1988 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

 1988 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1988:

• World Changing Event: The Morris worm was one of the first computer worms distributed via the Internet on November 2, 1988.
• The Top Song was Roll With It by Steve Winwood
• Influential Songs include: It Takes Two by Rob Base & E-Z Rock, Push It by Salt N Pepa, Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, and Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N Roses.
• The Movies to Watch include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Rain Man, Coming to America, Big, Die Hard, Beaches, Beetlejuice, Cocktail, and A Fish Called Wanda.
• People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive: John F. Kennedy, Jr.
• The Most Famous Person in America was probably Roseanne Barr
• Notable books include: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking and The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice, and Matilda by Roald Dahl
• Price of a Little Tykes Turtle Sandbox in 1988: $34.99
  Price of a movie ticket: $4.00
• The animated film The Land Before Time was executive produced by the legendary Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
• The Funny Guy was: Dennis Miller
  The Funny Lady: Roseanne Barr
• The Unexpected Celebrity Crossover: Michael Jackson’s 1988 autobiography Moonwalk was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

“The Quotes:”
“Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy”
– Lloyd Bentson to Dan Quayle

“Read my lips: no new taxes”
– Presidential Candidate George Bush

“Just do it”
-Nike

“It’s everywhere you want to be”
– Visa

“I’m not bad- I’m just drawn that way”
– Jessica Rabbit

The Scandals:
Television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was photographed in series of hook-ups with prostitutes.

Barbara Hershey had collagen injected into her lips, a new scandalous thing at the time. There was a false rumor that, while flying in an airplane, her lips swelled and blew up. 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 really 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 indicated 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.

Pop Culture News:
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.

Doppler radar was invented by Christian Andreas Doppler.

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 had a cameo appearance 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 concept of the “Designated Driver” into Pop Culture. The project was a huge success.

DC ran a phone poll asking viewers to vote whether or not Batman’s sidekick Robin should live or die in a storyline, a 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 just 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’s Die Hard. Dr. Hans Gruber was a character in the 1985 film Re-Animator.
Corporal Hans Gruber was also a character in the television series Combat! A different Hans Gruber was the antagonist in the 1966 film Our Man Flint.

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album was on the Billboard charts for a total of 741 consecutive weeks from 1973 to 1988.

Debbie Gibson became the youngest person to write, produce and sing a number-one single entirely on her own 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 Olympics games, but the tradition ended after Seoul in 1988. Several of the birds, instead of flying away, 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’s TV series Barney & Friends, Barney the Dinosaur starred in a direct-to-video series titled Barney and the Backyard Gang. 8 episodes of the series were produced between August 1988 and October 1991.

The Soviet Union became a bit 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 were afraid that 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 and 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 had 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 on 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 10 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 Superbowl 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 went on to lose 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 Airforce One in 1988.

Nobel Prize Winners:
Physics – Leon M. Lederman, Melvin Schwartz, Jack Steinberger
Chemistry – Johann Deisenhofer, Robert Huber, Hartmut Michel
Medicine – Sir James W. Black, Gertrude B. Elion*, George H. Hitchings
Literature – Naguib Mahfouz
Peace – The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces.
The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Maurice Allais

*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 having completed her Ph.D.

1988 Billboard Number One Songs:
December 12, 1987 – January 8, 1988:
Faith – George Michael

January 9 – Januray 15:
So Emotional – Whitney Houston

January 16 – January 22:
Got My Mind Set on You – George Harrison

January 23 – January 29:
The Way You Make Me Feel – Michael Jackson

January 30 – February 5:
Need You Tonight – INXS

February 6 – February 19:
Could’ve Been – Tiffany

February 20 – February 26:
Seasons Change – Exposé

February 27 – March 11:
Father Figure – George Michael

March 12 – March 20:
Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley

March 26 – April 8:
Man In The Mirror – Michael Jackson

April 9 – April 22:
Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car – Billy Ocean

April 23 – May 6:
Where Do Broken Hearts Go – Whitney Houston

May 7 – May 13:
Wishing Well – Terence Trent D’Arby

May 14 – May 27:
Anything For You – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine

May 28 – July 17:
One More Try – George Michael

June 18 – July 24:
Together Forever – Rick Astley

June 25 – July 1:
Foolish Beat – Debbie Gibson

July 2 – July 8:
Dirty Diana – Michael Jackson

July 9 – July 22:
The Flame – Cheap Trick

July 23 – July 29:
Hold On to The Nights – Richard Marx

July 30 – August 26:
Roll With It – Steve Winwood

August 27 – September 9:
Monkey – George Michael

September 10 – September 23:
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses

September 24 – October 7:
Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin

October 8 – October 14:
Love Bites – Def Leppard

October 15 – October 21:
Red Red Wine – UB40

October 22 – November 4:
Groovy Kind Of Love – Phil Collins

November 5 – November 11:
Kokomo – The Beach Boys

November 12 – November 18:
Wild, Wild West – The Escape Club

November 19 – December 2:
Bad Medicine – Bon Jovi

December 3 – December 9:
Baby, I Love Your Way – Will To Power

December 10 – December 23:
Look Away – Chicago

December 24, 1988- January 13, 1989:
Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Poison