Pick a Day

Music History Events: Magazines

July 23, 2003 In a bizarre ad placed in Variety, James Brown announces his separation from his fourth wife, Tomi Rae, by featuring a picture of the couple and their two-year-old, James Brown II, posing with Goofy at Disney World.

November 28, 2001 Aretha Franklin sues the tabloid Star magazine for $50 million over a December 2000 article titled "Aretha Franklin Drinking Herself into Grave."

September 23, 2000 Tim McGraw is featured on the cover of TV Guide, due to his various nominations for the 34th Annual CMA Awards.

March 28, 2000 Jimmy Page wins a libel suit against the UK magazine Ministry, which printed that he tried to revive his dying bandmate John Bonham by using Satanic spells.

January 14, 2000 Nashville-based country fan magazine Music City News closes its doors after 37 years of publication.

November 15, 1999 People magazine declares Tim McGraw the sexiest man in country music. McGraw says as long as his wife, Faith Hill, thinks he's sexy, that's all that matters to him.

November 9, 1998 Michael Jackson settles a lawsuit over stories and pictures in the London Daily Mirror that say his face had been disfigured by cosmetic surgery. "The photographs were taken honestly and were not tampered with, but the Mirror has since met with the plaintiff in person and acknowledges that the photographs do not accurately represent the plaintiff's true appearance," says a lawyer for the publisher.

February 19, 1998 Country singer Lorrie Morgan denies a Star magazine report that she had "a wild ride in the back seat of a limousine with President Bill Clinton." Her statement reads: "The only accurate information in the article with regard to my relationship with President Clinton was that I joined him onstage for the Christmas tree lighting in Washington - I have never met with him in a private situation."

May 14, 1993 The US tabloid Weekly World News claims that Elvis Presley has only recently died.

July 1, 1991 Members of the Olympia, Washington bands Bratmobile and Bikini Kill publish the first issue of Riot Grrrl, a mini-magazine that introduces the phrase, used to describe a female punk-rock ethos with a cutting edge but also a sense of humor. Bands that join the Riot Grrrl movement include L7 and Babes In Toyland.

March 8, 1990 Rolling Stone calls Jefferson Airplane's disastrous new comeback album Most Unwanted Comeback of the Year.

January 18, 1985 USA Today readers select Cleveland, Ohio, as their choice for the permanent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

April 5, 1982 The record industry trade magazine Record World folds after 36 years.

November 27, 1981 Before file sharing, there was the dual-cassette recorder. In an effort to stop people from making copies of tapes, ads run in the British press saying, "Home taping is wiping out music."

June 1, 1981 The first issue of the heavy metal magazine Kerrang is published as a special pull-out by UK weekly music paper Sounds, with AC/DC on the front cover.

October 27, 1979 Iron Maiden, rejected by every label they approached, make the cover of the UK magazine Sounds as an unsigned band, championed as the leaders of a new British heavy metal movement. They live up to the hype: After signing to EMI they release their first album in April 1980 and become a top UK metal band.

March 8, 1979 Rolling Stone reports that inflation has ballooned the cost of making and promoting a major label LP to between $350,000 and $500,000.

October 7, 1978 Billboard magazine reveals that Marvin Gaye has declared bankruptcy twice in the past year, claiming debts of over seven million dollars.

May 13, 1977 Hustler magazine offers Linda Ronstadt (and nine other celebrities) $1 million to pose nude in the magazine. She declines.

April 10, 1976 Stevie Wonder is featured in an ad in Down Beat magazine, endorsing the Mu-Tron III effects pedal, which uses synthesizer envelopes to create a wah effect for guitar. Wonder had used the pedal on his 1973 smash "Higher Ground."

July 3, 1975 Labelle is the first Black vocal group to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. Donning sexy space-age costumes, the "Lady Marmalade" hitmakers are given the tagline "Comin' Comin' Comin' To Getcha."

March 17, 1975 Cher appears on the cover of Time magazine.

April 25, 1974 The streaking fad hits its peak as Rolling Stone reports that Yes and Gregg Allman concerts have been interrupted by naked people running around the venues.

April 15, 1973 Alice Cooper makes the cover of Forbes magazine under the headline, "A New Breed Of Tycoon." The story, which plays into Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies album, is about how rock music has become big business.

September 24, 1971 The Jackson 5 appear on the cover of Life magazine, with the headline "Rock Stars At Home With Their Parents."

April 15, 1971 Rolling Stone reports that the Illinois Crime Commission has issued a list of "drug-oriented rock records," which includes Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit," Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and "Puff The Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary.

October 10, 1970 The first issue of the legendary UK rock newspaper Sounds is published.

February 14, 1970 Billboard Magazine reports that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is "Mounting Total War Against Tape Pirating of Prerecorded Music."

December 31, 1969 A BBC TV special declares John Lennon Man Of The Decade on the same day that Rolling Stone names him Man Of The Year and New Musical Express quotes him as saying he's thinking of leaving The Beatles.

October 29, 1969 New York underground newspaper Rat becomes the first publication to compile the various rumored "clues" to the "Paul Is Dead" phenomenon.