1982

1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (dominical letter C) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1982nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 982nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 82nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1980s decade.

Events

January

John Mellencamp

John J Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), also known as John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, painter, and actor. He is known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. He rose to superstardom in the 1980s while "honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles," including "Hurts So Good," "Jack & Diane," "Crumblin' Down," "Pink Houses," "Lonely Ol' Night," "Small Town," "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.," "Paper in Fire," and "Cherry Bomb." He has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven, and has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. Mellencamp released his latest album, Plain Spoken, on September 23, 2014, to widespread critical acclaim.

Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 31 years, and as of 2016 the organization has raised over $48 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.

NFC Championship Game

The National Football Conference (NFC) Championship Game (also unofficially referred to as the NFC Title Game) is one of the two semi-final playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional American football league in the United States. The game is played on the penultimate Sunday in January and determines the champion of the National Football Conference. The winner then advances to face the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game in the Super Bowl.

The game was established as part of the 1970 merger between the NFL and the American Football League (AFL), with the merged league realigning into two conferences. Since 1984, each winner of the NFC Championship Game has also received the George Halas Trophy, named after the founder and longtime owner of the NFL's Chicago Bears.

History

The first NFC Championship Game was played following the 1970 regular season after the merger between the NFL and the American Football League. The game is considered the successor to the original NFL Championship, and its game results are listed with that of its predecessor in the annual NFL Record and Fact Book. Since the pre-merger NFL consisted of six more teams than the AFL, a realignment was done as part of the merger to create two conferences with an equal number of teams: The NFL's Baltimore Colts, the Cleveland Browns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers joined the ten former AFL teams to form the AFC; while the remaining 13 pre-merger NFL clubs formed the NFC.

Flight Facilities

Flight Facilities is an Australian electronic producer duo that also performs as Hugo & Jimmy. In 2009, they began mixing songs by other artists before crafting their own original material. The duo consists of Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell. Their debut album, Down to Earth was released in October 2014 and features prominent names in the industry such as Kylie Minogue, Emma Louise, Reggie Watts, Bishop Nehru, Owl Eyes, and Stee Downes.

History

Flight Facilities are a duo, Hugo Gruzman and James Lyell, which first began mixing various songs by other artists in 2009 in Sydney. They have reworked Bag Raiders, Toecutter and Sneaky Sound System. Their first original song, "Crave You" featuring Giselle Rosselli, received considerable airtime in Australia on the alternative music radio station Triple J in 2010. It was co-written by Gruzman, Lyell and Rosselli after the duo contacted the musician/producer to provide an original track for a compilation album by their label Bang Gang. In July 2010 Flight Facilities commenced their first tour, Maiden Voyage. They played at various Australian nightclubs: Elsewhere in the Gold Coast, Empire in Brisbane, Limbo in Adelaide, and Adult Disco in Sydney before going to Japan to play at Onzieme in Osaka, and Le Baron in Tokyo. "Crave You" was listed at No. 19 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2010 and was featured as the soundtrack to Myer's 2010 Spring Racing Carnival television commercial campaign.

The Human League

The Human League are an English electronic new wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Dare (1981), the band's most popular album, yielded the single "Don't You Want Me", a No. 1 hit in the pop charts of UK, US and many other countries. After its UK success, their first single, "Being Boiled", was reissued and became a top ten hit at the beginning of 1982. They received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough act in 1982. The success of "Don't You Want Me" is seen as the beginning of the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. Other international hits include: "Love Action", "Open Your Heart", "Mirror Man", "Fascination", "The Lebanon", "Human" (a US No. 1) and "Tell Me When".

The only constant band member since 1977 is vocalist and songwriter Philip Oakey. Originally an avant-garde all-male synthesizer-based group, The Human League evolved into a commercially successful synthpop band under Oakey's leadership. Since 1987, the band has essentially been a trio of Oakey and long-serving female vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley (both of whom joined the ensemble in 1980), with various sidemen.