Calendar Search Results: o rem
October 29, 1983 Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon album breaks the record for most weeks on the Billboard albums chart when it eclipses Johnny's Greatest Hits by Johnny Mathis with 491 weeks. Dark Side remains on the chart until 1988, when it drops off with 724 weeks. Thanks to reissues and promotions, it returns from time to time, notching over 880 weeks on the chart in total.
September 28, 1983 Season 2 of the sitcom Family Ties premieres on NBC, with its theme song, "Without Us," now being performed by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams.
June 2, 1983 The 12-inch remix of "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats goes to #1 on the Billboard Dance chart. MTV begins playing the huzzah-worthy video, and the song soon rises up the Hot 100.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 16, 1983 Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk for the first time on TV when he breaks out the move on the Motown 25th anniversary TV special.More
April 12, 1983 R.E.M. release their debut album, Murmur.
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
March 26, 1983 Thanks to heavy rotation on MTV, Duran Duran have their first American hit when "Hungry Like The Wolf" hits #3 on the Hot 100.More
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 7, 1983 The Songwriter's Hall of Fame inducts Neil Sedaka and Stevie Wonder into their ranks during their annual New York ceremony.
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
October 2, 1982 The word "jobsworth" appears for the first time in the London Times, having been popularized - if not coined - by singer-songwriter Jeremy Taylor.
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
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 11, 1982 After much anticipation Grease 2, the sequel to the smash 1978 musical, lands in theaters... but crashes and burns.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 21, 1982 Murray The K dies at age 60. As a disc jockey in New York City, he held showcase concerts featuring many top acts - Stevie Wonder, The Lovin' Spoonful and The Supremes were just a few of the artists to play his revues. He also was an early champion of The Beatles, hyping the band when they came to America and calling himself "The Fifth Beatle."
January 20, 1982 While performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat.More
December 2, 1981 The Broadway musical Dreamgirls, which is based on The Supremes, opens on Broadway. It is later made into a hit movie starring Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson.
August 22, 1981 "Girls On Film" hits #5 in the UK, giving Duran Duran their breakthrough hit in Britain. It does not chart on its US release, but surges in popularity after its music video goes into heavy rotation on MTV. The clip, directed by Godley and Creme, has to be heavily edited for TV as it was only intended to be played in nightclubs and features adult themes and nudity.
August 1, 1981 MTV goes on the air, bringing music videos to the masses - at least the ones with cable.More
April 3, 1981 The Elvis Presley documentary movie This Is Elvis (with Ral Donner narrating) premieres in Memphis.
February 21, 1981 REO Speedwagon's ninth album, Hi Infidelity, goes to #1 in America, displacing John Lennon's Double Fantasy.More
February 10, 1981 Natalie Cole is trapped in her suite on the 26th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton hotel when it catches fire.More
January 24, 1981 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler gets in a nasty motorcycle accident with his 17-year-old babysitter riding on the back. He spends the remainder of the year recovering, which delays the band's next album, Rock In A Hard Place.
December 27, 1980 Weeks after his death, John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" goes to #1 in America.More
December 14, 1980 At Yoko Ono's request, a 10-minute worldwide silent vigil takes place at 2:00 p.m. EST for John Lennon, who was shot and killed six days earlier. Lennon was cremated without a funeral, so the vigil is the public outpouring of support and mourning. A large crowd gathers in Central Park near where Lennon lived with Yoko to take part; this becomes a tradition on each anniversary of Lennon's death.
December 12, 1980 Marie Osmond's solo variety series, Marie, premieres on NBC.
December 10, 1980 John Lennon's body is cremated. There is no funeral, but a worldwide vigil is held four days later.
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