Calendar Search Results: peak r d
June 22, 1988 Robert Palmer releases "Simply Irresistible" in his native UK, where it peaks at #44. It fares much better in the US, where it lands at #2.
June 20, 1988 MCA Records issues landmark albums by two of their hottest young R&B acts: Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel and New Edition's Heart Break.More
February 5, 1988 The John Hughes film She's Having A Baby debuts in US theaters. Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern star as a young married couple whose lives are about to be upended by the birth of their first child. The soundtrack features Kate Bush's heart-wrenching ballad "This Woman's Work," written and recorded expressly for the movie.More
January 23, 1988 The California Raisins' "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" peaks at #84 on Billboard's Hot 100.
November 21, 1987 "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol replaces "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany at #1 in the US. Both songs were originally recorded in the '60s by Tommy James & the Shondells.More
September 19, 1987 The Grateful Dead hit #10 on the US Hot 100 with "Touch Of Grey," the only hit song for the band.More
August 21, 1987 Midnight Oil release their sixth album, Diesel and Dust, inspired by their tour of indigenous communities in the Australian Outback. The single "Beds Are Burning" - a demand to give Aboriginal Australians back their rightful land - is the band's breakthrough hit in the US.More
May 25, 1987 The Cure find mainstream success in America with the versatile double album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, featuring the hit singles "Why Can't I Be You?" and "Just Like Heaven."More
March 14, 1987 At Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, California, No Doubt play their first concert, a benefit for a local scooter shop that burned down. In the audience is Tony Kanal, who like No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani, is still in high school. He joins the band later that year and starts dating Stefani; their breakup inspires the song "Don't Speak."
December 14, 1986 In Sydney, Elton John plays the last concert on his Australian tour, which is recorded for the album Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. "Candle In The Wind" is released as a single, charting in America for the first time, where it peaks at #6. The song becomes a live favorite and in 1997 is reworked as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, after she is killed in a car accident.
October 7, 1986 The Police release their final single, "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86," and then call it a career. They had hoped to reunite and record another album but injury and conflict lead to Stewart Copeland declaring they can no longer work together.More
September 27, 1986 The Beatles' re-released version of "Twist And Shout" peaks at #23 thanks to its use in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
May 25, 1986 It's Hands Across America, as millions of Americans form a human chain from New York to Santa Monica to raise money for hunger relief. The project is organized by the same guy who put together "We Are The World," but the theme song is far less ambitious.More
March 24, 1986 "No One Is To Blame" by Howard Jones is released in the US. It goes on to become Jones' biggest-selling single in the US, peaking at #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and #4 on the Hot 100.
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
September 16, 1985 Kate Bush's album Hounds Of Love surpasses Madonna's Like A Virgin for the #1 spot on the UK chart. Featuring the hit single "Running Up That Hill," it's the second chart-topper for the British singer-songwriter.More
August 16, 1985 Red Hot Chili Peppers release the cocaine-fueled funk album Freaky Styley, produced by Parliament-Funkadelic founder George Clinton, and welcome back guitarist Hillel Slovak.More
July 19, 1985 The Legend of Billie Jean, starring Helen Slater and Christian Slater as teens who become accidental outlaws, debuts in theaters, boasting the hit theme song "Invincible" by Pat Benatar. The teen flick receives mixed reviews but goes on to become a cult classic, despite Benatar calling it "one of the worst movies ever made."More
June 1, 1985 A-ha release their debut album, Hunting High and Low, including their breakthrough hit, "Take On Me."More
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
September 29, 1984 The English girl group Bananarama has their US breakthrough when "Cruel Summer" peaks at #9 on the pop chart, thanks to the song's appearance in the summer smash The Karate Kid.
August 10, 1984 Red Hot Chili Peppers release their self-titled debut album, an arduous collaboration with producer Andy Gill of the British rock band Gang of Four.More
June 30, 1984 Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing In The Dark" reaches its chart peak of #2 on the Hot 100. The song spends four weeks at runner-up, held off the last three by Prince's "When Doves Cry." Springsteen never does reach #1 (except as a writer: Manfred Mann's Earth Band took "Blinded by the Light" to #1 in 1977), but the next six singles from his Born In The U.S.A. album all hit the Top 10.
January 27, 1984 At the peak of his popularity, Michael Jackson films an ad for Pepsi that goes horribly wrong when some stray pyro sets his hair on fire.More
October 1, 1983 The first ever David Bowie convention is held in London's Cunard Hotel. Speakers at the convention include Bowie's former dance teacher, Lindsay Kemp; Bowie's former manager, Ken Pitt; guitar player John Hutchinson; Bowie archivist, Kev Cann; and photographer Ray Stevenson.
May 31, 1983 After a break in which David Byrne and Jerry Harrison release solo albums and Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth form Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads return with their fifth album, Speaking In Tongues. It contains their biggest hit, "Burning Down The House."
May 29, 1983 Van Halen get a record $1.5 million to play Day 2 ("Heavy Metal Day") of Apple founder Steve Wozniak's US Festival, the second and final year of the event. It's the most any act has ever been paid for a single performance.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
March 7, 1983 The English new wave duo Tears For Fears release their debut album, The Hurting, featuring the melancholic "Mad World." The album is inspired by the work of American psychologist Arthur Janov, founder of primal therapy.More
September 11, 1982 Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl" reaches its chart peak of #32 on the Hot 100. It's the only Top 40 hit for the eccentric singer, who releases over 60 albums in his lifetime. His daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, plays the Valley Girl in the song.
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