Thursday, June 1, 2017

31 MAY

In Music History

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2016Alicia Keysannounces that she will no longer wear makeup.More
2014The trustee for Randy California, leader of the band Spirit who died in 1997, sues Led Zeppelin, claiming a song California wrote called "Taurus" was stolen for the intro to "Stairway To Heaven." One of the claims in the suit: "Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin were fans of Spirit, were aware of their album, and were influenced on an emotional level by their performances and recordings, so much so that they would go to watch Spirit perform in concert... Merely four days after opening for Spirit, Zeppelin had already lifted Spirit's material for their live sets."
2007Rob Grill, lead singer of The Grass Roots, is arrested for illegal possession of prescription painkillers at his home in Mount Dora, Florida.
2005Strawberry Field (no s), the Liverpool orphanage which inspired The Beatles' famous song, is closed by the Salvation Army after almost seventy years.
2004Rock guitarist Robert Quine, known for collaborations with Lou ReedMarianne Faithfull, and Tom Waits, commits suicide by heroin overdose at age 61.
200350 Cent's second single, "21 Questions," tops the chart for the first of 4 weeks. Featuring Nate Dogg on the chorus, the song explores 50's romantic side, as he asks a girl if she would be there for him through thick and thin.
2000Soul singer Johnnie Taylor dies of a heart attack at age 66.
1996Bass singer Elsbeary Hobbs (of The Drifters) dies from throat and lung cancer in Manhattan, New York at age 59.
1993Jon Bon Jovi's wife, Dorothea Hurley, gives birth to their first child, a daughter named Stephanie Rose.
1991Azealia Banks is born in New York City.
1986Genesis enters the Hot 100 with "Invisible Touch," joining four acts by current or former members of the group on the chart.More
1985The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), sends its first letter to the RIAA requesting a ratings system for albums and concerts. The group is led by Tipper Gore, the wife of Senator Al Gore, so the record industry takes it seriously, and cuts back on their metal budgets. The end result is warning stickers on albums containing offensive lyrics.
1980Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley is born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
1980The disco group Lipps, Inc. goes to #1 in America with "Funkytown," a tribute to New York City.
1979Supertramp's Breakfast In America is certified Gold.
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Priest Rules In Heavy Metal Parking Lot

1986
Jeff Krulik and John Heyn film the parking-lot antics of fans tailgating at a Judas Priest concert in Landover, Maryland. The result is Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a 16-minute film that captures the energy and absurdity of heavy metal culture in the '80s.

The film is disseminated on VHS, with grainy copies passed around, making it one of the first "viral videos." In the film, teenage metalheads under the influence of hormones and beer say things like, "Robert Halford is the best motherf--king singer around!" and "Heavy metal rules! All that punk s--t sucks!"

The crowd is proudly defiant and all-in for Judas Priest - most of the rants are about the virtues of the band and their fealty to the metal genre. At the time, video cameras are used almost exclusively by professional crews, so when these kids have one pointed at them and are asked for their opinion, it's an unusual event (Krulik and Heyn say they are with MTV when questioned). The footage provides an unfiltered, first-hand look at the metal mentality that explains more than a retrospective ever could.

In the '90s, the internet revives the film, and anyone with a good 28.8 kbit/s modem can watch it on Krulik's website. The film becomes a cult classic, complete with various parodies: American Hi-Fi's video for "Flavor Of The Weak"is one such homage.

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