This Day In 80s (And More) History - February

[timster]

February 2

1987
Rush releases their Hemispheres album.

1985
O-J Simpson marries Nicole Brown.

1981
Duran Duran's first single, "Planet Earth," is released in the U-K.

1980
On the first anniversary of Sid Vicious's death, a thousand London punks march from Chelsea to Hyde Park. His mother, Ann Beverly, who was to have led the march, misses the fun because she's in a hospital, having suffered a drug overdose the night before.

1979
Ex-Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, under indictment for the murder of his girlfriend and out on bail for a subsequent fight with Patti Smith's brother in a New York rock club, dies of a heroin overdose.

1977
Pink Floyd releases their Animals album.

[timster]

February 3

1984
A ZZ Top concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, ends in chaos... with two fans hospitalized and 149 chairs destroyed.

1983
The Sony and Philips corporations announce the development of the compact disc.

[timster]

February 4

1989
Guns n' Roses becomes the first act in 15 years (since Jim Croce) to have two albums in the Top 5 of Billboard's album chart: Appetite for Destruction and the mini-album G n' R Lies.

1987
Liberace dies of AIDS at age 67.

[BambiK7]

February 2

1987
Rush releases their Hemispheres album.


You're being dyslexic here...That's 1978http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/hippy.gif

[timster]

hehehe...Bambi, I was just checkin' if you were paying attention! :embarrass

February 5

1982...Blues Brother John Belushi dies of a drug overdose in the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles.

[David]

John Belushi died March 5th. That's my birthday! I know...just checking... ;)

[timster]

Damn, my sources suck!

[suzanne]

Poor Timster!!! Are you having another Senior Moment!? Don't worry about it, it will pass!! :)

[timster]

Don't worry about it, it will pass!! :)

Are you talking about my kidney stones? :p

[timster]

February 6 (or in the vicinity of)

1993
Arthur Ashe, the first black man to win the U-S Open tennis championship and Wimbledon, dies in New York as a result of AIDS acquired in a blood transfusion. He was 49.

1990
Billy Idol breaks several bones in a serious motorcycle accident after finishing an album called Charmed Life. As a result, he's forced to bow out of a role in Oliver Stone's Doors movie.

Bob Marley's birthday is proclaimed a national holiday in Jamaica.

1986
The mother and sister of Feargal Sharkey, the former singer in Northern Irish punk-pop group The Undertones, are held at gunpoint for four hours by terrorists in Londonderry.

1981
George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr record together on "All Those Years Ago," a tribute to John Lennon.

[timster]

February 10

1978
Van Halen's debut album is released with hit singles "You Really Got Me" and "Runnin' With the Devil."

1987
Roger Waters drops his lawsuit against his former Pink Floyd bandmates over the use of the band's name. In return, he severs ties with their longtime manager and asks the judge to settle issues of royalties.

[timster]

February 16

1987 - Rock fans go on a rampage after camping all night in the bitter cold outside the Nassau, Long Island, Coliseum to buy Bon Jovi tickets

[Adam]

I've been to the Nassau Coliseum when I was a kid. My Dad took me to a basketball game and I got lost coming out of the bathrooms. Scary. Anyway, I don't really remember the rampage of fans on this occasion - thanks for the tidbit Timster. It sparked a little memory of being there with my father.

I forgot to respond to Van Halen's debut album in your post before this one. Man I remember when that album first came out and the hoopla that was about Eddie's guitar abilities. Great album and still is great to listen to even today.

February 16

1987 - Rock fans go on a rampage after camping all night in the bitter cold outside the Nassau, Long Island, Coliseum to buy Bon Jovi tickets

[timster]

Man, that is one scary thing! Getting lost in somewhere big when you were a kid. Off the top of my head, I know I've been in a situation like that before, I just can't remember.

February 17

1979 - The Clash kick off their first American tour in New York.

[timster]

February 18

1986...Jeff Keith, a 22-year-old student from Boston College completes a run across the U.S. despite having lost one leg to cancer.

[timster]

February 19

1980 - Bon Scott, leader of AC/DC dies in London. He reportedly choked on his own vomit after an all night drinking binge.

1981: George Harrison was ordered to pay ABKCO Music $587,000 for "subconscious plagiarism" between his song, "My Sweet Lord" and the Chiffons hit, "He's So Fine".

1984: The Winter Olympic Games ended at Sarajevo

1985: Cherry Coke was introduced

1986: The Soviet Union launched the Mir space station.

[timster]

February 20

1991
At the 33rd annual Grammy Awards, Sinead O'Connor wins the first-ever Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance for her album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got.

1987
Billy Idol is arrested in New York for crack possession but is never formally charged with the crime.

1983
Paul Weller, formerly of The Jam, announces the formation of his new band, The Style Council.

1982
Pat Benatar marries her guitarist Neil Geraldo.

[timster]

February 23

1993
Right Here, Right Now album by Van Halen is released.

1985
The Smiths' Meat Is Murder knocks Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA out of the number-one spot on the UK album chart.

1983
The Stranglers are forced to cancel a second night at London's Hammersmith Odeon because fans ripped out several rows of seats during a riot the previous night.

1983
Toto wins Album of the Year for Toto 4 and Record of the Year for "Rosanna" at the 25th annual Grammy Awards. Men at Work are named Best New Artist. A Flock of Seagulls also gets a statue, for Best Rock Instrumental. Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing" is named Best R&B Vocal Performance (Male) and Best R&B Instrumental Performance.

1978
The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Barbra Streisand win at the 20th annual Grammy Awards. Rumours is named Album of the Year, "Hotel California" is Record of the Year and "Love Theme From A Star Is Born" is Song of the Year. Debby Boone is deemed the Best New Artist.

Judas Priest releases Stained Class.

[timster]

February 24

1992
Kurt Cobain marries Courtney Love in Waikiki, Hawaii.

1987
In a year without a clearcut "big winner," Steve Winwood gets two performance awards plus a third for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album (for Back in the Highlife) at the 29th annual Grammy Awards. Paul Simon's Graceland is named Album of the Year, and Bruce Hornsby and The Range are declared the year's Best New Artist. Prince, Eurythmics, Art of Noise and Tina Turner also collect statues.

1982
Double Fantasy, by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, is named Album of the Year at the 24th annual Grammy Awards. Pat Benatar, The Police, Aretha Franklin and Kim Carnes are also winners.

1981
The engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer is announced.

1979
The Police release "Roxanne" as their first US single.

1979
The soundtrack to The Sex Pistols' Great Rock and Roll Swindle movie is released in the UK. It will not have a US release until the CD era.

[timster]

February 25

1989
The Dallas Cowboys fire Tom Landry, the only head coach they've had since their inception in 1960.

"Stand" by R.E.M. enters the Top 40.

1987
Frank Sinatra guest stars on CBS-TV's Magnum P.I.

1986
Phillippino President Ferdinand E. Marcos flees the Philippines after 20 years of rule due to a tainted election.

The all-star charity single "We Are the World" wins Grammys for Record and Song of the Year, while Phil Collins' No Jacket Required wins Album of the Year at the 28th annual Grammy Awards.

1978
Jefferson Starship declares Earth Day for the release of their new album, Earth. It will premiere two days later.

[timster]

February 26

1998
Tommy Lee of Motley Crue is formally charged with abusing his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee, and one of their sons, Dylan.

1995
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant begin a world tour to support their reunion album, No Quarter.

1993
Six people are killed and more than a thousand are injured when a van explodes in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center in New York City. The bomb was built by Islamic extremists.

1991
MTV's Rockline premieres.

1990
Cornell Gunter of the Coasters, known for their songs "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown," is murdered in Las Vegas at the age of 53.

1987
Capitol Records releases the first 4 Beatles albums on CD.

1987
The Tower Commission rebukes President Reagan for failing to controlling his national security staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.

1986
Corazon Aquino is inaugurated president of the Phillipines. Long time President, Ferdinand Marcos, goes into exile.

1985
Chuck Berry receives a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

1977
The Eagles' "Hotel California" is released.