27 MAY
Featured Events
2017 "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber tops the Hot 100, becoming the first #1 on the chart sung mostly in Spanish since "Macarena" in 1996.
2017 Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band dies at age 69 after a battle with liver cancer.
2014 50 Cent throws out the first pitch at the Mets game, missing the catcher by about 20 feet. Topps later produces a baseball card commemorating the moment.More
2006 For the first time in their 22-year career, Red Hot Chili Peppers score a #1 album in the US: the two-disc set Stadium Arcadium.
1995 Cracked Rear View, the debut by Hootie & the Blowfish, goes to #1 in America nearly 10 months after it was released.
1994 After a 14-year hiatus, the Eagles reunite for a show in Burbank, California, closing the show with "Desperado." They soon launch their "Hell Freezes Over" tour, which becomes the first tour to charge more than $100 for a substantial number of tickets.More
27 MAY
In Music History
2022 Season 4 of the Netflix series Stranger Things airs with a scene featuring the 1985 Kate Bush song "Running Up That Hill." The song starts trending and enters the Top 10 in 34 different territories, including America, where it lands at #8. Bush's previous chart peak in the US was #30 when the song was first released.
2014 At his trial for historic sexual offenses, Rolf Harris sings a few bars of his hit "Jake The Peg." He's also known for the 1969 chart-topper "Two Little Boys."
2012 Lady Gaga is forced to cancel a scheduled concert performance in Jakarta, Indonesia, after Islamic protesters threaten to stop the show themselves. Bearing banners saying "Go to hell, Lady Gaga," the protesters cite the singer's loose morals and revealing costumes as evidence that she is corrupting the youth. The island of Bali remains a predominantly Hindu enclave within Indonesia, with much of the rest of the population Islam, Christian, or Sikh.
2012 On his 90th birthday, actor Christopher Lee announces the release of his Heavy Metal single "Let Legend Mark Me as the King."
2011 A species of Afrotropical spider is named in honor of composer Brian Eno. The creature is called Pseudocorinna brianeno.
2011 Gil Scott-Heron, a spoken-word performer who dubbed himself a "bluesologist," dies at age 62. Although he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive several years earlier, his cause of death is not released.
2009 Gerard Way (of My Chemical Romance) becomes a father when wife Lyn-Z (of Mindless Self Indulgence) gives birth to daughter Bandit Lee.
2004 The Bee Gees are made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace; Maurice's son Adam accepts on behalf of his father, who'd just died six months earlier.
2003 Italian composer Luciano Berio dies at age 77.
1999 Lionel Richie and his wife Diane Alexander have their first child, Miles Brockman.
1988 The Monsters of Rock tour, with a lineup of Metallica, Van Halen, Scorpions and Dokken, kicks off with a show at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. Metallica emerge super-sized, and soon after the tour release their album ...And Justice for All. Dokken, strained from infighting and exhaustion, break up after the tour.
1987 U2's concert in Rome sets off earthquake alarms as a result of the noise level.
1977 Neil Young releases American Stars 'n Bars, his 8th studio album. Containing an eclectic batch of songs pieced together from four different recording sessions going back as far as three years (with "Star of Bethlehem" being the oldest), the album features one of Young's most iconic tunes, "Like a Hurricane."
1977 The Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" is released, selling about 150,000 copies in a week despite being nightparted on BBC's Radio 1 and declined by some record stores.
1975 Rapper Andre 3000 (of OutKast) is born André Lauren Benjamin in Atlanta, Georgia.
Abba's "Abba-tars" Take The Stage In The Virtual Reality Show Voyages
2022Abba's virtual reality show Voyages opens in London with digital avatars performing in place of the actual band members.
After calling it quits in 1982, Abba fielded very lucrative offers for comeback tours but always turned them down, mostly due to logistics - Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog are especially averse to touring. But what if they can do a run of shows without actually performing? That was the offer made by Simon Fuller, creator of Pop Idol and its US spin-off, American Idol. Instead of using hologram technology, the band worked with George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic to create "Abba-tars" - digital versions of the band that move just like they do (or did - they're made to look like the band in 1979). To pull it off, the band spent four-and-a-half weeks performing in motion capture suits. That footage was digitally engineered and combined with motion capture from body doubles to do the various jumps and other stage moves the band members, all in their 70s, have aged out of. No existing venue is suitable for this production, so one is created: the Abba Arena in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. The result is a surprisingly lifelike representation that thrills fans with a hit-filled set. Two songs in the show - "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down" - are part of their album Voyage, released six months earlier after they found a creative spark during preparation. The virtual costumes are designed by Dolce & Gabbana. One of the advantages of avatars is that costume changes aren't a problem, so there are 20, all perfectly fitted with no tailoring. Before the show opens - the first of 196 planned performances - Abba announced that they would no longer perform in real life or release more music. Photo: ABBA Voyage/Dolce & Gabbana
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