Calendar Search Results: take it o
July 6, 1988 MTV refuses to play Neil Young's video for "This Note's For You," citing a policy against videos that mention products. The video is a parody of various ad campaigns, with lyrics mentioning Coke, Pepsi, Miller and Bud.More
June 15, 1988 "If You Wanna Be Happy" singer Jimmy Soul dies of a heart attack at age 45 after years of drug use takes its toll.
June 11, 1988 Dozens of big-name acts, including Peter Gabriel, Sting, Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder, rock the stage at the Free Nelson Mandela Concert at Wembley Stadium in London.More
May 14, 1988 Atlantic Records' 40th Anniversary celebration takes place at New York's Madison Square Garden, featuring appearances from many famous artists on the label's roster: The Bee Gees, Wilson Pickett, The Rascals, The Coasters, Emerson, Lake And Palmer, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Foreigner, Yes, Genesis, and the event's main attraction, a rare reunion of Led Zeppelin, with John Bonham's son Jason taking over drums for his late father.
May 11, 1988 Still going strong, the legendary songwriter Irving Berlin turns 100. A concert celebrating his life and music takes place at Carnegie Hall, with Tony Bennett, Bob Hope, Ray Charles and Rosemary Clooney all taking part.
April 14, 1988 Public Enemy's sophomore album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, is released. Often cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time, the album spawns such PE classics as "Don't Believe the Hype," "Night of the Living Baseheads," and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," as well as the original version of "Bring the Noise."
April 10, 1988 George Michael and Madonna are "honored" at the 8th Golden Raspberry Awards, where the former Wham! singer takes Worst Original Song for "I Want Your Sex," the #2 hit featured in Beverly Hills Cop II, and Madonna is named Worst Actress for her role as Nikki Finn in Who's That Girl. It's Madge's second consecutive win in the category, having landed the prize the year before for her role in Shanghai Surprise.
March 12, 1988 Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" hits #1 in the US. The video, which shows a buttoned-up Astley singing his way around London, does well on VH1, but really takes off two decades later with the Rickrolling trend, as webmasters point links to the song's YouTube video to trick unsuspecting readers into watching it.
February 5, 1988 The John Hughes film She's Having A Baby debuts in US theaters. Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern star as a young married couple whose lives are about to be upended by the birth of their first child. The soundtrack features Kate Bush's heart-wrenching ballad "This Woman's Work," written and recorded expressly for the movie.More
January 26, 1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber's blockbuster musical The Phantom of the Opera debuts on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre two years after a successful run on London's West End.More
November 21, 1987 "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol replaces "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany at #1 in the US. Both songs were originally recorded in the '60s by Tommy James & the Shondells.More
November 14, 1987 The long-since-divorced Sonny and Cher perform "I Got You Babe" on Late Night with David Letterman.More
October 28, 1987 Singer/songwriter/rapper Frank Ocean is born Christopher Edwin Breaux in Long Beach, California, raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He takes his stage name from the 1960 classic film Ocean's 11 and its star, Frank Sinatra.
October 12, 1987 INXS release their breakthrough album Kick, with the hits "Need You Tonight," "Devil Inside" and "New Sensation."More
October 5, 1987 Bruce Springsteen releases his album Tunnel Of Love. He got married for the first time two years earlier, but there are few signs of domestic bliss in the songs. [The release date is often listed as October 9, but news clips from the time show that October 5 is correct.]More
August 31, 1987 MTV debuts Club MTV, their contemporary and far more lascivious version of American Bandstand.More
August 17, 1987 Beastie Boys and Run-D.M.C. wrap up their Together Forever tour with a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Run-D.M.C. tell fans to stay in school and avoid drugs; Beastie Boys have cage dancers and beer.More
July 28, 1987 Ozzy Osbourne performs "Jailhouse Rock" at Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, England. He says it's his "last good memory of the '80s."More
July 21, 1987 Guns N' Roses release their first album, Appetite For Destruction. It's a landmark debut, featuring the hits "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine."More
June 29, 1987 The Living Daylights, the first James Bond film to star Timothy Dalton as 007, premieres in London. The theme song was written and performed by a-ha, who are unable to attend. The film's composer, John Barry, is asked about the Norwegian band and calls them "Hitler Youth."More
June 27, 1987 Whitney Houston charts her fourth #1 on the Hot 100 with "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)," the debut single from her second album.More
April 5, 1987 Jazz drummer Buddy Rich's funeral takes place in Los Angeles, with Frank Sinatra, Artie Shaw, and Johnny Carson in attendance.
March 26, 1987 Nike begins airing a commercial using the Beatles song "Revolution," marking the first time an original version of a Beatles song is used in an ad.More
March 17, 1987 Reacting to a Beastie Boys concert three weeks earlier where the group used a giant inflatable penis as a stage prop and encouraged girls in the crowd to bare their breasts, the city of Columbus, Georgia passes an anti-lewdness law prohibiting nudity, simulated sex, and objectionable language at any show attended by minors.More
March 14, 1987 "Jacob's Ladder," a song by Huey Lewis & the News that takes on religious evangelists, climbs to #1 in the US. It was written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother, John Hornsby.
March 9, 1987 U2 release their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree. The first two singles, "With Or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," climb to #1 in America. The album becomes their first #1 in that country, and takes the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.More
October 16, 1986 Chuck Berry's 60th birthday bash (held three days before his actual birthday) takes place in St. Louis with a tribute concert featuring Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt. Footage is shot for the 1987 documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll.
October 13, 1986 Neil Young headlines the first Bridge School benefit concert in support of the non-profit institution that provides education for children with verbal and physical disabilities. Young and his wife Pegi co-founded the school when their son, Ben, was born with cerebral palsy. The all-acoustic concert - featuring performances by Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Tom Petty, and a reunited Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - turns into an annual event that adds many more big-name acts to the roster, including regular guests Pearl Jam.More
October 9, 1986 Little-known Kenny G makes his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, but instead of playing his cover of Junior Walker's "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" as agreed, he goes off script and plays his own composition, "Songbird." Impressed by the reaction, Arista Records issues the song as a single and it becomes a hit, setting the stage for more instrumental sax songs from Kenny G and the emergence of the Smooth Jazz format.
October 7, 1986 The Police release their final single, "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86," and then call it a career. They had hoped to reunite and record another album but injury and conflict lead to Stewart Copeland declaring they can no longer work together.More
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC