After a week of reflecting on January – July of 1987, we round things off this week by discussing August – December and try to shoehorn in as many tunes and memories as we can.
August – September
August saw the release of two of the year’s landmark albums in Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ and Def Leppard’s Hysteria.
MJ had not released an album since 1983’s historic ‘Thriller’ release and the world’s ears were ready for a followup. ‘Bad‘, released on August 31st went on to produce five number one singles in the USA; a record which has not been broken.
Def Leppard’s slickly-produced ‘Hysteria‘ album had smash hit after smash hit and would go on to sell over 20 million units.
Other notable releases from August of 1987 included albums by Metallica, Twisted Sister, and Aerosmith.
September spawned album releases by rock legends such as Pink Floyd, Motorhead, Rush, The Ramones, and KISS. While not all of these releases would go on to be big sellers, some amazing songs were overlooked by the general public.
October
The big news story of October of 1987 was the rescue of Baby Jessica. After falling down a well in Midland, Texas two days prior, emergency crews are able to save the young child in front of a national television audience.
Motley Crue attempted to release ‘You’re All I Need‘ as a single from the Girls, Girls, Girls album on October 19th but were shunned by MTV and radio due to the graphic nature of the lyrics. We take a listen to hear what the uproar was about.
Notable releases of October 1987 included albums by Alice Cooper, MSG, Sepultura, and the multi-million selling ‘Faith‘ album from George Michael after his split with Wham! (blech).
November – December
We finish things off with a discussion of the albums released in November and December including offerings from Black Sabbath, Anthrax, and two albums by Over Kill.
Also in this discussion we reflect on bands that were established in 1987 as well as those that called it quits before playing things out with a dreamy track from Dokken’s ‘Back for the Attack‘ album.
Buy Music!
Def Leppard
Michael Jackson
Metallica
Aerosmith
Midnight Oil
Pink Floyd
Motorhead
Lizzy Borden
Ramones
KISS
U2
MSG
Motley Crue
Over Kill
Warlock
Dokken
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