Ten Great Songs From One Great Year

1986

1986 was the year of the Challenger disaster. The Russians opened the Mir Space Station and that same month, Pixar Studios opened for business. It was also the year Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's secret vault and the nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant, in Pripyat, Ukraine, explodes - killing an estimated 4,000 people and causing the entire area to be permanently quarantined.

In June, Jonathon Pollard plead guilty to spying for Israel, Len Bias - the second overall selection by the Boston Celtics in the NBA Draft, suffers a fatal cardiac arrhythmia from a cocaine overdose. Eric Thomas develops LISTSERV, the first email list management software and U.S. Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.

In October, President Ronald Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe. Also, the Iran-Contra affair first becomes public. In December, three black men are assaulted by a group of white teens, in Howard Beach (Queens, NY). One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.

Sara -- Starship



Something About You -- Level 42



Big Man on Mulberry Street -- Billy Joel



Falling in Love -- The Miami Sound Machine



Russians -- Sting



Rain on the Scarecrow -- John Cougar Mellencamp



Tonight She Comes -- The Cars



Calling America -- Electric Light Orchestra



Only Love Knows Why -- Peter Cetera



Black and White -- Jackson Brown



BONUS TRACK

I Wanna Be a Cowboy -- Boys Don't Cry