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October 8, 1980 Prince releases his third album, Dirty Mind. The title hints at the lascivious songs within, including "Head" and "Sister." The biggest hit from the set is the modest "Uptown," which goes to #5 on the R&B chart.
October 7, 1980 Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album is released in the US. It includes a bit called "Rock Notes," which begins: "Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad the Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed." Seven years later, a real band forms with that name in California. They have hits in the '90s with "Walk on the Ocean" and "All I Want."
October 5, 1980 Paul Thomas (bassist for Good Charlotte) is born in Waldorf, Maryland.
October 4, 1980 On stage during a concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carly Simon collapses from nervous exhaustion. She keeps going, but cancels the rest of her tour when she can't go on the next night. She doesn't perform again until 1987.
October 4, 1980 Fleetwood Mac members Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join the USC Trojan Marching Band, which performed on their hit "Tusk," during halftime of the football game between USC and Arizona State. Nicks twirls a baton, Fleetwood plays a bass drum, and Buckingham mock conducts as the band plays the song. The USC band is then presented with a platinum record for their contribution.
October 3, 1980 Paul Simon's semi-autobiographical movie One-Trick Pony, in which he stars, is released in the US. It gets mixed reviews and does poorly at the box office, but does include a hit song: "Late in the Evening."
October 3, 1980 Diamond Head, one of the leading bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, issue their debut album, Lightning To The Nations. Mega-DH fans Metallica cover five of the album's seven songs over the years: "Am I Evil?", "Helpless," "The Prince," "It's Electric," and "Sucking My Love." Other NWOBHM bands like Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon eclipse Diamond Head in terms of popularity, but the Metallica covers speak to their influence and ensure their place in history.
October 3, 1980 Bruce Springsteen begins his tour for The River in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he's joined by Bob Seger in a performance of "Thunder Road."
September 27, 1980 Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to perform on national television when he does "The Breaks" on Soul Train. Host Don Cornelius is flummoxed. "It doesn't make sense to old guys like me," he tells Kurtis in the interview segment.More
September 25, 1980 Rapper T.I. is born Clifford Harris in Atlanta. Gun charges keep him in legal trouble for much of the '00s, but he still manages to release three #1 albums. His biggest year is 2008, when his songs "Live Your Life" and "Whatever You Like" both reach the top.
September 23, 1980 Bob Marley plays his final concert: a 20-song set at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh with his group, The Wailers.More
September 20, 1980 With a re-released "Modern Girl" reaching #8 in the UK, Sheena Easton becomes one of the few British female singers to place two songs in the Top 10 simultaneously ("9 To 5" is also on the charts.)
September 13, 1980 The TV series Solid Gold premieres. Like its genre-mates American Bandstand and Soul Train, the show consists of Top-40 music (mostly recorded) in a studio with a dance stage and floor. A feature of the show is a specialty crew of "Solid Gold dancers" who bump and grind to the tunes. Dionne Warwick is the host for the first season, but the show rotates through numerous hosts during its course. The show runs almost eight seasons before discontinuing in 1988.
September 8, 1980 Eric Hutchinson ("Rock and Roll," "OK, It's Alright With Me") is born in Takoma Park, Maryland.
August 26, 1980 Cheap Trick bass player Tom Peterson leaves the group, citing burnout. He returns for their 1988 Lap Of Luxury album, featuring their comeback song "The Flame."
August 23, 1980 The Heatwave Festival, known as the "New Wave Woodstock," goes down at Mosport Park near Toronto. Performers include Elvis Costello, The B-52s, The Pretenders, and Talking Heads, who debut songs from their upcoming album, Remain In Light, and introduce a new touring band that includes keyboard player Bernie Worrell and guitarist Adrian Belew.
August 19, 1980 "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow becomes the first rap single certified Gold.More
August 17, 1980 At the Toledo Speedway Jam II in Toledo, Ohio, ZZ Top headline the show with AC/DC, Sammy Hagar and Humble Pie on the undercard. (Also advertised on the poster: 800 kegs of beer, drinking age 18 in Ohio!) It is the last time AC/DC is a support act until 2003, when they open for The Rolling Stones.
August 16, 1980 "A Thousand Miles" singer Vanessa Carlton is born in Milford, Pennsylvania.
August 15, 1980 An unknown rock band called Black Rose open for Hall & Oates at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland. Audience members slowly realize that the lead singer is, in fact, Cher. Black Rose play a few more shows and release an album, but call it quits by the end of the year.
August 11, 1980 Johnny Cash sings a duet of "Jackson" with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show. He also gets under the fur of Rowlf the dog with his song "Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog."
August 8, 1980 The fantasy musical Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, debuts to scathing reviews ("In a word, Xana-don't.") and inspires the Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst films of the year. But it has a killer soundtrack thanks to "Magic."More
August 5, 1980 Pat Benatar releases her second album, Crimes Of Passion. "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" is the big hit, but her Young Rascals cover "You Better Run" gets a music video that becomes the second one aired on MTV (after "Video Killed The Radio Star") when the network launches a year later.
August 1, 1980 Def Leppard perform their first US live gig, opening for AC/DC in New York City.
July 26, 1980 Singer/Guitarist/Producer Dave "Brownsound" Baksh (of Sum 41 and Organ Thieves) is born in Ajax, Ontario, Canada.
July 25, 1980 AC/DC release Back In Black, their first album without lead singer Bon Scott, who died five months earlier.More
July 19, 1980 Laguna Beach, California's Vorpal Gallery opens a new exhibit featuring paintings by Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, Klaus Voorman, and Ron Wood.
July 16, 1980 Donna Summer marries Bruce Sudano, former member of Brooklyn Dreams, who appeared on her 1979 hit "Heaven Knows." Within the next two years, they welcome two daughters: Brooklyn and Amanda Sudano.
July 14, 1980 In France, Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry contracts a kidney infection and is flown to London after collapsing in his hotel room.
July 14, 1980 The combustible couple Glen Campbell and Tanya Tucker open the Republican National Convention in Detroit with a duet of the National Anthem. Campbell later admits they were "higher than the notes we were singing." Other performers at the convention include Vicki Lawrence, Donny & Marie Osmond, and Pat Boone.
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