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.
1987 Nike 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.More
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.
Funny Girl Debuts On Broadway
1964Barbra Streisand opens on Broadway in Funny Girl, two months after landing her first Top 10 hit with the show's number "People."
Funny Girl is a fictionalized account of comedienne Fanny Brice's rise to fame in the Ziegfeld Follies and her tumultuous relationship with professional gambler Nicky Arnstein. Twenty-one-year-old Streisand already had a few acclaimed albums and a Tony Award under her belt by the time she stepped into the role, and the show's musical masterminds, composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill, wrote songs that were tailor-made for her voice - including "People," a tender ballad about the beauty of human beings sticking together that serves as a love song about Brice's yearning for romance. The single was released two months before Funny Girl's Broadway debut, and it went to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Streisand her first Top 10 hit on the tally. It also generated interest in the musical, and theatergoers flocked to see the singer perform the tune live. Like the song, the show is a smash and earns Streisand a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. But she's not done with "People" or Fanny Brice. She titles her fourth studio album after the tune and records a new version that replaces the horn fanfare with a softer, contemplative ending. She also reprises her role in the 1968 film adaptation of Funny Girl, which earns her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Reflecting on "People" 50 years later, Streisand feels the song has grown up with her but its core message remains the same - and just as relevant as ever despite our ever-changing world. "Even though the external world - fashion, politics, the atmosphere - is always changing, people don't really change that much internally," she explains in a 2019 interview with the Library of Congress. "We all basically want the same things in life - love, family, community, the desire to connect …we all need each other. In other words, we’re all 'people who need people.'"
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