Today in 80s history! What happened on August 16th in the 80s? Find out what happened today in 80s Movies, 80s Music, 80s TV Shows, and 80s Sports! Also find out about celebrity birthdays for the legends, icons and characters we grew up with in the 80s!
TODAY'S 80S BIRTHDAYS
Madonna (Like a Virgin, True Blue, Who's That Girl) - 68
August 16, 1958
James Cameron (The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss) - 72
August 16, 1954
Angela Bassett (F/X, Boyz n the Hood) - 68
August 16, 1958
Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, Taps) - 66
August 16, 1960
J.T. Taylor (Kool & the Gang) - 73
August 16, 1953
Kathie Lee Gifford (Live with Regis and Kathie Lee) - 73
August 16, 1953
Julie Newmar (Catwoman) - 93
August 16, 1933
REMEMBERING
Elvis Presley (The King of Rock and Roll)
January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977 (Age 42)
Aretha Franklin ("Respect," "Freeway of Love")
March 25, 1942 - August 16, 2018 (Age 76)
Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, Ulee's Gold)
February 23, 1940 - August 16, 2019 (Age 79)
TODAY IN 80S MUSIC
80s Music Released on August 16th
1986 - "Papa Don't Preach" Was #1 in America
Artist: Madonna
Note: Two weeks at the top, starting on Madonna's own 28th birthday. A pop single about a pregnant teenager keeping the baby, which managed to anger everyone across the political spectrum at once — and sold accordingly.
985 - Freaky Styley
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers (2nd Album)
Note: Produced by George Clinton, who reportedly fed the band gumbo and told them to stop trying so hard. It failed to chart at all. Four years later to the day they released Mother's Milk, which finally worked.
1989 - Mother's Milk
Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers (4th Album)
Billboard Charts: #52
Note: The first album with John Frusciante and Chad Smith, recorded in the shadow of Hillel Slovak's death. "Higher Ground" got them on MTV and set up everything that followed.
1980 - The First Monsters of Rock Festival
Artists: Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions and Saxon
Note: The first Monsters of Rock at Donington Park, and the template for every metal festival since. The same day, in an odd cluster, Bill Ward left Black Sabbath, Cozy Powell left Rainbow, Jools Holland left Squeeze and Jah Wobble left Public Image Ltd.
TODAY IN 80S MOVIES
80s Movies Released On August 16th
Uncle Buck (1989)
Release Date: August 16, 1989
Director: John Hughes
Starring: John Candy, Amy Madigan, Jean Louisa Kelly, Macaulay Culkin and Laurie Metcalf
Budget: $15 Million
Box Office: $79.2 Million
Note: Hughes and Candy's best collaboration, and where Hughes found Macaulay Culkin — the interrogation through the mail slot got him Home Alone a year later. The giant pancake, the drill, the car that backfires like gunfire.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Release Date: August 16, 1985
Director: Dan O'Bannon
Starring: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Mathews and Linnea Quigley
Budget: $4 Million
Box Office: $14.2 Million
Note: The film that gave zombies the taste for brains — that isn't in Romero, it starts here. A punk soundtrack, a directorial debut for the man who wrote Alien, and Tarman.
Volunteers (1985)
Release Date: August 16, 1985
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Starring: Tom Hanks, John Candy and Rita Wilson
Budget: $10 Million
Box Office: $19.8 Million
Note: Hanks and Candy in the Peace Corps in Thailand, a year after Splash. More importantly, it's where Tom Hanks met Rita Wilson.
Year of the Dragon (1985)
Release Date: August 16, 1985
Director: Michael Cimino
Starring: Mickey Rourke and John Lone
Budget: $24 Million
Box Office: $30.4 Million
Note: Cimino's first film after Heaven's Gate destroyed United Artists, co-written by Oliver Stone. Loud, violent and heavily protested on release.
American Flyers (1985)
Release Date: August 16, 1985
Director: John Badham
Starring: Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant and Rae Dawn Chong
Budget: $8.5 Million
Box Office: $1.4 Million
Note: Written by Steve Tesich, who also wrote Breaking Away. Costner two years before The Untouchables, in a cycling movie almost nobody saw.
TODAY IN 80S TV
No 80s TV News for today in the 80s!
TODAY IN 80S SPORTS
1987 - The Mets Beat the Cubs 23-10 at Wrigley
Event: MLB
Details: Twenty-one hits, every Mets starter hitting safely, and Darryl Strawberry going 4-for-5 with a homer, a triple, two doubles and five RBI. The Cubs' starter that afternoon was a 21-year-old Greg Maddux, who gave up seven runs.
TODAY IN OTHER 80S NEWS
1985 - Madonna Married Sean Penn
Details: They married at a clifftop mansion in Malibu on Madonna's 27th birthday, with paparazzi helicopters circling so low the vows couldn't be heard. Penn's own birthday is tomorrow. They divorced in 1989.
1983 - Paul Simon Married Carrie Fisher
Details: At Simon's Central Park duplex, after a courtship that had already produced several songs. They divorced eleven months later, and he kept writing about her for years.
