1987 in music

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See also:

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.
February 24 - Legendary radio personality Jim Connors dies in a fatal car crash.
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 second album Whitney becomes the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200
July 21 - Guns N' Roses release their debut album Appetite for Destruction
August 3 - Def Leppard release their 4th studio album Hysteria
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. The publication day of new charts is moved from Tuesday to Sunday.
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.
October 31 -The Zorros headline on the Halloween for the last ever show at the Crystal Ballroom, Saint Kilda Melbourne's premier Punk/ New Wave Venue. The Crystal Ballroom had seen almost ten years of intense Musical Evolution. The venue had Chandeliers, stained glass windows, paisley wallpaper and a tiled foyer.
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 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 Zant's little brother Johnny Van Zant as lead singer.
The Smiths disband after Guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr leaves the band.
Andreas Kisser replaces Jairo Guedes in Sepultura.

Bands formed

Bands Disbanded

Bands reformed

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Albums released

January

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
12	The House of Blue Light	Deep Purple	-
20	The Return of Bruno	Bruce Willis	-
26	Control: The Remixes	Janet Jackson	Europe; Remix
?	Warehouse: Songs and Stories	Hüsker Dü	double album
?	Famous Blue Raincoat	Jennifer Warnes	Leonard Cohen covers LP

February

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
2	Exposure	Exposé	-
	Midnight to Midnight	The Psychedelic Furs	UK
	The Cost of Loving	The Style Council	UK
17	Lee Aaron	Lee Aaron	-
23	The World Won't Listen	The Smiths	Compilation
?	Ready or Not	Lou Gramm	-
?	Up for a Bit with The Pastels	The Pastels	-

March

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
2	Trio	Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton	-
3	Criminal Minded	Boogie Down Productions	-
9	Wild Frontier	Gary Moore	-
	Men and Women	Simply Red	-
	The Joshua Tree	U2	-
17	Deathcrush	Mayhem	EP
19	Tribute	Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads	Live 1981
22	Among the Living	Anthrax	-
24	Into the Fire	Bryan Adams	-
30	The Circus	Erasure	UK
	Sign o' The Times	Prince	double album
	Louder Than Bombs	The Smiths	US, compilation
?	Locust Abortion Technician	Butthole Surfers	-
	Keeper of the Seven Keys Part 1	Helloween	-
	Running in the Family	Level 42	-
	Now That's What I Call Music 9 (UK series)	Various Artists	Compilation

April

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
1	Solitude Standing	Suzanne Vega	-
4	Whitesnake	Whitesnake	US
6	Electric	The Cult	-
13	Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town	Johnny Cash	-
	Tango in the Night	Fleetwood Mac	-
	F.L.M.	Mel and Kim	UK
16	The Perfect Prescription	Spacemen 3	-
17	Rock the House	DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince	-
21	Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)	Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers	-
23	The Ultra-Violence	Death Angel	-
27	Never Let Me Down	David Bowie	-
?	Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)	Happy Mondays	-
	Yo! Bum Rush the Show	Public Enemy	-
	Tell No Tales	TNT	-

May

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
5	Frehley's Comet	Ace Frehley	-
5	Pleased to Meet Me	The Replacements	-
11	Under the Sign of the Black Mark	Bathory	-
11	It's Better To Travel	Swing Out Sister	-
15	Girls, Girls, Girls	Mötley Crüe	-
20	Beverly Hills Cop II: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	Various Artists	Soundtrack
25	Scream Bloody Gore	Death	-
25	Bad Animals	Heart	-
26	Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me	The Cure	-

June

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
2	Let it Loose	Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine	-
6	Bad Animals	Heart	-
9	Contagious	Y&T	-
15	Abigail	King Diamond	-
15	Radio K.A.O.S.	Roger Waters	-
19	Sammy Hagar	Sammy Hagar	later re-titled I Never Said Goodbye
21	Pride	White Lion	-
25	Cleanse Fold and Manipulate	Skinny Puppy	-
22	Clutching at Straws	Marillion	-
29	Once Bitten...	Great White	-
30	La Bamba soundtrack	Los Lobos et al.	Soundtrack
30	Life	Neil Young & Crazy Horse	-
?	Classics Live II	Aerosmith	Live
	Sold	Boy George	-
	Whitney	Whitney Houston	-
	Priest...Live!	Judas Priest	Live
	1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?)	The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu	recalled over copyright violation claim
	Keel	Keel	-
	Bigger and Deffer	LL Cool J	-
	Sister	Sonic Youth	-

July

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
6	In the Dark	The Grateful Dead	-
6	Echo & the Bunnymen	Echo & the Bunnymen	-
7	Touch	Laura Branigan	-
	Paid in Full	Eric B. & Rakim	-
	Faster Pussycat	Faster Pussycat	-
	The Legacy	Testament	-
10	One Way Home	The Hooters	-
13	Introducing the Hardline According to...	Terence Trent D'Arby	UK
21	Dream Evil	Dio	-
	Appetite for Destruction	Guns N' Roses	-
	Who's That Girl soundtrack	Madonna et al.	Soundtrack
27	In My Tribe	10,000 Maniacs	-
27	Within the Realm of a Dying Sun	Dead Can Dance	-
?	Recently	Joan Baez	-
	You're Living All Over Me	Dinosaur Jr.	-
	Rhyme Pays	Ice T	-
	Strange Weather	Marianne Faithfull	-
	Scum	Napalm Death	-

August

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
3	Hysteria	Def Leppard	-
7	Hurricane Eyes	Loudness	Japan
17	Substance	New Order	-
18	Out of the Blue	Debbie Gibson	-
21	The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited	Metallica	Covers EP
21	Dirty Dancing soundtrack	Various Artists	Soundtrack
24	The Lonesome Jubilee	John Mellencamp	-
25	Permanent Vacation	Aerosmith	-
31	Bad	Michael Jackson	-
?	White Fields	The Escape Club	-
	Jane's Addiction	Jane's Addiction	Live
	Diesel and Dust	Midnight Oil	-

September

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
1	Go On...	Mr. Mister	-
1	Document	R.E.M.	-
5	Rock 'n' Roll	Motörhead	-
7	Actually	Pet Shop Boys	-
7	Islands	Mike Oldfield	-
8	A Momentary Lapse of Reason	Pink Floyd	UK
8	Hold Your Fire	Rush	-
9	Earth, Sun, Moon	Love and Rockets	-
11	Crest of a Knave	Jethro Tull	-
11	Together Again	The Temptations	-
14	Introduce Yourself	Faith No More	-
14	Primitive Cool	Mick Jagger	-
15	Halfway to Sanity	Ramones	-
15	Tiffany	Tiffany	-
16	Visual Lies	Lizzy Borden	-
17	London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 2	Frank Zappa	-
18	Crazy Nights	Kiss	-
21	Piledriver - The Wrestling Album II	World Wrestling Federation	-
22	Man of Colours	Icehouse	Australia
28	Music for the Masses	Depeche Mode	-
	Strangeways, Here We Come	The Smiths	-
	Big Generator	Yes	-
29	The Uplift Mofo Party Plan	Red Hot Chili Peppers	-
?	Wow!	Bananarama	-
	Between The Lines	Five Star	-
	Wild in the Streets	Helix	-
	Darklands	The Jesus and Mary Chain	-
	Poetic Champions Compose	Van Morrison	-
	Hall of the Mountain King	Savatage	-
	All Systems Go	Donna Summer	-
	Popped In Souled Out	Wet Wet Wet	UK

October

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
5	Heaven on Earth	Belinda Carlisle	-
	Raise Your Fist and Yell	Alice Cooper	-
	Introducing the Hardline According to...	Terence Trent D'Arby	US
7	Pleasures of the Flesh	Exodus	-
9	Tunnel of Love	Bruce Springsteen	-
13	...Nothing Like the Sun	Sting	-
19	Kick	INXS	-
26	Live at Wembley	Meat Loaf	UK; Live
30	Faith	George Michael	-
30	Schizophrenia	Sepultura	-
?	Raising Fear	Armored Saint	EP
	Perfect Timing	McAuley Schenker Group	-
	Pop Goes the World	Men Without Hats	-
	Come on Pilgrim	Pixies	EP
	Surfing With the Alien	Joe Satriani	-
	A Very Special Christmas	Various Artists	-

November

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
2	Cloud Nine	George Harrison	-
	All the Best!	Paul McCartney	Greatest Hits
	Don't Let's Start (EP)	They Might Be Giants	EP
3	Cher	Cher	-
4	The Lion and the Cobra	Sinéad O'Connor	-
6	How Ya Like Me Now	Kool Moe Dee	-
	N.W.A. and the Posse	N.W.A.	Compilation "debut"
	Less Than Zero soundtrack	Various Artists	Soundtrack
	Characters	Stevie Wonder	-
7	Secrets of the Beehive	David Sylvian	-
7	Calm Before the Storm	Venom	-
9	Nightfall	Candlemass	-
9	Savage	Eurythmics	UK
13	Floodland	The Sisters of Mercy	-
16	Whenever You Need Somebody	Rick Astley	-
16	The Eternal Idol	Black Sabbath	-
17	Back for the Attack	Dokken	-
17	You Can Dance	Madonna	Remix
24	Make It Last Forever	Keith Sweat	-
26	Live...In the Raw	W.A.S.P.	Live
?	I'm the Man	Anthrax	EP
	The Princess Bride Soundtrack	Mark Knopfler	Soundtrack
	Surveillance	Triumph	-
	Now That's What I Call Music 10 (UK series)	Various Artists	Compilation

December

Day	Album	Artist	Notes
1	Persecution Mania	Sodom	-
4	Inside Information	Foreigner	-
?	Sinitta!	Sinitta	UK
?	The Old Masters Box Three	Frank Zappa	Box Set

Alphabet City - ABC
Strength of Steel - Anvil
Jackomo - Little Annie Anxiety Bandez
Daddy's Highway - The Bats
Bennett/Berlin - Tony Bennett
Career of Evil: The Metal Years - Blue Öyster Cult
Speed Metal Symphony - Cacophony
Secrets Of Synthesis - Wendy Carlos
King's Record Shop - Rosanne Cash
Brave Words - The Chills
Saint Julian - Julian Cope
Dawn - Current 93
The Best Of Dalida, Vol. 2 - Dalida (compilation)
Aus Liebe weint man nicht - Die Flippers
Weihnachten mit den Flippers - Die Flippers
Silence - Stephan Eicher
The Blanton-Webster Years - Duke Ellington
Menjaring Matahari - Ebiet G. Ade
Death Before Dishonour - The Exploited
Poem of the River - Felt
Bombay City - Remo Fernandez
One Night Stand - Flamin' Groovies
Official Version - Front 242
The Initial Command - Front Line Assembly
State of Mind - Front Line Assembly
Funhouse - Funhouse
Tallulah - The Go-Betweens
Rock You To Hell - Grim Reaper (final album)
2X4 - Guadalcanal Diary)
Music to Strip By - Half Japanese
Bring the Family - John Hiatt
Get Close To My Love - Jennifer Holliday
A More Perfect Union - Icon
Akwaba Beach - Mory Kanté
Too Late To Cry - Alison Krauss
Shaka Zulu - Ladysmith Black Mambazo
By the Light of the Moon - Los Lobos
Diminuendo - Lowlife
Lubricated Goat Plays the Devil's Music (debut) - Lubricated Goat
Immaculate Deception - Ludichrist
Fighting the World - Manowar
Huevos - Meat Puppets
Gluey Porch Treatments - The Melvins
Stereoland - The Modern Art
Pool It! - The Monkees
Escape From Noise - Negativland
In Dreams: The Greatest Hits - Roy Orbison
Taking Over - Overkill
Signs of Life - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Maggots: The Record - Plasmatics
Buster Poindexter - Buster Poindexter
Right Now! - Pussy Galore
The Cowboy Way - 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
The Walking - Jane Siberry
Coming Around Again - Carly Simon
Brenda K. Starr - Brenda K. Starr
Mark Stewart - Mark Stewart
Join the Army - Suicidal Tendencies
Tribe - Bernie Taupin
Never Again - TexA.N.S.
Bridge of Spies - T'Pau
Calenture - The Triffids
Love Is for Suckers - Twisted Sister (final album)
To the Power of Three - 3
Bird Dog - The Verlaines
Triumph And Agony - Warlock (final album)
Whitecross - Whitecross
Live At The Ritz - Ronnie Wood & Bo Diddley
Starting Up - Roy Wood
Out of Silence - Yanni
The Young Gods - The Young Gods
3.V - Zebra

Biggest hit singles

The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1987.

#	Artist	Title	Year	Chart Entries
1	Los Lobos	La Bamba	1987	UK 1 - Jul 1987, US BB 1 - Jul 1987, Switzerland 1 - Aug 1987, Italy 1 of 1987, Éire 1 - Jul 1987, New Zealand 1 for 7 weeks Aug 1987, Australia 1 for 7 weeks Apr 1988, Holland 2 - Aug 1987, Australia 2 of 1987, Austria 4 - Oct 1987, Norway 4 - Aug 1987, US BB 8 of 1987, POP 8 of 1987, Germany 9 - Aug 1987, US CashBox 11 of 1987, Sweden 12 - Aug 1987, Poland 17 - Sep 1987, South Africa 17 of 1987, Scrobulate 75 of Latin, KROQ 81 of 1987, RYM 116 of 1987, Party 227 of 1999, Acclaimed 2050
2	Rick Astley	Never Gonna Give You Up	1987	UK 1 - Aug 1987, US BB 1 - Jan 1988, Holland 1 - Sep 1987, France 1 - Aug 1987, Norway 1 - Oct 1987, Germany 1 - Sep 1987, New Zealand 1 for 1 weeks Feb 1988, Australia 1 for 7 weeks Jun 1988, South Africa 1 of 1988, US CashBox 2 of 1988, Switzerland 2 - Sep 1987, Sweden 3 - Sep 1987, Austria 4 - Nov 1987, Australia 5 of 1988, Italy 13 of 1987, US BB 34 of 1988, POP 61 of 1988, Germany 140 of the 1980s, OzNet 765
3	Whitney Houston	I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)	1987	UK 1 - May 1987, US BB 1 - May 1987, Holland 1 - May 1987, Switzerland 1 - May 1987, Norway 1 - May 1987, Germany 1 - May 1987, New Zealand 1 for 4 weeks Jun 1987, Australia 1 for 5 weeks Jan 1988, US CashBox 2 of 1987, Sweden 2 - May 1987, Austria 3 - Jun 1987, Poland 4 - Jun 1987, South Africa 4 of 1987, France 10 - Jun 1987, Italy 10 of 1987, Australia 11 of 1987, POP 22 of 1987, Germany 67 of the 1980s
4	The Pet Shop Boys	It's a Sin	1987	UK 1 - Jun 1987, Sweden 1 - Aug 1987, Austria 1 - Aug 1987, Switzerland 1 - Jul 1987, Norway 1 - Jul 1987, Poland 1 - Jul 1987, Germany 1 - Jul 1987, Éire 1 - Jul 1987, Holland 3 - Jul 1987, France 5 - Jun 1987, US BB 9 - Sep 1987, South Africa 18 of 1987, Italy 21 of 1987, KROQ 27 of 1987, RYM 34 of 1987, Germany 94 of the 1980s, Acclaimed 1308
5	U2	With or Without You	1987	US BB 1 - Apr 1987, Poland 1 - Mar 1987, Éire 1 - Apr 1987, Holland 2 - Mar 1987, UK 4 - Mar 1987, Sweden 5 - Apr 1987, Europe 5 of the 1980s, RYM 6 of 1987, Germany 7 - Apr 1987, KROQ 9 of 1987, Switzerland 10 - Apr 1987, POP 10 of 1987, US CashBox 12 of 1987, US BB 14 of 1987, Poland 14 of all time, Austria 15 - Jun 1987, Belgium 24 of all time, OzNet 44, TheQ 47, Scrobulate 93 of rock, WXPN 116, Rolling Stone 131, Party 168 of 2007, Acclaimed 309