1988 in Music

Acid house, the second summer of love and a new dance era.

1988 was the year British youth culture changed colour overnight. Acid house, born in Chicago, was reinvented in warehouses around London and Manchester during the 'second summer of love'. New Order's 'Fine Time' and the rise of the Hacienda nightclub heralded a coming dance revolution.

Trends of 1988

Hip-hop consolidated its 'golden age' with Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Indie matured around Pixies' Surfer Rosa and My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything. Hair metal began to feel commercially overstretched.

Key albums

• Surfer Rosa — Pixies
• Daydream Nation — Sonic Youth
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back — Public Enemy
• Isn't Anything — My Bloody Valentine

Key songs

• Fine Time — New Order
• Push It — Salt-N-Pepa
• Like a Prayer — Madonna
• Teen Age Riot — Sonic Youth

Artists of 1988

• Pixies — Surfer Rosa established the loud-quiet-loud blueprint.
• Public Enemy — Set the political standard for hip-hop.

Legacy

1988 set the cultural rails for the entire 1990s rave era and for the alternative-rock takeover that followed.

All years 1980–1989 · 80s charts by year

Compiled and fact-checked by the RADIO 1980 Editorial Team. Spotted something wrong? Send a correction.