1989 flashback: What was hot and not 35 years ago

From Kylie Minogue’s romance with Michael Hutchence to Bob Hawke’s tearful cheating confession, how well do you remember the highs and lows of ‘89?

Kylie Minogue and Michael Hutchence following the premiere of her new film The Delinquents in 1989.

In 1989, interest rates hit a whopping 17 per cent, Daryl Somers was our most popular TV star, and PM Bob Hawke tearfully admitted on national TV to cheating on wife Hazel.

Comedy was king – Fast Forward and The Big Gig both premiered that year, and The Comedy Company won a Logie, as did its star Mary-Anne Fahey, creator of Kylie Mole.

Australia’s pop princess, Kylie Minogue, then 20, shattered her innocent public image when she began dating the bad boy of rock, INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, eight years her senior.

Bob Hawke wipes away a tear away on TV after admitting to cheating on Hazel, his wife of 33 years. Picture: Channel 7.

Kylie Minogue shattered her innocent public image when she started dating INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.

Andrew Peacock dethroned John Howard as federal Opposition leader, a months-long pilots’ strike grounded airlines, and Australia joined the internet.

The debt-ridden Footscray Football Club collapsed and the new “Fitzroy Bulldogs” was born, but people power defeated the merger at the 11th hour.

And globally, 1989 is remembered as the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Polka dots were popular in 1989.

What we were wearing

Denim in every form ruled the fashion stakes in 1989 – be it acid-wash, stone-wash, marble-wash, double denim, Levi 501s with the button fly, or comfy paperbag-waist jeans.

Levi Strauss acid-wash jeans were popular in 1989.

A model at Harris Scarfe wearing fleecy elastic-waisted pants, fleecy windcheater featuring a floral applique design, a fleecy button jacket and a frizzy perm in 1989.

For women working in the business world, a polka-dot shirt or jacket worn with a belt was the height of corporate cool.

School formals were a sea of decadent off-the-shoulder frocks with puffy sleeves, big bows, rosettes, multi tiers and tulle underskirts.

Fleecy windcheaters were a popular look, and mullets were all the rage for boys.

Teenagers model school dance formal fashions in 1989.

A stylish work look in ‘89.

Songs you couldn’t get out of your head

Cher in a still from the video clip of If I Could Turn Back Time.

Madonna’s Like a Prayer was the biggeest hit of 1989 in Australia.

Madonna’s Like a Prayer was the biggest hit of 1989 in Australia.

Other memorable chart toppers included I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), by the Proclaimers, Eternal Flame, by The Bangles, and Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time.

The Beach Boys’ Kokomo and Bette Midler’s Wind Beneath My Wings also reached no. 1.

Denise Drysdale, comedian Maurie Fields, presenter Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich in 1989 on Hey Hey It's Saturday.

TV Week Gold Logie winner

Daryl Somers – Hey Hey It’s Saturday

Daryl Somers kisses his Gold Logie in 1989.

Steve Vizard as Darren Hunch on Fast Forward in 1989.

TV shows we were watching

Fast Forward

Neighbours

A Country Practice

The Comedy Company

Home and Away

Host Greg Evans (right) with Kerrie Friend and actor Craig McLachlan on TV show Perfect Match in 1989. Picture: Channel 10.

Perfect Match

Hinch At Seven

Sale Of The Century

Burke’s Backyard

The Golden Girls

Family Ties

Gilligan’s Island

Happy Days

The Wonder Years

Bert Newton with Magda Szubanski and Jane Turner from Fast Forward in 1989.

Hit films

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Dead Poets Society

When Harry Met Sally

Rain Man

Batman

Lethal Weapon 2

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

The Delinquents

Stars we loved

Mary-Anne Fahey as Kylie Mole in The Comedy Company.

Actors Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman in 1989 film Dead Calm.

Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Craig McLachlan, Annie Jones, Bryan Brown, John Wood, Mary-Anne Fahey, Nicolle Dickson, Norman Gunston, John Farnham, Madonna, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Williams, River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael J. Fox.

VFL champs

Hawks Gary Buckenara, Robert DiPierdomenico and John Kennedy celebrate after winning the 1989 VFL Grand Final against Geelong.

Premiers: Hawthorn

Brownlow Medal winner: Paul Couch (Geelong)

Norm Smith Medal winner: Gary Ablett Sr (Geelong)

Gary Ablett during the 1989 Grand Final.

Andrew Gaze in action for the Melbourne Tigers in 1989.

Other Aussie sporting heroes

Nicky Winmar, Dermott Brereton, Jason Dunstall, Stephen Kernahan, Greg Norman, Allan Border, Terry Alderman, Merv Hughes, Dean Jones, Dick Johnson, Peter Brock, Jeff Fenech, Andrew Gaze, Phil Smyth, Liz Smylie.

Prime Minister Bob Hawke listens to Australian cricket captain Allan Border during a Test match at Lord's in London in 1989. Picture: AP.

Villains

Christopher Skase: The former high-flyer’s downfall began in late 1989 when it emerged his Qintex group had overextended itself and the company went into receivership.

1989 was the beginning of the end for once high-flying businessman Christopher Skase.

Alan Bond: By Christmas 1989, his massive empire was lurching close to the brink.

John Friedrich: After the National Safety Council collapsed with debts of $235 million, the Victorian boss went on the run and was caught 16 days later. He was later exposed as a fraud and was dubbed “Australia’s greatest conman”.

Mr Cruel: The reviled home invasion rapist terrorised children across Melbourne from 1987 to 1991.

The Pettingill clan: The notorious crime family, including Kath Pettingill, Victor Peirce and Trevor Pettingill, were the biggest names in Melbourne’s crime world, along with brothers Jason and Mark Moran.

Top nightclubs

John Farnham with manager Glenn Wheatley at opening of Wheatley’s nightclub The Ivy in August 1989.

Chasers, The Metro, Underground, Inflation, Lazars, Chevron, The Ivy, Hippodrome, Grainstore, Tok H, Redheads, Checkpoint Charlie, Zuzu’s, Lasers, Transformers, Stylus.

Molly Meldrum at the launch of TV show Countdown Revolution at the Metro nightclub.

Politicians

Who was PM? Bob Hawke (ALP)

Premier John Cain (right) with future premier Jeff Kennett in 1989.

Victorian premier: John Cain (ALP)

World leaders: Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, then George Bush.

Australian of the Year

Allan Border AO, Australian cricket captain

Tech breakthroughs

A woman with a mobile phone in about 1989.

Floppy disks were office staples in 1989.

Soaring demand for mobile phones led to Australians answering almost 10 billion calls from a record 7.4 million phones in 1988-89.

Fax machines and floppy disks were still standard business tools.

English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, paving the way for the explosion of the internet over the next few years.

Australia joined the global internet in ‘89 via a connection made by the University of Melbourne, but it was mostly used by computer scientists in the early days.