This Day in Music
On this day in music, March 7, 1987, Beastie Boys made the pop history books by becoming the first hip-hop act to have a No.1 album with their Columbia/Def Jam debut, Licensed To Ill. Featuring the Top 10 hit “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!), plus enduring favorites like “Brass Monkey” and “No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn,” the album proved to be one of Columbia’s fastest-selling debuts and made the young New York City trio global stars. By 2015, Licensed To Ill received a rare Diamond certification by the RIAA, marking 10 million copies sold.
In 1983, New Order released “Blue Monday,” which became the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. The Manchester band – who changed their name from Joy Division after the death of singer Ian Curtis in 1980 – took the single into the UK charts twice in 1983; after peaking at No. 12, later that year it climbed into the Top 10. A 1988 reissue saw it reach No.1 on the US Hot Club Dance Play chart.
In 1970, Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water began a ten-week run at the top of the US album chart. It was the American folk-rock duo’s fifth and final LP together and, by the time it was released, the two were pursuing solo careers. The album’s memorable title track topped both the US and UK singles charts.
In 1962, three months before they signed with EMI Records, The Beatles made their first radio appearance for the BBC on a program called Teenager’s Turn – Here We Go . Recorded in front of a teenage audience at Manchester’s Playhouse Theatre, their performance on the show marked the first time they wore their trademark Beatle suits.
In 1966, the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson released his first solo single, “Caroline No,” a ballad co-written with Tony Asher that rose to No.32 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Two months later, the song – which originally was called “Carol I Know” – appeared as the final track on the Beach Boys’ acclaimed album Pet Sounds. Wilson put his solo career on hold until 1987.
In 1973, “Dueling Banjos,” performed by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell, became one of the first instrumental tracks to be certified Gold in America after it appeared on the soundtrack to the Burt Reynolds-led movie, Deliverance. Though credited as a traditional song, the tune sounded remarkably like Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith’s 1955 record “Feudin’ Banjos” and resulted in a successful lawsuit by its original writer for copyright infringement.
BORN ON MARCH 7
1944: Townes Van Zandt
1945: Arthur Lee (Love)
1946: Peter Wolf (The J Geils Band)
1946: Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum)
1952: Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers)
1962: Taylor Dayne
