Today in 80s History: July 20th in the 80s

Too $hort

Studio Album

Release Date: July 20, 1987
Featuring: "Life Is... Too Short" precursor "Freaky Tales" and "Dope Fiend Beat"
Note: The Oakland rap pioneer's breakthrough album sold so well out of car trunks that Jive Records came calling and re-released it nationally.

Pleasant Dreams

Ramones

Sixth Studio Album

Release Date: July 20, 1981
Chart Info: Reached #58 on the Billboard 200
Featuring: "We Want the Airwaves"

How Could It Be

Eddie Murphy

Debut Studio Album

Release Date: July 20, 1985
Chart Info: Reached #26 on the Billboard 200
Featuring: "Party All the Time," produced by Rick James, which climbed all the way to #2 on the Hot 100
Note: Legend has it the album grew out of a $100,000 bet with Richard Pryor that Eddie couldn't sing.

1984 - Limahl's "The NeverEnding Story" Arrived with the Film

Event: Movie Theme Song

Details: Produced by Giorgio Moroder and sung by former Kajagoogoo frontman Limahl, the synth-soaked theme to The NeverEnding Story became a worldwide hit alongside the film's July 20 release, and found a whole new generation of fans decades later thanks to Stranger Things.

The NeverEnding Story (1984)

Release Date: July 20, 1984
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway and Tami Stronach
Note: Bastian, Atreyu, Falkor the luckdragon, and a horse scene that traumatized an entire generation. One of the most beloved fantasy films of the decade.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Release Date: July 20, 1984
Director: Jeff Kanew
Starring: Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Ted McGinley, Curtis Armstrong and John Goodman
Box Office: $40 Million Domestic
Note: The nerds took down the Alpha Betas and a hundred quotable moments were born. Fittingly, star Anthony Edwards celebrated his 22nd birthday the day before it opened.

Best Defense (1984)

Release Date: July 20, 1984
Director: Willard Huyck
Starring: Dudley Moore, Eddie Murphy and Kate Capshaw
Note: One of the decade's more infamous flops, with Eddie Murphy added in reshoots as the "Strategic Guest Star." Murphy himself later trashed it on SNL.

Electric Dreams (1984)

Release Date: July 20, 1984
Director: Steve Barron
Starring: Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen and Bud Cort
Note: A love triangle between a man, a woman, and a jealous home computer, from the director of the "Billie Jean" and "Take On Me" videos. The Giorgio Moroder soundtrack gave us "Together in Electric Dreams."

Midnight Run (1988)

Release Date: July 20, 1988
Director: Martin Brest
Starring: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto and Dennis Farina
Budget: $35 Million
Box Office: $81.6 Million Worldwide
Note: De Niro's bounty hunter drags Grodin's mob accountant across the country in one of the great buddy comedies ever made. Serrano's got the disks.

1985 - Final Episode of Hail to the Chief

Event: Series Finale

Network: ABC
Final Episode Date: July 20, 1985
Episodes: 7
Note: Patty Duke played the first female President of the United States in this short-lived satire from the creators of Soap. Way ahead of its time, and gone in seven episodes.

1980 - Tom Watson Won the Open Championship

Event: The Open Championship, Muirfield

Team: Tom Watson
Opponent: Lee Trevino
Result: Watson won at 13 under, by four strokes
Details: Watson ran away with his third Claret Jug in the first Open ever to finish on a Sunday. Three years later to the week, he'd win his fifth.

1986 - Greg Norman Won His First Major at the Open Championship

Event: The Open Championship, Turnberry

Team: Greg Norman
Opponent: Gordon J. Brand
Result: Norman won at even par, five strokes ahead
Details: The Shark survived brutal Scottish weather to claim his first major title, powered by a second-round 63 that tied the lowest round in Open history.