This Day in Music
On this day in music, March 21, 1987, Irish rockers U2 climbed to the top of the UK charts with their fifth album, The Joshua Tree. Containing such enduring hits as “With Or Without You,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and “Where The Streets Have No Name,” The Joshua Tree became the UK’s fastest-selling album ever at the time and was the first CD to move more than one million units. The album, which remained on the British chart for an astonishing 156 weeks, eventually became one of the world’s best-selling records, with over 25 million copies sold. Elsewhere, The Joshua Tree hit No.1 in the US, Canada, and several European countries.
In 1991, Leo Fender, the inventor of the iconic Telecaster (the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar) and Stratocaster guitars died at 81. In addition to setting the standard for electric guitars, he also crafted the widely-used Fender Precision Bass and Fender Bassman amplifier.
In 1999, Blur proved Britpop’s dominance when their sixth LP, 13, topped the UK chart. Produced by William Orbit, it was the London band’s fourth consecutive No.1 album and made them, along with Simply Red and R.E.M., only the third act to score four chart-topping LPs in the 90s.
In 1998, Jason Nevins’ radical house remix of Run-D.M.C’s 1983 debut single, “It’s Like That,” began a six-week run at the top of the UK pop chart.
In 1961, The Beatles (featuring Pete Best on drums) played their first evening show at Liverpool’s The Cavern Club as a support act to The Swinging Bluegenes, later to become The Swinging Blue Jeans. The Fab Four went on to appear there 275 times.
In 1994, Bruce Springsteen won an Academy Award for the song “Streets of Philadelphia,” written for the film Philadelphia, a legal drama starring Tom Hanks, which centered around the AIDS virus. The song became a Top 10 US and UK hit and also earned “The Boss” four Grammy Awards.
In 1973, the UK’s Top of the Pops banned all teenybopper acts after young fans went wild during David Cassidy’s appearance.
BORN ON MARCH 21
1940: Solomon Burke
1945: Rosemary “Rose” Stone (Sly and The Family Stone)
1949: Eddie Money
1950: Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)
1951: Russell Thompkins Jr (The Stylistics)
1956: Guy Chadwick (House Of Love)
1967: Jonas Berggren (Ace Of Base)
1980: Deryck “Bizzy D” Whibley (Sum 41)
