On this day in 1983: MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video for the first time. Now regarded as the most influential pop music video of all time, in 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive […]
Tag: MTV
This Day In 80s Music, September 18th
On this day in 1982: The seven-minute epic by Dire Straits, ‘Private Investigations’ went to #2 on the U.K. singles chart, held out of the #1 spot by ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ by Survivor. On this day in 1983: Kiss appeared without their ‘make-up’ for the first time during an interview on MTV promoting the release […]
This Day In 80s Music, September 10th
On this day in 1983: Former Stevie Wonder guitarist Michael Sembello, started a two week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Maniac’. The track was featured in the film ‘Flashdance’. The song was written by Dennis Matkosky and its performer Michael Sembello. The original idea for the song came to Matkosky while watching […]
This Day In 80s Music, August 8th
On this day in 1981: MTV broadcast its first stereo concert with REO Speedwagon performing in Denver, Colorado, The band had released the album Hi Infidelity ten months earlier and performed the hit singles, ‘Keep On Loving You,’ ‘Take It On the Run’ and ‘Don’t Let Him Go.’ On this day in 1987: U2 scored […]
This Day In 80s Music, August 1st
On this day in 1981: On Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 AM (Eastern Time), MTV was officially launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” spoken by John Lack and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia (which took place earlier that year) and of the launch […]
This Day In 80s Music, July 24th
On this day in 1982: Survivor started a six week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Eye Of The Tiger’, taken from the film ‘Rocky III’. Also #1 in the U.K. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the song. The song was released as a single from their […]
This Day In 80s Music, April 11th
On this day in 1981: Eddie Van Halen married actress Valerie Bertinelli, co-star of the 1980s television hit, One Day at a Time. The two had met eight months earlier when Bertinelli’s brother took her to a Van Halen concert in Shreveport, Louisiana. Also on this day back in 1981: Hall & Oates started a […]
This Day In Music, March 28th
On this day in 1981: Blondie started a two week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Rapture’, the group’s fourth and final U.S. #1 and the first #1 song in the U.S. to feature rap lyrics, notable for name-checking hip-hop pioneers Fab Five Freddy and Grandmaster Flash. In January 1981, “Rapture” was […]
This Day In Music, February 22nd
On this day in 1981: One Hit Wonder Joe Dolce was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with ‘Shaddap You Face,’ famously keeping the legendary Ultravox song, Vienna, out of the U.K. #1 slot. ‘Shaddap You Face’ went to #1 in 11 countries with over 35 different foreign language cover versions, selling over 4 […]
This Day In Music, December 2nd
On this day in 1983: MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video for the first time. Now regarded as the most influential pop music video of all time, in 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive […]