On this day in 1982: Paul McCartney scored his fifth UK #1 album with ‘Tug Of War’. The album featured the duet with Stevie Wonder ‘Ebony & Ivory’, which was inspired by McCartney hearing comedian Spike Milligan say “black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!”, (the ebony (black) […]
Tag: Paul McCartney
This Day In 80s Music, April 14th
On this day in 1983: The Pretenders bass player Pete Farndon died from a drug overdose. He was fired from the group on June 14th 1982, (two days before Pretenders guitarist James Honeyman-Scott was found dead of heart failure). Farndon was in the midst of forming a new band with former Clash drummer Topper Headon […]
This Day In Music, February 8th
On this day in 1981: R,E.M. made their first ever-recording sessions at Bombay Studios in Smyrna, Georgia. Tracks included ‘Gardening At Night’, ‘Radio Free Europe’ and ‘(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.’ On this day in 1983: Winners at the second annual Brit Awards held in London included Paul McCartney, who won Best British Male Solo Artist, […]
This Day In 80s Music, January 16th
On this day in 1980: Paul McCartney was jailed for nine days in Tokyo for marijuana possession after being found with 219g on his arrival at Narita Airport in Japan. McCartney said in 2004. “This stuff was too good to flush down the toilet, so I thought I’d take it with me.” On this day […]
This Day In Music, December 10th
On this day in 1983: Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson started a six week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Say Say Say’. It was Jackson’s 10th #1 at the time (solo & with The Jacksons) and McCartney’s 29th, (solo and with The Beatles). It was released in October of 1983 as the […]
This Day In Music, November 30th
On this day in 1982: Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ album was released. ‘Thriller’ was Jackson’s sixth studio album. Reunited with ‘Off the Wall’ producer Quincy Jones, Jackson was inspired to create an album where “every song was a killer”. With the ongoing backlash against disco, Jackson moved in a new musical direction, incorporating pop, post-disco, rock and funk. ‘Thriller’ foreshadows […]
This Day In Music, August 14th
On this day in 1985: Michael Jackson won a bid over Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalog. At $47.5 million, he gained the rights to more than 250 songs written by Lennon and McCartney. McCartney had been negotiating with Yoko Ono, who had decided to withdraw her side of […]
This Day In Music, July 13th
On this day in 1985: At 12:01 Status Quo started the Live Aid extravaganza, held between Wembley Stadium, London and JFK Stadium, Philadelphia. The cream of the world’s biggest rock stars took part in the worldwide event, raising over 40 million dollars. TV pictures beamed to over 1.5 billion people in 160 countries made it the […]
This Day In Music, July 10th
On this day in 1980: Paul McCartney & Wings were enjoying their second week at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Coming Up.’ The song would spend a total of three weeks in the top spot. In a Rolling Stone interview, McCartney explained how the song came about: “I originally cut it on my farm […]
This Day In Music, June 28th
On this day in 1980: The Paul McCartney single ‘Coming Up’ became one of the few ‘live’ recordings to reach the top of Billboard’s Hot 100. American disc jockeys preferred it to the studio version on the flip side of the record. In a ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine interview, McCartney explained how the song came about: “I […]