Home > 1980's: Overview > Important Events of the 1980s

I98O

Movies

Airplane!, starring Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty; Altered States, starring William Hurt and Blair Brown; American Gigolo, starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton; The Blue Lagoon, starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins; The Blues Brothers, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd; Caddy shack, starring Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Rodney Dangerfield; Coal Miner's Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones; Dressed to Kill, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Michael Came, Nancy Allen, and Angie Dickinson; The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch and starring John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, and Anne Bancroft; The Empire Strikes Back, starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher, Fame, starring Irene Cara; The Great Santini, starring Robert Duvall; Melvin and Howard, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Paul LeMat, Mary Steenburgen, and Jason Robards; Nine to Five, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton; Ordinary People, starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, and Timothy Hutton; Private Benjamin, starring Goldie Hawn; Raging Bull, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro; The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall; The Stunt Man, starring Peter O'Toole; Tess, starring Nastassia Kinski; Urban Cowboy, starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, Xanadu, starring Michael Beck, Olivia Newton-John, and Gene Kelly.

Fiction

Jean M. Auel, The Clan of the Cave Bear; Ann Beattie, Falling in Place; Thomas Berger, Neighbors; E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake; Ken Follett, The Key to Rebecca; Cynthia Freeman, Co me Pour the Wine; Shirley Hazzard, The Transit of Venus; Erica Jong, Fanny; Stephen King, Firestarter; Maxine Hong Kingston, China Men; Judith Krantz, Princess Daisy; Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity; James Michener, The Covenant; Wright Morris, Plains Song for Female Voices; Joyce Carol Oates, Bellefleur; Walker Percy, The Second Coming; Belva Plain, Random Winds; Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker; Sidney Sheldon, Rage of Angels; John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces; Anne Tyler, Morgan's Passing; Eudora Welty, The Collected Stories; Gene Wolfe, The Shadow of the Torturer.

Popular Songs

Air Supply, "Lost in Love"; Pat Benatar, "Heartbreaker"; Blondie, "Call Me"; David Bowie, "Ashes to Ashes"; Captain and Tennille, "Do That to Me One More Time"; Irene Cara, "Fame"; The Clash, "Train in Vain"; The Commodores, "Still"; Christopher Cross, "Sailing" and "Ride Like the Wind"; Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "Freedom"; Funkadelic, "Knee Deep"; Crystal Gayle, "Heart Mender"; Rupert Holmes, "Escape"; Jermaine Jackson, "Let's Get Serious"; Michael Jackson, "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough," "Off the Wall," and "Rock with You"; Billy Joel, "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me"; Kool The Gang, "Ladies Night" and "Too Hot"; Lipps Inc., "Funkytown"; M, "Pop Muzik"; Paul McCartney, "Coming Up"; Bette Midler, "The Rose"; Ronnie Milsap, "In No Time at All"; Anne Murray, "Broken Hearted Me" and "Daydream Believer"; Willie Nelson, "On the Road Again"; Olivia Newton-John, "Magic" and "Xanadu"; Gary Numan, "Cars"; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Refugee"; Pink Floyd, "Another Brick in the Wall"; The Pretenders, "Brass in Pocket"; Prince, "I Wanna Be Your Lover"; Queen, "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"; Smokey Robinson, "Cruisin' "; Kenny Rogers, "Coward of the County"; Rolling Stones, "Emotional Rescue"; Diana Ross, "Upside Down"; The S.O.S. Band, "Take Your Time"; Shalamar, "The Second Time Around"; Spinners, "Cupid/I've Loved You for a Long Time" and "Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me Girl"; Sugar Hill Gang, "Rapper's Delight"; The Whispers, "And the Beat Goes On."

• Broadway box offices take in almost $200 million.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City opens an American wing.
• Michael Cimino's movie Heaven's Gate loses $40 million, making Hollywood producers unwilling to finance other big-budget motion pictures by "auteur" directors.
• More than 1.5 million people tour a retrospective exhibit of one thousand works by Pablo Picasso at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
• President Jimmy Carter cancels a Washington exhibit of works from the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• Mikhail Baryshnikov becomes director of the American Ballet Theater.
• The Metropolitan Opera receives a $5 million grant from Texaco.

29 Mar.

The New York Metropolitan Opera production of Manon Lescaut, with Placido Domingo and Renata Scotto, is broadcast via satellite to twenty countries.

13 Apr.

Grease, the longest-running show on Broadway to date, closes after 3,388 performances.

6 Sept.

The Whitney Museum buys Jasper Johns's Three Flags for $1 million, the highest price yet paid for a work by a living artist.

1981

Movies

Arthur, starring Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, and John Gielgud; Atlantic City, starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon; Blow Out, directed by Brian De Palma and starring John Travolta and Nancy Allen; Body Heat, starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner; Endless Love, starring Brooke Shields; Escape from New York, starring Kurt Russell; The French Lieutenant's Woman, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons; Heaven's Gate, starring Christopher Walken and Kris Kristofferson; Mommie Dearest, starring Faye Dunaway; My Dinner with Andre, starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory; On Golden Pond, starring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda; Ragtime, starring James Olson, Mary Steenburgen, Howard E. Rollins Jr., and James Cagney; Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford; Reds, directed by Warren Beatty and starring Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Maureen Stapleton; S.O.B., starring William Holden and Julie Andrews; Stripes, starring Bill Murray; Superman II, starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, and Margot Kidder.

Fiction

Thomas Berger, Reinharfs Women; Raymond Carver, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love; Howard Fast, The Legacy; Cynthia Freeman, No Time for Tears; Andrew M. Greeley, The Cardinal Sins; Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune; John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire; Stephen King, Cujo; John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson; Leonard Michaels, The Men's Club; Toni Morrison, Tar Baby; Joyce Carol Oates, Angel of Light; Harold Robbins, Goodbye, Janet; Philip Roth, Zuckerman Unbound; Lawrence Sanders, The Third Deadly Sin; Martin Cruz Smith, Gorky Park; John Updike, Rabbit Is Rich; Joseph Wambaugh, The Glitter Dome.

Popular Songs

Air Supply, 'The One That You Love"; Pat Benatar, "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"; Blondie, "Rapture" and "The Tide Is High"; Kim Carnes, "Bette Davis Eyes"; Rosanne Cash, "Seven Year Ache"; Eric Clapton and His Band, "I Can't Stand It"; The Commodores, "Lady (You Bring Me Up)"; Earl Thomas Conley, "Fire and Smoke"; Christopher Cross, "Arthur's Theme"; Devo, "Whip It"; Neil Diamond, "America," "Hello Again," and "Love on the Rocks"; Duran Duran, "Girls on Film" and "Planet Earth"; E.L.O., "Hold On Tight"; Sheena Easton, "For Your Eyes Only" and "Morning Train"; English Beat, "Mirror in the Bathroom"; Daryl Hall and John Oates, "Kiss on My List"; George Harrison, "All Those Years Ago"; Rick James, "Give It to Me Baby" and "Superfreak"; Kool & The Gang, "Celebration"; John Lennon, "Starting Over" and "Woman"; Manhattan Transfer, "Boy from New York City"; Ronnie Milsap, "No Gettin' Over Me"; Juice Newton, "Angel of the Morning" and "Queen of Hearts"; Oak Ridge Boys, "Elvira"; Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"; Pointer Sisters, "Slow Hand"; The Police, "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" and "Don't Stand So Close to Me"; Queen, "Another One Bites the Dust"; Eddie Rabbitt, "I Love a Rainy Night"; REO Speedwagon, "Keep on Loving You"; Kenny Rogers, "Lady" and "I Don't Need You"; Rolling Stones, "Start Me Up"; Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, "Endless Love"; Joey Scarbury, "The Theme from The Greatest American Hero"; Frankie Smith, "Double Dutch Bus"; Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl"; Bruce Springsteen, "Hungry Heart"; Billy Squier, "The Stroke"; Rod Stewart, "Passion"; Barbra Streisand, "Woman in Love"; Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool"; Styx, "The Best of Times" and "Too Much Time On My Hands"; Grover Washington Jr., "Just the Two of Us"; Stevie Wonder, "Master Blaster."

• The portable Sony Walkman becomes a huge seller, popularizing "mobile" music.
• The Whitney Museum opens its first branch, in Stamford, Connecticut.
• The $7.2 million San Antonio Museum opens.
• The University of Pennsylvania Press publishes the complete, unexpurgated version of Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie, including thirty-six thousand words that the original publisher, Frank Doubleday, considered too sexually explicit.
• The Rolling Stones earn a record $25 million during their forty-city U.S. tour.

21 May

American collector Wendell Cherry buys Picasso's self-portrait Yo Picasso at Sotheby's auction house in New York City for $5.83 million, the highest price yet paid for a twentieth-century work of art.

1 Aug.

MTV (Music Television) begins broadcasting. Its first video is the Buggies' "Video Killed the Radio Star."

4 Oct.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby sets a record for Broadway ticket prices—$100 per seat.

1982

Movies

Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford; Cat People, starring Nastassia Kinski and Malcolm McDowell; Deathtrap, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve; Diner, starring Steve Guttenberg, Kevin Bacon, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern, Timothy Daly, Paul Reiser, and Ellen Barkin; Eating Raoul, starring Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov; E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore; Fast Times at Ridgemont High, starring Sean Penn, Phoebe Cates, and Jennifer Jason Leigh; First Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone; 48 Hrs., starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy; Frances, starring Jessica Lange; Making Love, starring Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson, Harry Hamlin, and Wendy Hiller; Missing, starring Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon; My Favorite Year, starring Peter O'Toole; An Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger; Personal Best, starring Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly; Poltergeist, starring JoBeth Williams; The Road Warrior, starring Mel Gibson; Sophie's Choice, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Ricardo Montalban; Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, and Teri Garr; The Verdict, starring Paul Newman; Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, and Robert Preston; Wild Style, directed by Charlie Ahearn and starring "Lee" Quinones, Sandra "Pink" Fabara, Fred Braithwaite, and Patti Astor; The World According to Garp, starring Robin Williams, Glenn Close, and John Lithgow.

Fiction

Isaac Asimov Foundation's Edge; Jean M. Auel, The Valley of Horses; Ann Beattie, The Burning House; Saul Bellow, The Dean's December; Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two; Richard Condon, Prizzi's Honor; John M. Del Vecchio, The 13th Valley; Stephen R. Donaldson, The One Tree; Ken Follett, The Man from St Petersburg; John Gardner, Mickelsson's Ghosts; John Jakes, North and South; Stephen King, Different Seasons; Judith Krantz, Mistral's Daughter; Robert Ludlum, The Parsifal Mosaic; Bobbie Ann Mason, Shiloh and Other Stories; James Michener, Space; Joyce Carol Oates, A Bloodsmoor Romance; Cynthia Ozick, Levitation, Five Fictions; Harold Robbins, Spellbinder; Mary Lee Settle, The Killing Ground; Sidney Sheldon, Master of the Game; Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Collected Stories; Danielle Steel, Crossings; Paul Theroux, The Mosquito Coast; Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant; Alice Walker, The Color Purple; William Wharton, A Midnight Clear.

Popular Songs

Alabama, "Love in the First Degree" and "Mountain Music"; Afrika Bambaataa, "Planet Rock"; Toni Basil, "Mickey"; Big Country, "In a Big Country"; Laura Branigan, "Gloria"; Buckner and Garcia, "Pac-Man Fever"; The Cars, "Shake It Up"; Chicago, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"; Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, "Up Where We Belong"; John Cougar, "Hurts So Good" and "Jack and Diane"; Crosby, Stills & Nash, "Southern Cross" and "Wasted On the Way"; Paul Davis, "'65 Love Affair"; Dazz Band, "Let It Whip"; Earth, Wind & Fire, "Let's Groove"; Fleetwood Mac, "Hold Me" and "Gypsy"; A Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran"; Foreigner, "Waiting For a Girl Like You"; Aretha Franklin, "Jump To It"; J. Geils Band, "Centerfold" and "Freeze-Frame"; The Go-Go's, "Our Lips Are Sealed," "Vacation," and "We Got the Beat"; Daryl Hall and John Oates, "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" and "Private Eyes"; Human League, "Don't You Want Me"; Billy Idol, "Hot in the City"; Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll"; Journey, "Open Arms"; Loverboy, "Working for the Weekend"; Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, "Ebony and Ivory"; Men at Work, "Who Can It Be Now"; Steve Miller Band, "Abracadabra"; Ronnie Milsap, "Any Day Now"; The Motels, "Suddenly Last Summer" and "Only the Lonely"; Willie Nelson, "Always On My Mind"; Juice Newton, "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me"; Olivia Newton-John, "Physical"; The Alan Parsons Project, "Eye in the Sky"; The Police, "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"; Prince "Controversy"; Quarterflash, "Harden My Heart"; Ricky Skaggs, "Crying My Heart Out Over You"; Soft Cell, "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go"; Rick Springfield, "Don't Talk to Strangers"; Rod Stewart, "Young Turks"; Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"; Toto, "Rosanna"; Tommy Tutone, "867-5309 (Jenny)"; Twisted Sister, "We're Not Gonna Take It"; Vangelis, "Chariots of Fire"; Hank Williams Jr., "A Country Boy Can Survive"; Stevie Wonder, "That Girl."

• Michael Jackson releases Thriller, which becomes the top-selling album in history.
• The Library of America begins publishing collected editions of works by major American authors.
• Compact discs are introduced by the Sony Corporation of Japan and Philips of the Netherlands.
• The Salvador Dali Museum opens in Saint Petersburg, Florida.
• Carnegie Hall in New York City undergoes a $20 million renovation.
• The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California, receives a $1.1 billion bequest from oil magnate J. Paul Getty, making it the best-endowed museum in America.
• Steven Spielberg's movie E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial earns a record $235 million at the box office in only three months.

7 June

Graceland, the Memphis, Tennessee, home of the late Elvis Presley, is opened to the public as a tourist attraction.

7 Oct.

Cats, which becomes the most popular musical of the 1980s, opens on Broadway.

1983

Movies

The Big Chilly starring William Hurt, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berenger, JoBeth Williams, Mary Kay Place, and Meg Tilly; Breathless, starring Richard Gere; Flashdance, starring Jennifer Beals; The King of Comedy, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhard; Lianna, directed by John Sayles; Local Hero, starring Burt Lancaster; Mr. Mom, starring Michael Keaton and Teri Garr; The Outsiders, starring Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, and Ralph Macchio; Return of the Jedi, starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher; The Right Stuff, starring Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, and Fred Ward; Risky Business, starring Tom Cruise and Rebecca DeMornay; Rumble Fish, starring Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke; Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer; Silkwood, starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher; Streamers, directed by Robert Altaian and starring Matthew Modine; Sudden Impact, starring Clint Eastwood; Superman III, starring Christopher Reeve and Richard Pryor; Tender Mercies, starring Robert Duvall; Terms of Endearment, starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson; Trading Places, starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd; Twilight Zone --- The Movie, starring Vic Morrow and John Lithgow; Valley Girl, starring Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman; War Games, starring Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, and Dabney Coleman; The Year of hiving Dangerously, starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, and Linda Hunt; Yentl, directed and produced by Barbra Streisand, starring Streisand and Mandy Patinkin; Zelig, starring Woody Allen and Mia Farrow.

Fiction

Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn; Raymond Carver, Cathedral; Jackie Collins, Hollywood Wives; Stephen R. Donaldson, White Gold Wielder; George Garrett, The Succession; Mark Helprin, Winters Tale; William Kennedy, Ironweed; Stephen King, Pet Sematary and Christine; Louis L'Amour, The Lonesome Gods; Norman Mailer, Ancient Evenings; Bernard Malamud, The Stories; Anne McCaffrey, Moreta; James Michener, Poland; Judith Rossner, August; Philip Roth, The Anatomy Lesson; Lee Smith, Oral History; Danielle Steel, Changes; Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit; John Edgar Wideman, Sent for You Yesterday; Roger Zelazny, Unicorn Variations.

Popular Songs

ABC, "The Look of Love"; Bryan Adams, "Straight from the Heart"; After the Fire, "Der Kommisar"; Air Supply, "Making Love Out of Nothing at All"; John Anderson, "Swingin' "; Adam Ant, "Goody Two Shoes"; Patti Austin with James Ingram, "Baby Come to Me"; David Bowie, "China Girl," "Let's Dance," and "Modern Love"; Irene Cara, "Flashdance…What a Feeling"; The Clash, "Rock the Casbah"; George Clinton, "Atomic Dog"; Culture Club, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," 'Til Tumble 4 Ya," and "Time"; Def Leppard, "Photograph"; Dexys Midnight Runners, "Come on Eileen"; Thomas Dolby, "She Blinded Me with Science"; Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Is There Something I Should Know?," and "Rio"; Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"; Marvin Gaye, "Sexual Healing"; Golden Earring, "Twilight Zone"; Eddy Grant, "Electric Avenue"; Daryl Hall and John Oates, "Maneater"; Herbie Hancock, "Rockit"; Don Henley, "Dirty Laundry"; Michael Jackson, "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Human Nature," and "Wanna Be Startin' Something"; Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, "The Girl Is Mine"; Rick James, "Cold Blooded"; Billy Joel, "Allentown" and "Tell Her About It"; Journey, "Separate Ways"; Kajagoogoo, "Too Shy"; The Greg Kihn Band, "Jeopardy"; The Kinks, "Come Dancing"; Huey Lewis and the News, "Heart and Soul"; Men at Work, "Down Under"; Men Without Hats, "The Safety Dance"; Midnight Star, "Freak-a-zoid"; Mtume, "Juicy Fruit"; Musical Youth, "Pass the Dutchie"; The Police, "Every Breath You Take"; The Pretenders, "Back on the Chain Gang"; Charley Pride, "Night Games"; Prince, "1999," "Little Red Corvette," and "Delirious"; Eddie Rabbitt with Crystal Gayle, "You and I"; Lionel Richie, "My Love," "Truly," and "You Are"; Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton, "We've Got Tonight"; Run-D.M.C, "It's Like That/Sucker M.C."; Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, "Shame on the Moon"; Michael Sembello, "Maniac"; Stray Cats, "Sexy + 17" and "Stray Cat Strut"; Styx, "Mr. Roboto"; Donna Summer, "She Works Hard for the Money"; Talking Heads, "Speaking in Tongues"; Thompson Twins, "Lies"; Toto, "Africa"; Bonnie Tyler, "Total Eclipse of the Heart"; Shelly West, "Jose Cuervo."

• Conceptual artist Javacheff Chris to wraps eleven islands in Biscayne Bay, Florida, with pink polypropylene at a cost of $3 million.

22 Apr.

The Dance Black America Festival in Brooklyn, New York, celebrates three hundred years of black dance.

25 May

The movie Return of the Jedi sets an opening-day box-office record, $6.2 million.

29 Sept.

After 3,389 performances, A Chorus Line becomes the longest-running show in the history of Broadway.

22 Oct.

The Metropolitan Opera in New York City celebrates its one hundredth anniversary with a gala featuring one hundred performers.

1984

Movies

Ail of Me, starring Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin; Amadeus, starring F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce; Beat Street, starring Robert Taylor, Rae Dawn Chong, and Guy Davis; Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy; Body Double, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Melanie Griffith; Body Rock, starring Lorenzo Lamas; Breakin, starring Lucinda Dickey, Adolfo (Shabba-Doo) Quinones, and Michael (Boogaloo Shrimp) Chambers; Broadway Danny Rose, starring Woody Allen and Mia Farrow; Choose Me, directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Genevieve Bujold; Country, starring Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard; Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer; Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, and Sigourney Weaver; Gremlins, starring Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, starring Harrison Ford; The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita; The Killing Fields, starring Sam Waterston and Haing S. Ngor; Missing in Action, starring Chuck Norris; Mrs. Soffel, starring Diane Keaton; The Natural, starring Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, and Glenn Close; Once Upon a Time in America, starring Robert De Niro and James Woods; Paris, Texas, starring Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassia Kinski; Places in the Heart, starring Sally Field; Police Academy, starring Steve Guttenberg; Purple Rain, starring Prince; Reckless, starring Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah; RedDawn, starring Patrick Swayze; Repo Man, directed by Alex Cox and starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton; The River, starring Sissy Spacek and Mel Gibson; Romancing the Stone, starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas; Sixteen Candles, starring Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall; Splashy starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah; Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy; Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Talking Heads; Stranger Than Paradise, directed by Jim Jarmusch; Streets of Fire, starring Michael Pare, Diane Lane, Rick Moranis, and Amy Madigan; The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; This Is Spinal Tap, starring Christopher Guest and Michael McKean; The Woman in Red, starring Gene Wilder, Kelly LeBrock, and Gilda Radner.

Fiction

Rosellen Brown, Civil Wars; Mary Higgins Clark, Stillwatch; E. L. Doctorow, Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella; Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine; Ellen Gilchrist, Victory Over Japan; Robert A. Heinlein, Job: A Comedy of Justice; Joseph Heller, God Knows; Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune; John Jakes, Love and War; Susan Kenney, In Another Country; Stephen King and Peter Straub, The Talisman; David Leavitt, Family Dancing; Robert Ludlum, The Acquitaine Progression; Alison Lurie, Foreign Affairs; Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don't Dance; Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City; Jayne Anne Phillips, Machine Dreams; Belva Plain, Crescent City; Mario Puzo, The Sicilian; Tom Rabbins, Jitterbug Perfume; Helen Hooven Santmyer, "…And Ladies of the Club"; Danielle Steel, Full Circle; John Updike, The Witches of Eastwick; Leon Uris, The Haj; Gore Vidal, Lincoln; John Edgar Wideman, Brothers and Keepers; Richard Yates, Young Hearts Crying.

Popular Songs

Art of Noise, "Beat Box"; Bananarama, "Cruel Summer"; Pat Benatar, "Love Is a Battlefield"; Berlin, "No More Words"; Laura Branigan, "Self Control"; Cameo, "She's Strange"; The Cars, "You Might Think" and "Drive"; Chicago, "Hard Habit to Break"; Phil Collins, "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"; Culture Club, "Church of the Poison Mind," "Karma Chameleon," "Miss Me Blind," and "It's a Miracle"; Duran Duran, "Union of the Snake," "New Moon on Monday," and "The Reflex"; Sheila E., "The Glamorous Life"; Eurythmics, "Here Comes the Rain Again"; Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Two Tribes" and "War"; The Go-Go's, "Head Over Heels"; Daryl Hall and John Oates, "Out of Touch" and "Say It Isn't So"; Corey Hart, "Sunglasses at Night"; Dan Hartman, "I Can Dream About You"; Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before"; Michael Jackson, "Thriller"; Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, "Say Say Say"; The Jacksons, "State of Shock"; Rick James, "17"; Billy Joel, "Uptown Girl"; Elton John, "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"; Howard Jones, "New Song"; The Judds, "Mama He's Crazy"; Chaka Khan, "I Feel for You"; Laid Back, "White Horse"; Cyndi Lauper, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "She Bop," and "Time After Time"; John Lennon, "Nobody Told Me"; Huey Lewis and the News, "I Want a New Drug," "If This Is It," and "The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll"; Kenny Loggins, "Footloose"; Madonna, "Holiday," "Borderline," and "Lucky Star"; Barbara Mandrell, "Only a Lonely Heart Knows"; John Cougar Mellencamp, "Pink Houses"; Nena, "99 Luftballoons"; Billy Ocean, "Caribbean Queen"; Ollie and Jerry, "Breakin'…There's No Stopping Us"; Ray Parker Jr., "Ghostbusters"; The Alan Parsons Project, "Don't Answer Me"; The Pointer Sisters, "Automatic," "Jump (for My Love)," and "I'm So Excited"; Prince, "When Doves Cry" and "Purple Rain"; Prince & The Revolution, "Let's Go Crazy"; Psychedelic Furs, "Heartbeat"; Queen, "Radio Ga-Ga"; Quiet Riot, "Cum On Feel the Noize"; Ratt, "Round and Round"; Lionel Richie, "All Night Long," "Hello," "Running With the Night," and "Stuck on You"; Rockwell, "Somebody's Watching Me"; Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton, "Islands in the Stream"; The Romantics, "Talking in Your Sleep"; Scandal featuring Patty Smyth, "The Warrior"; Peter Schilling, "Major Tom (Coming Home)"; Scorpions, "Rock You Like a Hurricane"; Shannon, "Let the Music Play"; Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A.," "Cover Me" and "Dancing in the Dark"; George Strait, "Let's Fall to Pieces Together"; Talk Talk, "It's My Life"; Thompson Twins, "Hold Me Now"; Tina Turner, "What's Love Got to Do With It"; Twisted Sister, "We're Not Gonna Take It"; Conway Twitty, "I Don't Know a Thing About Love"; Van Halen, "Jump," 'Til Wait," and "Panama"; John Waite, "Missing You"; Wang Chung, "Dance Hall Days"; Wham!, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"; Deniece Williams, "Let's Hear It for the Boy"; Stevie Wonder, "I Just Called to Say I Love You"; Yes, "Owner of a Lonely Heart"; Paul Young, "Come Back and Stay"; ZZ Top, "Legs."

• The New York Philharmonic Orchestra presents Horizons 84: The New Romanticism, a program mixing computer, synthesizer, and performance art.
• After four years of renovation costing $55 million, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City reopens with a new wing that doubles its gallery space.
• The Equitable Life Assurance Society buys ten Thomas Hart Benton murals.
• Forty-five Renaissance masterworks at the Metropolitan Museum are discovered to be forgeries.
• The Getty Museum acquires the Ludwig collection of medieval manuscripts and several major photograph collections, becoming one of the world's finest photograph museums.
• Run-D.M.C.'s self-titled debut album becomes the first rap album to be certified gold.

28 Feb.

Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy awards for his album Thriller, which tops 37 million in sales and also earns him seven American Music Awards.

19 June

The Motion Picture Association of America institutes the PG-13 rating.

1985

Movies

After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Griffin Dunne; Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox; Blood Simple, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen; Brazil, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, and Robert De Niro; The Breakfast Club, starring Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, and Ally Sheedy, Cocoon, starring Jessica Tandy, Steve Guttenberg, Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, and Hume Cronyn; The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, and Margaret Avery; Desert Hearts, starring Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau; Desperately Seeking Susan, starring Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, and Madonna; The Goonies, starring Sean Asmtin, Josh Brolin, and Corey Feldman; Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring William Hurt and Raul Julia; Lost in America, starring Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, starring Mel Gibson and Tina Turner; Mask, starring Cher, Sam Elliott, and Eric Stolz; National Lampoon's European Vacation, starring Chevy Chase; Out of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford; Pee-Wees Big Adventure, directed by Tim Burton and starring PeeWee Herman; Prizz's Honor, directed by John Huston and starring Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, and Anjelica Huston; The Purple Rose of Cairo, directed by Woody Allen and starring Mia Farrow; Ramho: First Blood, Part 2, starring Sylvester Stallone; Rocky IV, starring Sylvester Stallone; St. Elmo's Fire, starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, and Martin Balsam; The Sure Thing, starring John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga; Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris; The Trip to Bountiful, starring Geraldine Page; White Nights, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, and Isabella Rossellini; Witness, directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis; Young Sherlock Holmes, starring Nicholas Rowe.

Fiction

Jean M. Auel, The Mammoth Hunters; Russell Banks, Continental Drift; Ann Beattie, Love Always; Barbara Taylor Bradford, Hold the Dream; Carolyn Chute, The Beans of Egypt, Maine; Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October; Jackie Collins, Lucky; Robin Cook, Mindbend; Don DeLillo, White Noise; E. L. Doctorow, World's Fair; Dominick Dunne, The Two Mrs. Grenvilles; Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero; Cynthia Freeman, Illusions of Love; William Gaddis, Carpenters Gothic; Mary Gordon, Men and Angels; Andrew M. Greeley, Virgin and Martyr; Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls; Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune; Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Partners in Crime; John Irving, Cider House Rules; Garrison Keillor, Lake Woebegon Days; Stephen King, Skeleton Crew; Louis L'Amour, Jubal Sackett; Elmore Leonard, Glitz; John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain; Bobbie Ann Mason, In Country; Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove; James Michener, Texas; Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat; Philip Roth, Zuckerman Bound; Carl Sagan, Contact; Lawrence Sanders, The Fourth Deadly Sin; Erich Segal, The Class; Sidney Sheldon, If Tomorrow Comes; Danielle Steel, Secrets and Family Album; Irving Stone, Depths of Glory; Peter Taylor, The Old Forest and Other Stories; Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist; Kurt Vonnegut, Galapagos; Joseph Wambaugh, Secrets of Harry Bright; Herman Wouk, Inside, Outside.

Popular Songs

ABC, "Be Near Me"; Bryan Adams, "Heaven," "Run to You," "Somebody," and "Summer of '69"; Animotion, "Obsession"; Artists United Against Apartheid, "Sun City"; Philip Bailey with Phil Collins, "Easy Lover"; Pat Benatar, "We Be-long"; Jellybean Benitez, "Sidewalk Talk"; Bronski Beat, "Smalltown Boy"; Phil Collins, "Sussudio" and "One More Night"; The Commodores, "Nightshift"; Dead or Alive, "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)"; DeBarge, "Rhythm of the Night"; Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing"; Duran Duran, "A View to a Kill" and "The Wild Boys"; Sheena Easton, "Strut" and "Sugar Walls"; Harold Faltermeyer, "Axel F"; Foreigner, "I Want to Know What Love Is"; Aretha Franklin, "Freeway of Love" and "Who's Zoo "; Glenn Frey, "The Heat Is On" and "You Belong to the City"; General Public, "Never You Done That"; Lee Greenwood, "Dixie Road"; Jan Hammer, "Miami Vice Theme"; Murray Head, "One Night in Bankok"; Don Henley, "The Boys of Summer"; The Hooters, "And We Danced"; Whitney Houston, "You Give Good Love" and "Saving All My Love for You"; Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, "Highwayman"; Howard Jones, "Things Can Only Get Better"; Katrina and the Waves, "Walking on Sunshine"; Kool &The Gang, "Cherish," "Fresh," and "Misled"; Patti LaBelle, "New Attitude"; Julian Lennon, "Valotte"; Huey Lewis and the News, "The Power of Love"; Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam with Full Force, "I Wonder If I Take You Home"; Madonna, "Angel," "Crazy for You," "Dress You Up," "Into the Groove," "Like a Virgin," and "Material Girl"; John Cougar Mellencamp, "Lonely Ol' Night"; Miami Sound Machine, "Conga"; Ronnie Milsap, "Lost in the Fifties Tonight"; New Edition, "Cool It Now"; New Order, "The Perfect Kiss"; John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire"; Prince & The Revolution, "Raspberry Beret" and "Pop Life"; Ready for the World, "Oh Sheila"; REO Speedwagon, "Can't Fight This Feeling"; David Lee Roth, "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo"; Run-D.M.C, "King of Rock"; Sade, "Smooth Operator"; Simple Minds, "Don't You (Forget About Me)"; Simply Red, "Money's Too Tight to Mention"; Bruce Springsteen, "I'm on Fire," "Glory Days," and "My Hometown"; Starship, "We Built This City"; Sting, "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" and "Fortress Around Your Heart"; Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Shout," and "Head Over Heels"; 'Til Tuesday, "Voices Carry"; The Time, "Jungle Love"; Tina Turner, "Better Be Good to Me," "Private Dancer," and "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)"; USA for Africa, "We Are the World"; Wham!, "Careless Whisper" and "Everything She Wants"; Stevie Wonder, "Part-time Lover"; Paul Young, "Everytime You Go Away."

• Income from rental of movies on videocassette equals movie theater box office income.
• The Getty Museum buys Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi for a record $10.4 million.
• Sales of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. reach 15 million.
• Madonna's Like a Virgin becomes the first album by a female artist to sell more than 5 million copies.
• The all-star recording "We Are the World," released under the name USA for Africa, becomes the hottest-selling single of the decade and raises $50 million for African famine relief.
• Michael Jackson buys ATV Music for $40 million, acquiring the rights to some 250 songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
• The art magazine ARTnews pressures the Austrian government to return thirty-nine hundred artworks seized by the Nazis to their owners, with unclaimed works to be auctioned for Jewish chanties.
• Frank Zappa, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, and John Denver are among the musicians who testify at Senate hearings on explicit lyrics in rock music.

13 July

The "Live Aid" concert held in London and Philadelphia is broadcast to more than 1.6 billion people and raises $70 million for African famine relief

22 Sept.

"Farm Aid," a concert organized by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Cougar Mellencamp to raise funds for American farmers, is held in Champaign, Illinois.

2 Oct.

Movie actor Rock Hudson dies from an AIDS-related illness, raising public awareness of the disease.

Nov.

The Whitney Museum opens a branch in the new $200 million Equitable Building in New York; Roy Lichtenstein contributes a sixty-eight-foot mural to its entrance.

10-14 Nov.

The first American Music Week at Alice Tully Hall in New York City features three hundred performances of music by new and established American composers, including John Cage, Aaron Copland, and Robert Erickson.

1986

Movies

Aliens, starring Sigourney Weaver; Blue Velvet, directed by David Lynch and starring Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, Isabella Rossellini, and Dean Stockwell; Children of a Lesser God, starring William Hurt and Marlee Matlin; The Color of Money, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise; Crimes of the Heart, starring Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Lange; Down and Out in Beverly Hills, starring Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, and Richard Dreyfuss; The Fly, starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis; Hannah and Her Sisters, starring Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, and Michael Caine; The Hitcher, starring Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, and Jennifer Jason Leigh; The Mission, starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons; Mona Lisa, starring Bob Hoskins; Peggy Sue Got Married, starring Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage; Platoon, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Willem Dafoe; Round Midnight, starring Dexter Gordon; Ruthless People, starring Danny De Vito and Bette Midler; Salvador, directed by Oliver Stone and starring James Woods and James Belushi; Shanghai Surprise, starring Madonna and Sean Penn; She's Gotta Have It, directed by Spike Lee; Sid and Nancy, directed by Alex Cox and starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb; Something Wild, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels; Stand by Me, starring River Phoenix; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy; Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis; Under the Cherry Moon, starring Prince.

Fiction

Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Earth; Barbara Taylor Bradford, Act of Will; Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising; Arthur C. Clarke, The Songs of Distant Earth; Jackie Collins, Hollywood Husbands; Pat Conroy, The Prince of Tides; Stephen Coonts, Flight of the Intruder; Patti Davis, Homefront; Stephen R. Donaldson, Mordant's Need; Louise Erdrich, The Beet Queen; Ken Follett, Lie Down With Lions; Richard Ford, The Sportswriter; Cynthia Freeman, Seasons of the Heart; Larry Heinemann, Paco's Story; Ernest Hemingway, Garden of Eden; Tama Janowitz, Slaves of New York; Stephen King, It; David Leavitt, The Lost Language of Cranes; Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Supremacy; Sue Miller, The Good Mother; Andre Norton, Flight in Yiktor; Belva Plain, The Golden Cup; Reynolds Price, Kate Vaiden; Sally Quinn, Regrets Only; Lawrence Sanders, The Eighth Commandment; Mary Lee Settle, Celebration; Clifford D. Simak, Highway of Eternity; Danielle Steel, Wanderlust; Robert Stone, Children of Light; Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis; John Updike, Rogers Version.

Popular Songs

Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring, "Friends and Lovers"; Art of Noise featuring Duane Eddy, "Peter Gunn"; Atlantic Starr, "Secret Lovers"; B-52's, "Summer of Love"; Bananarama, "Venus"; Bangles, "Manic Monday" and "If She Knew What She Wants"; Berlin, "Take My Breath Away"; Bon Jovi, "You Give Love a Bad Name"; Boston, "Amanda"; James Brown, "Living in America"; Cameo, "Word Up"; Belinda Carlisle, "Mad About You"; Rosanne Cash, "Never Be You"; Phil Collins, "Take Me Home"; Culture Club, "Move Away"; The Dream Academy, "Life in a Northern Town"; Sheila E., "A Love Bizarre"; Erasure, "Oh L'Amour"; Falco, "Rock Me Amadeus"; Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer"; Genesis, "Invisible Touch"; Gwen Guthrie, "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But the Rent"; Heart, "Never" and "These Dreams"; Whitney Houston, "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All"; Human League, "Human"; INXS, "What You Need"; Janet Jackson, "What Have You Done for Me Lately," "Nasty," and "When I Think of You"; The Jets, "Crush On You"; Grace Jones, "Slave to the Rhythm"; The Judds, "Have Mercy"; Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, "On My Own"; Cyndi Lauper, "True Colors"; Level 42, "Something About You"; Huey Lewis and the News, "Stuck with You"; Madonna, "Live to Tell," "Papa Don't Preach," and "True Blue"; Reba McEntire, "Whoever's in New England"; John Cougar Mellencamp, "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A." and "Small Town"; Mr. Mister, "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie"; Eddie Murphy, "Party All the Time"; Nu Shooz, "I Can't Wait"; Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, "If You Leave"; Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love"; Pet Shop Boys, "West End Girls"; Prince & The Revolution, "Kiss" and "Mountains"; Regina, "Baby Love"; Lionel Richie, "Dancing on the Ceiling" and "Say You, Say Me"; Run-D.M.C., "Walk This Way"; Simply Red, "Holding Back the Years"; Stacey Q, "Two of Hearts"; Starship, "Sara"; The Statler Brothers, "Too Much On My Heart"; Jermaine Stewart, "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off"; Timbuk 3, "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades"; Randy Travis, "On the Other Hand" and "1982"; Tina Turner, "Typical Male"; Dionne Warwick and Friends, "That's What Friends Are For"; Steve Winwood, "Higher Love"; Dwight Yoakam, "Honky Tonk Man" and "Guitars, Cadillacs"; ZZ Top, "Sleeping Bag."

• Dollywood, Dolly Parton's theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, opens to the public.
• Choreographer Martha Graham's dance company celebrates its sixtieth anniversary.
• The Joffrey Ballet celebrates its thirtieth anniversary.

26 Feb.

Robert Penn Warren is named the first poet laureate of the United States.

5 May

Cleveland is chosen as the site for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1987

Movies

Baby Boom, starring Diane Keaton; Beverly Hills Cop II, starring Eddie Murphy; The Big Easy, starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin; Broadcast News, starring Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks; Cry Freedom, starring Kevin Kline and Denzel Washington; Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey; Empire of the Sun, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Christopher Bale, John Malkovich, and Miranda Richardson; Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close; Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Matthew Modine; Gardens of Stone, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring James Caan, Anjelica Huston, and James Earl Jones; Good Morning, Vietnam, starring Robin Williams; Hamburger Hill, starring Anthony Barrile and Michael Patrick Boatman; House of Games, directed by David Mamet and starring Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna; Ishtar, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman; Lethal Weapon, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover; The Lost Boys, starring Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, and Corey Haim; Matewan, directed by John Sayles; Moonstruck, starring Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, and Danny Aiello; Near Dark, starring Adrian Pasdar and Jenny Wright; Prick Up Your Ears, starring Gary Oldman; Radio Days, directed by Woody Allen; Raising Arizona, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter; River's Edge, starring Dennis Hopper and Keanu Reeves; Robocop, starring Peter Weiler and Nancy Allen; Roxanne, starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah; Sign o' the Times, starring Prince, Sheila E., and Sheena Easton; The Stepfather, starring Terry O'Quinn and Shelley Hack; Superman TV: The Quest for Peace, starring Christopher Reeve; Suspect, starring Cher; Three Men and a Baby, starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson; Tin Men, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny De Vi to; The Untouchables, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert De Niro; Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Martin Sheen, and Daryl Hannah; Who's That Girl?, starring Madonna and Griffin Dunne; The Witches of Eastwick, starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Fiction

Isaac Asimov, Fantastic Voyage II; Saul Bellow, More Die of Heartbreak; Truman Capote, Answered Prayers; Tom Clancy, Patriot Games; Mary Higgins Clark, Weep No More My Lady; Arthur C. Clarke, 2061: Odyssey Three; Robin Cook, Outbreak; Janet Dailey, Heiress; Carrie Fisher, Postcards from the Edge; Thomas Flanagan, The Tenants of Time; John Jakes, Heaven and Hell; Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home; Stephen King, Misery, The Tommy knockers, and The Eyes of the Dragon; Louis L'Amour, The Haunted Mesa; Larry McMurtry, Texasville; James Michener, The Legacy; Toni Morrison, Beloved; Cynthia Ozick, The Messiah of Stockholm; Robert B. Parker, Pale Kings and Princes; Jayne Anne Phillips, Fast Lanes; Frederik Pohl, The Annals of the Heechee; Philip Roth, The Counterlife; Lawrence Sanders, The Timothy Files; Sidney Sheldon, Windmills of the Gods; Danielle Steel, Kaleidoscope and Fine Things; Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent; Kurt Vonnegut, Bluebeard; Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Popular Songs

Herb Alpert, "Diamonds"; Bangles, "Walk Like an Egyptian"; Beastie Boys, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)"; Bon Jovi, "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive"; Bobby Brown, "Girlfriend"; Peter Cetera with Amy Grant, "The Next Time I Fall"; Club Nouveau, "Lean on Me"; The Robert Cray Band, "Smoking Gun"; Crowded House, "Don't Dream It's Over"; Cutting Crew, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms"; Chris de Burgh, "The Lady in Red"; Duran Duran, "Notorious"; Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You"; Exposé, "Come Go With Me"; Samantha Fox, "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)"; Aretha Franklin and George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me"; Kenny G, "Songbird"; Peter Gabriel, "Big Time"; Georgia Satellites, "Keep Your Hands to Yourself"; Genesis, "Land of Confusion"; Debbie Gibson, "Only in My Dreams"; Lou Gramm, "Midnight Blue"; Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"; Heart, "Alone"; Bruce Hornsby and the Range, "Mandolin Rain" and "The Way It Is"; Whitney Houston, "Didn't We Almost Have It All" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)"; Billy Idol, "Mony Mony"; Janet Jackson, "Control" and "Let's Wait Awhile"; Michael Jackson "Bad"; Michael Jackson with Siedah Garrett, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"; Michael Johnson, "Give Me Wings"; The Judds, "Cry Myself to Sleep"; L. L. Cool J, "I Need Love"; Cyndi Lauper, "Change of Heart"; Le Vert, "Casanova"; Huey Lewis and the News, "Hip to Be Square" and "Jacob's Ladder"; Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, "Head to Toe" and "Lost in Emotion"; Los Lobos, "La Bamba"; Madonna, "Open Your Heart," "La Isla Bonita," "Who's That Girl," and "Causing a Commotion"; Reba McEntire, 'What Am I Gonna Do About You"; Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"; John Cougar Mellencamp, "Paper in Fire"; George Michael, "I Want Your Sex"; Robbie Nevil, "C'est la Vie"; K. T. Oslin, "80s Ladies"; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Jammin' Me"; Pink Floyd, "Learning to Fly"; Prince, "Sign O' the Times" and "U Got the Look"; R.E.M., "The One I Love"; Smokey Robinson, "Just to See Her"; Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, "Somewhere Out There"; Bob Seger, "Shakedown"; Bruce Springsteen, "Brilliant Disguise"; Starship, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"; Tiffany, "I Think We're Alone Now"; Randy Travis, "Forever and Ever, Amen"; U2, "With or Without You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," and "Where the Streets Have No Name"; Luther Vandross, "Stop to Love"; Suzanne Vega, "Luka"; Billy Vera and the Beaters, "At This Moment"; Wang Chung, "Everybody Have Fun Tonight"; Jody Watley, "Looking for a New Love"; Whitesnake, "Here I Go Again"; Kim Wilde, 'You Keep Me Hangin' On"; Bruce Willis, "Respect Yourself "; World Party, "Ship of Fools."

• Jasper Johns's Out the Window sells for $3.6 million; Rembrandt Peale's Rubens Peale with a Geranium fetches $4 million at auction.
• The Terra Museum of American Art opens in Chicago.
• The Metropolitan Museum opens a $26 million wing dedicated to twentieth-century art.
• Luciano Pavarotti and Yo-Yo Ma are among the performers at the AIDS benefit concert Music for Life held at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
• The Smithsonian Institution opens the Arthur M. Sadder Gallery of Asian and Near Eastern Art and the Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.
• The Vienna Philharmonic performs the complete Beethoven symphonies and concerti at Carnegie Hall in New York.
• Christie's of New York sells Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers for $39.9 million at auction; Sotheby's of New York sells his Irises for $53.9 million.
• George Michael's song "I Want Your Sex" is banned from many radiostation playlists because its lyrics are considered too suggestive to be heard by young listeners.

13 July

Madonna, Leontyne Price, and rapper Queen Latifah are among the performers at an AIDS benefit concert held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Aug.

More than fifty thousand fans gather in Memphis to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.

5 Oct.

Thirteen New York dance companies perform a Dancing for Life benefit for AIDS research.

1988

Movies

The Accidental Tourist, starring William Hurt, Geena Davis, and Kathleen Turner; The Accused, starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis; Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Winona Ryder; Big, starring Tom Hanks; Big Business, starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin; Bright Lights, Big City, starring Michael J. Fox; Bull Durham, starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins; Cocktail, starring Tom Cruise; Colors, directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall; Coming to America, starring Eddie Murphy; A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neil!; Dangerous Liaisons, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer; Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis; A Fish Called Wanda, starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin; The Good Mother, starring Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson; The Last Temptation of Christ, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Willem Dafoe; Married to the Mob, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Michelle Pfeiffer; Mississippi Burning, starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe; The Naked Gun, starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, and O. J. Simpson; Rain Man, starring Dus tin Hoffman and Tom Cruise; Running on Empty, starring Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, and Martha Plimpton; Tucker, starring Jeff Bridges; Twins, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny De Vito; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Lena Olin, and Juliette Binoche; Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, starring Bob Hoskins; Willow, starring Val Kilmer; Working Girl, starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver.

Fiction

Poul Anderson, The Year of the Ransom; Richard Bach, One; Barbara Taylor Bradford, To Be the Best; Nash Candelaria, The Day the Cisco Kid Shot John Wayne; Raymond Carver, Where I'm Coming From; John Casey, Spartina; Torn Clancy, The Cardinal of 'the Kremlin; Jackie Collins, Rock Star; Joan Collins, Prime Time; Stephen Coonts, Final Flight; Don DeLillo, Libra; Pete Dexter, Paris Trout; Dominick Dunne, People Like Us; Louise Erdrich, Tracks; Alex Haley, A Different Kind of Christmas; Susan Isaacs, Shining Through; Dean R. Koontz, Lightning; Judith Krantz, Till We Meet Again; Robert Ludlum, The Icarus Agenda; Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsdawn; Larry McMurtry, Anythingfor Billy; James Michener, Alaska; Gloria Naylor, Mama Day; Belva Plain, Tapestry; Anne Rice, The Queen of the Damned; Lawrence Sanders, Timothy's Game; Erich Segal, Doctors; Sidney Sheldon, The Sands of Time; Lee Smith, Fair and Tender Ladies; Danielle Steel, Zoya; Peter Straub, Koko; Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons; Leon Uris, Mitla Pass.

Popular Songs

Aerosmith, "Angel" and "Rag Doll"; Rick Astley, "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever"; Anita Baker, "Giving You the Best That I Got"; The Beach Boys, "Kokomo"; Bon Jovi, "Bad Medicine"; Breathe, "Hands to Heaven"; Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, "What I Am"; Bobby Brown, "Don't Be Cruel" and "My Prerogative"; James Brown, "I'm Real"; Belinda Carlisle, "Circle in the Sand," "Heaven Is a Place on Earth," and "I Get Weak"; Eric Carmen, "Hungry Eyes"; Rosanne Cash, "If You Could Change Your Mind"; Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car"; Cheap Trick, "The Flame"; Cher, "I Found Someone"; The Church, "Under the Milky Way"; Phil Collins, "Groovy Kind of Love"; D. J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, "Parents Just Don't Understand"; Terence Trent D'Arby, "Sign Your Name" and "Wishing Well"; Taylor Dayne, "Tell It to My Heart," "Prove Your Love," and "I'll Always Love You"; Def Leppard, "Love Bites" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me"; Depeche Mode, "Route 66"; E.U., "Da'Butt"; Erasure, "Chains of Love"; The Escape Club, "Wild Wild West"; Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, "1-2-3" and "Anything for You"; Exposé, "Seasons Change"; Samantha Fox, "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)"; Debbie Gibson, "Foolish Beat," "Out of the Blue," and "Shake Your Love"; Guns N' Roses, "Sweet Child O' Mine"; George Harrison, "Got My Mind Set on You"; Whitney Houston, "Where Do Broken Hearts Go," "One Moment in Time," and "So Emotional"; Ice-T, "Colors"; INXS, "Need You Tonight," "Devil Inside," "Never Tear Us Apart," and "New Sensation"; Michael Jackson, "Dirty Diana," "Man in the Mirror," and "The Way You Make Me Feel"; Jellybean, "Jingo (Remix)"; The Jets, "Make It Real" and "Rocket 2 U"; Elton John, "Candle in the Wind" and "I Don't Want to Go On with You Like That"; Johnny Kemp, "Just Got Paid"; Gladys Knight and the Pips, "Love Overboard"; L. L. Cool J, "I'm Goin Back to Cali"; M/A/R/R/S, "Pump Up the Volume"; Richard Marx, "Hold Onto the Nights"; Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry, Be Happy"; John Cougar Mellencamp, "Check It Out" and "Cherry Bomb"; George Michael, "Faith," "Father Figure," "Monkey," and "One More Try"; Midnight Oil, "Beds Are Burning"; New Edition, "If It Isn't Love"; New Kids On the Block, "Please Don't Go Girl"; Billy Ocean, "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car"; Robert Palmer, "Simply Irresistible"; Pebbles, "Girlfriend" and "Mercedes Boy"; Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield, "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"; Robert Plant, "Tall Cool One"; Prince, "Alphabet St." and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"; Psychedelic Furs, "All That Money Wants"; Brenda Russell featuring Joe Esposito, "Piano in the Dark"; Salt-N-Pepa, "Push It"; Salt-N-Pepa featuring E.U., "Shake Your Thang"; Siouxsie and the Banshees, "The Killing Jar" and "Peek-ABoo"; The Smithereens, "Only a Memory"; Al B. Sure!, "Nite and Day"; Patrick Swayze featuring Wendy Frazer, "She's Like the Wind"; Keith Sweat, "I Want Her"; Tiffany, "Could've Been"; U2, "Desire"; Van Halen, "Finish What Ya Started"; Whitesnake, "Is This Love"; Keith Whitley, "Don't Close Your Eyes"; Vanessa Williams, "The Right Stuff"; Steve Winwood, "Roll With It"; Stevie Wonder, "Skeletons"; Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens, "Streets of Bakersfield."

• Whitney Houston becomes the first recording artist in Billboard history to have four number one songs from a single album; only one month later Michael Jackson breaks this record with five number one singles from his Bad album.
• Religious fundamentalists picket Martin Scorsese's controversial movie The Last Temptation of Christ.
• Motown Records is sold to MCA and a Boston investment firm for $61 million.
• Total spending for cultural events ($3.4 billion) exceeds spending on spectator sports for the first time in American history.
• Picasso's Acrobat and Young Harlequin sells for $38.4 million, a record sum for a twentieth-century artist; Jasper Johns's False Starts sets an auction record for a living artist, $17 million.

2 Sept.

Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Tracy Chapman launch a benefit concert tour for Amnesty International

1989

Movies

Batman, directed by Tim Burton and starring Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and Kim Basinger; Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter; Born on the Fourth of July, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Cruise; Casualties of War, starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox; Crimes and Misdemeanors, directed by Woody Allen; Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams; Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee and starring Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, John Turturro, and Lee; Driving Miss Daisy, starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman; Drugstore Cowboy, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch; Enemies: A Love Story, starring Ron Silver, Lena Olin, and Anjelica Huston; The Fabulous Baker Boys, starring Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges, and Michelle Pfeiffer; Field of Dreams, starring Kevin Costner; Ghostbusters II, starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd; Glory, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman; Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, starring Rick Moranis; In Country, starring Bruce Willis; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, and River Phoenix; Look Who's Talking, starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley; National Lampoon s Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase; Parenthood, starring Steve Martin and Dianne Wiest; Say Anything, starring John Cusack; Scandal, starring Joanna WhalleyKilmer and John Hurt; sex, lies and videotape, starring James Spader and Andie MacDowell; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, starring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy; The War of the Roses, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner; When Harry Met Sally, starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

Fiction

Jimmy Buffett, Tales from Margaritaville; Tom Clancy, Clear and Present Danger; Mary Higgins Clark, While My Pretty One Sleeps; Stephen Coonts, Minotaur; Len Deighton, Spy Line; E. L. Doctorow, Billy Bathgate; Ken Follett, The Pillar of the Earth; John Grisham, A Time to Kill; Allan Gurganus, The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All; John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany; John Jakes, California Gold; Stephen King, The Dark Half; Dean R. Koontz, Midnight; Larry McMurtry, Some Can Whistle; James Michener, Caribbean; Belva Plain, Blessings; Lawrence Sanders, Capital Crimes; Martin Cruz Smith, Polar Star; Danielle Steel, Star; Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club; Alice Walker, The Temple of My Familiar.

Popular Songs

Paula Abdul, "Straight Up," "Forever Your Girl," and "Cold Hearted"; Aerosmith, "Love in an Elevator"; Art of Noise featuring Tom Jones, "Kiss"; Rick Astley, "She Wants to Dance With Me"; B-52's, "Love Shack"; Bee Gees, "One"; Clint Black, "Better Man" and "Killin' Time"; Bon Jovi, "I'll Be There For You"; Boy Meets Girl, "Waiting for a Star to Fall"; Bobby Brown, "Every Little Step," "On Our Own," and "Roni"; Belinda Carlisle, "Leave a Light On"; Cher, "If I Could Turn Back Time"; Cher and Peter Cetera, "After All"; Neneh Cherry, "Buffalo Stance" and "Kisses on the Wind"; Chicago, "Look Away"; Phil Collins, "Another Day in Paradise" and "Two Hearts"; Alice Cooper, "Poison"; Elvis Costello, "Veronica"; Cowboy Junkies, "Sweet Jane"; The Cult, "Fire Woman"; The Cure, "Love Song" and "Fascination Street"; Taylor Dayne, "Don't Rush Me"; De La Soul, "Me, Myself and I"; Fine Young Cannibals, "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing"; Lita Ford (duet with Ozzy Os-bourne), "Close My Eyes Forever"; Debbie Gibson, "Lost in Your Eyes" and "Electric Youth"; Great White, "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"; Guns N' Roses, "Paradise City," "Patience," and "Welcome to the Jungle"; Heavy D & The Boyz, "We Got Our Own Thang"; Highway 101, "Setting Me Up"; Hoodoo Gurus, "Come Anytime"; Janet Jackson, "Miss You Much" and "Rhythm Nation"; Michael Jackson, "Smooth Criminal"; Billy Joel, "We Didn't Start the Fire"; Kon Kan, "I Beg Your Pardon"; Kool Moe Dee, "They Want Money"; L. L. Cool J, 'Tm That Type of Guy"; K. D. Lang, "Pulling Back the Reins"; Living Colour, "Cult of Personality"; Love & Rockets, "So Alive"; Madonna, "Cherish," "Express Yourself," "Like a Prayer," and "Oh Father"; Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, "Tumblin' Down"; Maurice, "This Is Acid"; Bette Midler, "Wind Beneath My Wings"; Mike + The Mechanics, "The Living Years"; Milli Vanilli, "Baby Don't Forget My Number," "Blame It on the Rain," "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You," and "Girl You Know It's True"; Bob Mould, "See a Little Light"; New Kids on the Block, "You Got It (The Right Stuff)," "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)," and "Hangin' Tough"; New Order, "Fine Time"; Roy Orbison, "You Got It"; Donny Osmond, "Soldier of Love"; Tom Petty, "Free Fallin'," "I Won't Back Down/' and "Runnin' Down a Dream"; Pixies, "Here Comes Your Man"; Poison, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"; Prince, "Batdance"; Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"; Public Image Ltd., "Disappointed"; R.E.M., "Orange Crush" and "Stand"; The Replacements, "I11 Be You"; Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much"; Roxette, "The Look"; Skid Row, "18 and Life"; Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler, "Back to Life" and "Keep on Movin'"; Rod Stewart, "My Heart Can't Tell You No"; The Stop the Violence Movement, "Self-Destruction"; Donna Summer, "This Time I Know It's for Real"; Tears for Fears, "Sowing the Seeds of Love"; Technotronic, "Pump Up the Jam"; Tone Loc, "Funky Cold Medina" and "Wild Thing"; Traveling Wilburys, "End of the Line"; Conway Twitty, "She's Got a Single Thing in Mind"; Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, "Crossfire"; Warrant, "Heaven"; Karyn White, "Superwoman"; White Lion, "When the Children Cry"; Will to Power, "Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley"; XTC, "The Mayor of Simpleton"; Young M.C., "Bust a Move."

• A Picasso self-portrait sells for $47.85 million, a record sum for a twentieth-century work; later this year the record is broken by Picasso's Pierrette's Wedding, which fetches $51.3 million.
• Willem de Kooning's Interchange sells for $20.7 million, a record for a living artist.
• Movies gross a record $5 billion.
• Sony Corporation buys Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion.

5 Mar.

Amid controversy, artist Richard Serra's mammoth sculpture Tilted Arc is removed from Federal Plaza in New York.

30 Mar.

The Louvre in Paris adds a new entrance, a glass and metal pyramid designed by American architect I. M. Pei.

21 June

The original script for the movie classic Citizen Kane (1941) is sold at auction for $210,000.