More About Music History On This Day
15 Jun 1981
Duran Duran released their debut studio album which reached No.3 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the UK top 100 for 118 weeks. In the US the album reached No.10 on the Billboard 200 and spent 87 weeks on that chart. Singles from the album included the UK top 10 hits 'Planet Earth' and 'Girls on Film'.
15 Jun 1985
Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, Brothers In Arms. The album is the seventh best-selling album in UK chart history and won two Grammy Awards at the 28th Grammy Awards, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards.
15 Jun 1988
During Bruce Springsteen's stay in Rome during a world tour a photographer took a shot of Bruce in his underpants sharing an intimate moment with his backing singer Patti Scialfa. The picture confirmed the rumors that Bruce and Patti were having an affair.
15 Jun 1989
Nirvana's debut album Bleach was released in the US. The title for the album came from a poster 'Bleach Your Works' urging drug users to bleach their needles. Kurt Cobain claimed that most of the lyrics on the album were written the night before recording while he was feeling "pissed off", and that he did not regard them highly.
15 Jun 1996
US jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California, aged 79. Already blinded by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards, the 1956 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook' was the first of eight "Songbook" sets. Appeared in the TV commercial for Memorex, where she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape. The tape was played back, and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex"
15 Jun 2002
A rare, autographed copy of The Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold at auction for $57,800, more than five times the estimated price.
15 Jun 2003
Radiohead scored their fourth UK No.1 with their sixth studio album 'Hail To The Thief'. The title Hail to the Thief – a phrase used by anti-George W. Bush activists during the controversy surrounding the 2000 US presidential election was a play on 'Hail to the Chief', a march played to announce the arrival of the President of the United States.
15 Jun 2005
Coldplay went straight to No.1 on US album chart with their third album 'X&Y', having already entered at number one in the UK. The last time a British artist had a simultaneous US and UK number one was in November 2000 with '1', a compilation of hits by The Beatles. The last studio album to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic was Radiohead's 'Kid A' in October 2000. 'X&Y' went on to top over 30 global charts.
15 Jun 2008
Liverpool was voted England's most musical city in a national campaign set up by the Arts Council. The home of The Beatles Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and The Zutons took 49% of the vote in an online poll set up by the funding body. Sheffield - which brought the world the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp - came second, while Manchester with Oasis, Stone Roses and The Smiths came third.
15 Jun 2010
A case against a man accused of threatening Elton John's life was withdrawn just hours before his trial was due to begin. Neal Horsley had responded to Elton's suggestion that Jesus Christ was gay in a Parade magazine interview by writing an angry online response entitled "Why Elton John Must Die". After being held in an Atlanta, Georgia jail since last March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams dismissed the case against Horsley because his actions did not warrant criminal charges.
15 Jun 2016
Brian May of Queen posted a note on his website objecting to Donald Trump's use of 'We Are The Champions' at campaign events. "Regardless of our views on Mr. Trump's platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool," May wrote. The following month, Trump used the song as his entrance music when he made his first appearance at the Republican convention.
15 Jun 2016
Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page denied stealing the riff to 'Stairway To Heaven' when he took the stand at a copyright trial in the US. The band were accused of lifting the opening guitar line from 'Taurus', a 1968 track by the band Spirit. Page testified that he had never heard the song until people started posting comparisons online a few years ago. Page admitted to owning several Spirit albums, but only remembered buying two of them, neither of which contained Taurus. Under questioning, he conceded that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled debut, on which the track appears, but could not recall how it came to be part of his collection
Duran Duran released their debut studio album which reached No.3 on the UK Albums Chart and remained in the UK top 100 for 118 weeks. In the US the album reached No.10 on the Billboard 200 and spent 87 weeks on that chart. Singles from the album included the UK top 10 hits 'Planet Earth' and 'Girls on Film'.
15 Jun 1985
Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with, Brothers In Arms. The album is the seventh best-selling album in UK chart history and won two Grammy Awards at the 28th Grammy Awards, and also won Best British Album at the 1987 Brit Awards.
15 Jun 1988
During Bruce Springsteen's stay in Rome during a world tour a photographer took a shot of Bruce in his underpants sharing an intimate moment with his backing singer Patti Scialfa. The picture confirmed the rumors that Bruce and Patti were having an affair.
15 Jun 1989
Nirvana's debut album Bleach was released in the US. The title for the album came from a poster 'Bleach Your Works' urging drug users to bleach their needles. Kurt Cobain claimed that most of the lyrics on the album were written the night before recording while he was feeling "pissed off", and that he did not regard them highly.
15 Jun 1996
US jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, California, aged 79. Already blinded by the effects of diabetes, Fitzgerald had both her legs amputated in 1993. Winner of 13 Grammy Awards, the 1956 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook' was the first of eight "Songbook" sets. Appeared in the TV commercial for Memorex, where she sang a note that shattered a glass while being recorded on a Memorex cassette tape. The tape was played back, and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex"
15 Jun 2002
A rare, autographed copy of The Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold at auction for $57,800, more than five times the estimated price.
15 Jun 2003
Radiohead scored their fourth UK No.1 with their sixth studio album 'Hail To The Thief'. The title Hail to the Thief – a phrase used by anti-George W. Bush activists during the controversy surrounding the 2000 US presidential election was a play on 'Hail to the Chief', a march played to announce the arrival of the President of the United States.
15 Jun 2005
Coldplay went straight to No.1 on US album chart with their third album 'X&Y', having already entered at number one in the UK. The last time a British artist had a simultaneous US and UK number one was in November 2000 with '1', a compilation of hits by The Beatles. The last studio album to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic was Radiohead's 'Kid A' in October 2000. 'X&Y' went on to top over 30 global charts.
15 Jun 2008
Liverpool was voted England's most musical city in a national campaign set up by the Arts Council. The home of The Beatles Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and The Zutons took 49% of the vote in an online poll set up by the funding body. Sheffield - which brought the world the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp - came second, while Manchester with Oasis, Stone Roses and The Smiths came third.
15 Jun 2010
A case against a man accused of threatening Elton John's life was withdrawn just hours before his trial was due to begin. Neal Horsley had responded to Elton's suggestion that Jesus Christ was gay in a Parade magazine interview by writing an angry online response entitled "Why Elton John Must Die". After being held in an Atlanta, Georgia jail since last March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams dismissed the case against Horsley because his actions did not warrant criminal charges.
15 Jun 2016
Brian May of Queen posted a note on his website objecting to Donald Trump's use of 'We Are The Champions' at campaign events. "Regardless of our views on Mr. Trump's platform, it has always been against our policy to allow Queen music to be used as a political campaigning tool," May wrote. The following month, Trump used the song as his entrance music when he made his first appearance at the Republican convention.
15 Jun 2016
Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page denied stealing the riff to 'Stairway To Heaven' when he took the stand at a copyright trial in the US. The band were accused of lifting the opening guitar line from 'Taurus', a 1968 track by the band Spirit. Page testified that he had never heard the song until people started posting comparisons online a few years ago. Page admitted to owning several Spirit albums, but only remembered buying two of them, neither of which contained Taurus. Under questioning, he conceded that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled debut, on which the track appears, but could not recall how it came to be part of his collection
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