17 MARCH
Featured Events
2010 Big Star lead singer Alex Chilton dies of a heart attack at age 59. Three days later, the group's scheduled performance at SXSW is turned into a tribute to Chilton.
2008 Heather Mills is awarded 23.7 million pounds (about $47 million) in her divorce from Paul McCartney, substantially more than the $32 million Paul offered. Throughout the ordeal, Mills is vilified in the British press as being opportunistic.More
2003 On the very first episode of MTV's practical joke show Punk'd, host Ashton Kutcher stages a prank involving the IRS that makes Justin Timberlake cry.More
1992 After reuniting at their ex-manager's funeral, Spinal Tap issue their 17th album, Break Like The Wind.More
1968 Mick Jagger joins a demonstration at Grosvenor Square in London to protest the Vietnam War. When the group, estimated at 25,000, marches to the American embassy, they are met with police resistance and rioting ensues. Jagger leaves the protest before it reaches the embassy, but uses the events as inspiration for the Rolling Stones song "Street Fighting Man."
1958 "Tequila" by The Champs hits #1 in America, becoming one of the most popular saxophone instrumentals of all time.More
1958 The first "Greatest Hits" compilation is released, and it's by Johnny Mathis. It's a huge hit, and the format catches on quickly. The Mathis album stays in the Billboard 200 album chart for over nine years, a record not broken until Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon.More
17 MARCH
In Music History
2023 Taylor Swift launches her Eras tour in Glendale, Arizona. The three-hour show is divided into 10 acts dedicated to the music and looks of each of her previous albums. It's her first trek since her Reputation Tour five years and four albums earlier.
2020 A federal judge rules in favor of Katy Perry, overturning a verdict that her song "Dark Horse" infringed on the song "Joyful Noise" by Flame. The jury had ordered $2.78 million in damages.
2020 With St. Patrick's Day festivities shut down due to the coronavirus, Dropkick Murphys livestream a free concert from an empty venue in Boston. Over the next few weeks, many other artists follow suit, using livestreaming as a way to perform for fans during lockdown.More
2018 At their St. Patrick's Day concert in Brussels, The Script buy everyone in the audience of 8,000 a drink, setting a Guinness World Record for "world's biggest round."
2017 Popular World War II-era singer Vera Lynn releases Vera Lynn 100 to celebrate her 100th birthday. The album debuts at #3 on the UK chart, making her the oldest living artist to have an album on the tally.
2016 Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia puts a collection of his memorabilia up for auction.More
2012 After getting pelted with cans and other trash at their SXSW performance, Rocky and the rest of A$AP Mob launch into the crowd, punching fans and igniting a brawl.
2011 Ferlin Husky dies of congestive heart failure at age 85.
2009 Instead of getting boozed up on the streets like most people on St. Patrick's Day, Amy Winehouse gets sloppy at her court hearing in London to face charges that she attacked a fan at a charity event in 2008.
2009 Chicago blues harmonicist Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport dies of prostate cancer at age 77.
2009 Belinda Carlisle is the first person eliminated on Season 8 of Dancing With The Stars.
2006 Professor X (founder of the hip-hop group X Clan) dies of complications from spinal meningitis at age 49.
2005 Robert Plant is presented with his lifetime achievement Grammy award at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
2003 Country musician Bill Carlisle dies at age 94.
2003 Cliff – The Musical opens at The Prince of Wales Theatre in London. The show, which is based on the life of Cliff Richard, closes three months later.
Columbus, Georgia Passes Anti-Lewdness Law Following Beastie Boys Concert
1987Reacting to a Beastie Boys concert three weeks earlier where the group used a giant inflatable penis as a stage prop and encouraged girls in the crowd to bare their breasts, the city of Columbus, Georgia passes an anti-lewdness law prohibiting nudity, simulated sex, and objectionable language at any show attended by minors.
Beastie Boys were a week away from the #1 album in America when they played Columbus on February 28, shocking police at the show when roadies attached an air tank to a road case and inflated a giant penis. More disturbing, they encouraged girls in the crowd - many of whom were underage - to take their shirts off. Police and horrified parents decide the group has a right to party, but not with minors in attendance. The anti-lewdness law makes it unlawful for any act that "predominantly appeals to the prurient, shameful or morbid interest of minors." It's broad and comprehensive, with sex, nudity and foul language prohibited. First arrested under the law is LL Cool J, who at a show in August 1987, impersonates lovemaking on a couch. Kiss frontman Gene Simmons is next, arrested for pulling down his pants at a show in 1988 (Simmons claims his Spandex was uncomfortable and he was just "adjusting the fruit"). Police wait until after the show to arrest LL and Gene, but they don't extend the same courtesy to Bobby Brown, who in 1989 is taken in mid-performance when he brings a girl on stage and does some "hunching." This one generates a lot of publicity and makes many artists wary of coming to Columbus (Ice-T cancels a show there). The law stays on the books, but is no longer enforced, even when Mötley Crüe deploy their Titty Cam there in 2006.
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