Calendar Search Results: tv
May 7, 1988 Thanks to constant airplay on MTV, Terence Trent D'Arby hits #1 in America with "Wishing Well." It's his second single - his first, "If You Let Me Stay," topped out at #68.
May 5, 1988 Singer and TV personality Brooke Hogan is born Brooke Ellen Bollea in Tampa, Florida. Dad is professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.
May 2, 1988 Living Colour's debut album, Vivid, is released. It takes almost a year to catch on, as the band slowly builds a following through tours, radio play and MTV.
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 30, 1988 Robbie Robertson of The Band appears on Saturday Night Live, making his first live TV appearance in 12 years.
November 29, 1987 Burl Ives and Mac Davis join Dolly Parton for a "Down Home Country Christmas" on her TV series, Dolly, singing numerous holiday favorites with children and puppets.
November 21, 1987 Nina Simone, who hasn't charted in the UK since 1969, hits #5 with the re-release of her 1958 song "My Baby Just Cares For Me" thanks to its use in TV commercials for Chanel No. 5 perfume.
October 12, 1987 Christmas songs get a modern makeover with the all-star compilation A Very Special Christmas, featuring Whitney Houston's "Do You Hear What I Hear?," Madonna's "Santa Baby" and an original song from Run-D.M.C., "Christmas in Hollis." Proceeds from the album go to the Special Olympics.More
October 12, 1987 INXS release their breakthrough album Kick, with the hits "Need You Tonight," "Devil Inside" and "New Sensation."More
September 24, 1987 The Cosby Show begins its fourth season, introducing a new, jazzy version of the theme song performed by Bobby McFerrin. It finishes the season as the highest-rated show on TV.
September 19, 1987 The Grateful Dead hit #10 on the US Hot 100 with "Touch Of Grey," the only hit song for the band.More
September 12, 1987 The syndicated TV series Showtime at the Apollo makes its debut. During its 1093-episode run, hosts include Whoopi Goldberg, Martin Lawrence, Sinbad, Steve Harvey, and Mo'Nique.
September 11, 1987 Actor/musician Lorne Greene, known for his starring role on the western TV series Bonanza, dies of complications from pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, at age 72.
September 5, 1987 American Bandstand airs on network TV for the last time. ABC picked up the show in 1957, and throughout its run on the network, Dick Clark was the host. The show continued another year in syndication and aired one season on the USA network in 1989.
August 31, 1987 MTV debuts Club MTV, their contemporary and far more lascivious version of American Bandstand.More
August 1, 1987 MTV Europe makes its debut. The first video shown is Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing," a song where Sting proclaims, "I want my MTV."
July 28, 1987 The Beatles, along with Yoko Ono, sue Nike for using "Revolution" in TV commercials. Nike authorized the song through the group's US label, Capitol, and Michael Jackson, who owns the publishing. Nike doesn't back down and continues running the ads, which anger many Beatles fans but sell a lot of sneakers. The suit is later settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
June 23, 1987 15-year-old Tiffany starts her Mall Tour at the Bergen Mall in Paramus, New Jersey, performing what in November will be her #1 hit, "I Think We're Alone Now."More
May 9, 1987 The Grateful Dead shoot the video for "Touch Of Grey" after a concert in Monterey, California. After the show, the shoot is set up and the audience brought back in to watch two different performances of the song: one by the band and another by their skeleton likenesses - the "Dead Ringers." It's the first music video by the band, and it goes into rotation on MTV, giving the group their first hit single.
April 18, 1987 Aretha Franklin and George Michael's duet "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" hits #1 in the US, returning Franklin to the top spot for the first time since "Respect" in 1967. The feat breaks the record for the longest span between #1 hits.More
April 18, 1987 MTV finally acknowledges the existence of heavy metal with the debut of Headbangers Ball, a weekly show dedicated to the genre.
April 9, 1987 Jesse McCartney is born in Ardsley, New York. At 17, while starring in the TV series Summerland, he releases his first single, "Beautiful Soul," a hit with his fanbase of teenage girls.
April 7, 1987 Whitesnake slides into hair metal with their seventh, self-titled album. It's by far their most successful, with the MTV hits "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love?"
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 8, 1987 The day before releasing The Joshua Tree, U2 debut two songs from the album - "Exit" and "In God's Country" - on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test. Also on the show is a young Irish singer named Sinead O'Connor with her first live TV performance.
December 26, 1986 The Beastie Boys kick off their Licensed To Ill tour with a show at The Ritz in New York City. By the time the tour is over, Licensed To Ill will be America's first #1 rap album, and thousands of Volkswagen emblems will go missing as fans steal them to emulate Mike D's signature look.More
October 24, 1986 Aubrey Drake Graham is born in Toronto. After a stint on the TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation, he becomes a superstar rapper under the name Drake.
May 31, 1986 Jeff Krulik and John Heyn film the parking-lot antics of fans tailgating at a Judas Priest concert in Landover, Maryland. The result is Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a 16-minute film that captures the energy and absurdity of heavy metal culture in the '80s.More
May 24, 1986 The Monkees, minus Mike Nesmith, begin their 145-date "20th Anniversary World Tour" at the Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains. The group has risen in popularity thanks to MTV, which started airing old episodes of their TV show.
May 22, 1986 Cher, making her first appearance on David Letterman's show, tells him why she declined the many invitations to come on before: Because she thought he was an "a--hole."More
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC