Calendar Search Results: on the mar
January 3, 1987 The second class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced, and it includes the first woman: Aretha Franklin. The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, Clyde McPhatter, Rick Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, and Jackie Wilson also enter.
December 26, 1986 The Beastie Boys kick off their Licensed To Ill tour with a show at The Ritz in New York City. By the time the tour is over, Licensed To Ill will be America's first #1 rap album, and thousands of Volkswagen emblems will go missing as fans steal them to emulate Mike D's signature look.More
September 6, 1986 Bananarama's cover of "Venus" hits #1 in the US, bringing the English pop trio international fame. The song marks the group's first collaboration with the up-and-coming production team Stock, Aitken and Waterman.More
August 3, 1986 The News Of The World breaks the story that Rolling Stones's bass player Bill Wyman, 49, is dating Mandy Smith, 16, and that they had been together since she was 13. No charges are pressed against Wyman, and in 1989, the couple gets married in a union that lasts less than a year.
July 27, 1986 Nancy Wilson (of Heart) marries screenwriter Cameron Crowe at her sister Ann's home. They remain married until 2010.
June 13, 1986 Big band leader Benny Goodman dies at age 77.More
May 16, 1986 Caitlin O'Riordan of The Pogues marries Elvis Costello in Dublin, Ireland. They divorce in 2002.
April 12, 1986 Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's marries actor Morgan Mason.
February 22, 1986 MTV, which has bought the rights to 45 episodes of The Monkees TV series, airs them all in the "Pleasant Valley Sunday" marathon in honor of the group's 20th anniversary. The shows launch a Monkees revival, and the group reforms to tour later in the year.More
February 4, 1986 Janet Jackson, 19, asserts her independence on her third album, Control, where she takes on much of the songwriting and production. With five big hits, including the #1 "When I Think of You," it vaults her into a league with her brother Michael.More
January 20, 1986 After years of campaigning to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday, Stevie Wonder commemorates the occasion with a star-studded concert celebration in Washington, D.C.More
December 23, 1985 Reno, Nevada residents James Vance, 20 and Raymond Belknap, 18, shoot themselves in a suicide pact after spending hours drinking, smoking marijuana and listening to Judas Priest's Stained Class album. A lawsuit filed by their families claims the track "Better By You, Better Than Me" contains subliminal messages encouraging the suicides, but the case is dismissed.
November 16, 1985 "We Built This City" by Starship hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is later named Worst Song of All Time by Blender magazine.More
November 2, 1985 "Part-Time Lover" hits #1 on the Hot 100, 22 years after Stevie Wonder first topped the chart in 1963.More
November 1, 1985 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) agrees to some demands made by another initialed organization, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). As a result, any album deemed to contain offensive lyrics must be issued with a warning label, or the lyrics must be printed on the sleeve. Most record companies go with the labels, which don't seem to hurt sales.More
October 26, 1985 Whitney Houston scores her first #1 on the Hot 100 when "Saving All My Love For You" reaches the top spot. She goes on a remarkable run, with her next six singles all topping the chart.
October 9, 1985 With Steve Barron as their director, a-ha begin filming their music video for "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." at Saint Alban the Martyr Church and Udney Hall Gardens in Teddington, Middlesex, England.
October 8, 1985 Bruno Mars is born Peter Hernandez in Honolulu, Hawaii. His dad calls him Bruno because as a toddler he's chunky like the wrestler Bruno Sammartino. He becomes one of the most popular artists of the streaming era in the 2010s with a run of hits that includes "Grenade," Locked Out of Heaven and "Uptown Funk."
September 19, 1985 Frank Zappa, John Denver and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testify at a Senate hearing where the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) argue for a ratings system on music. The musicians explain that this is censorship, but the PMRC wins a victory and warning labels are ordered on albums containing explicit lyrics.More
July 13, 1985 The Live Aid concerts take place in Philadelphia and London to raise money for the hungry in Africa. The Beach Boys, The Four Tops, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan all take part.More
July 3, 1985 Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox as a time-traveling teenager, opens in theaters. When he plays "Johnny B. Goode" in 1955 at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance, he gives birth to rock and roll. In the real-life present, a new generation gets a lesson in Chuck Berry from the scene.More
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 22, 1985 Prince releases his seventh album, Around The World In A Day, the follow-up to Purple Rain. It's his first issued on his Paisley Park imprint and primarily recorded at his Paisley Park studios.
April 20, 1985 The Commodores land their first (and only) post-Lionel Richie hit with "Nightshift," which reaches #3 in the US. The song is a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye.
April 13, 1985 The all-star charity single "We Are The World" hits #1 in America, where it stays for four weeks. The song was conceived in December 1984, recorded in January 1985 and released in March. Its rise to the top of the charts is one of the fastest in history.
March 23, 1985 Billy Joel marries the "Uptown Girl" Christie Brinkley. They remain married for nine years.More
March 16, 1985 "Nightshift" by The Commodores, a tribute to Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye, knocks Diana Ross' "Missing You," a tribute to Gaye written by ex-Commodore Lionel Richie, from the #1 spot on the R&B chart.
March 1, 1985 Ford licenses The Beatles "Help!" for a commercial, marking the first time one of their songs is used in a TV ad.
January 28, 1985 With the stars in town for the American Music Awards, "We Are The World" is recorded in Los Angeles, with cameras rolling for the video.More
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