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
July 4, 1988 Kylie Minogue releases her debut album, Kylie, featuring her hit cover of "The Loco-Motion." The album marks a rebirth of disco, a genre Minogue proudly embraces.
June 26, 1988 Despite missing 75 days of school her senior year so she could tour, Debbie Gibson graduates from Calhoun High School in Merrick, Long Island, with honors. The previous day, her song "Foolish Beat" went to #1 in America.
June 25, 1988 Seventeen-year-old Debbie Gibson hits #1 in America with "Foolish Beat," making her the youngest artist to top the Hot 100 with a song written, performed and produced by herself. The mark stands until 2007 when Soulja Boy goes to #1 with "Crank That."
June 21, 1988 After a six-month delay while they wait to clear the Star Trek samples used on three tracks (notably Spock's "Pure Energy" on "What's On Your Mind"), Information Society release their self-titled major-label debut album. They quickly become one of the top techno/freestyle acts of the late '80s.
June 20, 1988 MCA Records issues landmark albums by two of their hottest young R&B acts: Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel and New Edition's Heart Break.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 13, 1988 Paula Abdul's debut album, Forever Your Girl, is released. An accomplished cheerleader and choreographer, she proves successful as a singer as well, as the album produces four #1 hits: "Straight Up," the title track, "Cold Hearted" and "Opposites Attract."
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
June 3, 1988 Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia play a memorable duet of "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks" on a foot-operated electronic keyboard in the fantasy comedy Big.
June 3, 1988 A judge rejects the defense of James Brown's wife Adrienne, who claims diplomatic immunity in an effort to get out of traffic tickets. Her reasoning is that two years earlier, Congressman Douglas Bernard, Jr. called her husband the "#1 Ambassador" as part of James Brown Appreciation Day. The judge doesn't go for it.
May 29, 1988 Bob Dylan duets with Band drummer Levon Helm on the group's "The Weight" at a Helm show in New York. The duo also perform Chuck Berry's "Nadine."
May 27, 1988 The Monsters of Rock tour, with a lineup of Metallica, Van Halen, Scorpions and Dokken, kicks off with a show at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. Metallica emerge super-sized, and soon after the tour release their album ...And Justice for All. Dokken, strained from infighting and exhaustion, break up after the tour.
May 26, 1988 Frank Sinatra appears in a commercial for Michelob singing "The Way You Look Tonight" as part of the brewery's "The Night Belongs to Michelob" ad campaign.
May 24, 1988 Country singer Billy Gilman, known for his hit debut "One Voice" at just 11 years old, is born in Westerly, Rhode Island.
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 14, 1988 Gloria Estefan scores the first of her three #1 hits when "Anything For You" claims the top spot. It's a heartbreak song, but not inspired by a specific person; Gloria married Emilio Estefan, leader of her group Miami Sound Machine, 10 years earlier.
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 30, 1988 After hanging on at #198 the week before, Pink Floyd's album Dark Side Of The Moon drops out of the Billboard Albums chart for the first time in 11 years. The band is still on the chart though, with A Momentary Lapse Of Reason at #62.
April 30, 1988 Celine Dion wins the Eurovision Song Contest with her performance of the French song "Ne partez pas sans moi." She's from Canada but represents Switzerland at the contest because they asked her to. Already famous in France and Canada, the win earns her many new fans throughout Europe and sets the stage for her American breakthrough two years later.
April 30, 1988 After a two-year hiatus, Little River Band reunite, kicking off a tour with a show at the World Expo in Brisbane, Australia. Glenn Frey is their support act for the tour.
April 24, 1988 Mick Fleetwood marries the singer Sara Recor (who partly inspired the song "Sara") at their Malibu home. His Fleetwood Mac bandmate John McVie is best man; attendees include Bob Dylan, Dick Clark, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Mac members Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham. The couple divorce a few years later.
April 23, 1988 Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" hits #1 on the Hot 100 for the first of two weeks. It's her seventh #1 on that tally.
April 23, 1988 Enjoying a comeback as interest in his music surges, Roy Orbison celebrates his 52nd birthday at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Los Angeles, where Bruce brings him onstage so the crowd can sing him "Happy Birthday." Orbison dies that December of a heart attack.
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 11, 1988 In the midst of a decade characterized by materialism and excess, Neil Young releases This Note's for You, his 16th studio album. The title song mocks the marketing industry and the corporate music scene.
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.
April 9, 1988 Billy Ocean's "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," from the movie License To Drive, hits #1 in the US. Written by Ocean with superproducer Mutt Lange, it's the last of his three US #1 hits, following "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" and "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)."
March 21, 1988 Lynyrd Skynyrd release Southern by the Grace of God, their second live album. It features music recorded in 1987 in what was supposed to be a one-time touring tribute to band members who died in a 1977 plane wreck that seemingly ended the band. Four years later, an updated Lynyrd Skynyrd lineup records new material and begins touring again regularly.
March 19, 1988 At the Community World Theater in Tacoma, Washington, Nirvana uses the name Nirvana for the very first time. They'd previously gone by Skid Row, Ted Ed Fred, Pen Cap Chew, and Bliss.
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