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Rock&Roll
Paul McCartney is arrested and jailed for 9 days after a half pound of marijuana is found in his luggage at the Tokyo airport. -
R&R
New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd) (62), dies of a heart attack. -
Bon Scott
Bon Scott (33), of AC/DC dies while passed out in a car in London of alcohol poisoning. -
Mr Marley
Bob Marley plays at Rhodesia Independence Day celebrations in Africa. Six months later on October 8, he collapses on stage in Pittsburgh, PA, his last performance. -
Ian Curtis
Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, commits suicide by hanging himself in his home in Manchester. The remaining members of Joy Division change the name of the band to 'New Order' -
Monster of Rock
Castle Donington, in the UK is the site for the 1st "Monsters Of Rock" festival featuring Rainbow, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Saxon, April Wine, Riot, and Touch. Attendance was 35,000. -
Buddy
A statue of hometown hero Buddy Holly is erected in Lubbock, Texas. -
Bonham is dead
John Bonham (32), drummer for Led Zeppelin, passed out and choked to death on his own vomit following an all-day vodka drinking binge at Jimmy Page's home in Windsor. -
J.Lennon
John Lennon (40), was murdered at 10:50PM in front of his New York appartment building by Mark David Chapman. -
Its over
Led Zeppelin announced they were disbanding. -
New begining
Robert Plant debuts his new band, 'The Honeydrippers' in an unanounced performance at Keele University. -
Excuse me while i light my spliff
Reggae Artist Bob Marley (36), dies of cancer in a Miami, Florida hospital as his condition worsened on his flight back to Jamaca. His health problems began when he refused treatment for malignant melanoma (skin cancer) on a toe that was first noticed in 1977. The cancer finally spread to his stomach, lungs and brain. -
MTV
MTV: Music Television, premiered with the format based on top 40 radio, with a "VJ" (Video Jocky) introducing music videos like a Disk Jocky would. The first video played was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles. The second was "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar. The first team of VJ's were- Nina Blackwood, J.J. Jackson, Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, and Alan Hunter. -
Monster of Rock
Castle Donington, in the UK hosts the 2nd "Monsters Of Rock" festival featuring AC/DC, Whitesnake, Blue Oyster Cult, Slade, Blackfoot, More, and Tommy Vance. -
Glam Metal
'Glam Metal' (or 'Hair Metal') become the most popular of the 'Metal' styles with the release of albums by Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, and Twisted Sister. -
How do i look?
The bandmembers of KISS make their first appearance without face makeup on MTV. -
Who
The Who officially split up. But they will reassemble to play 'Live Aid', and more reunion tours in the coming years. -
Oh shit
Def Leppard drummer, Rick Allen (20), severly injures his left arm in an auto accident. Though the arm has to be amputated a few days later, he continues to perform with the band. -
We r the world
The charity single "We Are The World" is recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles by a large group of American music artists (45) calling the effort "USA For Africa". The artists included Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Lionel Ritchie, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Steve Perry, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis, Smokey Robinson, Tina Turner, Lindsey Buckingham, Kim Carnes, Harry Belafonte, Hall & Oates, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, and more. -
Live Aid
The enormously successful "Live Aid" concert for famine relief in Ethiopia, organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, had artists performing in Wembley Stadium, London, JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, plus Sydney, Belgrade, Cologne and Moscow. Satellite link-ups made it a real-time global event with an estimated 1.5 billion TV viewers.
Performers included, Paul McCartney, Elton John, David Bowie, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Queen, Madonna, U2, The Beach Boys,Dire Straits, Black Sabbath and more -
Cliff Burton is killed
Metallica bassist Cliff Burton is killed while on tour in Sweden when the tour bus crashes on an icy road near Ljungby and Cliff is thrown through a window. -
Judas
Heavy Metal band Judas Priest are being sued by the families of two fans who commited suicide, supposedly brought on by listening to the album 'Stained Glass'. -
Hillel
Hillel Slovak (26), guitarist for 'Red Hot Chili Peppers' dies from a heroin overdose. -
Pop duo
Pop duo Milli Vanilli become unnerved when during a live performance in Bristol, Connecticut, their vocal track gets stuck and repeats "Girl you know it's..." 15 times, showing the audience that their vocals were being lip-synched. -
Moscow Music Peace Festiva
The "Moscow Music Peace Festival" is held featuring Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, The Scorpions, Skid Row, and Cinderella.
