The Little Book of the 1980sThe era that inspired Stranger Things The 1980s were marked by the rise of conservative politics, the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic, and, at the decade's close, the crumbling of the Berlin Wallan event that heralded the start of a new age in global politics. Culturally, there was an explosion of creativity while material wealth and consumerism were on the rise. Icons such as Madonna and Michael Jackson dominated the music charts, groundbreaking films