Calendar Search Results: on about
July 6, 1985 Phil Collins' "Sussudio" - a song about a girl with a funny name - hits #1. It holds the position for one week.
June 7, 1985 The movie Perfect debuts in theaters, starring John Travolta as a Rolling Stone reporter who falls for aerobics instructor Jamie Lee Curtis. While the drama is a dud with critics, it portrays Rolling Stone as more than a music magazine – which is exactly what its editor-in-chief Jann Wenner hoped. More
May 20, 1985 Jon Pardi is born in Dixon, California. Part of a wave of artists that make good-time country songs with modern production (Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line are others), he breaks through in 2013 with "Up All Night," a song about a truck, a girl and a dirt road.
May 18, 1985 After repeated attempts to break through in America, Simple Minds go to #1 with "Don't You (Forget About Me)," which is used in the movie The Breakfast Club.More
May 13, 1985 The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) holds a meeting in a Washington church where they foment support for their agenda: a ratings system for albums and concerts like those used for movies, and also to keep offensive album covers out of view in record stores. Their efforts lead to warning stickers on albums with offensive lyrics.More
April 7, 1985 Wham! become the first Western pop group to play in China when they perform at the Worker's Gymnasium in Beijing. Footage from their trip appears in the video for their song "Freedom."More
March 23, 1985 Billy Joel marries the "Uptown Girl" Christie Brinkley. They remain married for nine years.More
March 21, 1985 In Vancouver, the Canadian wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen begins his "Man In Motion" tour to raise money for spinal cord research. Inspired by his quest, fellow Canadian David Foster works with John Parr to write a tribute song to Hansen for the film St. Elmo's Fire.More
February 25, 1985 British synthpop duo Tears For Fears release their sophomore album, Songs From The Big Chair, featuring the hits "Shout" and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World."More
December 4, 1984 The singer Jelly Roll is born Jason DeFord in Antioch, Tennessee (his mom gives him his nickname because he's a chubby kid). He starts off as a rapper and ends up both selling and using drugs, leading to a series of arrests. He starts turning his life around after getting out of jail in 2008, and as a country singer makes his mark with songs about struggle and redemption based on his own story.
October 19, 1984 The Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense opens in theaters. A highly unconventional film that doesn't rely on crowd shots or backstage footage, it's hailed as a triumph of the genre.More
October 13, 1984 Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You" tops the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, R&B and UK Singles charts.More
September 19, 1984 At a whistle-stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, campaigning president Ronald Reagan praises singer Bruce Springsteen, saying: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." This leads to widespread criticism in the press because Springsteen's recent hit, "Born In The U.S.A.," is in fact a bitter cry of outrage at how poorly the United States treats its veterans, which Reagan had apparently mistaken for a straight-forward patriotic anthem - an easy mistake to make if you listen to the chorus only and not the lyrics.
September 16, 1984 The TV series Miami Vice makes its debut with a two-hour episode that includes a scene featuring the Phil Collins hit "In The Air Tonight."More
September 13, 1984 Patti LaBelle makes her feature-film debut in the Norman Jewison drama A Soldier's Story, a WWII-era mystery about the murder of a Black sergeant near a segregated Army base in Louisiana. For her role as blues singer Big Mary, LaBelle wrote and performed the tune "Pourin' Whiskey Blues."
September 1, 1984 Tina Turner completes her comeback as "What's Love Got To Do With It" hits #1 in America.More
June 29, 1984 After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen does it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, he brings a doe-eyed, 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him.More
June 4, 1984 Bruce Springsteen releases the album Born In The U.S.A. The cover photo, showing Bruce posed in front of the American flag, gives many the wrong idea about the title track, which is about the struggles of a veteran returning home from the Vietnam War.
May 5, 1984 Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders marries Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.More
March 2, 1984 This Is Spinal Tap is released in theaters, chronicling the hapless heavy metal band with exploding drummers and an amp that goes to 11. It leaves some in laughter and some in tears. Ozzy Osbourne is just confused.More
January 14, 1984 Madonna makes her first appearance on American Bandstand. When asked by Dick Clark about her ambitions (blonde or otherwise), the singer replies: "To rule the world."
January 13, 1984 The BBC bans the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song "Relax" due to sexual content. The controversy generates tremendous interest in the song, which reaches #1 in the UK the following week.More
December 11, 1983 Run-D.M.C. release their second single, "Hard Times," a song about financial struggles. It's the first rap song to get covered by another rap group, having first appeared on Kurtis Blow's debut album in 1980.
December 2, 1983 Michael Jackson's 14-minute "Thriller" video debuts on MTV. Directed by John Landis, the short film shows Michael Jackson turning into a werewolf and leading a dance routine with various undead creatures.More
November 4, 1983 Paul Simon releases Hearts and Bones, his sixth solo album. The title track is about his new bride, the actress Carrie Fisher.More
October 8, 1983 Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish is released. Tom Waits appears in the film as the bubblegum-chomping owner of Benny's Billiards. His character exists on the periphery of the main plot line, but he is given an extended, poetic monologue about life, time, and aging.
September 24, 1983 Billy Joel hits #1 in America with "Tell Her About It," a song inspired by his future wife Christie Brinkley.
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 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 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
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