On May 21, 1988, eight people carried a coffin into Central Park to conduct a “funeral for the ’80s.” Inside it were items meant to represent the culture of the decade: a Rambo doll, tiny figures ...

In 1987 Capcom introduced what would prove to be one of its most popular characters worldwide – and despite what has been universally called the ugliest box art of all time, Mega Man began to catch on ...

Purchase this and other timeless New Criterion essays in our hard-copy reprint series. Like many young people in the early 1980s, I chose uea precisely because it was modern and a bit experimental.