Calendar Search Results: band i
August 9, 1983 22-year-old Thomas Reilly is shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast. He was a friend of the band Spandau Ballet, and sold merch on their True tour. His death would inspire the band's song "Through The Barricades" and the Bananarama song "King Of The Jungle."
August 1, 1983 Neil Young puts together a one-time backing band called the Shocking Pinks for a rockabilly album titled Everybody's Rocking'. It's his 13th studio album.
July 20, 1983 Duran Duran headline a charity concert at Dominion Theatre in London attended by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. At the event, they meet Diana, who has proclaimed them her favorite band, for the first time.
July 5, 1983 Suicidal Tendencies release their self-titled debut album. The album spawns the band's biggest hit to date, "Institutionalized."
July 3, 1983 Red Hot Chili Peppers take the stage at the Kit Kat Club in Hollywood wearing nothing but socks - not on their feet.More
June 20, 1983 Grace Potter is born in Waitsfield, Vermont. While attending St. Lawrence University in New York in 2002, she meets drummer Matt Burr during a campus open-mic in and they form a rock band that evolves into Grace Potter And The Nocturnals.
June 3, 1983 Already undergoing psychiatric treatment and suffering from, among other things, voices in his head, Derek & the Dominos drummer Jim Gordon brutally murders his own mother with a hammer and knife in their home. Gordon, who co-wrote the band's biggest hit, "Layla," is sentenced to life in prison.
May 29, 1983 Van Halen get a record $1.5 million to play Day 2 ("Heavy Metal Day") of Apple founder Steve Wozniak's US Festival, the second and final year of the event. It's the most any act has ever been paid for a single performance.More
May 28, 1983 Apple's Steve Wozniak hosts the second US Festival, intending it to be the "Super Bowl of rock." The lineup is even more impressive than that of its 1982 predecessor, and the attendance is substantially larger. Wozniak splurges on David Bowie with two million dollars of his own money, simply because he "really loves him."More
May 21, 1983 ZZ 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.More
May 6, 1983 The Smiths open for Sisters of Mercy at the University of London Union. In the audience is a producer from the influential radio program The John Peel Show, who gets the band on the show. Peel becomes a huge fan and plays the version of "This Charming Man" they recorded for the show, helping launch their career.
April 24, 1983 With Los Angeles punk rock running afoul of authorities, the Minutemen play a guerilla concert in the Mojave desert, where fans are bussed in. It's the first of a series of "Desolation Center" concerts that are the precursor to Burning Man and other desert music festivals.More
April 11, 1983 Dave Mustaine is kicked out of Metallica because of his drug and alcohol addictions. Soon after, he forms Megadeth, which becomes one of the most successful metal bands of the era.More
April 6, 1983 Ronald Reagan's secretary of the Interior, James Watt, cancels an appearance by The Beach Boys at Washington DC's Independence Day festivities, infamously stating that the band would attract "an undesirable element."
March 25, 1983 The Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special is recorded at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium; it is broadcast on NBC in May. Highlights of the show include Michael Jackson's Moonwalk and a The Supremes reunion. A lowlight is no mention of the label's house band, The Funk Brothers. Bass player James Jamerson, who played on many of the hits performed this evening, has to buy his own ticket. He dies a few months later.
March 7, 1983 New Order release "Blue Monday," which becomes the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. The track is reissued twice by the band: in 1988 and 1995. Despite massive success in Europe and on the specialist dance chart, only the 1988 Quincy Jones remix makes it to the mainstream Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #68.
March 5, 1983 At The Stone in San Francisco, Metallica play their first show with bass player Cliff Burton. The band relocates to the Bay Area to accommodate Burton and join a metal scene far more vibrant than the one they leave behind in Los Angeles.
February 22, 1983 Styx release Kilroy Was Here, a concept album about a dystopian future where rock and roll is banned and technology has run amok.More
January 29, 1983 Stevie Nicks marries Kim Anderson in a union she later describes as "a terrible, terrible mistake."More
January 21, 1983 Lamar Williams (the bassist who replaced Berry Oakley in The Allman Brothers Band) dies of lung cancer, possibly from exposure to Agent Orange during his service in the Vietnam War, at age 34.
December 31, 1982 E Street Band guitarist Miami Steve and/or Little Steven Van Zandt marries Maureen Santora at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Little Richard officiates, Bruce Springsteen is the best man, and Percy Sledge sings "When A Man Loves A Woman" during the reception.
November 30, 1982 Michael Jackson releases Thriller, which becomes, by far, the best selling album worldwide.More
November 4, 1982 Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads become parents when their son Robin is born in Nassau, Bahamas, where the band is recording their Speaking In Tongues album.
October 30, 1982 The Jam announce their breakup. Bandleader Paul Weller forms The Style Council with Mick Talbot shortly thereafter.
October 2, 1982 Accept's fourth studio album, Restless and Wild, is released. Self-produced by the band, the album would include two different front covers (one of two Flying V's aflame, the other a live shot of the band) and spawn a track which many consider the birth of speed metal, "Fast as a Shark."
September 17, 1982 Pink Floyd's seminal double album The Wall makes it to the big screen as a feature-length musical. Few expected the sprawling concept album to be turned into a feature film, but the band's celluloid collaboration with director Alan Parker and animator Gerald Scarfe becomes a surprise box office hit and a cult classic.More
September 15, 1982 At the Los Angeles Forum, Queen play their last American concert with Freddie Mercury, who dies nine years later. Michael Jackson joins the band backstage before the show. On Queen's subsequent tours with Mercury, they skip America.
September 4, 1982 "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band hits #1 in the US, giving the veteran rocker his third chart-topper.More
September 3, 1982 Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak throws the US Festival "for a few thousand friends" in hopes of uniting people through music and technology. A crowd of at least 200,000 shows up in the blistering heat of San Bernardino, California, for three days of music, tech-geekery, and dust... a whole lot of dust. Fleetwood Mac, performing for the first time in two years, headlines a bill that also includes The Police and the Grateful Dead.More
August 18, 1982 The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, England, renames some streets in honor of the band members. There is John Lennon Drive, Paul McCartney Way, George Harrison Close, Ringo Starr Drive, and even Sutcliffe Street (in honor of original bass player Stu Sutcliffe).
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC