Calendar Search Results: i was at
February 7, 1980 At the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Pink Floyd stage the first production of The Wall, an immersive concert performance in which a giant wall is erected on stage as the band plays, representing the alienation between audience and performer.More
February 4, 1980 The Ramones release their fifth album, End of the Century, produced by Phil Spector. Dee Dee Ramone claims Spector pulled a gun on him during the sessions.More
January 25, 1980 Paul McCartney is released and deported from Japan after spending 10 days in a Tokyo jail. He was arrested at the airport when customs officials found 219 grams of marijuana in his luggage.
January 16, 1980 Traveling to Japan for a tour with Wings, Paul McCartney packs about half a pound of marijuana in his luggage, which lands him 10 days in a Tokyo jail upon arrival. He had the weed in New York and wanted to bring it with him to smoke on tour, saying, "This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I'd take it with me." After McCartney's arrest, Wings' tour of Japan is immediately canceled. Paul never plays another show with the band.
January 7, 1980 R&B singer Larry Williams dies at age 44 of a gunshot wound to the head in what's eventually deemed a suicide, though some speculate he was murdered. Known for a string of enduring rock 'n roll hits from the mid-'50s, including "Bony Moronie" and "Short Fat Fannie."
November 10, 1979 "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang becomes first rap song to hit the Billboard Hot 100, entering the chart at #84.More
October 19, 1979 Following a vicious legal battle with MCA Records, the third Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album, Damn The Torpedoes, is released on the label's new subsidiary, Backstreet Records.More
October 4, 1979 Jimmy Buffett appears on the cover of Rolling Stone ahead of his forthcoming Volcano album. The article details his experience recording the Caribbean-flavored tracks near a dormant volcano at George Martin's AIR Studios in Montserrat.More
September 25, 1979 Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita makes its debut on Broadway with Patti LuPone after a successful year on London's West End.More
September 21, 1979 Bruce Springsteen debuts his song "The River" at a show in Madison Square Garden. He is performing as part of Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE) in a protest against nuclear power. Other artists that go on before him have to contend with the constant droning of "Broooooooooooooce," as he's the main attraction. Bonnie Raitt doesn't figure out until after her set that the crowd was not booing her, just anticipating Springsteen's performance.
September 19, 1979 James Taylor, Jackson Browne, The Doobie Brothers, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt perform at Madison Square Garden for the first of five "no nukes" concerts.More
September 12, 1979 The ABC news program 20/20 runs the special "The Elvis Cover-Up," which alleges that Elvis Presley's death was linked to prescription drugs. When his doctor, George Nichopoulous, is brought to trial, evidence shows that Elvis had prescriptions for about 10,000 doses of drugs just in the year he died (1977).
August 20, 1979 Bob Dylan, a recent convert to Christianity, releases the faith-driven album Slow Train Coming. It includes "Gotta Serve Somebody," which peaks at #24, becoming Dylan's last single to crack the top 40 in the US.More
July 22, 1979 Little Richard, who has been preaching of his salvation throughout the United States, makes his famous statement, "If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody."More
July 12, 1979 It's "Disco Demolition Night" at Comiskey Park, where the White Sox and Tigers are playing a doubleheader. The plan is to blow up a bunch of disco albums between games, but it goes horribly wrong when fans become unruly and rush the field, forcing the White Sox to forfeit the second game.More
July 1, 1979 The Sony Walkman debuts in Japan, making music portable.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 10, 1979 Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" hits #1 on the Hot 100. It becomes a female-empowerment anthem, but the song was written by two men.More
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 5, 1979 The double-album soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever reaches sales of 25 million worldwide, making it the best-selling LP in history.More
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
October 6, 1978 Atlantic Records head Ahmet Ertegun meets with Jesse Jackson, who has beef with The Rolling Stones' "Some Girls," specifically the line, "black girls just want to get f--ked all night."More
October 4, 1978 Tammy Wynette claims that on this day she was kidnapped from a Nashville shopping mall and then beaten and dumped by the side of the road. Wynette struggled with an addiction to prescription pain killers, which contributed to her death in 1998. Her daughter claimed that she made up the story about the kidnapping, possibly to explain bruises inflicted by her husband.
September 21, 1978 Do you remember the 21st night of September? The first line of Earth, Wind & Fire's song was group leader Maurice White's due date for his son Kahbran.
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.
September 8, 1978 David Bowie releases his second live album, Stage. The album was recorded at concerts in Philadelphia, Providence and Boston.
April 30, 1978 The Clash are among the acts at a "Rock Against Racism" concert, playing to over 50,000 in London's Victoria Park to combat the National Front, a neo-Nazi group in the UK whose slogan is "Keep Britain White."More
April 26, 1978 The Last Waltz, director Martin Scorsese's acclaimed documentary of The Band's star-studded last concert, opens in theaters. The film features performances by Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, The Staple Singers and Dr. John.More
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