Taylor Swift's new album 1989 dropped Oct. 27, and the world is ablaze with many feels on her fifth studio album. Your day will inevitably be spent shaking your tail feather to "Shake It Off," packing your bags after listening to "Welcome to New York" and trying to decipher who pissed Swift off enough to inspire "Bad Blood."
Since you've listened to 1989 several times already, you're probably well aware that it features a newer, pop sound for Swift, which is a slight departure from the country-pop sound on which she has built her career. It's a bit of a rebirth for Swift, if you will, which is why the title of the album, which takes its name from the year of her birth, is so apropos.
While Swift's 1989 is all anyone is talking about these days, there were a bunch of notable musical moments during the actual year of 1989 that we simply can't forget about.
1. David Hasselhoff performed at the fallen Berlin Wall
Believe it or not, the one, the only, the Hoff symbolized freedom for the people of East Germany when he performed his hit single "Looking for Freedom" on the remains of the torn-down Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989. And who could forget that fabulous keyboard scarf?
2. Madonna's "Like a Prayer" music video was released
This video was released 25 years ago, and it still shocks. A scantily-clad Madonna plus what many thought as sacrilegious iconography made for a very controversial video that caused Pepsi to pull its commercial with the singer.
3. Andrew Dice Clay shocked the censors at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards
Instead of sticking to the script, comedian Andrew Dice Clay shared some "adult nursery rhymes" during an infamous set on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. This little moment of spontaneity earned Clay the first-ever lifetime ban from MTV.
4. Whitney Houston performed at the 31st Annual GRAMMY Awards
Whitney Houston opened the music awards show with a performance of "One Moment in Time," which many see as one of the best performances of her career.
5. Jethro Tull won the first-ever hard rock GRAMMY
Jethro Tull is famous for pioneering the prog rock sound, which is why it was so weird that The Recording Academy awarded the band the first-ever GRAMMY for "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance," as they were the least "hard rock" band to be nominated. They beat out Metallica, who was favored to win. However, Metallica won the award a year later, and all was right with the world.
6. Batman soundtrack
Prince created the soundtrack to Tim Burton's Batman, which topped the Billboard albums chart for six consecutive weeks in the summer of 1989. I bet you still know how to do the "Batdance."
7. Say Anything... hit theaters
This 1989 rom-com starring John Cusack and Ione Skye has one of the most iconic music moments in movie history ever. We never looked at boomboxes or listened to Peter Gabriel the same way again.
8. Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" music video debuted
Cher taught 40-somethings everywhere that you're never too old to wear sheer unitards and big hair with one of her most famous music videos.
