This Day in Music
On this day in music, May 4, 1973, Led Zeppelin kicked off their 34-date North American tour in Atlanta. Billed as the “biggest and most profitable rock n’ roll tour in the history of the United States,” the English band grossed over $4 million. Their May 5th date at Tampa Stadium was attended by 56,800 fans, breaking The Beatles’ previous record of 55,600 fans for their 1965 Shea Stadium date. The tour included the usage of dry ice, laser effects, Catherine wheel pyrotechnics, and more, while the band flew between gigs in The Starship, a former United States Airlines Boeing 720B jet.
In 2012, 47-year-old rapper and Beastie Boys’ co-founder, Adam “MCA” Yauch, died of parotid cancer. With the Beastie Boys, MCA released seven platinum-selling albums between 1986 and 2004, while the trio became the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yauch directed many of the Beastie Boys’ music videos, using the pseudonym Nathaniel Hörnblowér for his work. In 2008, he co-founded Oscilloscope Laboratories, an independent film company and distributor, alongside David Fenkel.
In 1974, ABBA’s “Waterloo” topped the UK pop chart, marking their first of nine No.1 hits in the country. The single, which was initially named “Honey Pie,” made the band the first Swedish winner of the Eurovision Song Contest and was later chosen as the best song in Eurovision’s history during its 50th-anniversary celebration.
In 1996, Alanis Morissette began a six-week run at the top of the UK chart with her third album, Jagged Little Pill. In the US, the singer-songwriter’s breakthrough LP spent 12 weeks at No.1 and earned five Grammys, including Album of the Year, making the 21-year-old artist the youngest recipient of the award. One of the best-selling albums of all time, Jagged Little Pill made Morissette the first Canadian act to achieve double diamond sales.
In 1989, Stevie Ray Vaughan set out on what would be his final tour. The influential blues musician completed 107 dates of the 110-show-run when tragedy struck. On August 27, 1990, the 35-year-old artist was killed in a helicopter accident. Regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Vaughn was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1991, a cover of “The Shoop Shoop Song,” recorded by Cher for the film Mermaids, gave the singer her first solo No.1 in the UK. The song, which Betty Everett made a hit in 1964, marked Cher’s first British chart-topper since her 1965 duet with Sonny Bono, “I Got You Babe.”
BORN ON MAY 4
1937: Dick Dale
1942: Nicholas Ashford (Ashford & Simpson)
1951: Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe)
1951: Jackie Jackson (Jackson Five)
1959: Randy Travis
1970: Gregg Alexander (New Radicals)
1972: Mike Dirnt (Green Day)
1979: Lance Bass (*NSYNC)
