Today in 80s History: August 7th in the 80s

1983 - Born Again

Artist: Black Sabbath (11th Album)
Billboard Charts: #39
UK Charts: #4
Note: The only Sabbath album with Deep Purple's Ian Gillan singing, wrapped in a cover so ugly the band reportedly hated it on sight. The tour featured a Stonehenge set built to the wrong measurements — the incident Spinal Tap would immortalize a year later.

1987 - "Who's That Girl" Soundtracked Madonna's Own Movie

Artist: Madonna
Note: The film opened today and got buried; the single had already gone to #1. Madonna's sixth chart-topper outlived the movie it was named after by roughly forever.

Masters of the Universe (1987)

Release Date: August 7, 1987
Director: Gary Goddard
Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella and Courteney Cox
Budget: $22 Million
Box Office: $17.3 Million
Note: Cannon Films took He-Man, moved most of the plot to suburban Earth to save money, and got a genuinely great villain out of Langella's Skeletor. He has said it's still his favorite role, which tells you everything.

Real Genius (1985)

Release Date: August 7, 1985
Director: Martha Coolidge
Starring: Val Kilmer, Gabriel Jarret, Michelle Meyrink and William Atherton
Budget: $8 Million
Box Office: $13 Million
Note: Kilmer as the smartest burnout at Pacific Tech, a professor secretly building a laser weapon, and a lecture hall that slowly fills with tape recorders. The popcorn ending is still one of the great 80s payoffs.

Heavy Metal (1981)

Release Date: August 7, 1981
Director: Gerald Potterton
Starring: John Candy, Eugene Levy and Harold Ramis (voices)
Budget: $9.3 Million
Box Office: $21.1 Million
Note: An animated anthology built out of the magazine, scored by Black Sabbath, Devo, Cheap Trick and Blue Öyster Cult, and stocked with SCTV alumni doing voices. Music rights kept it off home video for 15 years, which is exactly how it became a midnight-movie legend.

Back to the Beach (1987)

Release Date: August 7, 1987
Director: Lyndall Hobbs
Starring: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Lori Loughlin and Pee-wee Herman
Box Office: $13.1 Million
Note: The beach-party stars of the 60s came back to make fun of themselves, and got Pee-wee singing "Surfin' Bird" and Fishbone doing "Jamaica Ska" out of it. Far better than it had any right to be.

The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987)

Release Date: August 7, 1987
Director: Raymond Jafelice
Budget: $5 Million
Box Office: $6 Million
Note: The third and last Care Bears feature, dropping the bears into Lewis Carroll by way of a Canadian animation house. It opened against He-Man on the same day, which is the most 1987 double bill imaginable.

Student Bodies (1981)

Release Date: August 7, 1981
Director: Mickey Rose
Starring: Kristen Riter, Matthew Goldsby and Richard Brando
Box Office: $5.2 Million
Note: A slasher parody that beat Scream to the joke by fifteen years, co-written by Woody Allen's old writing partner. The on-screen body count ticker is still a great bit.

1987 - The Final Episode of Airwolf Aired

Event: Series Finale

Network: CBS (1984-1986), USA Network (1987)
Seasons: 4
Episodes: 80
Note: CBS cancelled it after three seasons; USA picked it up, recast nearly everyone and shot 24 cheaper episodes in Canada. The helicopter stayed. Almost nothing else did.

1984 - The US Women's Basketball Team Won Its First Olympic Gold

Event: Summer Olympics, Los Angeles

Details: Undefeated all tournament, and an 85-55 demolition of South Korea in the final. Cheryl Miller led a roster that set the template for everything USA Basketball has done since.

No other news today in the 80s!