1988 in music.html



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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.

Events

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• Peter Ruzicka became director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra.¹
• Andrew Davis became musical director of Glyndebourne.^{citation needed}
• Acid house music swept the UK. The year would later be known as the Second Summer of Love.^{citation needed}
• Alice Cooper began production of his album Trash.^{citation needed}
• Compact discs outsold vinyl records for the first time.^{citation needed}
• "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experienced a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaked at number 84 on Billboard's Hot 100.^{citation needed}
• Fish left British neo-progressive rock group Marillion.^{citation needed}

• January - The Cinemax television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, recorded on September 30, 1987 at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, California, USA, was broadcast.^{citation needed}
• February 13 - Michael Jackson purchased a ranch in Santa Ynez, California, USA. He called his new home "Neverland".^{citation needed}
• February 16 - Billy Vera received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.^{citation needed}
• February 17 - A 12-year old Mötley Crüe fan in Florida, USA, was badly burned while trying to imitate a stunt in the band's Live Wire music video and suffered burns over ten percent of his body. Mötley Crüe issued a statement saying the band's stunts should not be tried at home.^{citation needed}
• February 24 - Alice Cooper announced that he was going to run for Governor of Arizona, USA.^{citation needed}
• March 10 - During a concert in Perth, Western Australia, George Michael thanked Tipper Gore, head of the Parents Music Resource Center, for helping the sales of his Faith album.^{citation needed}
• March 12 - Record producer Jimmy Iovine presented the Special Olympics with a donation of US$5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album.^{citation needed}
• March 13 - The 77s, House of Freaks and The Alarm performed at Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, California, USA. Neil Young was in attendance.^{citation needed}
• April – July - Suicidal Tendencies recorded How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today.^{citation needed}
• April 19 - Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono was inaugurated as the Mayor of Palm Springs, California, USA.^{citation needed}
• May 1 - Citing the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, a judge dropped all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy magazine in which he called Powers a "creep".^{citation needed}
• July 1 - Quartetto Cetra played their last concert.^{citation needed}
• August 20 - Two people were crushed to death at the annual Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington, UK. during the Guns N' Roses set.^{citation needed}
• August 28 - While travelling down the Ventura Freeway in southern California, USA, the motorhome carrying the Charlie Daniels band burst into flames. Daniels and his band members escaped without injury.^{citation needed}
• September 10 - Billboard magazine published its Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for the first time.^{citation needed}
• October 10 - Genesis'88 staged their first illegal Acid House Party in the UK.^{citation needed}
• November - The "Guess The Eddies" contest began, inviting people to guess the identities of the six members of the rock band The Swirling Eddies.
• November 24 - Keith Richards and The X-Pensive Winos opened their U.S. tour in Atlanta, Georgia.^{citation needed}
• December 4 - Singer Roy Orbison gave his last concert in Akron, Ohio, USA, before his death from a massive heart attack.^{citation needed}
• December 28 - A few days before the release of her new album Like A Prayer, Madonna filed assault charges against her husband, Sean Penn. Though she later dropped the charges, the couple separated three days later and were divorced soon after, in 1989.^{citation needed}
• December 31 - Genesis & Sunrise/Back to the Future staged the biggest acid house party in the world in a warehouse in Hackney, London, UK, with 5,000 people attending.^{citation needed}

Bands formed, careers began

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• After 7
• Anal Cunt
• Awaken²
• Barenaked Ladies
• B'z
• Baha Men
• Cypress Hill
• Deftones
• Dream Warriors
• The Fauves
• Guttermouth
• Jesus Jones
• Megatherion (pre-Therion)
• Morrissey begins solo career
• Mr. Big
• Nine Inch Nails
• Pennywise
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Soul II Soul
• Sublime
• The April Skies
• The Sundays
• The Swirling Eddies
• Traveling Wilburys
• Turbonegro
• Warrior Soul

Bands disbanded

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• Big Black
• Boøwy
• The Cars
• The Communards
• The Damned
• Dokken
• Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) (reformed in 2000)
• Face to Face
• Heaven 17
• The Housemartins
• Lords of the New Church
• Reagan Youth (reformed in 2006)
• The Sound
• Supertramp
• Til Tuesday

Albums released

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Release Date Unknown

• 47 Song Demo - Anal Cunt
• STP Not LSD - Angry Samoans
• Pound For Pound - Anvil
• 69 - A R Kane
• Sinta - Asin
• Live - Bad Brains
• The Light - Afrika Bambaataa & Family
• Sour Mash - Beasts of Bourbon
• I Used to Be an Animal - Eric Burdon
• You've Always Got the Blues - Kate Ceberano
• My Nation Underground - Julian Cope
• Earth Covers Earth - Current 93
• Swastikas for Noddy - Current 93
• What Good Is Grief to a God? - D.I.
• Wyau - Datblygu
• Leprosy - Death
• Rough Night in Jericho - Dreams So Real
• Sketsa Rembulan Emas - Ebiet G. Ade
• Melissa Etheridge - Melissa Etheridge
• Only Life - The Feelies
• Train Above the City - Felt
• Streets of This Town - Frehley's Comet
• Second Sighting - Steve Forbert
• Front by Front - Front 242
• Convergence - Front Line Assembly
• Corrosion - Front Line Assembly
• Disorder - Front Line Assembly
• You Must Be Certain of the Devil - Diamanda Galás
• Today - Galaxie 500
• Gipsy Kings - Gipsy Kings
• Hell-O - GWAR
• Radio Free Albemuth - Stuart Hamm
• Young Man Running - Corey Hart
• The Xenon Codex - Hawkwind
• Sam & Friends - Sam Hui
• Colin James - Colin James
• Straight out the Jungle - The Jungle Brothers
• The Live Album - Robert Earl Keen
• Outside the Gate - Killing Joke
• "Them" - King Diamond
• King Kobra III - King Kobra
• Lucille - Little Richard
• Lillian Axe - Lillian Axe
• Chobba B C.C.C.P. - Paul McCartney (limited release)
• El Mundo - Mitsou
• Read All About It - Newsboys
• Soliloquy for Lilith - Nurse With Wound
• Power Metal - Pantera
• The Indescribable Wow - Sam Phillips
• North and South - Gerry Rafferty
• Nothing Exceeds Like Excess - Raven
• New Light Through Old Windows - Chris Rea
• Nothing Wrong - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
• O Melancolía - Silvio Rodríguez
• Hit Me With The Surreal Feel - Kim Salmon And The Surrealists
• Volunteer - Sham 69
• Hallowed Ground - Skin Yard
• Prison Bound - Social Distortion
• The Best of Thompson Twins: Greatest Mixes - Thompson Twins
• Against the Flow - Upper Hutt Posse
• A Classic Guide To No Man's Land - Various Artists
• Let It Bee - Voice of the Beehive
• The Live Brain Wedgie/WAD - Ween
• Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams
• E Tü - Upper Hutt Posse
• Flag - Yello
• Golden Tops The Zorros

Biggest hit singles

The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1988.

#	Artist	Title	Year	Country	Chart Entries
1	Phil Collins	A Groovy Kind of Love	1988		UK 1 - Sep 1988, US BB 1 - Sep 1988, Holland 1 - Sep 1988, Switzerland 1 - Oct 1988, Poland 1 - Sep 1988, Éire 1 - Sep 1988, Norway 2 - Sep 1988, Italy 2 of 1988, Germany 3 - Jan 1989, Sweden 4 - Sep 1988, Austria 6 - Nov 1988, South Africa 11 of 1989, Australia 23 of 1988, US BB 26 of 1988, US CashBox 29 of 1988, POP 65 of 1988, Germany 103 of the 1980s, RYM 193 of 1988
2	Bobby McFerrin	Don't Worry Be Happy	1988		US BB 1 - Aug 1988, Austria 1 - Nov 1988, Germany 1 - Jan 1989, Australia 1 for 7 weeks May 1989, Grammy in 1988, UK 2 - Sep 1988, Holland 2 - Oct 1988, Switzerland 2 - Oct 1988, Norway 5 - Oct 1988, South Africa 5 of 1989, Sweden 13 - Oct 1988, Poland 13 - Sep 1988, POP 13 of 1988, Germany 23 of the 1980s, US CashBox 28 of 1988, Scrobulate 92 of happy, RYM 94 of 1988, Italy 97 of 1989, RIAA 301
3	Belinda Carlisle	Heaven is a Place On Earth	1988		UK 1 - Dec 1987, US BB 1 - Oct 1987, Sweden 1 - Jan 1988, Switzerland 1 - Jan 1988, Norway 1 - Jan 1988, New Zealand 1 for 4 weeks Feb 1988, Germany 4 - Jan 1988, South Africa 4 of 1988, Holland 7 - Jan 1988, Austria 10 - Mar 1988, Australia 10 of 1988, Poland 15 - Nov 1987, US BB 17 of 1987, Italy 31 of 1988, RYM 53 of 1987, POP 72 of 1987, Germany 344 of the 1980s
4	U2	Desire	1988		UK 1 - Oct 1988, Poland 1 - Oct 1988, Éire 1 - Sep 1988, New Zealand 1 for 5 weeks Oct 1988, Australia 1 for 3 weeks Apr 1989, Holland 2 - Sep 1988, US BB 3 - Oct 1988, KROQ 4 of 1988, Norway 5 - Oct 1988, Switzerland 9 - Oct 1988, Italy 10 of 1988, Germany 11 - Oct 1988, Sweden 12 - Oct 1988, Austria 23 - Nov 1988, RYM 65 of 1988, Acclaimed 2038
5	Enya	Orinoco Flow	1988		UK 1 - Oct 1988, Holland 1 - Nov 1988, Switzerland 1 - Nov 1988, Éire 1 - Oct 1988, Scrobulate 1 of new age, Poland 2 - Dec 1988, Germany 2 - Jan 1989, Sweden 3 - Nov 1988, Norway 5 - Nov 1988, Austria 8 - Dec 1988, France 9 - Oct 1988, RYM 18 of 1988, US BB 24 - Mar 1989, POP 34 of 1989, Germany 242 of the 1980s

U.S. Best Selling Singles

The following singles achieved the highest chart positions in the U.S. of 1988.

Top 5 selling albums of the year in the US

1. George Michael - Faith
2. Soundtrack - Dirty Dancing
3. Def Leppard - Hysteria
4. INXS - Kick
5. Michael Jackson - Bad

Top hits

• "1-2-3" - Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine
• "A Little Respect" - Erasure
• "Acid Man" - Jolly Roger
• "Age Of Reason" - John Farnham
• "All Fired Up" - Pat Benatar
• "Angel of Harlem" - U2
• "Angel" - Aerosmith (released in 1987)
• "Another Lover" - Giant Steps
• "Any Love" - Luther Vandross
• "Another Weekend" - Five Star
• "Anything For You" - Gloria Estefan
• "Atmosphere" - Joy Division (re-release)
• "Bad Medicine" - Bon Jovi
• "Bass (How Low Can You Go)" - Simon Harris
• "Bad Young Brother" - Derek B
• "Beat Dis" - Bomb The Bass
• "Behind the Wheel" - Depeche Mode (released in 1987)
• "Better Be Home Soon" - Crowded House
• "Big Fun" - Inner City
• "Blue Monday 1988" - New Order (remix)
• "Born to Be My Baby" - Bon Jovi
• "Boys (Summertime Love)" - Sabrina Salerno (released in 1987)
• "Breakfast in Bed" - UB40 featuring Chrissie Hynde
• "Bring the Noise" - Public Enemy
• "Buffalo Stance" - Neneh Cherry
• "Burn It Up" - Beatmasters featuring PP Arnold
• "Car Wash/Is It Love You're After" - Rose Royce (re-release)
• "Cars And Girls - Prefab Sprout
• "Can You Party" - Royal House
• "Chains of Love" - Erasure
• "Check This Out" - LA Mix
• "Circle in the Sand" - Belinda Carlisle (released in 1987)
• "Come Into My Life" - Joyce Sims (released in 1987)
• "Copperhead Road" - Steve Earle
• "Crash" - The Primitives
• "Cross My Heart" - Eighth Wonder
• "Cult of Personality" - Living Colour
• "Desire" - U2
• "Devil Inside" - INXS
• "Dignity" - Deacon Blue
• "Dirty Diana" - Michael Jackson
• "Divine Emotions" - Narada Michael Walden
• "Doctorin the House" - Coldcut featuring Yazz and the Plastic Population
• "Doctorin the Tardis - The Timelords
• "Domino Dancing" - Pet Shop Boys
• "Don't Believe the Hype" - Public Enemy
• "Don't Blame It on That Girl / Wap-Bam-Boogie" - Matt Bianco
• "Don't Make Me Wait/Megablast" - Bomb The Bass
• "Don't Worry, Be Happy" - Bobby McFerrin
• "Drop The Boy" - Bros
• "Everyday Is Like Sunday" - Morrisey
• "Everlasting" - Natalie Cole
• "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" - Poison
• "Express Yourself" - N.W.A. (relased in 1990 in the UK)
• "Fake 88" - Alexander O'Neal (remix)
• "Fast Car" - Tracy Chapman
• "Fiesta" - Pogues
• "Fine Time" - New Order
• "First Time" - Robin Beck
• "Fol