1 January

Pick a Day

Music History Events: Flubs and Fails

Page 1
1 2

September 1, 2010 Apple launches a social media network called Ping, which is integrated into its iTunes software. A rare flop for the company, it closes two years later.

June 18, 2009 Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year-old woman from Minnesota, is found guilty of illegal sharing of music files via the Internet and is ordered to pay $1.92 million, $80,000 per song.More

December 1, 2006 GQ magazine names Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson "Newlyweds of the Year," but by the time the issue hits newsstands, the couple are divorced.More

September 14, 2001 Program directors at Clear Channel Communications, the largest owner of radio stations in the United States, begin circulating a list of songs that might be considered offensive in light of the September 11 attacks.More

October 7, 1999 Garth Brooks releases an album as "Chris Gaines," a character he created that was intended for a movie. The ruse turns off many fans, and the album is Brooks' first since 1995 that fails to debut at #1, charting behind Creed's Human Clay.

August 24, 1998 Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats and Live Aid fame begins hosting a show on the London radio station XFM. In his first broadcast, he announces (incorrectly) that Ian Dury has died.More

June 24, 1997 Hours after shipping 100,000 copies of the Insane Clown Posse album The Great Milenko, the group's label, Hollywood Records (a Disney subsidiary), recalls the shipments over concerns about the "inappropriate" lyrics.More

January 16, 1996 Jamaican police mistake Jimmy Buffett for a drug smuggler and shoot at his seaplane (the Hemisphere Dancer) after it lands in the water. Bono of U2 is on board with his family, along with Island Records head Chris Blackwell.More

December 1, 1991 Thinking there are 31 days in November, Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell continues his hunting trip, causing the band to miss their next show opening for Van Halen in Memphis.

September 26, 1990 Cop Rock, a musical police drama with a theme song by Randy Newman, debuts on ABC. Stung by scathing reviews and terrible ratings, it is cancelled after 11 episodes.More

July 21, 1989 Performing on the Club MTV tour at a stop in Bristol, Connecticut, Milli Vanilli's tracks go screwy when they try to lip-synch to the song "Girl You Know It's True." As the line "girl you know it's..." repeats over and over, the duo panic and scurry off stage. It is later revealed that they didn't sing on their album.More

August 29, 1986 Madonna stars in the movie Shanghai Surprise, which bombs at the box office and is pilloried by critics. The film is produced by George Harrison's production company, HandMade Films. He says of the star, "She doesn't have a sense of humor, which is unfortunate, because it was a comedy."

September 19, 1984 At a whistle-stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, campaigning president Ronald Reagan praises singer Bruce Springsteen, saying: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." This leads to widespread criticism in the press because Springsteen's recent hit, "Born In The U.S.A.," is in fact a bitter cry of outrage at how poorly the United States treats its veterans, which Reagan had apparently mistaken for a straight-forward patriotic anthem - an easy mistake to make if you listen to the chorus only and not the lyrics.

July 12, 1979 It's "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park, where the White Sox and Tigers are playing a doubleheader. The plan is to blow up a bunch of disco albums between games, but it goes horribly wrong when fans become unruly and rush the field, forcing the White Sox to forfeit the second game.More

December 7, 1973 Fleetwood Mac's manager, Clifford Davis, gets fed up with the premature cancellation of a tour and sends out his own version of the group with unknown musicians. It doesn't go well: The new band lasts just a few weeks and the real band wins the rights to their name after years of litigation.

October 2, 1954 Elvis Presley makes his one and only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, where he sings "Blue Moon Of Kentucky." It doesn't go over well with the crowd, which does not approve of his take on traditional country music. The Opry's talent director, Jim Denny, reportedly tells Presley he should go back to driving a truck. Elvis swears never to return.

November 15, 2022 The presale for Taylor Swift's Eras tour crashes Ticketmaster, leading to frustrated fans and a federal investigation. Despite the snafu, 2.4 million tickets are sold, the most for one artist ever in a single day.

August 21, 2022 Police in Ohio raid the home of "Because I Got High" singer Afroman looking for evidence of kidnapping and drug trafficking. He isn't charged, and uses the surveillance footage in the video for his song "Lemon Pound Cake," zeroing in on a moment when an officer looks down to discover the cake in the kitchen.

July 2, 2014 In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a new group called The Raskins play their first show on the Mötley Crüe Final Tour, which also includes Alice Cooper. They later süe the Crüe, claiming they paid $1 million for the privilege, but received heaps of abuse in return.More

January 20, 2011 Appearing on the Bravo show Watch What Happens Live, Tiffany talks about dating Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block in the '80s, and inadvertently outs him, saying, "He became gay later."More

July 10, 2000 A much-ballyhooed Supremes "reunion" tour, "Return To Love," which features only Diana Ross from the original group, is canceled after initial ticket sales don't match expectations.

November 14, 1999 EMI Music Distribution begins offering retailers a $3 rebate on each unit sold of the latest Garth Brooks album In... The Life Of Chris Gaines, in order to boost sales. In exchange for the rebate, retailers are asked to lower the price of the Capitol album - which lists for $17.98 on CD - as low as possible.

August 17, 1996 The ENIT Festival, organized by Perry Farrell after breaking ties with Lollapalooza, kicks off in Holmdel, New Jersey with Farrell's band Porno For Pyros headlining. It's one of the first ventures to sell tickets on the Internet, but poor planning dooms the festival and it plays just four dates.

March 1, 1995 Tony Bennett wins the Album Of The Year Grammy for MTV Unplugged, a collection of standards taken from his acoustic performance on the network. It's the lowest-charting album ever to win; it topped out at #69 before the ceremony and the Grammy bump only pushes it to #48. In response, the Grammys establish nominating committees for the major awards to make them more contemporary. The following year, Alanis Morissette gets Album Of The Year for the far more popular and acclaimed Jagged Little Pill.

August 9, 1985 Looking to capitalize on the success of the Motown 25 special, NBC debuts a variety series called Motown Revue, which is cancelled after a five-week run.

November 2, 1978 David Cassidy stars in a new cop show called David Cassidy: Man Undercover. It is cancelled after 10 episodes.

December 3, 1976 It's a Spinal Tap moment for Pink Floyd when during the shoot for their Animals album cover, a 40-foot inflatable pig being photographed at Battersea Power Station on the River Thames in London breaks free. Pilots in the area are warned of a pig loose in the skies, which reaches a height of 18,000 feet before coming down in Kent.More

August 26, 1969 Elvis Presley cracks himself up during his concert in Las Vegas when he changes a lyric to "Are You Lonesome Tonight," singing, "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?"More

October 22, 2019 Stephen Morris disembarks from a train in South East London leaving behind a violin made in 1709; it is valued at £250,000! A short time later, Morris gets a message on Twitter from the person who took it, and he gets the instrument back.

July 31, 2019 Woodstock 50, which at one point had Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z, Santana and John Fogerty on board, is officially cancelled because of legal and logistical problems. Santana and Fogerty celebrate the anniversary with shows at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, where the original Woodstock took place.

Page 1
1 2
Back to Categories

©2024 Songfacts®, LLC