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Born in 1985? Here's the world you arrived into

In 1985, "Careless Whisper" topped the charts, Back to the Future packed theaters, a stamp cost 22¢, the average home went for about $84,300.

What things cost in 1985

A $1.20 gallon of gas in 1985 has the buying power of roughly $3.50 in 2024 dollars. A 22¢ stamp is around 64¢ today, and a $3.55 movie ticket is about $10.35.

The biggest moments of 1985

• New Coke launched in April — and was pulled within months.
• Live Aid raised funds for Ethiopian famine relief in July.
• Nintendo released the NES in North America.

• Oceanographer Robert Ballard found the wreck of the Titanic on September 1, 1985, resting more than two miles beneath the Atlantic.
• Calvin and Hobbes debuted in newspapers on November 18, 1985 — a boy and his tiger were an instant classic.
• Historic Route 66 was officially decommissioned in 1985, closing the book on America's "Mother Road."

Toys, TV & trends of 1985

• The Nintendo Entertainment System arrived in America, bringing Super Mario Bros. into living rooms.
• Teddy Ruxpin, the storytelling animatronic bear, became the best-selling toy of the year.
• Kids sang along to "We Are the World" and rushed to theaters to see Back to the Future.

• Pound Puppies arrived in American toy stores, and more than 2.5 million of the floppy-eared plush pups were "adopted" that year alone.
• The Golden Girls premiered in September 1985, and Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia became honorary family members.
• Colorful Swatch watches were the must-have accessory — true devotees wore two or three on the same wrist.

The music scene

"We Are the World" was recorded in a single all-night session after the American Music Awards in January 1985, with a sign on the studio door telling 45 superstars to "check your egos at the door." Wham! made history of another kind in April, becoming the first Western pop act to perform in Communist China. And in February, a 21-year-old named Whitney Houston released her debut album — within a year it was the biggest thing in music.

At the movies

Out of Africa won the Best Picture Oscar for 1985, but the year belonged to Back to the Future — which almost starred Eric Stoltz, who filmed for weeks before being replaced by Michael J. Fox. It was also a landmark year for movie night at home: the first Blockbuster Video opened in Dallas that October, as VCRs spread to millions of living rooms.

Cartoons kids loved

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
• Transformers
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

He-Man had proven in 1983 that a cartoon could skip the networks entirely and air every weekday in syndication, and by 1985 the after-school airwaves were packed with 65-episode seasons — ThunderCats joined the fray that year. Even Disney finally jumped into Saturday-morning TV, launching the Gummi Bears as its first major made-for-television animated series.

The world in 1985

• World population: about 4.9 billion
• U.S. President: Ronald Reagan
• Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union

• Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met face-to-face for the first time at the Geneva Summit in November 1985.
• British scientists announced the discovery of a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, spurring a rare burst of global cooperation.
• On March 15, 1985, symbolics.com became the very first .com domain ever registered — the internet age had a quiet birthday.

1985 birthday questions

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