Today in 80s History: August 19th in the 80s

1985 - The Family

Artist: The Family (Debut Album)
Note: The first band signed to Prince's Paisley Park label, assembled out of the wreckage of The Time. They made one album and split — but it contains the original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U," five years before Sinead O'Connor.

Mr. Mom (1983)

Release Date: July 22, 1983 (Limited), August 19, 1983 (Wide)
Director: Stan Dragoti
Starring: Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Martin Mull and Christopher Lloyd
Box Office: $64.8 Million
Note: Written by John Hughes the year before he started directing. Keaton's first leading role, 220 volts of vacuum cleaner, and a chainsaw. It opened third and stuck around all autumn.

Easy Money (1983)

Release Date: August 19, 1983
Director: James Signorelli
Starring: Rodney Dangerfield, Joe Pesci and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Box Office: $29.3 Million
Note: Dangerfield co-wrote it, and has to give up drinking, smoking, gambling and overeating for a year to inherit a fortune. He drinks only Miller Lite on screen, because he was their spokesman at the time.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Release Date: August 19, 1988
Director: Renny Harlin
Starring: Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox and Tuesday Knight
Budget: $13 Million
Box Office: $49.4 Million
Note: The highest-grossing Freddy film of them all, opening on 1,765 screens and topping the week. The Dream Child followed almost exactly a year later, on August 11.

Married to the Mob (1988)

Release Date: August 19, 1988
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell and Alec Baldwin
Budget: $10 Million
Box Office: $21.4 Million
Note: Demme between Something Wild and The Silence of the Lambs, with Dean Stockwell Oscar-nominated as the mobster and a soundtrack running from New Order to Q Lazzarus.

1985 - David Letterman Hijacked the Today Show

Event: Live Broadcast Moment

Network: NBC
Note: Letterman leaned out of his office window above Bryant Park with a bullhorn during a live Today broadcast and shouted "I'm Larry Grossman, president of NBC News, and I'm not wearing any pants!" Late Night was two floors up and never stopped being a problem for the network.

1984 - Lee Trevino Won the PGA Championship

Event: Golf

Details: At 44, Trevino shot 15 under at Shoal Creek to hold off Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins. His sixth and final major, seventeen years after his first.

1980 - George Brett's 30-Game Hitting Streak Ended

Event: MLB

Details: The streak that carried Brett's average to .400 in August finally stopped. He finished the season at .390, the closest anyone has come to .400 since Ted Williams in 1941.

1980 - Toronto Fans Rioted After Alice Cooper Cancelled

Details: Cooper pulled out of a show at Exhibition Stadium on doctor's orders and the crowd tore the place up. He has since become a scratch golfer, which is its own kind of plot twist.