Calendar Search Results: y o u t u b e r
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
September 14, 1985 The TV series The Golden Girls debuts on NBC. Its theme song is "Thank You for Being a Friend," written by Andrew Gold but sung by a jingle singer named Cynthia Fee. Gold's version was released in 1978 and reached #25 in the US.
September 12, 1985 Rolling Stone publishes their interview with Prince, who has not spoken to the press in three years. He remains elusive, but explains why he made up stories in his early years to appease and confound reporters: "I used to tease a lot of journalists early on, because I wanted them to concentrate on the music."More
September 7, 1985 For the first time in the Rock Era, the top three songs on the Hot 100 were all written for movies: #1: "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" by John Parr #2: "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & the News (from Back to the Future) #3: "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner (from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
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
August 14, 1985 Three years after their duet "The Girl Is Mine," Paul McCartney advises Michael Jackson to invest in publishing. Jackson makes a winning bid of $47.5 million for the rights to over 250 Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs owned by ATV publishing, which turns out to be a great investment, but kills their friendship.More
August 12, 1985 Neil Young releases Old Ways, his 14th studio album and one of the lowest-selling and least appreciated albums of his career.
August 10, 1985 While taking part in a yacht race, Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon is trapped along with five other team members after his boat capsizes. The British coast guard scrambles to rescue the stricken crew, and after repairs to its keel the vessel goes on to take third place in the 1985/86 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
August 3, 1985 Tears For Fears' "Shout" hits #1 in the US for the first of three weeks. It's the English synthpop duo's second chart-topper, following "Everybody Wants To Rule The World."
July 27, 1985 At Albert's Hall in Toronto, the blind 19-year-old guitar sensation Jeff Healey joins Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins on stage for a rousing jam session that gets a lot of press. Healey quickly forms The Jeff Healey Band, which gets signed to Arista Records and has a hit in 1988 with "Angel Eyes." They also appear in the movie Road House, playing the house band where Patrick Swayze's character works as a bouncer.
July 27, 1985 Paul Young hits #1 with "Everytime You Go Away," a cover of a Hall & Oates song released in 1980. It's the only Hall & Oates cover ever to make the Top 40.
July 19, 1985 Joan Jett calls up-and-coming heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson before his fight with Larry Sims, which Tyson wins handily. The superstitious Tyson insists on getting a call from Jett before every fight, which he does until breaking tradition for his bout against Buster Douglas on February 11, 1990 - Tyson's first loss.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
July 13, 1985 The Live Aid concerts take place in Philadelphia and London to raise money for the hungry in Africa. The Beach Boys, The Four Tops, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Queen, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan all take part.More
July 13, 1985 Tears for Fears bow out of performing at Live Aid, Bob Geldof's star-studded charity concert for famine relief in Africa, after two members of their band quit. The group donates concert funds to the cause, but feels the weight of Geldof's disapproval. TFF's Roland Orzabal says, "He made us feel very guilty. All those millions of people dying, it was all our fault. I felt terrible. I tell you, I know how Hitler must have felt."
July 10, 1985 Tina Turner stars opposite Mel Gibson in the post-apocalyptic action flick Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Turner sings two hit songs for the movie: "One Of The Living" and "We Don't Need Another Hero."More
July 10, 1985 Playboy publishes nude photos of Madonna taken before she was famous.More
July 4, 1985 Dire Straits play the first of 14 consecutive nights at Wembley Arena in London. On Day 10 of the residency (July 13), they first play an afternoon set across the parking lot at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid.
July 3, 1985 Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox as a time-traveling teenager, opens in theaters. When he plays "Johnny B. Goode" in 1955 at the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance, he gives birth to rock and roll. In the real-life present, a new generation gets a lesson in Chuck Berry from the scene.More
June 18, 1985 Weird Al Yankovic's Dare To Be Stupid, featuring the Devo-inspired title track, makes history as the first album of comedic music ever released on compact disc.
June 7, 1985 The movie Perfect debuts in theaters, starring John Travolta as a Rolling Stone reporter who falls for aerobics instructor Jamie Lee Curtis. While the drama is a dud with critics, it portrays Rolling Stone as more than a music magazine – which is exactly what its editor-in-chief Jann Wenner hoped. More
June 1, 1985 A-ha release their debut album, Hunting High and Low, including their breakthrough hit, "Take On Me."More
June 1, 1985 The innovative computer-animated video for Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" debuts on MTV, which is very meta because the refrain in the song (sung by Sting), is "I want my MTV." It wins Best Video at the VMAs and helps the song go to #1 in America.
June 1, 1985 The Prince album Around The World In A Day goes to #1 in the US, where it stays for three weeks. Hits from the album include "Raspberry Beret" and "Pop Life."
May 31, 1985 The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) sends its first letter to the RIAA requesting a ratings system for albums and concerts. The group is led by Tipper Gore, the wife of Senator Al Gore, so the record industry takes it seriously, and cuts back on their metal budgets. The end result is warning stickers on albums containing offensive lyrics.
May 20, 1985 Jon Pardi is born in Dixon, California. Part of a wave of artists that make good-time country songs with modern production (Sam Hunt and Florida Georgia Line are others), he breaks through in 2013 with "Up All Night," a song about a truck, a girl and a dirt road.
May 18, 1985 After repeated attempts to break through in America, Simple Minds go to #1 with "Don't You (Forget About Me)," which is used in the movie The Breakfast Club.More
May 17, 1985 Dire Straits release their best selling album, Brothers In Arms. It goes to #1 in many territories, but the subsequent tour wipes out the band, which go on an extended hiatus and don't release another album until 1991.
May 13, 1985 The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) holds a meeting in a Washington church where they foment support for their agenda: a ratings system for albums and concerts like those used for movies, and also to keep offensive album covers out of view in record stores. Their efforts lead to warning stickers on albums with offensive lyrics.More
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