1987 in music

 

Contents   1 Events 2 Bands formed 3 Bands Disbanded 4 Bands reformed 5 Albums released 6 Top hits on record 7 Other Singles 8 Published popular music 9 Classical music 10 Opera 11 Musical theater 12 Births 13 Deaths 14 Awards 14.1 Grammy Awards 14.2 Country Music Association Awards 14.3 Eurovision Song Contest 15 Charts 15.1 List of No. 1 Hits

Events

• January 3 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• January 16 - The Beastie Boys become the first act to be censored by American Bandstand.
• January - Steve "Silk" Hurley's innovative "Jack Your Body" becomes the first house music record to top the UK singles chart.
• February 6 - Sonny Bono announces his candidacy for mayor of Palm Springs, California
• February 14–March 7 - Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" is the #1 song. It would be 1987's biggest hit song.
• March 7 - The first five Beatles albums, Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale and Help! are released on Compact disc. Capitol Records decides to release the original UK mixes of the Beatles albums, which means that the first four CDs are released in mono. This marks the first time that many of these mono mixes were available in the US.
• March 9 - Carole King is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City; The career that would end in an infamous appearance at The Brit awards and the burning of a million pounds began in Britain, as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu released their debut single, "All You Need Is Love". Their debut album, 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), would follow in June.
• March 13 - Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Alice Cooper almost dies on stage when one of the props, the Gallows, malfunctions
• March 13 - In the US, Bryan Adams' "Heat of the Night" becomes the first single to be commercially released on cassette. Cassette singles become known as cassingles.
• March 27 - Inspired by The Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert, U2 shoots a music video for the song "Where the Streets Have No Name" on a rooftop in Los Angeles, California
• April 23 - Carole King sues the owner of her record company, Lou Adler, claiming that she is owed more than $400,000 in royalties. King also asks for rights to her old recordings.
• June 14 - Madonna starts her Who's That Girl Tour in Osaka, Japan.
• June 27 - Whitney Houston's sophomore album Whitney becomes the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200
• September 6 - Madonna ends her Who's That Girl Tour in Florence, Italy.
• September 25 - Matthew Garrison Chapman is born as the first child of Amy Grant and Gary Chapman. Lead Me On, Amy's 1988 album, is said to have been dedicated to Matt
• October - electronic data gathering completely replaces the old sales diary technique in compiling the UK singles and albums chart
• October 12 - Twisted Sister breaks up - they would not reunite until the end of the 1990s.
• October 19 - Mötley Crüe release the song "You're All I Need" as a single. Its lyrics cause MTV to refuse to play its video. Radio stations never play the song either.
• October 19 - English cellist, Jacqueline du Pre dies at the age of 42.
• November 13 - Sonny and Cher reunite for a performance on Late Night with David Letterman
• December 23 - Nikki Sixx of the rock band Mötley Crüe suffered a lethal heroin overdose, but was revived shortly thereafter.
• Social Distortion returns to record Prison Bound
• Winger signs to Atlantic Records
• Kylie Minogue's recording career begins, when her cover version of the Little Eva hit The Loco-Motion spends seven weeks at number one in her native Australia and leads to a contract with UK based record producers Stock Aitken Waterman.
• Lynyrd Skynyrd reforms and now has Ronnie Van Zants little brother Johnny Van Zant as lead singer.

Bands formed

• Alice in Chains
• BaBe
• Burzum
• Cheater Slicks
• Danzig
• Fugazi
• Gin Blossoms
• Jane's Addiction
• Mr. Big
• Nirvana
• Paul Oakenfold
• Poster Children
• Public Enemy
• Tori Amos
• X Japan

Bands Disbanded

• Twisted Sister
• Warlock
• Grim Reaper
• Hüsker Dü
• The Smiths
• Wham!
• Zebra

Bands reformed

• Lynyrd Skynyrd

Albums released

In alphabetical order by artist/band -

• Compilation - Accept
• Into the Fire - Bryan Adams
• Classics Live II - Aerosmith
• Permanent Vacation - Aerosmith
• Among the Living - Anthrax
• I'm the Man EP - Anthrax
• Strength of Steel - Anvil
• Jackomo - Little Annie Anxiety Bandez
• Raising Fear - Armored Saint
• Eternal Idol - Black Sabbath
• Career of Evil: The Metal Years - Blue Öyster Cult
• Terror Rising EP - Lizzy Borden
• Visual Lies - Lizzy Borden
• Never Let Me Down - David Bowie
• Touch - Laura Branigan
• Locust Abortion Technician - Butthole Surfers
• Speed Metal Symphony - Cacophony
• Heaven on Earth - Belinda Carlisle
• Secrets Of Synthesis - Wendy Carlos
• King's Record Shop - Rosanne Cash
• Raise Your Fist and Yell - Alice Cooper
• Best Before 1984 - Crass
• Electric - The Cult
• Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - The Cure
• The Best Of Dalida, Vol. 2 - Dalida (compilation)
• Scream Bloody Gore - Death (debut)
• Hysteria - Def Leppard
• Music for the Masses - Depeche Mode
• Aus Liebe weint man nicht - Die Flippers
• Weihnachten mit den Flippers - Die Flippers
• You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr.
• Dream Evil - Dio
• Back For the Attack - Dokken
• Silence - Stephan Eicher
• The Blanton-Webster Years - Duke Ellington
• Menjaring Matahari - Ebiet G. Ade
• The Circus - Erasure
• Paid in Full - Eric B. & Rakim
• White Fields - The Escape Club (debut)
• Death Before Dishonour - The Exploited
• Exposure - Exposé
• Introduce Yourself - Faith No More
• Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat
• Bombay City - Remo Fernandez
• Between The Lines - Five Star
• One Night Stand - Flamin' Groovies
• Tango in the Night - Fleetwood Mac
• Frehley's Comet - Frehley's Comet
• Official Version - Front 242
• Funhouse - Funhouse
• Tallulah - The Go-Betweens
• In The Dark - Grateful Dead
• Once Bitten... - Great White
• Rock You To Hell - Grim Reaper (final album)
• 2X4 - Guadalcanal Diary
• Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses (debut)
• I Never Said Goodbye - Sammy Hagar
• Music to Strip By - Half Japanese
• Bad Animals - Heart
• Wild In The Streets - Helix
• Bring the Family - John Hiatt
• Get Close To My Love - Jennifer Holliday
• Warehouse: Songs and Stories - Hüsker Dü (final album)
• Rhyme Pays - Ice-T (debut)
• A More Perfect Union - Icon
• Kick - INXS
• Bad - Michael Jackson
• Jane's Addiction - Jane's Addiction
• Crest of a Knave - Jethro Tull
• Priest... Live! - Judas Priest
• 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) - The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. Subsequently destroyed after copyright infringement claim.
• Akwaba Beach - Mory Kanté
• Keel - Keel
• Abigail - King Diamond
• Crazy Nights - KISS
• Too Late To Cry - Alison Krauss
• Shaka Zulu - Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• Trio - Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton
• Running in the Family - Level 42
• Bigger and Deffer - LL Cool J
• By the Light of the Moon - Los Lobos
• Ready or Not - solo debut album of Foreigner lead vocalist Lou Gramm
• Hurricane Eyes - Loudness
• Diminuendo - Lowlife
• Lubricated Goat Plays the Devil's Music (debut) - Lubricated Goat
• Immaculate Deception - Ludichrist
• You Can Dance - Madonna
• Strange Weather - Marianne Faithfull
• Clutching at Straws - Marillion
• Deathcrush - Mayhem
• Perfect Timing - McAuley-Schenker Group (first release after Robin McAuley joined and they changed their name)
• Huevos - Meat Puppets
• Gluey Porch Treatments - The Melvins
• (The $5.98 EP) Garage Days Re-Revisited - Metallica
• Faith - George Michael
• Diesel and Dust - Midnight Oil
• Go On... - Mr. Mister
• Stereoland - The Modern Art
• Pool It! - The Monkees
• Poetic Champions Compose - Van Morrison
• Girls, Girls, Girls - Mötley Crüe
• Rock 'n' Roll - Motörhead
• Escape From Noise - Negativland
• Substance - New Order
• Tritonian Nash-Vegas Polyester Complex - No Trend
• Dirty Dancing - Original Soundtrack
• In Dreams: The Greatest Hits - Roy Orbison
• Tribute - Ozzy Osbourne
• Taking Over - Overkill
• Power Metal - Pantera
• Trio (album) - Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt
• Signs of Life - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
• Actually - Pet Shop Boys
• Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
• A Momentary Lapse of Reason - Pink Floyd
• Come On Pilgrim - Pixies (debut)
• Buster Poindexter - Buster Poindexter
• Sign 'O' The Times - Prince
• Yo! Bum Rush the Show - Public Enemy
• Right Now! - Pussy Galore
• Halfway to Sanity - The Ramones
• Document - R.E.M.
• Pleased to Meet Me - The Replacements
• The Cowboy Way (album) - Riders in the Sky
• Saddle Pals - Riders in the Sky
• Best of the West - Riders in the Sky
• Kane Roberts - Kane Roberts (former Alice Cooper guitarist's solo debut)
• I Prefer The Moonlight - Kenny Rogers
• Stinkfist - Clint Ruin and Lydia Lunch
• Hold Your Fire - Rush
• Surfing With the Alien - Joe Satriani
• Hall of the Mountain King - Savatage
• The Walking - Jane Siberry
• Coming Around Again - Carly Simon
• Floodland - The Sisters of Mercy
• Cleanse Fold and Manipulate - Skinny Puppy
• The World Won't Listen - The Smiths (February, compilation)
• Louder than Bombs - The Smiths (March (U.S.)/May (U.K.), compilation)
• Strangeways, Here We Come - The Smiths (September, final studio album)
• The Perfect Prescription - Spaceman 3
• Sister - Sonic Youth
• Join the Army - Suicidal Tendencies
• Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen
• Brenda K. Starr - Brenda K. Starr
• ...Nothing Like the Sun - Sting
• All Systems Go - Donna Summer
• It's Better To Travel - Swing Out Sister
• Make It Last Forever - Keith Sweat
• In My Tribe - 10,000 Maniacs
• The Legacy - Testament (debut)
• Never Again - TexA.N.S.
• Tiffany - Tiffany
• Introducing the Hardline According to... - Terence Trent D'Arby
• Bridge of Spies - T'Pau
• Always & Forever - Randy Travis
• Love Is for Suckers - Twisted Sister (final album)
• The Joshua Tree - U2
• To the Power of Three - 3
• Calm Before The Storm - Venom
• Live...In the Raw - W.A.S.P.
• Live...Animal EP W.A.S.P.
• Triumph And Agony - Warlock (final album)
• Radio K.A.O.S. - Roger Waters
• Whitecross - Whitecross
• Pride - White Lion (2nd album, major label (Atlantic Records) debut)
• Whitesnake - Whitesnake
• Characters - Stevie Wonder
• Starting Up - Roy Wood
• Contagious - Y&T
• Out of Silence - Yanni
• The Young Gods - The Young Gods
• 3.V - Zebra
• Tattooed Beat Messiah - Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction

Top hits on record

• "Alone" - Heart
• "Angel" - Angela Winbush
• "At This Moment" - Billy Vera and the Beaters
• "Back In the High Life Again" - Steve Winwood
• "Bad" - Michael Jackson
• "Ballerina Girl" - Lionel Richie
• "Big Love" - Fleetwood Mac
• "Im Nin'Alu" - Ofra Haza
• "Big Time" - Peter Gabriel
• "Can't We Try" - Dan Hill & Vonda Shepard
• "Casanova" - Levert
• "Causing a Commotion" - Madonna
• "C'est La Vie" - Robbie Nevil
• "Change of Heart" - Cyndi Lauper
• "Come Go with Me" - Exposé
• "Control" - Janet Jackson
• "Cross My Broken Heart" - The Jets
• "Didn't We Almost Have It All" - Whitney Houston
• "Doing It All For My Baby" - Huey Lewis & The News
• "Don't Dream It's Over" - Crowded House
• "Don't Mean Nothing" - Richard Marx
• "Every Little Kiss" - Bruce Hornsby and the Range
• "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" - Wang Chung
• "Faith" - George Michael
• "Hazy Shade of Winter" - The Bangles
• "Head To Toe" - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
• "Heat of the Night" - Bryan Adams
• "Here I Go Again" - Whitesnake
• "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" - Belinda Carlisle
• "I Found Someone" - Cher
• "I Heard a Rumour" - Bananarama
• "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" - Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
• "(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight" - Cutting Crew
• "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me" - Aretha Franklin & George Michael
• "I Know What I Like" - Huey Lewis & The News
• "I Need Love" - LL Cool J
• "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" - U2
• "I Think We're Alone Now" - Tiffany
• "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" - Whitney Houston
• "I Want Your Sex" - George Michael
• "In Too Deep" - Genesis
• "Is This Love" - Whitesnake
• "Jacob's Ladder" - Huey Lewis and the News
• "Just to See Her" - Smokey Robinson
• "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" - Georgia Satellites
• "Kiss Him Goodbye" - The Nylons
• "La Bamba" - Los Lobos
• "La Isla Bonita" - Madonna
• "Land of Confusion" - Genesis
• "Lean on Me" - Club Nouveau
• "Let's Go" - Wang Chung
• "Let Me Be the One" - Exposé
• "Let's Wait Awhile" - Janet Jackson
• "Livin' On a Prayer" - Bon Jovi
• "Looking for a New Love" - Jody Watley
• "Lost In Emotion" - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
• "Love You Down" - Ready for the World
• "Luka" - Suzanne Vega
• "Mandolin Rain" - Bruce Hornsby and The Range
• "Midnight Blue" - Lou Gramm
• "Mony Mony" - Billy Idol
• "Need You Tonight" - INXS
• "Never Gonna Give You Up" - Rick Astley
• "No One In the World" - Anita Baker
• "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" - Starship
• "Notorious" - Duran Duran
• "One Heartbeat" - Smokey Robinson
• "Only in My Dreams" - Debbie Gibson
• "Open Your Heart" - Madonna
• "Paper In Fire" - John Cougar Mellencamp
• "The Pleasure Principle" - Janet Jackson
• "Point of No Return" - Exposé
• "The Power of Love" - Laura Branigan
• "Respect Yourself" - Bruce Willis
• "Rock Steady" - The Whispers
• "Rhythm Is Going to Get You" - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
• "Shake You Down" - Gregory Abbott
• "Shake Your Love" - Debbie Gibson
• "Shakedown" - Bob Seger
• "Someday" - Glass Tiger
• "Songbird" - Kenny G
• "Somewhere Out There" - Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
• "Stone Love" - Kool & the Gang
• "Strangelove" - Depeche Mode
• "The Final Countdown" - Europe
• "The Finer Things" - Steve Winwood
• "The Way It Is" - Bruce Hornsby and the Range
• "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" - Genesis
• "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" - Samantha Fox
• "U Got The Look" - Prince and Sheena Easton
• "Victory" - Kool & the Gang
• "Wanted Dead or Alive" - Bon Jovi
• "Walk Like An Egyptian" - The Bangles
• "Walking Down Your Street" - The Bangles
• "War" - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
• "We're Ready" - Boston
• "What's Going On" - Cyndi Lauper
• "Where the Streets Have No Name" - U2
• "Who Will You Run To?" - Heart
• "Who's That Girl" - Madonna
• "Will You Still Love Me" - Chicago
• "With or Without You" - U2
• "You Got It All" - The Jets
• "You Keep Me Hanging On" - Kim Wilde

Other Singles

• "Shattered Glass" - Laura Branigan
• "Somebody Save Me" - Cinderella
• "Freedom" - Alice Cooper
• "Why Can't I Be You?" - The Cure
• "Just Like Heaven" - The Cure
• "Pour en arriver là" - Dalida
• "Les hommes de ma vie" - Dalida
• "Behind the Wheel" - Depeche Mode
• "Never Let Me Down Again" - Depeche Mode
• "Strangelove" - Depeche Mode
• "Midnight Blue" - Lou Gramm
• "Bring Him Back Home" - Hugh Masekela
• "Beds Are Burning" - Midnight Oil
• "True Faith" - New Order
• "In The Dutch Mountains" - The Nits
• "You Can Call Me Al" - Paul Simon
• "We Connect"- Stacey Q.
• "Free" - Stryper
• "Something inside so strong" - Labi Siffre
• "China in your hand" - T'Pau
• "Hot Love" - Twisted Sister
• "Wait" - White Lion
• "Sugar Free" - WaWaNee

Published popular music

• "Children Will Listen"     w.m. Stephen Sondheim
• "The Time Of My Life"     w.m. Franke Previte, Donald Markowitz & John DeNicola

Classical music

• Mario Davidovsky - Quartetto for flute, violin, viola and violoncello
• Philip Feeney - Mémoire Imaginaire (ballet)
• Malcolm Forsyth - Songs from the Qu'appelle Valley
• Juan Maria Solare - Doce variaciones 1987 (for piano)
• Joan Tower - Fanfare for the uncommon woman no 1

Opera

• John Adams - Nixon in China
• Friedrich Cerha - Der Rattenfänger (The Pied Piper)
• Michael Nyman - Vital Statistics
• Judith Weir - A Night at the Chinese Opera

Musical theater

• Anything Goes - Broadway revival
• Bless the Bride - London revival
• Cabaret (Kander and Ebb) - Broadway revival
• Dreamgirls - Broadway revival
• Into the Woods - Broadway production
• Les Misérables - Broadway production
• Oil City Symphony - Broadway production
• Starlight Express (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe) - Broadway production

Births

• January 27 - Katy Rose
• January 27 - Ashley Perez Moza
• February 12 - O'Ryan
• March 9 - Bow Wow
• April 9 - Jesse McCartney
• April 10 - Hayley Westenra
• April 11 - Joss Stone
• April 30 - Nikki Webster
• June 16 - Diana DeGarmo
• September 7 - Evan Rachel Wood, Actress
• September 26 - Rosie Munter
• September 28 - Hilary Duff
• September 28 - Chloe Hanslip, violinist

Deaths

• January 10 - Marion Hutton, singer and actress
• January 15 - Ray Bolger, actor, of cancer
• February 4 - Liberace, US pianist
• March 3 - Danny Kaye, actor, singer, dancer and comedian
• March 15 - Don Gant, singer/songwriter, record producer
• March 21 - Dean Paul Martin, singer and actor
• March 21 - Robert Preston, star of The Music Man, Mame, etc.
• March 28 - Maria von Trapp, subject of The Sound of Music
• April 2 - Buddy Rich, brain tumor
• April 7 - Maxine Sullivan, US singer
• May 2 - Larry Clinton - US bandleader and songwriter
• May 3 - Dalida commits suicide
• May 4 - Paul Butterfield, drug overdose
• May 11 - Peter Tosh is murdered
• May 14 - Rita Hayworth, dancer and film star
• May 24 - Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
• June 3 - Andrés Segovia, guitar virtuoso
• June 18 - Kid Thomas Valentine, jazz trumpeter & bandleader
• June 22 - Fred Astaire, dancer, actor and singer
• June 25 - Boudleaux Bryant, Hall of Fame songwriter
• July 1 - Snakefinger, guitarist
• August 14 - Vincent Persichetti, composer
• September 21- Jaco Pastorius, jazz bassist
• September 23 - Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer and director of musicals
• October 19 - Jacqueline Du Pré, English cellist
• October 28 - Woody Herman, US bandleader
• December 10 - Jascha Heifetz, violinist
• 18 December - Conny Plank, record producer

Grammy Awards

• Grammy Awards of 1987

Eurovision Song Contest

• Eurovision Song Contest 1987

List of No. 1 Hits

• Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1987