1988

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1950s  1960s  1970s  – 1980s –  1990s  2000s  2010s
Years:	1985 1986 1987 – 1988 – 1989 1990 1991

1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.

Births

• January 12  – Chris Casement, Northern Irish footballer
• February 20  – Rihanna, Barbadian singer
• February 29  – Lena Gercke, German model
• April 29  – Jonathan Toews, Canadian Professional ice hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks.
• July 16  – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer
• August 25  – Alexandra Burke, British singer
• October 15  – Mesut Oezil, German footballer
• November 19  – Patrick Kane, American professional ice hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks
• November 25  – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (d. 2010)
• December 14  – Vanessa Hudgens, American actress

Deaths

• January 5 – Pete Maravich, basketball player (b. 1947)
• February 1 – Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975)
• March 10 – Andy Gibb, singer (b. 1958)
• September 1 – Luis Walter Alvarez, American physicist (b. 1911)
• December 6 – Roy Orbison, singer (b. 1936)

Events

• Ankst music label founded.
• Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra.
• February 13 – Michael Jackson purchases a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. He calls his new home "Neverland".
• February 17 – A 12-year old Mötley Crüe fan in Florida is badly burned while trying to imitate a stunt in the band's "Live Wire" music video. The boy suffered burns over ten percent of his body. Mötley Crüe issued a statement saying the band's stunts should not be tried at home.
• March 12 – Record producer Jimmy Iovine presents the Special Olympics with a donation of $5 million, which was raised with the release of the A Very Special Christmas album.
• April 19 – Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono is inaugurated as the Mayor of Palm Springs, California
• May 1 – Citing the 1st Amendment, a judge drops all charges filed against singer Billy Joel. Joel was being sued by Jack Powers for defamation following an interview with Playboy in which he called Powers a "creep".
• July 1 – Quartetto Cetra's last concert.
• September 16  – rapper Eazy-E releases his debut album Eazy-Duz-It.
• November 1 – Bad Religion releases Suffer, which is considered one of the band's best known works in the history of punk music, along with its follow-up No Control, which came out a year later.
• Hurricane Gilbert strikes the Caribbean, Mexico and south Texas.
• November 24  – Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres.
• December 7  – A powerful earthquake hits Armenia.
• December 21  – A Pan-Am airplane explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing more than 270 people.
• "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Films released

• The Great Outdoors
• Rambo III
• Willow
• Young Guns
• The Thin Blue Line
• Die Hard
• Cocktail
• The Cat Came Back
• Twins
• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Hit songs

• "Tell It To My Heart" – Taylor Dayne
• "New Sensation" – INXS
• "I Should Be So Lucky" – Kylie Minogue
• "Kokomo" – The Beach Boys
• "Don't Worry, Be Happy" – Bobby McFerrin
• "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" – Belinda Carlie
• "Simply Irristable" – Robert Palmer
• "Man in the Mirror" – Michael Jackson
• "Get Outta My Dreams (Get Into My Car)" – Billy Ocean
• "Anything for You" – Gloria Estefan
• "Saved By Love" – Amy Grant
• "Lead Me On" – Amy Grant
• "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" – Poison
• "Never Gonna Give You Up" – Rick Astley
• "Look Away" – Chicago
• "Johnny B. Goode" – Judas Priest
• "One More Try" – George Michael
• "Roll With It" – Steve Winwood
• "Sweet Child O' Mine" – Guns N' Roses
• "Theme from S-Express" – S-Express
• "Mountain Song" – Jane's Addiction
• "Got My Mind Set On You" – George Harrison
• "1-2-3" – Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine
• "Forever Young" – Rod Stewart
• "Is this Love" – Whitesnake
• "I Get Weak" – Belinda Carlisle
• "The Promise" – When In Rome
• "When You Put Your Heart In It" – Kenny Rogers

New books

• Alaska – James A. Michener
• The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
• Kiki: Reine de la Montparnasse – Lou Mollgaard
• Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler
• A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
• The Butcher – Alina Reyes
• Cabal – Clive Barker
• Candlelight Spells – Gerina Dunwich
• The Cardinal of the Kremlin – Tom Clancy
• Cat's Eye – Margaret Atwood
• The Coming of the King – Nikolai Tolstoy
• Curriculum (poems) – Grazyna Miller
• The Dark Green Tunnel – Allan W. Eckert
• The Fifth Child – Doris Lessing
• Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch – Alanna Nash
• The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker
• The Icarus Agenda – Robert Ludlum
• Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
• Nervous Conditions – Tsitsi Dangarembga
• Oscar and Lucinda – Peter Carey
• The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
• A Ring of Conspirators: Henry James and his literary circle, 1895-1915 – Miranda Seymour
• The Sands of Time – Sidney Sheldon
• Scorpius – John Gardner
• The Shell Seekers – Rosamunde Pilcher
• Sourcery – Terry Pratchett
• Tapestry – Belva Plain
• Til We Meet Again – Judith Krantz
• The Toynbee Convector – Ray Bradbury
• Wyrd Sisters – Terry Pratchett
• Zoya – Danielle Steel