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1980s U.S. Pop Culture

Can you answers these questions about American pop culture and current events from the years 1980-1989?
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Last updated: January 1, 2020
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First submittedJanuary 1, 2020
Times taken8,234
Average score65.0%
Rating3.84
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Question
Answer
What type of girl, like, totally talked like this?
Valley Girl
What was best-selling video arcade game of the decade?
Pac-Man
What was Sony's portable tape player called?
Walkman
What brand of cloth doll was the must-have toy in Christmas of 1983?
Cabbage Patch Kids
What movie star released a famous aerobics video?
Jane Fonda
What term refered to a "young urban professional"?
Yuppie
What punk hairstyle was named after a Native American tribe?
Mohawk
What is something that was worn by both football players and "power-dressing" women?
Shoulder Pads
What video tape technology was defeated by VHS?
Betamax
What video game simulated a pioneer wagon journey to the west coast of the U.S.?
Oregon Trail
What was the slogan of Levi's 501 jeans?
Button Your Fly
What was the name of the space shuttle that exploded?
Challenger
What brand of sunglasses were worn by Tom Cruise in "Risky Business" and Don Johnson in "Miami Vice"?
Ray-Ban
What country did the Reagan administration illegally sell arms to?
Iran
What popular brand of medication was tampered with, killing seven?
Tylenol
What type of printer was the most common for home computers?
Dot Matrix
What cola was advertised as "all the sugar and twice the caffeine"?
Jolt
What blundering politician was "no Jack Kennedy" according to Lloyd Bentsen?
Dan Quayle
What did Frankie say?
Relax
What was the nickname of Reagan's proposed missile shield?
Star Wars
sillie
+6
Level 77
Jan 2, 2020
Damn. Forgot that Americans use "football" to refer to that silly game where you carry the ball around half of the time.
roleybob
+7
Level 75
Jan 2, 2020
It's really a great game, like chess on a playing field.

As for people saying that it is a misnomer to call it football, well, most forms of football involve a lot of carrying the ball - rugby, Australian rules, Gaelic, etc

camus
+2
Level 78
Jan 2, 2020
The first thing I typed in was mullet.
samiamco
+8
Level 69
Jan 3, 2020
Ah, the illustrious Mullet tribe! Haven’t you ever been to the Mullet reservation? Also, they have great casinos: they’re all business up front, but always a party in the back.
Findlay
+1
Level 82
Jan 29, 2020
Samiamco, that made me laugh.
Carltonford
+1
Level 57
Apr 21, 2020
Yep, that tricked me too! I guess for a lot of these quizzes, it would be useful to know if the quiz is set by someone from US or Europe to get into the right mindset to answer these.I usually assume American but forgot this time. Good quiz though.
joeythelemur
+3
Level 84
Jan 2, 2020
Olivia Newton-John was all I could think of for 80s aerobic videos. Different kind of video. :-)
toowise
+1
Level 78
Jan 3, 2020
That was my first thought too, ahh the memories
waftinghaze
+1
Level 49
Apr 21, 2020
Exactly! It took me awhile to get that video out of my head....well, going on 40 years now apparently.
DaffyDucktheWizard
+5
Level 62
Jan 2, 2020
Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.....
samiamco
+1
Level 69
Jan 3, 2020
It might not have been the most famous moment in American political debates had not Dan Quayle’s face absolutely withered and he looked like he was about to slither and hide under his podium.
mf3
+1
Level 87
Jan 3, 2020
Quickie spelling correction for item 3: "referred"
QRU
+1
Level 74
Jan 3, 2020
Uh, in german the Mohawk is called Irokesenschnitt. Tried every possible spelling for Iroquois.
ander217
+5
Level 75
Jan 11, 2020
Who the heck was Frankie?
FlickerP
+1
Level 72
Oct 5, 2023
Frankie Goes To Hollywood, a band from Liverpool
divantilya
+1
Level 37
Mar 24, 2020
Always wondered if the Iran-Contra affair was a quid pro quo for the release of the American hostages by Iran, much like the removal of American missiles from Turkey was for the Soviet removal of its missiles from Cuba some eighteen years earlier?
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Apr 21, 2020
It was not. The hostage release was negotiated by the Carter administration before Reagan even assumed office. Look it up. Reagan had nothing to do with it, though Republicans like to give him credit for it.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Apr 22, 2020
You haven't? I've heard it so often that it seems novel that anyone states something different. Though this belief is absurd, in my experience it is equally widespread. Even amongst those who know it happened the same day that Reagan was sworn in. He was just *that* good.
BobSaget
+2
Level 78
Apr 21, 2020
Best decade ever. I weep for the future.
ctleng76
+2
Level 65
Apr 21, 2020
It was a great decade to be a kid!
kinjapan
+1
Level 72
Apr 21, 2020
I hope you make a volume 2 and 3 of this test. There is so much more eighties pop culture to make one of these quizzes from. You didn't even get Thriller or MTV in there, let alone John Hughes or The Cosby Show.
LKWH
+1
Level 39
Apr 21, 2020
I was a kid in the 80s, but I had no idea what the Frankie reference was about, not even after someone explained it was from Frankie Goes to Holiday. I had to look it up to see that it was a band. Loads of 80s pop culture...that was was definitely not on my radar.
FatSpartanJediLlama
+1
Level 67
Jul 7, 2021
Just guessed for Dot Matrix, I think the first place I heard that was Spaceballs
Andrew169
+1
Level 73
Mar 16, 2023
18/20, thanks for the quiz!
reverendmeat
+1
Level 80
Oct 1, 2023
Only got the frankie question because of Friends
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