June 15, 1979 Unknown Pleasures, the debut long-player from British post-punk band Joy Division, is released. Although it does not chart, it becomes hugely influential and is widely critically acclaimed as one of the defining albums of the post-punk era.More
June 8, 1979 Guitarist Derek Trucks is born in Jacksonville, Florida. After forming The Derek Trucks Band, he serves in The Allman Brothers Band from 1999-2014 alongside his uncle, drummer Butch Trucks.
June 4, 1979 Fleetwood Mac record the USC Trojan Marching Band at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for use in their song "Tusk," the title track to their first album since Rumours. A film crew captures the action (including Stevie Nicks deftly twirling a baton) which is made into the video for the song.More
May 23, 1979 Responding to a wave of lawsuits after refusing to transfer his contract to MCA Records, Tom Petty files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a bold move that halts the legal proceedings and forces MCA to negotiate.More
March 27, 1979 Eric Clapton marries George Harrison's ex-wife Pattie, the subject of the song "Layla." Harrison attends the wedding and remains friends with Clapton.More
March 17, 1979 Talking Heads make their first major TV appearance, performing "Take Me to the River" on American Bandstand. The lip-synced performance goes well, but the interview is a little awkward.More
March 16, 1979 CBS airs the Wings Over the World documentary, chronicling the adventures of Paul McCartney's band Wings on their 1975-1976 tour.
March 7, 1979 The Police get a badly needed break when they play the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, where the radio station KLBJ has been playing their single "Roxanne," the first station in America to do so. The song starts to catch on, and seven weeks later peaks at #32, giving the band their first hit.
February 15, 1979 Saturday Night Fever and Billy Joel are big winners at The Grammys, with the soundtrack getting Album of the Year and "Just The Way You Are" taking Record of the Year and Song of the Year.More
January 21, 1979 Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite at the Volunteer Jam in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the first time the band have played since the 1977 plane crash that killed three of their members. Lynyrd Skynyrd perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" alongside The Charlie Daniels Band.
January 16, 1979 Cher's divorce from Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers becomes final.
January 6, 1979 The Village People appear on American Bandstand, where the crowd does the soon-to-be famous arm movements spelling out "Y.M.C.A." Host Dick Clark makes sure they learn those moves, and they do.More
January 4, 1979 Due to renewed interest in The Beatles, the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, reopens to the public. The club had been an important stepping stone for the band, as they played a residency there early on.
December 31, 1978 The Runaways play their final show at Cow Palace, near San Francisco. The all-female hard-rock band have been through several line-up changes, but are finally torn apart through conflict between Joan Jett, who wants to take the band in a glam-rock direction, and Lita Ford who wishes to stay in the hard-rock genre. The band formally split the following April.
December 30, 1978 Iron Maiden have their first recording session, laying down a demo at a studio in Cambridge, England, in the first of a two-day session they get on the cheap because nobody else wants studio time over New Year's Eve weekend. The demo gets the attention of DJs and club owners, earning the band a huge UK following in 1979 and eventually a record deal with EMI.
December 21, 1978 The Cure release their debut single, "Killing An Arab," an existential song about a man who contemplates the meaning of life after murdering an Arab on a beach. Based on the controversial title, the band faces accusations of provoking anti-Arab sentiment.More
December 3, 1978 The Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst accidentally pees on Billy Idol backstage after a show in Bristol, England, where The Cure are opening for Idol's band Generation X. Idol is entertaining a young lady in a men's room stall when Tolhurst unloads his lager, missing the urinal and hitting Idol's leg. The Cure are kicked off the tour the next day.
November 25, 1978 Playing The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler is hit in the face with a bottle thrown from the audience. The band leaves the stage and the show is cancelled after Joe Perry tells the crowd, "We love you, but you can't throw things at us." A firecracker was thrown on stage during an Aerosmith show the previous year.
October 3, 1978 At an Aerosmith show in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cops arrest fans for smoking marijuana, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage. Tyler announces that the band will bail out anyone who is arrested that night, and the next day they do just that. Understandably, memories of the event are hazy, and the number arrested has been reported at anywhere from 28-58.
September 18, 1978 The albums Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss all hit stores on the same day.More
September 9, 1978 "Beast Of Burden" by The Rolling Stones enters the Hot 100 at #70. The song, in part, is a veiled reference from Keith Richards to Mick Jagger; Richards felt like Jagger was taking control of the band and leaving his bandmates out of the creative process.
August 23, 1978 The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas is born in New York City. His parents are business mogul John Casablancas, founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish model who was crowned Miss Denmark of 1965. In 2001, Julian's band reinvents guitar rock with their debut album, Is This It.
July 29, 1978 At the Bottom Line in New York City, Television play their last show until their 1991 reunion. Only the band members know they are calling it quits.
July 24, 1978 The film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band opens in America, and it tanks hard. Savaged by critics, it becomes a legendary Hollywood flop despite appearances by Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Aerosmith and The Bee Gees.More
July 8, 1978 After a disco-rific six months at #1, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack is finally bumped off the top spot by Gerry Rafferty's City To City.More
July 1, 1978 The Texxas Jam takes place at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, with Aerosmith, Van Halen, Journey and Ted Nugent performing. 80,000 fans brave the 100 degree heat, cooled down by fire hoses brought in by the organizers. For Aerosmith, it marks a low point in their career as drug use and infighting are about to break up the band, and their performance suffers.
June 29, 1978 Peter Frampton gets in a bad car accident in the Bahamas, breaking his arm and suffering internal injuries. On the bright side, he gets to miss the premiere of the film he starred in, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is derided by critics and anyone unfortunate enough to see it.
June 18, 1978 Grace Slick takes the stage with Jefferson Starship at the Lorelei Festival in Hamburg, Germany, in a state of drunkenness. After she taunts the crowd with comments about Nazis and World War II, the crowd riots, destroying much of their equipment. Slick does not return to the band until 1983.
June 7, 1978 Tom Petty meets Bob Dylan for the first time backstage after Dylan's show at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.More
May 23, 1978 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band begin their "Darkness Tour" at Shea's Buffalo Theatre in Buffalo, New York.
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