1987

Talk about your study in contrasts: Topping our '87 playlist is the contender for Most Serious Band of All Time, U2, followed up by the clown princes of rap, the Beastie Boys. That same year, Michael Jackson decked himself out in leather for [i]Bad[/i], while Madonna decked herself out in lace for [i]Who's That Girl[/i]. Headbangers like Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and Poison were massively popular, but so were alt-guys R.E.M., Depeche Mode, and the Cure. A very curious time.

ABC celebrates one of Motown's great performers with "When Smokey Sings," and Smokey himself sings "Just to See Her," a Top 10 hit from his album [i]One Heartbeat[/i] (whose title track was also a hit). Gloria Estefan and Debbie Gibson work opposite sides of the dance floor with "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" and "Only In My Dreams," respectively. And Pink Floyd upholds the wavering prog-rock banner with "Learning to Fly."

Randy Travis was the Garth Brooks of his era, single-handedly pulling country music into the public consciousness; "Forever and Ever, Amen" is one of his most engaging tunes. Moving to the opposite end of the musical spectrum, Kim Wilde's cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" is probably the most distinctive since Vanilla Fudge took a whack at it in the late '60s. Finally, A&M labelmates Chris De Burgh and Suzanne Vega scored big — she with a song about an abused child ("Luka"), he with a Weight Watchers commercial theme ("The Lady In Red").

[i]Platoon[/i] wins the Best Picture Oscar®. Eli Lilly & Company release the mood-altering drug Prozac. Margaret Thatcher achieves a third term as British Prime Minister. Miami's football team goes undefeated and wins the NCAA Championship. [i]Thirtysomething[/i] debuts on ABC and enshrines boomer materialism as a virtue. The Lakers beat the Celtics in six for the NBA Championship. Robert Bork is rejected for the U.S. Supreme Court. Virgin chief Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand take the first transatlantic hot-air-balloon flight. Andy Warhol lives his final 15 minutes of fame. And just when the '80s couldn't get any weirder, they did.