More About Music History On This Day

18 May 1985
Simple Minds were at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Don't You Forget About Me', (a No. 7 hit in the UK). Written by Keith Forsey (who won an Oscar for "Flashdance... What a Feeling") and Steve Schiff (guitarist and songwriter from the Nina Hagen band), the track was featured in the 1985 American teen drama film The Breakfast Club.

18 May 1993
Janet Jackson released Janet. The album’s first week sales of 350,000 was the highest for a female artist at that time. The album went on to sell over 14 million copies worldwide. It’s one of only seven albums to have Six Top Ten Hits in the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

18 May 1997
Blur won pop music's equivalent of the FA Cup, the Music Industry Soccer Six. The band's win at Fulham's FC's ground Craven Cottage saw them beating off competition from Robbie Williams, My Life Story and The Prodigy.

18 May 2000
Madonna's boyfriend Guy Ritchie was arrested after attacking a fan outside the superstar's London home. Ritchie was said to have kicked and punched a male fan after the couple returned home from a night out.

18 May 2004
Clint Warwick the original bass player with The Moody Blues died from liver disease at the age of 63. Clint left the band in 1966 after playing on their only number one hit, 'Go Now'.

18 May 2008
Ting Tings scored their first UK No.1 single with 'That's Not My Name'. Taken from the Manchester duo's debut studio album 'We Started Nothing'.

18 May 2011
John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the 1967 Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' sold for $237,132 at an auction in the US. The sale of the sheet, which featured the song's third verse and the opening words to 'She's Leaving Home', took place at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Both songs feature on the 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was speculated the song was about the drug LSD, however, The Beatles denied this, with Lennon saying the inspiration had come from a picture his son Julian had drawn of a classmate named Lucy Vodden - who died of the immune system disease Lupus in 2009.

18 May 2017
American musician, singer and songwriter Chris Cornell died suddenly in Detroit after performing at a show with Soundgarden. Cornell was known for his role as one of the architects of the 1990s grunge movement, and for his near four octave vocal range as well as his powerful vocal belting technique. He released four solo studio albums as well as working with Audioslave and Temple of the Dog.

18 May 2017
It was announced that The Killers' 'Mr Brightside' was the most-streamed song released before 2010 in the UK. The 2004 single was streamed 26 million times last year, beating any other song released before 2010, according to music industry body the BPI.

18 May 2019
R&B singer Melvin Edmonds died at the age of 65. He was a member of the group After 7 and the brother of Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds. After 7 scored the hits 'Can't Stop,' 'Ready or Not' and 'Heat of the Moment.'

18 May 2019
A sweater worn by Kurt Cobain during the singer’s last photo-shoot with Nirvana sold for $75,000 at a New York auction. Also sold for $23,000 was Nirvana’s handwritten set list from an April 1990 concert in Washington, D.C., which Cobain wrote with black marker on a paper plate. Cobain had eaten some pizza before the show and preceded to write the set list on the plate he had been eating his pizza on.

Date & Time

May 18, 2024

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