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July 25, 1981 Air Supply's brand of soft rock reaches its peak as "The One That You Love" hits #1 in America. The duo, which formed in Australia, specialize in "love" songs. Others include "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" and "All Out Of Love."
July 23, 1981 Steve Jocz (drummer for Sum 41) is born in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. He directs music videos for the band's "Underclass Hero," "With Me," and "Screaming Bloody Murder."
July 20, 1981 Journey release Escape, their most popular album. The ballad "Open Arms" is the highest charting single, but "Don't Stop Believin'" is the one that endures, becoming one of the biggest songs of all time.
July 17, 1981 Universal Pictures releases the romantic drama Endless Love, starring Brooke Shields. The film is quickly forgotten, but the theme song, a duet by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, spends nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earns Richie an Academy Award nomination for Best Song.
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
July 2, 1981 Bruce Springsteen plays the first of six sold-out shows at the new Byrne Arena in New Jersey. His average show lasts 28 songs.
July 1, 1981 Rushton Moreve (original bass guitarist for Steppenwolf) dies in an automobile accident at age 32.
June 22, 1981 Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to the murder of John Lennon six months earlier. Two months later, he is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
June 21, 1981 Walter Becker and Donald Fagen announce the split of Steely Dan and begin work on solo projects. They re-form in 1993 but don't put out another album until 2000.
June 20, 1981 Gary U.S. Bonds, last seen on the Hot 100 in 1962, reaches #11 with "This Little Girl," written for him by longtime admirer Bruce Springsteen.
June 17, 1981 At Earls Court in London, Pink Floyd play the last of 31 performances of The Wall, a unique stage show where a giant wall is erected (and torn down) as the band plays the album in its entirety. It's Roger Waters' last concert with the band, which breaks up in 1983 and carries on without him a few years later.
June 15, 1981 Billy Martin (guitarist/keyboardist for Good Charlotte) is born in Annapolis, Maryland.
June 12, 1981 John Gourley is born in Willow, Alaska. He's raised in nearby Wasilla, where he forms Portugal. The Man, who have a hit in 2017 with "Feel It Still." He honors his Alaskan heritage throughout his career - the band's 2025 album Shish is a reference to the Alaskan village of Shishmaref.
June 5, 1981 Sebastien Lefebvre (rhythm guitarist for Simple Plan) is born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
June 1, 1981 The first issue of the heavy metal magazine Kerrang is published as a special pull-out by UK weekly music paper Sounds, with AC/DC on the front cover.
May 28, 1981 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are the opening act for The Clash, who play the first of eight shows at Bond's in Times Square, New York (future home of Tower Records). The rappers are booed and assaulted with various projectiles as the crowd does not appreciate their act.
May 16, 1981 Ernie Freeman, a pianist known for R&B and pop arrangements from the '50s through the '70s, dies at a heart attack at age 58. Won Grammy awards for his arrangements of Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" and Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."
May 10, 1981 Kraftwerk release their eighth studio album, Computer World, featuring prescient songs about the influence of computers on society.More
May 8, 1981 Lionel Richie and Diana Ross meet at a Reno, Nevada recording studio at 3:30 a.m., where they record vocals for "Endless Love," needed quickly so it can be inserted into the film of the same name. Richie flew in from Los Angeles; Ross drove up after her concert in Lake Tahoe. The song becomes one of the biggest hits of the decade.
May 3, 1981 Josh Tillman is born in Rockville, Maryland. He is the drummer for Fleet Foxes before going solo as Father John Misty.
April 30, 1981 Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His minimalist, emotionally fraught debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, earns him a record deal in 2007, and his self-titled 2011 follow-up leads to a Grammy win for Best New Artist.
April 21, 1981 Weird Al Yankovic (along with his drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz) makes his TV debut, playing the Queen parody "Another One Rides The Bus" on Tom Snyder's The Tomorrow Show.
April 18, 1981 Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes begin rehearsals with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. It doesn't lead anywhere, and Yes gets back together to release their 1983 album 90125.
April 12, 1981 Rush are guests at Kennedy Space Center to witness the first space shuttle launch, which inspires their song "Countdown."
April 7, 1981 Rick James releases his most successful album, Street Songs, with "Fire And Desire" and "Super Freak."
April 5, 1981 Blues-rock musician Bob "The Bear" Hite (lead singer of Canned Heat) dies at age 38 after snorting a vial of heroin - thinking it was cocaine - given to him by a fan.
April 4, 1981 Styx hit #1 in the US with Paradise Theatre, a concept album based on the rise and fall of a theatre in Chicago.More
March 28, 1981 Blondie's "Rapture" hits #1 on the Hot 100, becoming the first chart-topper with a rap.More
March 14, 1981 After toughing out a concert in Madison, Wisconsin, in severe pain, Eric Clapton is flown to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he's treated for severe ulcers that nearly kill him. The rest of the tour is cancelled, and Clapton spends almost six weeks in the hospital recovering. In January 1982, he returns to Minnesota and enters rehab to treat the alcohol addition that caused his ulcers.
March 14, 1981 The California punk rockers Black Flag play the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. In the audience are all three future members of Beastie Boys and Thurston Moore, who goes on to form Sonic Youth. Also in the crowd: Henry Rollins, who takes over as Black Flag lead singer later that year.
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