Calendar Search Results: art songs
December 28, 1985 Eddie Murphy's "Party All The Time" goes to #2 in the US, held back by Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me." Written and produced by Rick James, it charts higher than any other James composition.
December 27, 1985 The Krush Groove Christmas party becomes the first rap show held at Madison Square Garden. A tie-in with the movie Krush Groove, the concert features performances by LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Whodini and other acts who appeared in the film. The event makes headlines for the violence that follows, as 14 people are arrested for various crimes.
December 12, 1985 Ian Stewart, the original keyboard player for The Rolling Stones, dies of a heart attack in London, England, at age 47. Stewart stepped down from the group because his image didn't suit them. He became the group's road manager and played on some of their songs.
November 2, 1985 "Part-Time Lover" hits #1 on the Hot 100, 22 years after Stevie Wonder first topped the chart in 1963.More
November 2, 1985 The Miami Vice soundtrack album, featuring the #1-hit theme song, tops the albums chart in America, ushering in a new age of TV soundtracks.More
November 1, 1985 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) agrees to some demands made by another initialed organization, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). As a result, any album deemed to contain offensive lyrics must be issued with a warning label, or the lyrics must be printed on the sleeve. Most record companies go with the labels, which don't seem to hurt sales.More
September 22, 1985 The first Farm Aid concert plays in Champaign, Illinois, to benefit American farmers trying to survive amidst a national agricultural crisis.More
September 19, 1985 Frank Zappa, John Denver and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testify at a Senate hearing where the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) argue for a ratings system on music. The musicians explain that this is censorship, but the PMRC wins a victory and warning labels are ordered on albums containing explicit lyrics.More
August 14, 1985 Three years after their duet "The Girl Is Mine," Paul McCartney advises Michael Jackson to invest in publishing. Jackson makes a winning bid of $47.5 million for the rights to over 250 Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs owned by ATV publishing, which turns out to be a great investment, but kills their friendship.More
August 10, 1985 While taking part in a yacht race, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon is trapped along with five other team members after his boat capsizes. The British coast guard scrambles to rescue the stricken crew, and after repairs to its keel the vessel goes on to take third place in the 1985/86 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
July 13, 1985 Howard Jones performs at London's Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid. Jones sings his hit single "Hide and Seek" on Freddie Mercury's piano.
July 13, 1985 The Live Aid concerts take place in Philadelphia and London to raise money for the hungry in Africa. The Beach Boys, The Four Tops, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan all take part.More
July 10, 1985 Playboy publishes nude photos of Madonna taken before she was famous.More
July 3, 1985 Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox as a time-traveling teenager, opens in theaters. When he plays "Johnny B. Goode" in 1955 at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance, he gives birth to rock and roll. In the real-life present, a new generation gets a lesson in Chuck Berry from the scene.More
June 7, 1985 The movie Perfect debuts in theaters, starring John Travolta as a Rolling Stone reporter who falls for aerobics instructor Jamie Lee Curtis. While the drama is a dud with critics, it portrays Rolling Stone as more than a music magazine – which is exactly what its editor-in-chief Jann Wenner hoped. More
May 20, 1985 Jon Pardi is born in Dixon, California. Part of a wave of artists that make good-time country songs with modern production (Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line are others), he breaks through in 2013 with "Up All Night," a song about a truck, a girl and a dirt road.
May 13, 1985 The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) holds a meeting in a Washington church where they foment support for their agenda: a ratings system for albums and concerts like those used for movies, and also to keep offensive album covers out of view in record stores. Their efforts lead to warning stickers on albums with offensive lyrics.More
March 28, 1985 Four-year-old Alicia Cook makes her acting debut on the "Slumber Party" episode of The Cosby Show. She'll become famous as Alicia Keys.
March 25, 1985 Stevie Wonder accepts the Oscar for Best Original Song "in the name of Nelson Mandela."More
March 7, 1985 The song "We are the World" is released as a single, soon achieving massive chart success all around the world. The song, written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, is recorded for charity to help battle famine in Africa. The supergroup USA for Africa brought together for the recording features a stunning list of big names in music - everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper and Dionne Warwick.
January 28, 1985 With the stars in town for the American Music Awards, "We Are The World" is recorded in Los Angeles, with cameras rolling for the video.More
January 22, 1985 In his annual list of the Worst-Dressed Women, designer/fashion critic Mr. Blackwell names Cher the Worst of 1984, writing that she "has little or less respect for being a woman." Cyndi Lauper comes in at #4 ("looks like the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake"), and rounding out the list in a tie for #10 are Dee Snider of Twisted Sister ("a car crash in a whorehouse) and Prince ("a toothpick wrapped in a purple doily").
January 11, 1985 Queen, Iron Maiden and Whitesnake play on Day 1 of the first Rock In Rio festival.More
January 2, 1985 Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones marries his second wife, Jo Karslake, in Buckinghamshire, England, with guests Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, and the other members of the Stones (except Mick).
December 4, 1984 The singer Jelly Roll is born Jason DeFord in Antioch, Tennessee (his mom gives him his nickname because he's a chubby kid). He starts off as a rapper and ends up both selling and using drugs, leading to a series of arrests. He starts turning his life around after getting out of jail in 2008, and as a country singer makes his mark with songs about struggle and redemption based on his own story.
October 28, 1984 Wells Kelly (drummer, keyboardist for Orleans), age 34, dies of asphyxiation after a night of hard partying while on tour with Meat Loaf in London, England.
October 18, 1984 Jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding is born in Portland, Oregon. She wins the 2011 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, becoming the first Jazz artist to do so... beating out nominee Justin Bieber in the process.
September 19, 1984 At a whistle-stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, campaigning president Ronald Reagan praises singer Bruce Springsteen, saying: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." This leads to widespread criticism in the press because Springsteen's recent hit, "Born In The U.S.A.," is in fact a bitter cry of outrage at how poorly the United States treats its veterans, which Reagan had apparently mistaken for a straight-forward patriotic anthem - an easy mistake to make if you listen to the chorus only and not the lyrics.
September 1, 1984 Tina Turner completes her comeback as "What's Love Got To Do With It" hits #1 in America.More
June 29, 1984 After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen does it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, he brings a doe-eyed, 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him.More
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