26 MARCH
Featured Events
1995 Eazy-E (Eric Wright) dies of AIDS-related complications at age 31.More
1994 Modern rock rules as Soundgarden's Superunknown is the #1 album in America, with Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral at #2. Those looking for something less intense can find it at #3, with the Ace of Base album The Sign.
1983 Thanks to heavy rotation on MTV, Duran Duran have their first American hit when "Hungry Like The Wolf" hits #3 on the Hot 100.More
1977 "Rich Girl" hits #1 in America, giving Hall & Oates their first of six chart-toppers on the Hot 100.
1977 The Clash release their first single, making an immediate political statement with "White Riot." It is released only in the UK and not available in America until two years later.
1971 The Rolling Stones' lips and tongue logo appears for the first time when it is used on VIP passes for their show at the Marquee Club in London.More
1966 After 14 years on TV (and ten years on radio before that), the last episode of The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet, which made Rick Nelson a household name, airs on ABC.
26 MARCH
In Music History
2024 Donald Trump partners with Lee Greenwood, endorsing the God Bless The USA Bible, which includes the chorus lyrics to Greenwood's song. "I'm proud to be partnering with my very good friend Lee Greenwood," Trump says. "Who doesn't love his song 'God Bless the USA'?"
2019 Ranking Roger (Roger Charlery), the toaster for General Public and The English Beat, dies at 56 after a battle with cancer.
2018 Kesha, an ordained minister, presides over a same-sex wedding between two of her fans in Las Vegas. Footage is used in her video for "I Need A Woman To Love," a reworking of the Janis Joplin song "I Need a Man to Love."
2012 Madonna's 12th studio album, MDNA, debuts, hitting #1 on the Billboard album charts and selling a hot 350,000 copies in two weeks.
2009 Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy hosts the MTV Australia Awards. His band wins Best Rock Video for "I Don't Care," while Pink's "So What" takes Best Video.
2008 The B-52's lose their apostrophe and become the B-52s with the release of their album Funplex. The apostrophe, which is grammatically incorrect because apostrophes show possession, was simply an error made by the friend that designed their logo.
2008 Guitarist Clint Lowery returns to Sevendust to replace Sonny Mayo.
2006 Nikki Sudden (co-founder of Swell Maps) dies of a heart attack at age 49.
2005 Paul Hester (drummer for Crowded House) commits suicide at age 46.
2004 Jan Berry (of Jan & Dean) dies at age 62.
2002 Drummer Randy Castillo, who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue, dies of cancer at age 51.
2001 Gorillaz release their debut self-titled album, which becomes a surprise chart success in the US. Although the band's vocalist, Damon Albarn, is well known in Europe through his band Blur, he is virtually unknown in the States, leading to low expectations for the release. The album eventually sells over a million copies in America and peaks at #14.
1999 Bengali musician Ananda Shankar dies of heart failure at age 56.
1991 Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 is released.
1988 "Man In The Mirror" becomes the fourth of a record five #1 hits from Michael Jackson's Bad album.
Nike Uses Revolution In Commercial
1987Nike begins airing a commercial using the Beatles song "Revolution," marking the first time an original version of a Beatles song is used in an ad.
The spot debuts during The Cosby Show, the highest rated program in America. Beatles fans are taken by surprise and emit some outrage, but the campaign is very successful, thanks in part to publicity generated from the controversy. The campaign is dubbed "Revolution in Motion" and is designed to sell their Nike Air sneakers to joggers and other weekend warriors - they have the basketball market wrapped up thanks to their pitchman Michael Jordan. The song "Help!" appeared in a 1985 commercial for Ford, but that was a new recording by Beatles soundalikes. The Nike ad uses the original "Revolution," a feat that requires permission from both the US record company and the publisher. The record company is Capitol, which gets $250,000 in the deal. The publisher is Michael Jackson, who bought the rights to about 200 Beatles songs for $47.5 million in 1985, outbidding Paul McCartney in the process. The living members of the group, along with John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, file a lawsuit where they make clear their objection to the commercial. Their legal case is shaky - they claim Nike infringed on the "persona and goodwill" of the group - and the ads air into 1988, with a few different versions produced. The lawsuit does unify the Beatles in taking a stand against use of their songs in commercials, and serves as a warning to other companies who might consider it. It is eventually settled for an undisclosed amount. Before the lawsuit, Yoko Ono took a different position on the matter: She appeared in a Japanese TV commercial where she authorized "Imagine," and was quoted in Time after the Nike ad aired as saying it "is making John's music accessible to a new generation." According to Nike, she was in favor of the "Revolution" ad. "We negotiated and paid for all of the legal rights to use 'Revolution' in our ads," the company responds. "And we did so with the active support of Yoko Ono Lennon." Post "Revolution," Beatles songs stay out of commercials, and Yoko earns points for protecting Lennon's legacy. Some fans are surprised to hear "When I'm 64" in a 2002 ad for Allstate insurance, but it's not the original, but a re-recording with Julian Lennon.
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