1984: The year that gave us the Macintosh and more

Every once in a while, we have one of those years that seems to produce a never-ending stream of breakthrough moments. One example is 1984. 

That year, the world saw evolutions in technology, pop culture and politics, from the famous Apple Macintosh Super Bowl ad, to Prince's Purple Rain, to the invention of Tetris. 

Music journalist Michaelangelo Matos and media studies professor Siva Vaidhyanathan join Elamin to explain how the influence of 1984 is still with us 40 years later.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Macintosh 128K

Jan. 22 marks the 40th anniversary of Apple's 1984 advertisement, which introduced the original Macintosh personal computer — the Macintosh 128K — to tech enthusiasts. 

The image that Apple was putting forth was one of liberation, of democratisation and of dignity. Which is a huge promise to make.

The now famous commercial ran during Super Bowl XVIII. Taking inspiration from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Apple portrays IBM, the leading tech company at the time, as Big Brother and the Macintosh as the heroine saving humanity from conformity. Advertising Age named  it one of the top 50 commercials of all time.  

"IBM was this centralised control system, a network that was controlled centrally and a proprietary platform that limited creativity," says Vaidhyanathan. "The image that Apple was putting forth was one of liberation, of democratisation and of dignity. Which is a huge promise to make."

Purple Rain

There are few albums more iconic than Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution. Originally written as the soundtrack to the movie based on his life with the same name, Purple Rain has been named one of the greatest albums of all time. When Purple Rain was released, he became the first artist to have the No. 1 song, album and movie in North America.

"Prince is just Prince. And that presents a tremendous irresistible energy and an irresistible tie to the, I think, growing fascination with androgyny and liberatory sexuality again," says Vaidhyanathan. "I cannot begin to explain how energising it was to hear Prince on FM radio, to see Prince on MTV at that moment and realise that there's someone basically around my age being himself in Reagan's America."

The Reagan Election

Before Donald Trump, there was Ronald Reagan, a sports broadcaster who won the California Governor race in 1966 and then the presidency in 1980. He infamously implemented economic deregulation and cuts in taxes as part of his "Reaganomics" policies.

By the time of the election in '84, the American economy was sailing.

In 1984, Reagan won re-election in a landslide victory, and for a moment, it seemed like he was an unstoppable force.

"The economy had boomeranged. The economy had been in the toilet in 1980, '81, '82, and then by the beginning of '83, things had changed. By the time of the election in '84, the American economy was sailing," explains Matos. "There's a cover of Businessweek magazine where it's basically an illustration of Reagan on a horse throwing dollar bills into the air. And that's pretty much how things felt around that time."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Stuart Berman