 |
1988 Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryTable of Contents |
Quick Facts from 1988: |
|
Year of the DragonThe year of the dragon is one of the 12 years in the Chinese zodiac cycle. The dragon is the fifth animal in the cycle. |
Top Ten Baby Names of 1988:Jessica, Ashley, Amanda, Sarah, Jennifer, Michael, Chris, Topher, Matthew, Joshua, Andrew |
Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols:Elle Macpherson, Jessica Rabbit |
Hollywood Hunks and Leading Men:Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, Morrissey |
“The Quotes”“Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.” “Read my lips: no new taxes” “Just do it” “It’s everywhere you want to be.” “I’m not bad- I’m just drawn that way.” |
Time Magazine’s Planet of the Year:‘The Endangered’ Earth |
Miss America:Kaye Lani Rae Rafko (Monroe, MI) |
Miss USA:Courtney Gibbs (Texas) |
The Scandals:Television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was photographed in a series of hook-ups with prostitutes. Barbara Hershey had collagen injected into her lips, a new scandalous thing then. There was a false rumor that her lips swelled and blew up while flying in an airplane. We were so naive back then. The Morris Worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, was launched from MIT. Rob and Fab, Milli Vanilli’s frontmen, didn’t sing, although they were considered good-looking guys who could lip-sync rather well. They were also smooth stage dancers. The Lockerbie, Scotland airplane bombing, ordered by Libya, killed 270 people. The Four Tops, as well as Sex Pistol’s lead singer Johnny Rotten, were all scheduled to be on the Pan Am Flight 103. The Shroud of Turin had radiocarbon tests indicating that it was from the 13th or 14th century. It should be noted that it had been repaired, even though there had been a fire over the past 2000 (or 600) years. The Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of Lawn Darts in 1988 after the deaths of 3 children. The U.S.S. Vincennes accidentally shot down an Iranian civilian airliner, killing 290 people. |
1988 Pop Culture Facts & History:In 1988, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole called a studio at 3 am and asked if he could record because he had a good idea. The studio owner said yes even though he already closed the studio. 15 minutes later, he recorded Israel playing his ukulele and recorded What A Wonderful World/ Over the Rainbow in one take. In 1988, the Australian Parliament “borrowed” the original copy of the Australian Constitution from Britain (it was originally a British Act of Parliament) and has not given it back. Christian Andreas Doppler invented the Doppler radar. During Robert Bork’s (failed) Supreme Court nomination in 1987, his movie rental history was leaked to the press. This led to the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act. A $2500 fine can be given to a video rental service for disclosing your rental. Quentin Tarantino appeared as an Elvis impersonator in a 1988 episode of The Golden Girls. George Lucas gave a speech in 1988 to Congress about the need to protect films from being altered. “People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians.” #hanshotfirst #starwars In 1988, Harvard Medical School partnered with film and TV studios to insert the “Designated Driver” concept into Pop Culture. The project was a huge success. DC ran a phone poll asking viewers to vote on whether Batman’s sidekick, Robin, should live or die in a storyline, Death In The Family. 10,614 votes were tallied: 5,343 in favor of Robin’s death and 5,271 for his survival- a margin of 72 votes. Snapple lemon-flavored iced tea was distributed nationwide. The terrified expression on Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman)’s face in Die Hard is completely genuine as his stunt team dropped him on the count of 1 instead of the previously promised 3. Hans Gruber was the main antagonist in the 1988 film Die Hard. Dr. Hans Gruber was a character in the 1985 film Re-Animator. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album was on the Billboard charts for 741 consecutive weeks from 1973 to 1988. Debbie Gibson became the youngest person to write, produce, and sing a number-one single entirely independently when Foolish Beat reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1988. Doves were traditionally released during the opening ceremony of the Olympic games, but the tradition ended after Seoul in 1988. Instead of flying away, several birds settled on the cauldron housing the Olympic flame and were subsequently incinerated in front of the crowd when it was lit. In 1988, 13% of Americans surveyed thought the Moon was made of cheese. #wut George Harrison was the first and last Beatle to have a U.S. No.1 with My Sweet Lord in 1970 and Got My Mind Set on You in 1988. Before becoming a popular children’s character in the 1990 TV series Barney & Friends, Barney the Dinosaur starred in a direct-to-video series titled Barney and the Backyard Gang. 8 episodes were produced between August 1988 and October 1991. The Soviet Union became freer when Mikhail Gorbachov introduced ‘glasnost’ – allowing political expression and dissent. Some say that The Brave Little Toaster nearly took home the top award at the 1988 Sundance Film Festival, but the judges feared the festival would lose respect by picking a cartoon. (although it was a great cartoon) Table Tennis (Ping Pong) became an Olympic Sport. The Fog Bowl: The NFL game held December 31, 1988, between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears had a fog rollover so dense that the fans couldn’t see the players. The refs had to call what happened after every play because the players couldn’t even see the sidelines. The Bears won 20 to 12. Wrigley Field, Chicago, was the last baseball stadium to get floodlights. The Cubs’ first night game was on August 8, 1988. Duracell had a mascot called the Duracell Bunny that debuted several years before the Energizer Bunny. In 1988, Duracell’s trademark lapsed, and Duracell’s North American rival, Energizer, created the Energizer Bunny. Tennis Champion Steffi Graf is the first and only Golden Slam winner: four Grand Slams and an Olympic Gold in the same year, 1988 CDs out-sold vinyl records for the first time. The Never-Ending Tour is the unofficial name for Bob Dylan’s endless touring schedule since June 7, 1988. The last major album released in 8-track format was Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits in 1988. Seventh Generation’s nontoxic, environmentally safe household products began to be marketed. Cosmopolitan magazine ran an erroneous article stating that women had no chance of contracting HIV from sex with a man because HIV could not be transmitted in the missionary position. Pete Maravich, during an interview in 1974, said, “I don’t want to play ten years (in the NBA) and then die of a heart attack when I’m 40.” He died of a heart attack in 1988, at age 40, after a 10-year career in the NBA. Silly String is illegal in Marlborough, MA. It was banned in 1988 because so many kids sprayed pedestrians and vehicles during the Labor Day Parade. Cost of a Super Bowl ad in 1988: $645,000 |
Politics:Gary Hart, running for president in 1988, invited the media to follow him around after he was alleged to be a womanizer. He was quoted as saying, “Follow me around. I don’t care. I’m serious.” Members of the media complied, and he was caught having an affair with Donna Rice two weeks later. Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis tried to improve his image by having a photo op with an M1 Abrams tank. The image completely backfired, and he lost to George H.W. Bush. “Dukakis in the tank” remains shorthand for backfired public relations outings. Judge Douglas Ginsburg was nominated for the Supreme Court in 1988. He had to withdraw his nomination because it was revealed that he smoked pot when he was in college 18 years earlier. On Airforce One, limited edition packs of red, white, and blue colored M&M’s are given to guests instead of cigarette boxes. This was due to Nancy Reagan’s request to ban smoking on Air Force One in 1988. |
Doomsday Clock:6 minutes to midnight, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. |
Nobel Prize Winners:Physics – Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger *Pharmacologist and biochemist Gertrude Belle Elion helped develop drugs for treating leukemia, malaria, herpes, and AIDS. She shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine despite never completing her Ph.D. |
1st Appearances & 1988’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and Presents:Scattergories |
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1988:Alaska by James A. Michener |
Best Film Oscar Winner:The Last Emperor (presented in 1988) |
The Big Movies: (according to boxofficemojo)1. Rain Man |
| Broadway Show: The Phantom of the Opera (Musical) Opened on January 26, 1988 |
| East End Show: Blood Brothers (Musical) Opened on July 28, 1988, and closed on November 10, 2012 |
1988 Most Popular TV Shows:1. The Cosby Show (NBC) |
1988 Billboard Number One Songs:December 12, 1987 – January 8, 1988: January 9 – January 15: January 16 – January 22: January 23 – January 29: January 30 – February 5: February 6 – February 19: February 20 – February 26: February 27 – March 11: March 12 – March 20: March 26 – April 8: April 9 – April 22: April 23 – May 6: May 7 – May 13: May 14 – May 27: May 28 – July 17: June 18 – July 24: June 25 – July 1: July 2 – July 8: July 9 – July 22: July 23 – July 29: July 30 – August 26: August 27 – September 9: September 10 – September 23: September 24 – October 7: October 8 – October 14: October 15 – October 21: October 22 – November 4: November 5 – November 11: November 12 – November 18: November 19 – December 2: December 3 – December 9: December 10 – December 23: December 24, 1988- January 13, 1989: |
SportsWorld Series Champions: Los Angeles Dodgers |
More 1988 Facts and History Resources:Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com) |
