1984, the greatest year in pop by Mark Hemingway Print this article Thanks to George Orwell, the year 1984 immediately conjures up unpleasant associations. But hindsight is, ahem, 2020, and those of us old enough to remember the year can tell you it was actually pretty great. America was finally busting out of an economic slump. The Cold War loomed large, but President Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were at the height of their popularity. On the cultural front, it’s long been a parlor game for music critics to try and argue what year was the best for music, and 1984 has always been a leading contender. In the introduction to