Salman Rushdie had a distinguished career before the publication of this book; in fact, his MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN won the Booker Prize in 1981. But this allegorical story of good and evil was termed an insult to Islam by the Ayatollah Khomeini, who called for Rushdie's death, sending the author into hiding.

With dance-floor rumble and hairy-chested bluster, guitar-strumming flamenco wizards the Gipsy Kings unleashed "Bamboleo" for a 40-week stay on the Billboard charts. Meanwhile, Public Enemy kept it all too real with hip-hop's first great political manifesto, IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK.