No Italian rebel crisis, no more Cato, no more independent Pompeii, Julias Ceaser got married, this Cicero guy really knows how to argue. So much better than the 70s.
Acid rain, aids epidemic, worst violent crime wave on record, climate change was a problem it just had yet to mature as much, recessions, and a lot of other things.
Perhaps so, I don't have the data to verify other than the recession which was at the very start of 80s and certainly didn't define the next 20 years. That wasn't what I commented about. I think the music and movies were awesome, not awful at all.