I mean from a pop culture standpoint, not literally (i.e. when it became January 1, 1990). In other words, what I'm trying to say is that more than often, decades for pop culture usually end up being in at least a two year delay (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwoDecadesBehind) (as people more than likely resist change).

From a geo-political standpoint, I think that the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the election of Bill Clinton as President of the United States (bringing an end to the Ronald Reagan-George Herbert Walker Bush era, dating back to 1981) in 1992 officially marked the end of the '80s.

I want to immediately say that at least from a television standpoint, 1992 marked the "last hurrah" of the '80s so to speak. Many popular TV shows of the '80s like (please note, that I'm going off of the top of my head) The Cosby Show, Night Court, Growing Pains, Who's the Boss, The Golden Girls, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and MacGyver ended their respective runs (you can also bundle Cheers and Designing Women into the mix, even though they ended a year later) in that year.

For me it was 1992 as well. Musically things had changed so quick, with the rise of alternative, grunge, gangsta rap and house music. Mainstays like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Michael Jackson were putting out more introspective songs. MTV premiered their reality series The Real World, which set the stage for the future of the genre. The LA riots also happened that year, another chapter in the ongoing battle of race and class issues.

When did the 1980s REALLY end? .
December 31, 1989 at 11:59 p.m.

When Who's the Boss, Growing pains & MacGyver ended on the same night, I said then that the 1980's are now officially over. TCS ended that year as well so as far as entertainment it was 1992.

What about when the 1980's REALLY began? Again, from a pop culture standpoint, not literally.

December 31, 1989 at 11:59 p.m.

You apparently didn't read what I wrote in the very top of my thread, in that I'm not saying "literally" (i.e. when the calender changed to January 1, 1990).

What about when the 1980's REALLY began? Again, from a pop culture standpoint, not literally.

From a pop culture standpoint (at least television-wise), you can argue that 1984 was the year that the '80s REALLY began. That was the year that The Cosby Show (which for all intents and purposes, "saved" the sitcom genre) began and Miami Vice (http://www.avclub.com/articles/how-miami-vice-launched-the-80s-on-tv-then-died-wi,83262/) (which arguably the defined the look or image of the '80s more than any other TV show) began. 1984 was also the year that long running '70s stalwarts like Happy Days, Three's Company, and One Day at a Time ended (MASH, Archie Bunker's Place, Taxi, Laverne and Shirley, and Little House on the Prairie ended the year prior).

December 31, 1989 at 11:59 p.m.

So many people make this mistake! The 80s ended at the end of the year 1990, there was no year zero. You start counting with ONE not zero, so it would go 1981,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90.

Rant over. 93 when Cheers and Perfect Strangers ended with Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, MacGyver, Cosby Sow and Night Court ending the year prior.