Calendar Search Results: u i a song
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."
March 14, 1987 "Jacob's Ladder," a song by Huey Lewis & the News that takes on religious evangelists, climbs to #1 in the US. It was written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother, John Hornsby.
March 13, 1987 Bob Seger receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He's from Michigan, but did some recording in Los Angeles, which inspired his song "Hollywood Nights."
March 9, 1987 Sam Cooke, John Lennon & Paul McCartney, Carole King & Gerry Goffin, and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil are all inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
March 9, 1987 U2 release their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree. The first two singles, "With Or Without You" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," climb to #1 in America. The album becomes their first #1 in that country, and takes the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.More
March 8, 1987 The day before releasing The Joshua Tree, U2 debut two songs from the album - "Exit" and "In God's Country" - on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test. Also on the show is a young Irish singer named Sinead O'Connor with her first live TV performance.
March 7, 1987 The Beastie Boys appear on Soul Train, where they perform "Brass Monkey." They win over host Don Cornelius, who tells them, "You're very chilling, very hip, and we like your music."
March 2, 1987 The Trio album, a collaboration between Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, is released. The album had been planned since 1979 - it was worth the wait, selling over 4 million copies and winning the Grammy Award for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
February 24, 1987 Bruce Hornsby & the Range take home the Grammy award for Best New Artist, winning over Glass Tiger, Nu Shooz, Simply Red, and Timbuk3.
February 23, 1987 Jody Watley releases her self-titled debut album, which earns her the Grammy award for Best New Artist thanks to hits like "Don't You Want Me" and "Looking For A New Love."
February 22, 1987 Pop artist Andy Warhol, former manager of The Velvet Underground and designer for The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers album cover, dies of a cardiac arrhythmia following gallbladder surgery.
February 19, 1987 At the Palomino Club in Hollywood, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan and George Harrison are in the audience for a Taj Mahal concert. When Taj calls them onstage, Dylan goads Fogerty into playing "Proud Mary" by saying that if he doesn't, everyone will think it's a Tina Turner song.More
February 15, 1987 Ben and Jerry's introduces a new flavor: Cherry Garcia, named after the Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.More
February 6, 1987 Featuring a title song written by Bruce Springsteen, the movie Light of Day hits theaters. The film stars Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox as leaders of a struggling band called The Barbusters.
January 31, 1987 Marcus Mumford is born in Yorba Linda, California. He grows up in London, where he forms the folk-rock band Mumford & Sons. In 2009, they issue their debut album, Sigh No More, to critical acclaim in the UK just a few months before it drops in the US. It peaks at #2 on the albums charts in both countries - a feat they surpass with their future releases.
January 22, 1987 Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, who had been found guilty of accepting bribes, pulls out a gun and kills himself at a press conference, inspiring the Filter song "Hey Man Nice Shot."
January 21, 1987 The Second Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held in New York City. Inductees include The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B.B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Rick Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, and Jackie Wilson.
January 6, 1987 In Australia, Elton John has throat surgery to remove a lesion on his vocal chords, forcing him to cancel his upcoming US tour. It's good news: the lesion isn't cancerous and he makes a full recovery.
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 27, 1986 "Reet Petite," a #6 UK hit for Jackie Wilson in 1957, goes to #1 29 years later when it is re-released, and stays at the top for four weeks. Wilson died three years earlier after being incapacitated by a heart attack.
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
December 20, 1986 Thanks to its use in the movie of the same name, Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," originally released in 1961, reaches #9 in the US.
December 15, 1986 At the Oakland Coliseum Arena, the Grateful Dead play their first concert since frontman Jerry Garcia slipped into a diabetic coma six months earlier. With Garcia's heath scare, it was unclear if the band would continue, but Garcia reassures fans with the opening number, "Touch Of Grey," as he sings, "I will get by. I will survive."
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.
December 13, 1986 "The Way It Is," the title track to the debut album by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, goes to #1 in the US. The song is about the civil rights movement in the US; in 1998 it's reworked by the rapper 2Pac into "Changes," a song with similar subject matter.
December 10, 1986 Prince goes to a Bonnie Raitt concert at the Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. Impressed, he invites her to his home studio in Minnesota where they work on some songs together, but nothing comes of it.
November 29, 1986 "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi goes to #1 in the US, giving the group their first big hit. It's written by group leaders Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora along with an outside writer, Desmond Child, whose monster choruses can be heard on "I Was Made For Lovin' You" by Kiss and "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" by Aerosmith. Bon Jovi's next single is "Livin' On A Prayer," written by the same trio.
November 15, 1986 Lou Reed and Sam Moore perform their updated version of "Soul Man" on Saturday Night Live. The song is being featured in the movie of the same name.
November 11, 1986 David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright announce they are working on a new Pink Floyd album despite a lawsuit from original member Roger Waters trying to retire the group. The album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, is issued the following year; soon after, the lawsuit is settled.
November 8, 1986 It doesn't have a music video, but "Amanda" by Boston still gets to #1 in America, giving the band their only chart-topper.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC