Calendar Search Results: y o u t u b e r
June 15, 1979 Unknown Pleasures, the debut long-player from British post-punk band Joy Division, is released. Although it does not chart, it becomes hugely influential and is widely critically acclaimed as one of the defining albums of the post-punk era.More
June 4, 1979 Fleetwood Mac record the USC Trojan Marching Band at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for use in their song "Tusk," the title track to their first album since Rumours. A film crew captures the action (including Stevie Nicks deftly twirling a baton) which is made into the video for the song.More
June 4, 1979 US President Jimmy Carter hosts Chuck Berry, who plays a concert for The First Family at the White House.
May 23, 1979 The Third Barry Manilow Special airs on ABC. A mix of music and comedy, it includes an appearance by John Denver, who commiserates with Manilow on how critics can't stand them despite their legions of fans.
May 23, 1979 Responding to a wave of lawsuits after refusing to transfer his contract to MCA Records, Tom Petty files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a bold move that halts the legal proceedings and forces MCA to negotiate.More
May 21, 1979 Time magazine runs a story on Rickie Lee Jones titled "The Duchess of Coolsville," a reference to the song "Coolsville" on her debut album. The moniker sticks.
May 19, 1979 Two months after they are married, Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd finally get a wedding reception, as Clapton gets a break in touring. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison are guests, and jam together for the first time in almost 10 years.
May 10, 1979 A judge rules in favor of Peter Frampton in the lawsuit brought against him by Penny McCall, his live-in girlfriend from 1973-1978 and the inspiration behind songs like "Show Me The Way" and "Baby, I Love Your Way." She wanted half of his earnings from their time together, but they were never married and never had a formal agreement. The case sets a legal precedent for cohabitating couples.
May 8, 1979 The Cure release their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys. It opens with "10:15 Saturday Night," the track that earned them a record deal.
May 1, 1979 Elton John becomes the first Western rock star to play in Israel when he performs a concert in Jerusalem as part of a tour that also takes him to Russia, where he becomes one of the first Western rock stars to tour the Soviet Union.
April 14, 1979 The Doobie Brothers land their second #1 US hit with "What A Fool Believes." The song goes on to win Grammys for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year, while the album, Minute By Minute, wins Album Of The Year.
April 12, 1979 Mickey Thomas, lead singer on Elvin Bishop's 1975 hit "Fooled Around And Fell In Love," becomes the new lead vocalist for Jefferson Starship.
April 7, 1979 Rickie Lee Jones is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. She performs her hit "Chuck E.'s In Love" and does a full-beatnik rendition of "Coolsville," complete with cigarette and beret.
March 30, 1979 Norah Jones is born Geetali Norah Shankar in New York City. Her father is the Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, but Norah never lives with him. Raised by her mom, the concert promoter Sue Jones, she grows up in Texas before venturing back to New York to pursue music in 1999.
March 29, 1979 With their "Roxanne" money, The Police hit up Manny's Music in New York City, where they buy up much of the inventory. At their soundcheck that night at My Father's Place in Long Island, they start experimenting with the effects units and bass pedals that help define their sound moving forward.
March 28, 1979 The day after they are married, Eric Clapton sings "Wonderful Tonight" to his new wife Pattie at his concert in Tucson, Arizona. He wrote the song about her while waiting for her to get ready to go out.
March 27, 1979 Eric Clapton marries George Harrison's ex-wife Pattie, the subject of the song "Layla." Harrison attends the wedding and remains friends with Clapton.More
March 17, 1979 Talking Heads make their first major TV appearance, performing "Take Me to the River" on American Bandstand. The lip-synced performance goes well, but the interview is a little awkward.More
March 16, 1979 CBS airs the Wings Over the World documentary, chronicling the adventures of Paul McCartney's band Wings on their 1975-1976 tour.
March 10, 1979 James Brown appears at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, where he performs "You're Cheatin' Heart," "Tennessee Waltz" and the very un-Country "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag."
March 10, 1979 Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" hits #1 on the Hot 100. It becomes a female-empowerment anthem, but the song was written by two men.More
March 7, 1979 The Police get a badly needed break when they play the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, where the radio station KLBJ has been playing their single "Roxanne," the first station in America to do so. The song starts to catch on, and seven weeks later peaks at #32, giving the band their first hit.
March 1, 1979 The Coca-Cola Company introduces Mello Yello as a competitor to Pepsi's Mountain Dew in the urine-colored soda category. Donovan hopes they will use his song "Mellow Yellow" in their advertising, but the company declines.
February 15, 1979 Saturday Night Fever and Billy Joel are big winners at The Grammys, with the soundtrack getting Album of the Year and "Just The Way You Are" taking Record of the Year and Song of the Year.More
February 11, 1979 Brandy (Brandy Norwood) is born in McComb, Mississippi. She's just 15 in 1994 when she lands her first hit, "I Wanna Be Down." In 1998 she teams with Monica for the iconic duet "The Boy Is Mine."
February 9, 1979 UB40 play their first live show, sharing the bill with another local group called the Au Pairs at The Hare & Hounds Pub in Birmingham. In 2011, a plaque went up outside the pub to mark the performance.
February 7, 1979 The Clash, who have established themselves as leaders in the punk rock movement, play their first show in America when they perform at the Berkeley Community Theatre in California. Their opening act is blues legend Bo Diddley, who finds them quite loud.
February 3, 1979 20 years after the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Del Shannon and The Drifters perform a tribute show in Clear Lake, Iowa, where Holly's last concert took place.
January 29, 1979 16-year-old Brenda Spencer opens fire on Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California, from her home across the street, killing two adults and injuring nine kids. When asked why she did it, she replies, "I don't like Mondays," which the Boomtown Rats use as the title for a song about the incident.
January 21, 1979 Lynyrd Skynyrd reunite at the Volunteer Jam in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the first time the band have played since the 1977 plane crash that killed three of their members. Lynyrd Skynyrd perform an instrumental version of "Free Bird" alongside The Charlie Daniels Band.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC