Motown legend Marvin Gaye was killed by his father in a domestic dispute.

Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was assassinated late in 1984.

In June, the average price for a gallon of unleaded gas in the US was $1.19.

AT&T was broken up into the regional ‘Baby Bells’. For the first time, there was a difference between your local and long distance phone company.

On your new Dell or IBM PC-AT you could run the first versions of Microsoft Windows (introduced November 1983) and Microsoft Word for MS-DOS 1.0 (introduced September 1983). The latest version of DOS was 2.0.

U.S. economic growth rises at rate of 6.8 percent, the highest since 1951. The Soviet economy, with grain harvests below target, grows by only 2.6 percent, its lowest since World War II. The U.S. inflation rate, 3.7 percent, is the lowest since 1967. But U.S. budget and trade deficits rise to record levels, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reports on May 1st that 250,000 to 350,000 Americans are homeless.

Red M&M’s were still 3 years away from their return.

Lee Iacocca had the most popular nonfiction book of the year with “Iacocca: An Autobiography”

Motorola introduced its 28-ounce “DynaTAC” cellular phone into commercial service late in 1983; Each phone cost a whopping $3,500. It wasn’t until 1990 when there were a million cellular subscribers in the United States.

Mass marketing of cellular phones to the general public started. It was considered a technical marvel by which people could reach into their pockets, then simply make a call to someone – anywhere in the world. This new wireless gadget was bulky, expensive to operate and seemed like just another toy on the wish list of those who had lots of money.

Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire during the shooting of a Pepsi commercial.

While working at WNBC-AM New York, Howard Stern appears on ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ in June. The appearance launched Stern into the national spotlight and gave his radio show unprecedented exposure.

Ronald Reagan was re-elected to his second term as US President, defeating Walter Mondale. In an historic move, Mondale selected Representaive Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, the first time a woman appeared on the ticket for vice president.

Chrysler introduced America to the Minivan.

Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in “Penthouse” magazine.

Game show contestant Michael Larson won $110,237 on “Press Your Luck” after he memorized the computer-generated patterns used by the game’s board. His winnings were the highest ever by a single contestant on a network game show and caused CBS a lot of embarrassment.

The Apple Macintosh was introduced at a price of $2,495. Remember the first ad?

The Cosby Show first debuted on NBC.

Trivial Pursuit revived the board-game industry. Developed by a Canadian entrepreneur, the game is introduced in U.S. stores and records sales of $777 million during 1984.

The term cyberspace is coined by William Gibson in his novel “Neuromancer”

The first infomercials appear on TV due to deregulation by the FCC.

Coleman Young, in his 11th year as major of Detroit, faced controversy with the bribery and fraud convictions of Water Department Director Charles Beckham and Darralyn Bowers, a close friend. In September he admitted that city employees goofed by allowing 284 tons of federal surplus food to spoil.

General Motors acquired Electronic Data Systems.

Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart made the first untethered space walk.

IBM introduced it’s PC-AT (Advanced Technology) with an 80286 processor running at 6 MHz. Optional was the 80287 mathematical coprocessor and a 20 MB hard drive. The 386 processor was still one year away.

Clara Peller is featured in the “Where’s the Beef?” commercial campaign for Wendy’s for the first time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened the year at 1252.74 and closed at 1211.57.

There were approximately 1,000 hosts on the Internet.

After telling his wife he was going “hunting for humans”, James Huberty shoots 40 people at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California. He kills 21 people before he was shot to death by police.

Sony Corporation introduced a 3.5 inch diskette that would soon make “floppy” computer disks obsolete.

Dell sold its first computers out of a college dorm room.

Researchers for the first time positively identified the virus that leads to AIDS.

The average price of a new U.S. single-family house tops $101,000 in May, crossing the six-figure mark for the first time.