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December 31, 1978 The Runaways play their final show at Cow Palace, near San Francisco. The all-female hard-rock band have been through several line-up changes, but are finally torn apart through conflict between Joan Jett, who wants to take the band in a glam-rock direction, and Lita Ford who wishes to stay in the hard-rock genre. The band formally split the following April.
December 30, 1978 Iron Maiden have their first recording session, laying down a demo at a studio in Cambridge, England, in the first of a two-day session they get on the cheap because nobody else wants studio time over New Year's Eve weekend. The demo gets the attention of DJs and club owners, earning the band a huge UK following in 1979 and eventually a record deal with EMI.
December 27, 1978 The BBC comes under fire when it plays part of the Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen," which has been banned on the network, on a show called "Listen To The Banned." The educator Dr. Rhodes Boyson calls it "another sign of the declining public morality which so rightly worries the general public."
December 21, 1978 The Cure release their debut single, "Killing An Arab," an existential song about a man who contemplates the meaning of life after murdering an Arab on a beach. Based on the controversial title, the band faces accusations of provoking anti-Arab sentiment.More
December 14, 1978 Billy Joel plays Madison Square Garden for the first time, which growing up he considered a "temple." He later becomes the first musical act to hold residency at the Garden.
December 9, 1978 Kate Bush makes her first and only appearance on Saturday Night Live. The British singer-songwriter performs the songs "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" and "Them Heavy People" from her debut album, The Kick Inside.
December 2, 1978 Nelly Furtado is born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to Portuguese parents. Her 2000 debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, includes the hits "Turn Off The Light" and "I'm Like A Bird," but she reaches new heights with her 2006 album Loose, produced by Timbaland. That one includes the #1 hits "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right."
December 2, 1978 Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1 on the Hot 100 for the first of two weeks.
November 30, 1978 Clay Aiken is born Clayton Holmes Grissom in Raleigh, North Carolina. He goes on to place second behind Ruben Studdard on the second season of American Idol.
November 29, 1978 Neil Young's Comes a Time album is certified Gold.
November 25, 1978 Playing The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler is hit in the face with a bottle thrown from the audience. The band leaves the stage and the show is cancelled after Joe Perry tells the crowd, "We love you, but you can't throw things at us." A firecracker was thrown on stage during an Aerosmith show the previous year.
November 16, 1978 Replicating their infamous promo stunt for the single, Queen are joined onstage at Madison Square Garden by several dozen nude, rotund women during their performance of "Bicycle Race." (Rotund because the single mentions "Fat Bottomed Girls," the title of the other half of the A-side.)
November 15, 1978 Echo & the Bunnymen give their performance debut at Eric's Club in Liverpool, England.
November 4, 1978 Former Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bassist Greg Reeves sues the group for a million dollars in alleged unpaid royalties from sales of the hit 1970 album Déjà Vu.
November 2, 1978 The Police release their debut album, Outlandos d'Amour. The working title, "Police Brutality," is changed to make is sound more romantic. The title loosely translates as "Outlaws of Love" but the term "Outlandos" is actually a mix of the words for "Outlaws" and "Commandos."
October 28, 1978 Justin Guarini, who comes in second to Kelly Clarkson on the first season of American Idol, is born Justin Eldrin Bell in Columbus, Georgia.
October 24, 1978 The movie version of The Wiz, which debuted as a Broadway stage production in 1975, hits theaters. The all-black cast includes Diana Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow. The film marks Jackson's acting debut.
October 23, 1978 Neil Young's Zuma Beach, California, home burns to the ground in a brush fire.
October 21, 1978 Neil Young releases Comes a Time, his 9th studio album. Featuring "Lotta Love," it's certified Gold a little over a month later.
October 17, 1978 Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand record "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." The superstar session is produced by Bob Gaudio, who keeps a full orchestra standing by in the lobby.
October 14, 1978 Usher is born Usher Raymond IV in Dallas, Texas. He relocates to Atlanta and puts out his first album when he's 15. He rules the charts in the '00s with seven #1 hits, including the club banger "Yeah!"
October 13, 1978 Queen release their "Fat Bottomed Girls"/"Bicycle Race" single, featuring a cover photo that combines imagery from both songs.More
October 12, 1978 Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols is arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who he found dead in the bathroom of their hotel room with a stab wound to her abdomen. Vicious dies of a heroin overdose before he can be tried for the murder.
October 6, 1978 Rock 'n Roll singer Johnny O'Keefe dies of a (prescribed) drug-induced heart attack in Darlinghurst, Australia, at age 43. Known for hits like "Wild One," "She's My Baby" and his cover of "Shout!"
October 6, 1978 Atlantic Records head Ahmet Ertegun meets with Jesse Jackson, who has beef with The Rolling Stones' "Some Girls," specifically the line, "black girls just want to get f--ked all night."More
October 5, 1978 Dolly Parton becomes the first country singer to pose for Playboy.More
October 4, 1978 Tammy Wynette claims that on this day she was kidnapped from a Nashville shopping mall and then beaten and dumped by the side of the road. Wynette struggled with an addiction to prescription pain killers, which contributed to her death in 1998. Her daughter claimed that she made up the story about the kidnapping, possibly to explain bruises inflicted by her husband.
October 3, 1978 At an Aerosmith show in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cops arrest fans for smoking marijuana, prompting Steven Tyler to chastise them Jim Morrison-style from the stage. Tyler announces that the band will bail out anyone who is arrested that night, and the next day they do just that. Understandably, memories of the event are hazy, and the number arrested has been reported at anywhere from 28-58.
September 30, 1978 Exile's "Kiss You All Over" hits #1 on the Hot 100, where it stays for four weeks. The group doesn't place another song higher than #40 ("You Thrill Me"), but returns as a country act in the '80s and score 10 Country chart-toppers.
September 18, 1978 The albums Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss all hit stores on the same day.More
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