Awards, including 'Best Picture.'

The American actor also appeared on Saturday Night Live. Many movies released hit songs this year.

Another unfortunate death was that of American actor George Orson Welles. Orson Welles was a popular American actor, writer, director, and producer known for his groundbreaking work in radio, theatre, and film.

The life of an American driver is valuable, so, in 1985, New York City became the first state to require all front-seat auto occupants to wear seatbelts or face a $50 fine.

In the first three months after the state-mandated use of seat belts for American drivers, the number of average American drivers and passengers killed in motor vehicle accidents fell by 27%.

At the 57th Academy Awards, American actress Sally Field won the Best Actress award for the movie 'Places in the Heart'.

American actress Vanessa Redgrave was nominated for her role in 'The Bostonians as Olive Chancellor'.

American actress Sissy Spacek was nominated for her role in 'The River as Mae Garvey'.

American actress Jessica Lange was nominated for her role in 'Country as Jewell Ivy'.

American actress Judy Davis was nominated for her role in 'A Passage to India' as Adela Quested.

At the 57th Academy Awards, American actress Peggy Ashcroft won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in 'A Passage to India' as Mrs. Moore.

American actress Christine Lahti was nominated for her role in 'Swing Shift' as Hazel Zanussi.

American actress Glenn Close was nominated for her role in 'The Natural' as Iris Gaines.

American actress Geraldine Page was nominated for her role in 'The Pope of Greenwich Village' as Mrs. Ritter.

American actress Lindsay Crouse was nominated for her role in 'Places in the Heart' as Margaret Lomax.

In the year 1985, Turkey started the first football league season in which 19 clubs participated.

The Los Angeles Lakers started the season as runner-ups in the 1984 NBA Finals, when they were defeated in seven consecutive games by the Boston Celtics, extending their losing skid to eight games against the Celtics in the NBA Finals.

The 1985 Kansas City Royals season ended with the team's first world title victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, who were their intrastate rivals. The Royals won the American League's Western Division for the second year in a row and for the sixth time in 10 years.

On the strength of their pitching, the team improved to 91–71, spearheaded by Bret Saberhagen's Cy Young Award-winning campaign.

With the foundation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Soviet Union came to an end. Mikhail Gorbachev was the president at the time of its disintegration. He was only in this role for a little over a year, yet he was the Soviet Union's leader from March 11, 1985-March 11, 1986.

Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985. Under his leadership, a new generation of officials and leaders began a process of transformation in the Soviet Union's politics and economy. They also attempted to develop relations with Western countries such as the United States.

Ricky Nelson, an American pop singer, died on December 31, 1985 while attempting a crash landing with his band. The Douglas DC-3 plane was brought down in mid-flight west of De Kalb, Texas.

The crash killed Nelson and six others, including numerous band members, including his girlfriend. Both pilots made it out alive. It was known as the 'airplane celebrity death incident'.

There was the unfortunate death of a German writer named Heinrich Theodor Böll. Heinrich Theodor Böll was a reputed German writer. He was considered Germany's foremost post-World War II German writer and was a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).

If you enjoyed reading this article, you must check out these 2000 facts and 1981 facts.

Novels Released

Orson Scott Card, an American writer, earned the Nebula Award for his work 'Ends the Game'. Another well-known American writer, Robin McKinley, was awarded the Newbery Medal for her contribution to children's literature with 'The Hero and the Crown.'

Robert Penn Warren, a well-known American writer, was awarded the Gold Medal in Poetry by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Scientific Theories Coined

The year 1985 was a revolutionary year in the fields of science and technology. This was the year that the British Antarctic Survey announced the finding of the ozone hole on May 16.

Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe launched by a country other than the United States or the Soviet Union, was launched on January 7 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Harold Kroto, James R. Heath, Sean O'Brien, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley of Rice University in the United States were the first to purposefully prepare the fullerene Buckminsterfullerene.

On September 1, a combined American-French expedition directed by Dr. Robert Ballard (WHOI) and Jean-Louis Michel (Ifremer) used side-scan sonar from the RV Knorr to find the RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic.

Rise Of Capitalism In USA

The great advantages of capitalist America in the 19th century encouraged a wave of immigration. Thousands of migrant laborers crossed the oceans from Europe and Asia in search of work and secular and ideological liberty. Newcomers flooded into American cities such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

America became the world's creative center, birthing hundreds of new technologies such as the telegraph, telephone, electric power, and lighting. The stock market and American banks grew as a result of the need for investment capital.

End Of Socialism In USA

From 1979–1989, SDUSA members like Tom Kahn coordinated a $300,000 fundraiser for the AFL–CIO, which was used to purchase printing presses and other equipment needed by Solidarity, Poland's independent workers' organization.

SDUSA members helped construct a bipartisan coalition of Democratic and Republican politicians to support the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), led by Carl Gershman as its first president.

Ford Motors Growth

The American automobile industry wrapped up the second-most-profitable year in its history today, as the Ford Motor Company reported 1985 earnings of $2.52 billion and the Chrysler Corporation reported $1.64 billion.

Ford launched the Ford Taurus with a cool new 'aero design' alongside the Ford Aerostar minivan. As a result, the Ford Taurus is still one of Ford's bestseller models, with over 7,000,000 units sold.

Today, this vehicle ranks as the eighth bestselling car in Ford history, behind models like their all-time bestseller, the F-150, the Ford Model T, and the legendary Ford Mustang series of vehicles.

Did You Know...

The hit sequel to 'Mario Bros.' was released in 1985, titled 'Super Mario Bros'.

There are some facts about another famous American professional wrestler named Hulk Hogan. WrestleMania 1 debuted at Madison Square Garden.

In the main event, Hulk Hogan and another American professional wrestler, Mr. T, defeated Paul Orndorff and 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper. In a famous battle for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, Hulk Hogan (with Cyndi Lauper, David Wolff, and Lou Albano) defeated Roddy Piper (with Bob Orton) via disqualification.

Following the retirement of Olympic gold winner and well-known American figure skater Scott Hamilton, another American figure skater, Brian Boitano, won his first national title by landing seven triple jumps in free skating. 1985 was a great year for the American figure skater.

Mark Cockerell, an American figure skater at the time, competed in his seventh nationals and finished a career-best second, while Christopher Bowman improved from eighth to fourth with an amazing free skating performance.

Tiffany Chin, an American figure skater who won all three stages of the competition to win the title, was the strong favorite coming off a fourth-place at the 1984 Winter Olympics.

Nintendo created and distributed the first version of the 'Mario Bros.' series in 1983 and then the sequel to the hit arcade game 'Super Mario Bros.' in 1985. The initial Famicom version of this game was published in Japan in 1985.

Both economically and critically, the first version of 'Super Mario' was a huge hit. The first version of the video game was a killer app for the NES and helped popularize the side-scrolling platform game genre. Within four months of its publication in September 1985, around 3 million copies were sold in Japan.

In pop culture history, the year 1985 is well-known. Many innovative music videos have been released this year by popular music artists. Also, many movies released hit songs in this particular year.

The 'Mary Jane Girls' were a famous R&B, soul, and funk group from the United States who rose to prominence in the 1980s. They were protégés of American singer Rick James, a vocalist. 'Only Four You' was the group's second album, released in 1985.

The Waters sisters were hired to give background vocals because the other members were vocally constrained. They were also considered fashion icons by many people. The band made their name in pop culture history.

American singer McDuffie was featured on the majority of the tracks.

The first song, 'In My House', was the group's biggest hit, hitting number 3 on the R&B list and then moving over to the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it reached number seven and stayed in the Top 40 for 12 weeks.

It also appeared on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, where it spent two weeks at number one in April 1985.

The album's second song, 'Wild and Crazy Love', charted at number 10 on both R&B and Dance charts at number three.

In 1985, the Miami Vice theme was released as a single, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

At the 1985 Brit Awards, Paul Young received an award for Best British Male Solo Artist.

American singer Stevie Wonder released his 20th studio album, In Square Circle, in 1985.

On June 6, 1985, 'Guns N Roses' debuted with their classic line-up, which included American singer Axl Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. The band's West Coast tour, which took place from June 6-June 12, 1985, was dubbed 'The Hell Tour', owing to all the problems they had while on the road.

They will release their new EP, 'Hard Skool' in the upcoming year of 2022.

Susan Harris produced the American sitcom 'The Golden Girls', which premiered on NBC on September 14, 1985.

Mark William Hofmann is a convicted serial killer and counterfeiter from the United States. He is widely considered one of history's most talented forgers. On October 15, 1985, two people were killed by the first two bombings in Salt Lake City, Utah. A third bomb exploded in Hofmann's automobile the next day.

With a magnitude of 8.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck early on September 19 (Violent). The disaster wreaked havoc on the Greater Mexico City area, killing at least 5,000 people.

Because of the disaster, many family ties ended. Many families had to live their own separate lives after losing their loved ones.

The film 'The Breakfast Club' premiered in Los Angeles on February 7, 1985. Many movies released hit songs this year as well.

The 'Pound Puppies' were produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and were based on the popular toy line from Tonka.

Michigan's Natural Resources Trust Fund Act was passed in 1985.

With over 2,800 stores and operations in four countries, Domino's was the fastest-growing pizza company in the United States by 1985.

Some constitutional reforms were made in India when the Anti-Defection Law was passed.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestion for 1985 facts then why not take a look at 1997 facts, or 1998 facts.