21 MAY
Featured Events
2016 Following the release of his album Views, Drake places a record 20 songs on the Hot 100, besting Justin Bieber's mark of 17 on December 5, 2015.
1994 R&B vocal group All-4-One hits #1 on the Hot 100 with "I Swear," a cover of a country song by John Michael Montgomery. The group is playing gigs at Disneyland when the song tops the chart; it stays at #1 for 11 weeks.More
1992 Bette Midler is Johnny Carson's last guest on The Tonight Show (his final show, the following night, has no guests). She serenades him with "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)."
1992 MTV airs the first episode of The Real World, which gets huge ratings and begins a shift in programming away from music videos. It also encourages other networks to try this "Reality TV" thing.
1986 Run-DMC, LL Cool J and Whodini kick off the Raising Hell tour with a show in Columbus, Georgia. All three acts are from New York City; the tour, which stops in places like Saginaw, Michigan, and Jacksonville, Florida, affirms that rap is finding a much wider audience.
1977 Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album takes over the #1 spot in the US from the Eagles' Hotel California.
1965 Ten years into the Rock Era, it looks like it's here to stay. Time magazine reports on the rock revival with the cover story, "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of the Sixties."More
21 MAY
In Music History
2021 Olivia Rodrigo releases her debut album, Sour, which includes her debut single, "Drivers License," and also the hits "Deja Vu," "Good 4 U," and "Brutal."
2021 J. Cole suits up to play for the Patriots Basketball Club of the Rwandan African league. He scores three points in his debut.
2018 The Hootie & the Blowfish album Cracked Rear View is certified for selling 21 million copies in America, overtaking Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction as the top-selling debut album of all-time in that country.
2015 Louis Johnson of The Brothers Johnson dies at 60. In addition to his work with the group, he also played bass on many sessions for other artists; that's him on Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Billie Jean."
2010 The Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin falls off a 20-foot cliff while hiking near San Francisco, mangling her knees and forcing the band to cancel their upcoming reunion tour.
2008 David Cook seems shocked to become the Season 7 winner of American Idol, beating 17-year-old David Archuleta. Cook got 56% of the record 97.5 million votes.
2008 Lou Pearlman, manager of Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, is sentenced to 25 years in prison on four federal charges: two counts of conspiracy, money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding.
2003 Ruben Studdard wins Season 2 of American Idol, beating out Clay Aiken.
2003 Ike Turner is refused entry into Japan because of a past drug conviction.
2002 Little Big Town release their disastrous self-titled debut through Sony's Monument Records. Although the album produces a couple minor hits on the Country chart, the group is denigrated by critics as a fake country band, devoid of substance. LBT proves them wrong with their acclaimed 2005 album, The Road to Here.
2001 Josh Groban's career takes off after he appears on the Season 4 finale of Ally McBeal as a jilted teenager. More
2000 Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots marries the model Mary Forsberg. It's his second marriage, and this one is low-key, taking place at a restaurant in Los Angeles. Celebrity guests include Weiland's bandmates and Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
1996 Soundgarden's fifth album, Down On The Upside, is released. It debuts at #2 in America, behind Fugees' The Score.
1993 Sliver, starring Sharon Stone and William Baldwin, is released in the US. The movie is panned by critics, but its prominent use of UB40's cover of the Elvis Presley original "Can't Help Falling in Love" helps give the band their second #1 hit in the States. The song was originally released as the first single from their 1993 album, Promises and Lies.
1988 "Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses" by Kathy Mattea hits #1 on the Country chart. It's the second chart-topper from her fourth album, Untasted Honey, following "Goin' Gone."
ZZ Top Rule MTV With Babes And A Classic Car
1983ZZ Top release their video for "Gimme All Your Lovin'," marking the first appearance of the Eliminator, Billy Gibbons' 1933 Ford Hot Rod. The car appears in three other ZZ Top videos and becomes closely associated with the band. Gibbons has another one built just like it to bring on tour.
How do you turn a venerable Texas blues-rock band into a featured attraction on MTV? With girls and a car, of course. The "Gimme All Your Lovin'" video contains no studio footage, breaking away from the format of "band plays fake concert while other stuff goes on." It's all outdoors, opening with a scene where a gas-station attendant is turning a wrench. When the eliminator pulls up, it begins an adventure where the three lovely ladies inside take him for a ride. He wakes up as if from a dream, but the Eliminator rolls by and he's holding the key the girls gave him. Not only is it a cohesive storyline (rare for MTV at the time), but it also leaves room for a sequel, which is filled by the next ZZ Top single, "Sharp Dressed Man," where he is working as a valet. When the Eliminator pulls up, the same three girls emerge, helping him find his inner dance demon. The third video in the series if for "Legs," which this time features a girl working a thankless job where she is constantly harassed. When the Eliminator pulls up, the girls give her a makeover and imbue her with confidence, which she uses to take control. The car also appears in their video for "Sleeping Bag," this time as part of a horror film homage. The car is the real deal: Billy Gibbons bought if from a woman in Tucson, Arizona, then tricked it out big time, with a 350-cubic-inch V8 engine with a four-barrel carburetor, Turbo 350 transmission and custom graphics created by Kenny Youngblood, a longtime drag racing artist known as "the Michelangelo of Motorsports." Gibbons' cravings began when he saw the 1974 TV movie The California Kid, which featured a similar vehicle. Eliminator is chosen as the name of the album and featured on the cover. Thanks to their MTV success, they grow a whole new audience that is half their age. The car is so popular, Gibbons commissions a clone for appearances. The orignial becomes a favorite of gearheads, featured in just about every magazine that deals with hot rods and customs. ZZ Top's next album, Afterburner, also has the car on the cover, this time in space. Gibbons adds to his collection of custom vehicles, notably with CadZZilla, a 1948 Cadillac Sedanette. But the Eliminator is the one that gets invited to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where it makes periodic appearances. It can certainly claim the title of Most Famous Car In Rock.
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