Title: 1988 Content: 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was . ==Events== *February 13 – Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. He calls his new home "Neverland". *February 17 – A 12-year old Mötley Crüe fan in Florida is badly burned while trying to imitate a stunt in the band's "Live Wire" music video. The boy suffered burns over ten percent of his body. Mötley Crüe said the band's stunts should not be tried at home. *March 12 – Record producer Jimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album. *April 19 – Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono becomes Mayor of Palm Springs, California *May 1 – Citing the 1st Amendment, a judge drops all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy in which he called Powers a "creep". * June 14 - A small wildfire starts in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. It joins other fires. Eventually, over of Yellowstone burns before firefighters gain control in late September. *July 1 – Quartetto Cetra's last concert * August 20 - The Iran–Iraq War ends * September 16 – rapper Eazy-E releases his first album Eazy-Duz-It * November 1 – Bad Religion releases Suffer * Hurricane Gilbert strikes the Caribbean, Mexico and south Texas *November 24 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres *December 7 – A powerful earthquake kills nearly 25,000 people in Soviet Armenia *December 21 – A Pan-Am airplane explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing more than 270 people *Ankst music label founded *Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra *"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100. ==Births== *January 12 – Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer *February 20 – Rihanna, Barbadian singer *February 29 – Lena Gercke, German model *March 27 – Brenda Song, American actress and singer *April 27 – Lizzo, American musician *April 29 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian Professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks *May 5 – Adele, British singer *June 7 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor *July 14 – Conor McGregor, Irish boxer *July 16 – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer *August 25 – Alexandra Burke, British singer *October 15 – Mesut Oezil, German footballer *November 6 – Emma Stone, American actress *November 8 - Chris McNally, Canadian actor *November 19 – Patrick Kane, American professional ice hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks *November 25 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (d. 2010) *December 14 – Vanessa Hudgens, American actress == Deaths == === January === * January 3 – Rose Auslander, German poet (b. 1901) * January 3 – Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1905) * January 5 – Pete Maravich, basketball player (b. 1947) * January 7 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913) * January 11 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist (b. 1898) * January 13 – Chiang Ching-kuo, 3rd President of the Republic of China (b. 1910) * January 14 – Georgy Malenkov, 5th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1902) * January 15 – Seán MacBride, Irish Republican Army leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904) * January 16 – Ballard Berkeley, British actor (b. 1904) === February === *February 1 – Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975) * February 13 – John Curulewski, American guitarist (Styx) (b. 1950) * February 15 – Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918) === March === * March 7 – Divine, American actor and singer (b. 1945) * March 9 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 3rd Chancellor of Germany (b. 1904) * March 10 – Andy Gibb, singer (b. 1958) * March 10 – Phạm Hùng, Vietnamese prime minister (b. 1912) * March 31 – Sir William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908) === April === * April 12 – Alan Paton, South African author (b. 1903) * April 25 - Valerie Solanas, American author (b. 1936) === May === * May 8 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907) * May 11 – Kim Philby, British agent and spy (b. 1912) * May 14 – Willem Drees, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1886) * May 25 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906) === June === * June 7 - Vernon Washington, American actor (b. 1927) * June 11 – Giuseppe Saragat, 5th President of Italy (b. 1898) * June 25 – Hillel Slovak, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (b. 1962) === July === * July 25 – Judith Barsi, American child actress (b. 1978) === August === * August 2 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938) * August 10 – Arnulfo Arias, President of Panama (b. 1901) * August 14 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898) * August 17 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924) * August 20 – Lazarus Salii, President of Palau (b. 1937) * August 30 – Jack Marshall, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1912) === September === * September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911) * September 5 - Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913) * September 11 - Roger Hargreaves, English writer (b. 1934) * September 30 – Trường Chinh, former President of Vietnam (b. 1907) === October === * October 3 – Franz Josef Strauß, German politician (b. 1915) === November === * November 4 – Kleanthis Vikelidis, Greek footballer (b. 1916) * November 14 – Takeo Miki, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1907) * November 27 – Angela Aames, American actress (b. 1956) * November 27 – John Carradine, American actor (b. 1906) === December === * December 3 – Thawan Thamrongnawasawat, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1901) * December 4 – Osman Achmatowicz, Polish chemist (b. 1899) * December 6 – Roy Orbison, American singer (b. 1936) ==Nobel Prizes== * Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, and Jack Steinberger for their research on neutrinos * Nobel Prize in Chemistry shared by Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, and Hartmut Michel * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion, and George H. Hitchings * Nobel Prize in Literature won by Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian writer * Nobel Peace Prize won by The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces * Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences won by Maurice Allais, French economist ==Movies released== *The Accused, starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis *Big, directed by Penny Marshall and starring Tom Hanks *The Cat Came Back *Cocktail starring Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, and Elisabeth Shue *Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy *Die Hard *A Fish Called Wanda, nominated for three Academy Awards *The Great Outdoors *The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! *My Neighbor Totoro, an animated movie *Rain Man, winning 4 Academy Awards *Rambo III *Red Scorpion *Red Heat *The Thin Blue Line *Twins *Working Girl *Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, based on a novel by Gary K. Wolf *Willow, directed by Ron Howard *Young Guns, written by John Fusco ==Hit songs== *"1-2-3" – Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine *"Anything for You" – Gloria Estefan *"Don't Worry, Be Happy" – Bobby McFerrin *"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" – Poison *"Forever Young" – Rod Stewart *"Get Outta My Dreams (Get Into My Car)" – Billy Ocean *"Got My Mind Set On You" – George Harrison *"Heaven Is A Place On Earth" – Belinda Carlie *"I Get Weak" – Belinda Carlisle *"I Should Be So Lucky" – Kylie Minogue *"Is this Love" – Whitesnake *"Johnny B. Goode" – Judas Priest *"Kokomo" – The Beach Boys *"Lead Me On" – Amy Grant *"Look Away" – Chicago *"Man in the Mirror" – Michael Jackson *"Mountain Song" – Jane's Addiction *"Never Gonna Give You Up" – Rick Astley *"New Sensation" – INXS *"One More Try" – George Michael *"The Promise" – When In Rome *"Roll With It" – Steve Winwood *"Saved By Love" – Amy Grant *"Simply Irristable" – Robert Palmer *"Sweet Child O' Mine" – Guns N' Roses *"Tell It To My Heart" – Taylor Dayne *"Toy Soldiers" – Martika *"Theme from S-Express" – S-Express *"When You Put Your Heart In It" – Kenny Rogers ==New books== *Alaska – James A. Michener *The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho *Kiki: Reine de la Montparnasse – Lou Mollgaard *Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler *A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking *The Butcher – Alina Reyes *Cabal – Clive Barker *Candlelight Spells – Gerina Dunwich *The Cardinal of the Kremlin – Tom Clancy *Cat's Eye – Margaret Atwood *The Coming of the King – Nikolai Tolstoy *Curriculum (poems) – Grazyna Miller *The Dark Green Tunnel – Allan W. Eckert *The Fifth Child – Doris Lessing *Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch – Alanna Nash *The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker *The Icarus Agenda – Robert Ludlum *Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez *Matilda - Roald Dahl *Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga *Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey *The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks *A Ring of Conspirators: Henry James and his literary circle, 1895-1915 – Miranda Seymour *The Sands of Time – Sidney Sheldon *Scorpius – John Gardner *The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher *Sourcery – Terry Pratchett *Tapestry – Belva Plain *Til We Meet Again – Judith Krantz *The Toynbee Convector – Ray Bradbury *Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett *Zoya – Danielle Steel