September 17, 1978 Queen stage a bicycle race with 65 naked models at Wimbledon stadium in England to provide the video and cover art for their "Bicycle Race" single.
September 12, 1978 Ruben Studdard is born in Frankfurt, Germany, where his father is stationed with the US Army, but grows up in Birmingham, Alabama. He goes on to win Season 2 of American Idol.
August 23, 1978 The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas is born in New York City. His parents are business mogul John Casablancas, founder of Elite Model Management, and Jeanette Christiansen, a Danish model who was crowned Miss Denmark of 1965. In 2001, Julian's band reinvents guitar rock with their debut album, Is This It.
August 12, 1978 After years on the road and substantial chart success, The Commodores finally get their first #1 hit with the Lionel Richie-penned ballad "Three Times a Lady," which is taken from their album Natural High. The single stays at #1 for two weeks.
August 11, 1978 Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly of Kris Kross is born in Atlanta, Georgia. The rap duo becomes known for their hit "Jump" and for wearing their clothes backwards, a look they call "totally krossed out."
August 5, 1978 The Rolling Stones' disco-flavored "Miss You" hits #1 in America, where it stays for one week, knocking Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing" from a seven-week run at the top.
August 5, 1978 "Substitute," a cover of a Righteous Brothers song recorded by an all-girl South African group called Clout, becomes a surprise hit, reaching #2 in the UK. Just one problem: they didn't play on the song, a male group called Circus did.
July 29, 1978 The Grease soundtrack hits #1 in the US, thanks to the hits "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights."More
July 29, 1978 At the Bottom Line in New York City, Television play their last show until their 1991 reunion. Only the band members know they are calling it quits.
July 24, 1978 The film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band opens in America, and it tanks hard. Savaged by critics, it becomes a legendary Hollywood flop despite appearances by Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Aerosmith and The Bee Gees.More
July 18, 1978 Tony Fagenson (drummer for Eve 6) is born. His dad is record producer and bass player Don Was (of Was (Not Was)).
July 14, 1978 Foul Play, a quirky comedy thriller starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase, debuts in theaters. The soundtrack boasts the Barry Manilow tune "Ready To Take A Chance Again," which is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.More
July 8, 1978 After a disco-rific six months at #1, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack is finally bumped off the top spot by Gerry Rafferty's City To City.More
July 1, 1978 The Texxas Jam takes place at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, with Aerosmith, Van Halen, Journey and Ted Nugent performing. 80,000 fans brave the 100 degree heat, cooled down by fire hoses brought in by the organizers. For Aerosmith, it marks a low point in their career as drug use and infighting are about to break up the band, and their performance suffers.
June 29, 1978 Nicole Scherzinger is born Nicole Valiente in Honolulu, Hawaii (she takes the last name of her stepfather, who adopts her). In 2003 she becomes the lead Pussycat Doll; later she becomes a judge on shows like The X Factor UK and The Masked Singer, and a Broadway star, winning a Tony for her lead role in Sunset Boulevard.
June 24, 1978 Jackson Browne and Pete Seeger perform in Seabrook, New Hampshire, to protest a nuclear reactor planned for the site. It's one of the first "no nukes" rallies where musicians get involved, and it leads to a more organized effort: Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE), which also involves Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor. The Seabrook plant is built, but efforts to build more are thwarted, as opposition to nuclear power becomes more vociferous.
June 18, 1978 Grace Slick takes the stage with Jefferson Starship at the Lorelei Festival in Hamburg, Germany, in a state of drunkenness. After she taunts the crowd with comments about Nazis and World War II, the crowd riots, destroying much of their equipment. Slick does not return to the band until 1983.
June 16, 1978 The movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Grease, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, opens in US theaters, becoming the smash hit of the year.More
June 7, 1978 Tom Petty meets Bob Dylan for the first time backstage after Dylan's show at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles.More
May 17, 1978 The disco film Thank God It's Friday, starring Donna Summer and Village People, premieres in Los Angeles.
May 16, 1978 Guitarist Zoltan Bathory is born in Szentendre, Hungary, where he grows up under communist rule. As an adult he moves to America, teaches himself English, and forms the metal band Five Finger Death Punch. "Growing up in a country that had no resources will make you resourceful," he says.
May 16, 1978 Joe Walsh releases his fourth album, But Seriously, Folks..., where he indulges in an underwater meal in the artwork.More
May 13, 1978 After eight weeks at #1, "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees is finally bumped off, replaced by Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You," another song written by the Bee Gees and also featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.More
May 13, 1978 Just days after breaking his leg in a softball game, Jimmy Buffett appears on Saturday Night Live for the first and only time, singing "Son Of A Son Of A Sailor" with his injured limb propped up on an old boat.
May 6, 1978 The model Cheryl Tiegs appears on the cover of Time magazine, inspiring Bob Seger's song "Hollywood Nights."More
April 30, 1978 The Clash are among the acts at a "Rock Against Racism" concert, playing to over 50,000 in London's Victoria Park to combat the National Front, a neo-Nazi group in the UK whose slogan is "Keep Britain White."More
April 28, 1978 Cheap Trick play the first of two shows at the Budokan arena in Toyko, Japan, where the band is huge. The shows are recorded and released as the album Cheap Trick At Budokan, breaking the band in their homeland of America, with the live version of "I Want You To Want Me" becoming a huge hit.More
April 28, 1978 The movie FM, about a radio station with a motley collection of DJs, debuts in theaters. Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett and REO Speedwagon all appear in the film, and Steely Dan does the theme song. FM is the basis for the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati, which appears later in the year.
April 27, 1978 Jim James is born James Edward Olliges Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky. He plays around his hometown in a too-loud rock band called Month Of Sundays until his acoustic urges lead him to start up a folksy alt-country band named My Morning Jacket.
April 26, 1978 The Last Waltz, director Martin Scorsese's acclaimed documentary of The Band's star-studded last concert, opens in theaters. The film features performances by Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, The Staple Singers and Dr. John.More
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