The year 1988 revisited 30 years on

IT was the year Kylie Minogue won the Gold Logie and Kylie Mole made us laugh. When the Queen opened the new Parliament House, and Crowded House and INXS ruled the music charts. It was 1988 and just one of the years explored in a new book For The Record: Australian Pop Culture 1964–2017

Singer Kylie Minogue at 1988 Logie Awards. Photo: TV Week

IT was the year Kylie Minogue won the Gold Logie and Kylie Mole made us laugh. The year Lindy and Michael Chamberlain were finally acquitted over the disappearence of Azaria, when the Queen opened the new Parliament House, and John Farnham, Crowded House and INXS ruled the music charts. It was 1988 and just one of the years explored in a new book For The Record: Australian Pop Culture 1964–2017

DEATHS

● Ben Lexcen, designer of the “winged tipped keel” on Australia II, aged 52. From 1988- 1997, Toyota named the “Lexcen” after him.

● Sir William McMahon, former Prime Minister (March ’71-Decemeber ’72), aged 80.

● Jimmy Edwards, British comedian (with the big moustache), aged 68.

● Ricky May, entertainer, aged 44. A regular performer on Hey Hey It’s Saturday.

● Divine (Glenn Milstead), entertainer, aged 42. Died of asphyxiation.

● Kenneth Williams, actor, aged 66. Starred
in the Carry On… movies. Died of a barbiturates overdose.

● Sylvester (Sylvester James), disco singer, aged 41. Had a hit with You Make Me Feel Mighty Real. Died of AIDS.

● Barbara Woodhouse, dog trainer, aged 78. Hosted the TV series Training Dogs The Woodhouse Way with her catchphrase “Walkies!”

EVENTS

● The Australian $2 coin went into general circulation.

● “Bum bags” become the latest fashion item for travellers.

● The National Tennis Centre opened in Melbourne Park in time for the Australian Open. The first event at the centre was a series of AC/DC concerts. (January 11)

● The first woman to sail non-stop and solo around the world in her boat First Lady, Kay Cottee was announced Australian Of The Year. (January 26)

● Australia celebrated its “Bicentenary” 200th birthday. Prince Charles and Princess Diana joined more than 1,500,000 around Sydney Harbour to watch the tall ships arrive and a re-enact the First Fleet landing.

● Queen Elizabeth II opened Australia’s new $1.5 billion Parliament House in Canberra.

● Prince Charles narrowly escaped death in an avalanche on the Swiss Alps. A close friend was only a few metres away and was killed instantly. The Prince helped dig his body out. (March 10)

● TV newsreader Jo Pearson was Moomba Monarch. (March 14)

● Brisbane’s “Expo” attracted more than 100,000 people in its first day on May 1. More than a million visitors toured the 40 hectare site over the six month period.

● Beacons were lit around the entire coastline of Australia to celebrate the “Bicentenary”. The lights could be seen
from space at night. (June 18)

● A massive explosion killed more than 150 workers on an oil rig in the North Sea. It was described by survivors as “like an atomic bomb going off”. The rig had passed a regulation safety check only 8 days earlier. (July 6)

● A cat burglar dubbed “The Spider-Man” carried out a series of daring household robberies in the wealthier suburbs of Melbourne. (July 10)

● All major highways in Australia were blocked by an estimated 1500 trucks protesting the high level of fuel taxes and registration costs. (July 15)

● In Ramstein, West Germany, an Italian aerobatic jet collided mid-air with two other jets. The jets slammed into the watching crowd killing 47 people and injuring several hundred others. (August 29)

● Monsoon rains hit Bangladesh resulting in more than 1000 people drowning in the flood waters, 21 million people left homeless and 75 per cent of the country covered in water. (September 4)

● After eight years, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain were acquitted of all charges arising from the disappearance of their daughter Azaria. (September 15)

● Space shuttle Discovery was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in America (September 30). It was 32 months after the space shuttle Challenger exploded moments after take-off.

● American and Russian rescuers successfully freed two of three Californian grey whales trapped beneath pack ice at Barrow, Alaska. Eskimos and wildlife officials made breathing holes in the ice for 20 days until Russian icebreakers cut a channel to the open sea 8km away. The rescue cost $971,000. (October 27)

● George Bush was elected the 41st President of the United States. (November 8)

● Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen took the stand in the Fitzgerald Inquiry into widespread corruption in Queensland. Sir Joh denied any real knowledge of corruption, but said he had heard rumours. He once asked Police Commissioner Sir Terence Lewis about prostitution, but had been told there was “only a little bit”. (December 1)

● A massive earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, hit Armenia in the Soviet Union demolishing two major cities and numerous villages. More than 100,000 people were killed. (December 9)

● A Pan Am jumbo jet bound for New
York from London mysteriously crashed
into the Scottish border village of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. It was later found that a bomb hidden in a tape recorder had exploded and caused the crash. (December 22)

ENTERTAINMENT

● Gold Logie Winner: Kylie Minogue (Neighbours)

● ATV-10 launched The Comedy Company with Uncle Arthur, Con The Fruiterer and Kylie Mole. It ran for three years.

● ATV-10 kicked off Roseanne.

● HSV-7 ended Romper Room after 25 years.

● Graham Kennedy returned to GTV-9 to host the late night news program The Graham Kennedy News Show later named Graham Kennedy’s Coast To Coast.

● On HSV-7, Home & Away debuted as a 90- minute tele-movie.

● In Melbourne, 3DB became 3TT and 3EON-FM became 3MMM-FM. The first song played on 3TT was Doobie Brothers’ Listen To The Music and 3MMM-FM played INXS’s New Sensation.

● In Brisbane, FM104 became 4MMM-FM.

MOVIES OF THE YEAR

● Evil Angels

● Rain Man

● Big

● A Fish Called Wanda

● Cocktail

● Rattle and Hum

● Scrooged

● Beetlejuice

● Crocodile Dundee II (Australia’s second-highest grossing movie)

● Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

● Three Men and a Baby (Directed by Leonard Nimoy, Mr Spock from Star Trek)

● Young Einstein

● Who Framed Roger Rabbit

MUSIC

● The ARIA Awards:

Best Male Artist: John Farnham

Best Female Artist: Jenny Morris

Best Group: Crowded House

Album Of The Year: Man Of Colours – Icehouse

Single Of The Year: Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil

Best New Talent: Weddings Parties Anything

Hall Of Fame: AC/DC, Vanda and Young, Dame Joan Sutherland, Slim Dusty, Col Joye

and Johnny O’Keefe

● Biggest Selling Single: (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life – Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes

● Biggest Selling Australian Single: I Should Be So Lucky – Kylie Minogue

● Biggest Selling Album: Kick – INXS

● Ike Turner was sentenced to one year in jail for transporting and possessing cocaine.

● Elton John sold all his costumes and memorabilia at Sotheby’s auction in London for $6.2 million.

● Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon album failed to make the US album chart for the first time in 725 weeks (three weeks short of 14 years). (April 30). Pink Floyd toured Australia with tickets costing $42.

● Mick Jagger toured a solo show across Australia, with Joe Satriani on lead guitar. Tickets were $38.30. The She’s The Boss concert was televised by GTV-9.

● James Brown; Genesis; Guns N’ Roses; Sting; Bros; James Reyne; David Lee Roth; Foreigner; James Taylor; AC/DC; and John Cougar Mellencamp also toured Australia.

● Robin, “The Boy Wonder”, died. In DC Comics’ issue number 428, he was killed by The Joker in a response to a reader poll that he should go.

● Sonny Bono was elected Mayor of Palm Springs.

● Jimmy Barnes and his half-brother
John Swan became Australian citizens. (October 19)

● Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry Be Happy was Record of the Year at the Grammys and George Michael’s Faith was Album of the Year. Tracy Chapman won Best New Artist.

SPORT

● VFL Grand Final: Hawthorn 22.20 (152) def Melbourne 6.20 (56). It was Melbourne’s first Grand Final appearance in 24 years.

Norm Smith Medallist: Gary Ayres, Hawthorn (for the second time).

Grand Final Singer: Noel Watson.

Wooden Spoon: St Kilda.

Brownlow Medal: Gerard Healy, Sydney Swans (20 votes). Simon Madden, Essendon, and Jason Dunstall, Hawthorn, tied in second place.

Leading Goal Kicker: Jason Dunstall, Hawthorn (124 goals).

● NSWRL Grand Final: Canterbury (24) def Balmain (12).

● Melbourne Cup winner: Empire Rose.

● Australian Open Tennis: Mats Wilander def Pat Cash (AUS). Steffi Graf def Chris Evert.

● Jeff Fenech won the WBF Featherweight Championship. (March 7)

● The Olympic Games were held in Seoul, South Korea. Australia won three gold, six silver and five bronze medals. Canadian athlete Ben Johnson won the 100 metre sprint in the record time of 9.79 seconds. But after he tested positive for anabolic steroid drug use, he was disqualified and stripped of the gold medal. He was later banned from athletics for life. Australian fencer Alex Watson was sent home because he tested positive to excessive caffeine intake. (September 9)

● The Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide was won by Alain Prost for McLaren-Honda.

Extract from For The Record, Australian Pop Culture 1964-2017, by Steve Woods,
$49.95, order online from fortherecordbook.com.au