Silver Anniversaries of 2012

We had great reception to our 30 year anniversaries last week. Let's continue the tributes this week with a look at 1987 and the silver anniversaries in 2012!

25 Year Anniversaries in 2012

EVENTS

• Jan 8, 1987: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,000 for the first time, gaining 8.30 to close at 2,002.25. 
• Jan 25, 1987:  New York Giants win 39-20 over the Denver Broncos in Superbowl XXI.
• Mar 4, 1987: U.S. President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran-Contra Affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had 'deteriorated' into an arms-for-hostages deal. 
• Mar 24, 1987: Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and French Prime Minister and future President of France, Jacques Chirac, sign the agreement to construct the 4,800 acre Euro Disney Resort (now called Disneyland Paris.)
• May 11, 1987: Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II. He is sentenced on July 4 to life inprisonment.
• May 17, 1987: U.S.S. Stark is hit by two Iraqi-owned Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles killing 37 sailors.
• June 12, 1987: During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
• June 14, 1987: Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers defeat their long time rivals Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA finals 106-93, winning the NBA title.
• July 11, 1987: World population is estmated to reach five billion people, estimated according to the United Nations.
• Aug 14, 1987: The first Aeropostale clothing store, a mall-based, specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories, opens in New York City, New York.
• Nov 25, 1987: Category 5 Typhoon Nina smashes the Philippines with 165 miles per hour winds and a devastating storm surge, causing destruction and 1,036 deaths.
• Dec 20, 1987: In history's worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry MV Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).

MUSIC

• Jan 3, 1987: Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 
• Jan 16, 1987: Beastie Boys become the first act to be censored by American Bandstand.
• Feb 14, 1987: Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" reaches #1 in the USA, 1987's best selling song worldwide.
• Mar 9, 1987: The Irish rock band U2 releases their studio album The Joshua Tree.
• Mar 13, 1987: Bryan Adams' "Heat of the Night" becomes the first single to be commercially released on cassette in the U.S.
• June 27, 1987: Whitney Houston's second album Whitney becomes the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
• July 21, 1987: American rock group Guns N' Roses releases their debut album Appetite for Destruction, which after initial slow sales will become the best selling debut album of all time with more than 18 million copies sold to date in the US alone.
• Aug 1, 1987: MTV Europe is launched. The first video played is "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.
• Aug 3, 1987: Def Leppard releases Hysteria, the longest rock album ever released as a single LP or cassette.
• Aug 31, 1987: Michael Jackson releases his album Bad. The album would produce five number one singles in the USA, a record which has not been broken.
• Oct 30, 1987: George Michael releases his first solo studio album, Faith, which would win the Grammy Award for album of the year and sell 11 million copies in USA alone.
• Nov 13, 1987: Sonny and Cher reunite for a performance on Late Night with David Letterman.
• Dec 31, 1987: The sixteenth annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Los Lobos, Barry Manilow, Restless Heart and The Temptations.

Top 10 hits of 1987 (US Billboard hot 100)

1. Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
2. Faith - George Michael
3. With or Without You - U2
4. Alone - Heart
5. La Bamba - Los Lobos
6. I Wanna Dance With Somebody - Whitney Houston
7. Bad - Michael Jackson
8. I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany
9. Walk Like an Egyptian - Bangles
10. (I Just) Died In Your Arms - Cutting Crew

MOVIES

Three Men and a Baby, top grossing film of 1987.

• Jan 9, 1987: George Clooney makes his acting debut in Return to Horror High.
• Jan 31, 1987: The Cure for Insomnia premieres at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, to officially become the world's longest film according to Guinness World Records. Run time is 87 hours.
• Apr 24, 1987: Alec Baldwin makes his acting debut in Forever, Lulu.
• July 17, 1987: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is re-released for its 50th anniversary.
• Oct 23, 1987: Brad Pitt makes his acting debut in No Man's Land.

Top Grossing Films of 1987

1. Three Men and a Baby
2. Fatal Attraction
3. Beverly Hills Cop II
4. Good Morning Vietnam
5. Moonstruck
6. The Untouchable
7. Secret of My Success
8. Stakeout
9. Lethal Weapon
10. The Witches of Eastwick

TELEVISION

Tim Tebow in his famous "tebowing" pose.

• Mar 27, 1987: The Price is Right surpasses Concentration as the longest running daytime game show in history.
• Apr 5, 1987: The Fox TV network makes its prime-time debut, marking the first time since 1955 that four networks filled the US prime-time television landscape. The network debuts 2 shows, Married...with Children and The Tracey Ullman Show, which air 3 times each during the night so that viewers watching other networks can switch over and sample the shows.
• Apr 7, 1987: The Simpsons cartoon first appears as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show.
• Sept 5, 1987: Dick Clark's American Bandstand airs for the 2,751st and last time on ABC, after 30 years on the network. It lives on in syndication for 2 more years.
• Sept 22, 1987: Full House premieres and would run through 1995.
• Nov 22, 1987: During a showing of the Doctor Who story "Horror of Fang Rock", Chicago PBS station WTTW-TV Channel 11 is interrupted for 88 seconds by a pirate television transmitter overriding the station's transmission signal to broadcast a video of himself in a Max Headroom mask being spanked. This incident has subsequently gained a degree of cult myth about it.
• Dec 10, 1987: The animated show Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premieres and would run through 1996.

BIRTHS

These people turn 25 this year!!!

Tim Tebow in his famous "tebowing" pose.

• Rapper Bow Wow (Mar 9)
• Singer Joss Stone (Apr 11)
• Tennis player Maria Sharopova (Apr 19)
• Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (Aug 7)
• Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (Aug 14)
• Pop singer/Actor Hillary Duff (Sept 28)
• Actor Zac Efron (Oct 18)
• Musician Kevin Jonas (Nov 5)

DEATHS

Actress Rita Hayworth

• Artist Andy Warhol (Feb 22)
• Actor/Singer/Dancer Danny Kaye (Mar 3)
• Actress Rita Hayworth (May 14)
• Pianist Liberace (May 16)
• Actor/Dancer Fred Astaire (June 22)
• Actor Jackie Gleason (June 24)
• Actor Lee Marvin (Aug 29)

All facts courtesy Wikipedia