Calendar Search Results: this is it
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
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 23, 1984 Boy George and Annie Lennox appear on the cover of Newsweek under the headline, "Britain Rocks America - Again."More
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
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 15, 1983 Huey Lewis & the News release the album Sports, which sells over 7 million copies and includes five hit singles: "I Want a New Drug," "Walking On A Thin Line," "The Heart of Rock 'n Roll," "Heart And Soul," and "If This Is It."
July 15, 1983 The Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive debuts in theaters, starring John Travolta. The Bee Gees also return for the soundtrack, introducing five new songs, including "The Woman In You."More
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 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
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
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 30, 1983 Michael Jackson's fight is funky and strong, as "Beat It" hits #1 in America for the first of three weeks.More
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
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
May 28, 1982 Rocky III hits theaters. This one features a new theme song written around a key line of dialogue in the film: "Eye of the Tiger." Sylvester Stallone asked the upstart Chicago band Survivor to write and record the song when he couldn't get permission to use the Queen song "Another One Bites The Dust."
May 28, 1982 Roxy Music release their final album, Avalon, featuring the dreamy title track and the melancholy "More Than This." It very slowly catches on in America, where it's certified Platinum 10 years later in 1992.
January 20, 1982 While performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat.More
October 11, 1981 Opening a show for The Rolling Stones at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Prince gets booed off the stage. The Stones have good intentions in bringing in a rising star, but his act isn't a good fit for this crowd, and when he opens his trench coat to reveal bikini briefs, it gets ugly. Prince never again performs as an opening act.
September 25, 1981 The Rolling Stones start their US tour with a concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, where they play to a crowd of 90,000. The tour is sponsored by musk maker Jovan, establishing a new paradigm for corporate involvement.More
August 1, 1981 MTV goes on the air, bringing music videos to the masses - at least the ones with cable.More
July 5, 1981 At the "Rock Werchter" festival in Belgium, The Cure play a 9-minute version of "A Forest" when they are told to hurry off stage so Robert Palmer can begin his set.More
April 3, 1981 The Elvis Presley documentary movie This Is Elvis (with Ral Donner narrating) premieres in Memphis.
March 28, 1981 Blondie's "Rapture" hits #1 on the Hot 100, becoming the first chart-topper with a rap.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
October 3, 1980 The Police's third album release, Zenyatta Mondatta, continues their theme of giving their records French-sounding titles. This time, the title has no clear translation, although it is suggested that it is a stylized combination of "zenith" and "monde" (Top of the World). It becomes their most successful album so far in America, reaching a peak of #5 and winning the band a pair of Grammy awards.
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
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