Pick a Day

1 APRIL

In Music History

1991 At his Wembley Arena concert in London, Rod Stewart calls for his wife Rachel Hunter to join him on stage for "You're In My Heart (The Final Acclaim)," but she instead sends out his buddy Elton John, dressed in women's clothes and makeup, to prank her husband. Stewart gamely plays along and sings to Elton.

1989 Living Colour make a splash as the musical guests on Saturday Night Live, performing "Cult of Personality" and "Open Letter (To a Landlord)."

1989 Bangles hit #1 in America with "Eternal Flame," but break up less than six months later.More

1989 N.W.A.'s "Gangsta Gangsta" becomes the group's first song to enter the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it debuts at #91.

1986 Hillary Scott of Lady A is born in Nashville. Her mother is the singer Linda Davis.

1986 Bruce Hornsby and the Range release The Way It Is, an album that produces four hits (including the title track) and is certified multi-platinum.

1983 The second Men at Work album, Cargo, is released in America. The group's debut was released there less than a year earlier and is still getting airplay, leading to Men at Work saturation. Sudden success takes its toll on the group, which breaks up a few years later.

1983 Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett gets a phone call from manager Mark Whitaker, asking him to audition for Metallica. Hammett accepts, and several days later, is on a plane to New York for his tryout.

1978 The Philadelphia Fury soccer team (owned by Paul Simon, Peter Frampton, James Taylor and others) makes its debut (it lasts three seasons).

1976 Rush disregard their record label's wishes and release 2112. Mercury wanted the band to produce an album with more radio-friendly singles than Caress of Steel, but 2112 is just as ambitious and "progressive" as its predecessor. This time, however, advances in the band's skills and changes in the market make 2112 successful, though it will take 1977's A Farewell to Kings to help nudge 2112 to Gold status.

1975 Journey release their self-titled debut album, a mix of progressive rock and jazz with little emphasis on the vocals. It finds just a niche audience, as do their next two albums, but after adding lead singer Steve Perry to the band in 1977 they switch to a pop sound and become consistent hitmakers.

1974 Tom Petty and his band Mudcrutch leave Gainesville for Los Angeles, and never look back. They soon become Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

1971 Jimi Hendrix's The Cry Of Love is certified Gold, six months after his death.

1970 The Joni Mitchell album Ladies Of The Canyon, with the songs "Big Yellow Taxi" and "The Circle Game," is released.

1967 A former champion horse jockey named Sir William Pigott-Brown rents one of his properties - a 19th century farm in the countryside outside London - to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who has his recently signed band Traffic record their debut album there.More