This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.
Specific locations 1988 in British music 1988 in Japanese music 1988 in Norwegian music 1988 in Scandinavian music
Specific genres 1988 in country music 1988 in heavy metal music 1988 in hip-hop music 1988 in jazz 1988 in progressive rock
Events January–March January 20 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony inducts The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Drifters, Bob Dylan and The Supremes. January 28 – A Tampa, Florida, man files an unusual lawsuit against Mötley Crüe. Matthew John Trippe, who has a history of mental health issues and trouble with the law, claims that he was secretly hired to pose as Nikki Sixx and toured, wrote and recorded with the band for a time during 1983 and 1984. Trippe drops the lawsuit in 1993. March 2 – The 30th Annual Grammy Awards are presented in New York, hosted by Billy Crystal. U2's The Joshua Tree wins Album of the Year, Paul Simon's "Graceland" wins Record of the Year and Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram's "Somewhere Out There" wins Song of the Year. Jody Watley wins Best New Artist. March 10 - Pop star Andy Gibb dies at a hospital in Oxford, England five days after his 30th birthday. March 26 – "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson from the Bad album tops the Billboard Hot 100. It's the first time in history a solo artist has had four Number One singles from the same album.
April–June April 7 – Alice Cooper almost dies on stage when one of the props, the Gallows, malfunctions. April 19 – Former rock and roll singer Sonny Bono is inaugurated as the Mayor of Palm Springs, California, USA. April 25 – Rock supermanager Doc McGhee is sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to charges of drug smuggling stemming from a 1982 seizure of nearly 40,000 pounds of marijuana entering North Carolina from Colombia. April 30 – The Eurovision Song Contest, held in the RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion, Dublin, is won by French-Canadian singer Celine Dion, representing Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". May 14 – Atlantic Records stages a concert at Madison Square Garden celebrating its Fortieth birthday with performances by many of the label's greatest acts of the past. Artists include Crosby, Stills & Nash, Iron Butterfly, Ruth Brown, Foreigner and Wilson Pickett, but the most talked-about performance is by a reunited Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham on drums. May 27 – The Monsters of Rock Tour 1988 commences in East Troy, Wisconsin. Van Halen headlines with the other acts on the bill consisting of Metallica, Scorpions, Dokken and Kingdom Come. June 10 – Singing Revolution begins in Estonia. June 18 – Depeche Mode play to a crowd of 60,000 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The concert was filmed and recorded by D. A. Pennebaker for the group's documentary-concert film and live album 101. June 27 – Motown Records is sold to MCA and an investment firm for $61 million.
July–September July 2 – Michael Jackson with fifth single from Bad, "Dirty Diana", he broke the record to have five consecutive charting singles from same album at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, is the first artist and only male in history to achieve this. August 12 – Public Enemy garners publicity by staging a concert at Riker's Island prison for 250 inmates and 100 journalists. September 6–9 – Elton John auctions off many items from his personal collection, including memorabilia and stage-worn clothing, at Sotheby's for a total of $8.5 million. John had been known for wearing flamboyant stage costumes during the glam rock era of the 1970s, but he increasingly abandoned them in later years. September 10 – Billboard magazine publishes its Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for the first time. September 24 – James Brown faces a variety of charges after leading police on an interstate chase, after reportedly breaking into a seminar in an Augusta, Georgia, building he owned an office in, waving a gun and demanding to know who had used his restrooms. Earlier in the year Brown had been arrested on drug and firearms-related charges. September 25 – The Aalto Theatre, Essen, Germany, opens with a performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.Dietmar N. Schmidt (ed.): Das Theater von Alvar Aalto in Essen. Baedeker, Essen 1988,
October–December October 10 – The new Cairo Opera House is inaugurated by President Hosni Mubarak and Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, brother of the Emperor of Japan. The opening ceremony includes a kabuki performance in recognition of the funds donated by Japan.About Cairo Opera House. Accessed 7 March 2013 November 7 – John Fogerty wins a self-plagiarism lawsuit with Fantasy Records. The record label had contended that Fogerty's 1985 comeback hit "The Old Man Down the Road" was too similar to his 1970 Creedence Clearwater Revival song, "Run Through the Jungle". November 12 – U2's Rattle and Hum hits the Number One spot on the U.S. charts, the first double album to do so since Bruce Springsteen's The River in 1980. November 19 – The 17th OTI Festival, held at the Teatro Nacional Cervantes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is won by the song "", written by Carlos Castellón, and performed by representing Argentina. December 4 – Singer Roy Orbison gives his last concert in Akron, Ohio, USA, before his death from a heart attack. December 28 – Madonna calls sheriff's officers to the Malibu, California home she shared with her soon-to-be ex-husband Sean Penn. December 31 – The 17th annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Natalie Cole, Taylor Dayne, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Richard Marx, Reba McEntire and Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
Also in 1988 Peter Ruzicka becomes director of the Hamburg State Opera and State Philharmonic Orchestra.Dörte Schmidt, "Ruzicka, Peter", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). Andrew Davis begins a term as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and is appointed musical director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera, effective with the 1989 season.Alan Blyth, "Davis, Sir Andrew (Frank)", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" experiences a surge in popularity in the USA sparked by television commercials featuring claymation raisin figures dancing to the song. The California Raisins version of the song peaks at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Bands formed See Musical groups established in 1988
Bands disbanded See Musical groups disestablished in 1988
Albums released January–March
DateAlbumArtistNotes JANUARY4 B'Sides Themselves Marillion B-sides compilation L.A. Guns L.A. Guns Debut11 Live: The Road The Kinks Live18 If I Should Fall from Grace with God The Pogues - Prison Bound Social Distortion -19 So Far, So Good... So What! Megadeth - Tell It to My Heart Taylor Dayne -21 Skyscraper David Lee Roth -? Never Die Young James Taylor - Newbuild 808 State - State of Mind Front Line Assembly - FEBRUARY1 Blow Up Your Video AC/DC -2 Ain't Misbehavin' UFO mini-album I'm Your Man Leonard Cohen - Lita Lita Ford - Live+1 Frehley's Comet Live EP +1 studio track4 Space Wrangler Widespread Panic Debut8 The Seventh One Toto - Who Killed The JAMs? The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu -12 Don't Blow Your Top KMFDM -16 All About Eve All About Eve - Nada como el sol Sting EP Starfish The Church - Tattooed Beat Messiah Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction - Underneath the Radar Underworld Debut17 Making Trouble Geto Boys -23 Goin' Off Biz Markie -29 Now and Zen Robert Plant - Children The Mission - The Frenz Experiment The Fall - Idlewild Everything but the Girl - Kingdom Come Kingdom Come Debut? Corrosion Front Line Assembly - Falling Up Kevin Ayers - Hard Machine Stacey Q - If You Can't Lick 'Em...Lick 'Em Ted Nugent - Pinker and Prouder Than Previous Nick Lowe -MARCH1 The Whitey Album Ciccone Youth -7 A Fierce Pancake Stump - Past Masters The Beatles Compilation Tear Down These Walls Billy Ocean -8 Racing After Midnight Honeymoon Suite -14 From Langley Park to Memphis Prefab Sprout - Viva Hate Morrissey UK15 Naked Talking Heads -21 Now That's What I Call Music 11 (UK series) Various Artists Compilation Surfer Rosa Pixies UK22 Green Thoughts The Smithereens -23 Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm Joni Mitchell - No Exit Fates Warning -24 Chase the Kangaroo The Choir -25 Heart Attack Krokus - The World's Greatest Entertainer Doug E. Fresh -28 Wings of Heaven Magnum - On Target Fastway - Out of the Silent Planet King's X - Push Bros Debut The Tenement Year Pere Ubu -29 Lefty Art Garfunkel -? Destiny Saxon - House Tornado Throwing Muses - Love Hysteria Peter Murphy - Lovely The Primitives Debut The Pictorial Jackson Review Felt - What Up, Dog? Was (Not Was) - Xenophobia (Why?) Spy vs. Spy -
April–June