8 August

Pick a Day

8 AUGUST

In Music History

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2023 Sixto Rodriguez, a mercurial singer-songwriter whose story is told in the documentary Searching For Sugar Man, dies at 81.

2022 Olivia Newton-John dies at 73 after a long battle with breast cancer.

2020 Taylor Swift becomes the first artist to debut at #1 on both the Hot 100 and US albums chart when Folklore and its lead single, "Cardigan," both go to the top. Folklore is her seventh consecutive #1 album.

2017 Glen Campbell dies at 81 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

2013 "Cowboy" Jack Clement (writer and producer for Johnny Cash) dies of liver cancer at age 82 in Nashville, Tennessee.

2011 While on tour with Maroon 5 and Train, Gavin DeGraw is attacked by a group of men on a New York City street. He suffers a broken nose and is taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.

2007 Amy Winehouse overdoses on a mixture of alcohol, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine after a London pub crawl. Her hospitalization causes the cancellation of her first US tour. The singer refused her record company's request to enter rehab for alcohol abuse, inspiring her hit record "Rehab." She does eventually end up in a clinic, but never gets sober for good.

2004 There is a big stink when The Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumps its sewage into an Illinois river from the Kinzie Street bridge. An unfortunate group of tourists are doused with the waste, which hits their tour boat. The band was not on the bus, and their driver denied it until he was confronted with surveillance video.

2000 A class action lawsuit is filed against the major record labels, claiming that they kept CD prices high by punishing retailers who sold the discs for less than their "minimum advertised price." The case was eventually settled for $143 million, with 3.48 million claimants who bought CDs between January 1, 1995 and December 22, 2000 receiving checks for $13.86.

1999 It's a nu-metal moment at the Family Values Tour in Kansas City when Puddle Of Mudd frontman Wes Scantlin sneaks backstage and slips a demo tape to Fred Durst's security guard. The Limp Bizkit leader gives it a listen and signs the band to his label, Flawless Records.

1994 The Notorious B.I.G. releases his debut solo single, "Juicy," built on a sample of the 1983 funk track "Juicy Fruit" by Mtume.

1992 Madness reunite for the first of two "Madstock" shows at Finsbury Park in London. 75,000 fans come out of the woodwork for the two shows; the reunion sticks and the band resumes touring. Madstock returns in 1994, 1996 and 1998.

1987 U2 land their second American #1 as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," from The Joshua Tree, goes to the top.

1986 After serving eight months of a five-year sentence in the Huntsville unit of the Texas State Prison, David Crosby gets out on parole. Crosby entered the facility after a series of arrests and failed attempts at drug rehab. He later says that going to prison saved his life, as it forced him to get sober.

1983 Harold Melvin and three members of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes are arrested for cocaine, marijuana, and meth possession at Caesars Boardwalk Regency Hotel Casino in Atlantic City.

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Olivia Newton-John Stars In Box-Office Bomb Xanadu

1980

The fantasy musical Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, debuts to scathing reviews ("In a word, Xana-don't.") and inspires the Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst films of the year. But it has a killer soundtrack thanks to "Magic."

Two years after her iconic performance as Sandy to John Travolta's Danny in Grease, Olivia Newton-John fronts Xanadu, a movie billed as "A Fantasy. A Musical. A Place Where Dreams Come True." Newton-John plays a Greek muse who, along with Gene Kelly, comes to Earth to inspire an artist (Michael Beck) to build a disco roller rink. The box-office earnings barely surpass the film's $20 million budget and kill Newton-John's intentions of becoming a leading lady. The movie is regarded so poorly, in fact, that Xanadu becomes a metaphor for overblown productions that fail to deliver. The one bright spot is the soundtrack, featuring Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Cliff Richard, The Tubes, and the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). The album is a huge success, landing at #4 in the US, #2 in the UK, and dominating charts around the world, including Newton-John's native Australia. Five singles are Top 20 hits: "Magic" (Newton-John, #1), "Xanadu" (Newton-John/ELO #8), "All Over The World" (ELO, #13), "I'm Alive" (ELO, #16), and "Suddenly" (Newton-John/Cliff Richard, #20).

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