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
December 8, 1982 Nicki Minaj is born Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty in Trinidad. With a panoply of flows and a striking visual presense, she signs with Lil Wayne's Young Money label and becomes the most popular female rapper in history, with over 100 chart placements, mostly features on tracks by the likes of Rihanna, Usher and Post Malone.
November 30, 1982 Michael Jackson releases Thriller, which becomes, by far, the best selling album worldwide.More
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 13, 1982 After co-producing her previous release, Never For Ever, British singer-songwriter Kate Bush returns as sole producer with The Dreaming.More
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
July 30, 1982 The Ron Howard comedy Night Shift, starring Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton, debuts in theaters. The soundtrack features the song "That's What Friends Are For," performed by Rod Stewart. Written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, it becomes a huge hit four years later when Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder (aka Dionne & Friends) cover it for AIDS awareness, winning Grammys for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Song of the Year.
July 16, 1982 Peter Gabriel launches the 3-day WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) festival at the Royal Bath and West showground in Somerset, England, with acts including the Drummers Of Burundi, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Tian Jin dancers from China. It's a financial disaster but artistic success; Gabriel revives it the next year and the festival carries on, branching out to many countries over the next several years.
June 24, 1982 Jeffrey Daniel of Shalamar does the Moonwalk on the British TV show Top Of The Pops, getting the attention of Michael Jackson, who popularizes it in America a year later.More
June 12, 1982 As part of the "No Nukes" movement during the Cold War, the largest political rally in US history takes place when about 750,000 people go to New York's Central Park for the Rally for Nuclear Disarmament, which features performances by Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and Gary "U.S." Bonds.More
June 11, 1982 After much anticipation Grease 2, the sequel to the smash 1978 musical, lands in theaters... but crashes and burns.More
May 29, 1982 Paul McCartney's Tug Of War begins a three-week run at #1 in the US; it's his first album to top the chart since Wings broke up. The album features the chart-topping hit "Ebony And Ivory," a duet with Stevie Wonder, as well as the #10 single "Take It Away" and the John Lennon tribute "Here Today."
May 28, 1982 Rocky III hits theaters. This one features a new theme song written around a key line of dialogue in the film: "Eye of the Tiger." Sylvester Stallone asked the upstart Chicago band Survivor to write and record the song when he couldn't get permission to use the Queen song "Another One Bites The Dust."
May 28, 1982 Roxy Music release their final album, Avalon, featuring the dreamy title track and the melancholy "More Than This." It very slowly catches on in America, where it's certified Platinum 10 years later in 1992.
April 17, 1982 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force release "Planet Rock," the first hip-hop hit with electronic elements and a rhythm powered by a Roland TR-808 drum machine. It's just the third rap song to reach the Hot 100, following "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang and "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow.More
April 13, 1982 David Crosby is busted for freebasing cocaine, leading to a downward spiral that winds through the Dallas County Jail.More
March 27, 1982 "Pac-Man Fever," a song about the arcade game that has America enthralled, cracks the Top 10, becoming the only song about a video game ever to do so.More
March 6, 1982 Beauty and the Beat hits #1 in America, making The Go-Go's the first all-girl band with a #1 album.More
February 19, 1982 Ozzy Osbourne urinates on a statue near the Alamo, desecrating a Texas landmark.More
February 1, 1982 Bill Murray is the first guest on Late Night with David Letterman, hosted by an irreverent comedian with funny teeth. He sings the hit song "Physical," doing an aerobic routine along with his performance.More
January 20, 1982 While performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat.More
November 21, 1981 "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John hits #1 in the US. The sweaty aerobics anthem stays at the top spot for 10 weeks, making it the biggest hit of 1981.More
October 5, 1981 Jud Strunk, comedian and singer/songwriter, crashes his private plane when he suffers a heart attack while taking off in Maine. The 45-year-old Strunk and his passenger are both killed. Known for the 1973 hit ballad "Daisy A Day."
September 25, 1981 The Rolling Stones start their US tour with a concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, where they play to a crowd of 90,000. The tour is sponsored by musk maker Jovan, establishing a new paradigm for corporate involvement.More
September 21, 1981 Nicole Richie is born Nicole Escovedo in Berkeley, California. Born to percussion player Peter Escovedo, she is taken in by Lionel Richie and his wife Brenda at age 3, and adopted by the couple at 9. She becomes a popular socialite, starring with Paris Hilton on the reality show The Simple Life.
September 18, 1981 Genesis release their "abstract" album, Abacab, in the UK.More
August 1, 1981 MTV goes on the air, bringing music videos to the masses - at least the ones with cable.More
May 11, 1981 Bob Marley dies at age 36 after a long battle with cancer.More
May 10, 1981 Kraftwerk release their eighth studio album, Computer World, featuring prescient songs about the influence of computers on society.More
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