25
Featured Events
2017At the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers play their last concert, as Petty dies a week later. The show is the last stop on their 40th Anniversary tour.
2008MySpace Music launches, allowing artists to upload songs to their profiles for fans to stream for free. With 5 million artist pages, MySpace is hoping to compete with iTunes, but it's hemorrhaging users to Facebook and never makes much impact as a streaming service.
1980 Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham dies at age 32 of asphyxiation from vomiting after a night of heavy drinking. The band decides to break up instead of replacing him.
1979Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita makes its debut on Broadway with Patti LuPone after a successful year on London's West End.More
1968Will Smith is born and raised in West Philadelphia. On the playground is where he spends most of his days.
1968No more whistling "Dixie" for University of Miami students as the school becomes the first university to ban the controversial Confederate anthem from being played at public events.More
1967Little-known country singer Dolly Parton makes her first appearance on The Porter Wagoner Show, singing two songs from her debut album: "Dumb Blonde" and "Something Fishy." She becomes the full-time replacement for the program's longtime singer, Norma Jean. Parton stays on the show for seven years and records string of popular duet albums with Wagoner.
25
In Music History
2020Van Morrison releases the song "Born To Be Free" where he protests coronavirus lockdown measures. "Don't need the government cramping my style," he sings. He follows it up with two more lockdown-protest songs: "As I Walked Out" and "No More Lockdown."
2019The first installment of Ken Burns' eight-part documentary series Country Music airs on PBS. The film chronicles the evolution of the genre from the early "hillbilly" musicians of the '20s with Fiddlin' John Carson through the New Traditionalists of the '90s with Garth Brooks.
2012Two con artists, Alpha Lorenzo Walker and Tamara Diaz, are sentenced to 292 days in jail and 3 years' probation after an attempt to blackmail Stevie Wonder. The pair had somehow obtained or created a video portraying Wonder in a negative light and were demanding $5 million under threat of releasing it to the public. The pair were caught in a sting operation.
2012The Insane Clown Posse sues the FBI, claiming the organization has refused to turn over evidence as to why ICP fans (Juggalos) are listed as a "hybrid gang" in the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. The suit is eventually dismissed.
2010Bush perform at the second Epicenter Music Festival in Fontana, California. This concert marks the band's first live appearance since 2002.
2007Bruce Springsteen releases Magic.
2003Indie rocker Matthew Jay dies at age 24 from an unexplained fall from a London apartment building.
2001Rapper Erick Sermon sustains serious injuries when, according to his publicist, he is involved in an auto accident. It is announced by police one week later that the injuries are actually the result of a plunge out a third-story window.
2001For the first time ever, the Recording Academy agrees to accept a downloadable single for Grammy consideration. Virgin Records releases two singles: "Dig In," by Lenny Kravitz and "God Gave Me Everything" by Mick Jagger, which are released to digital retailers via Liquid Audio.
2001The voice of Bob Marley ushers satellite radio onto the air, promising listeners greater variety on the dial - for a price - with the launch of XM Satellite Radio. It is the first worldwide broadcast of a satellite radio station.
1993The US Postal Service issues a Patsy Cline commemorative stamp.
1991Simon Le Bon's wife, Yasmin, gives birth to a daughter, Saffron, in London. She is the second child for the Duran Duran lead singer and his wife.
1990INXS release X, the follow-up to their wildly successful 1987 album Kick. In the interim, lead singer Michael Hutchence released an album with his less glamorous band, Max Q.
1990Mercer University Drive in Macon, Georgia, is renamed "Little Richard Penniman Boulevard" after the famous singer who grew up there.
1990Dave Grohl replaces Chad Channing in Nirvana, becoming the fifth (and final) drummer for the band.
Tour Sponsorship Introduced As Musk Company Presents Rolling Stones Tour
1981The Rolling Stones start their US tour with a concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, where they play to a crowd of 90,000. The tour is sponsored by musk maker Jovan, establishing a new paradigm for corporate involvement.
Artists have pitched products in the past, typically for alcohol (Hank Williams Jr. for Jim Beam), tobacco (Charlie Daniels for Skoal) or recording gear (Earth, Wind & Fire for Panasonic), but the tie-in with Jovan, one of the top three fragrance companies, marks the first major sponsorship of a national tour. The Stones don't have to wear the fragrance or endorse it. For Jovan's reported at $3 million, they get their logo on every ticket and on the promotional materials, including the copy sent to radio stations encouraging them to say something like "The Rolling Stones tour, presented by Jovan, comes to the Woobiedoobie Arena on Thursday." The official tour logo is the Jovan logo with the Stones lips and tongue sticking out of the O. In 1971, Jovan became the first fragrance company to sell natural musk, a feral scent made from the secretions of male musk deer. In 1981, it's a very popular scent among young men looking to boost their animal attraction, which is the Rolling Stones core audience. By associating their musk with the band, Jovan sets themselves appart from competitors like Avon and Faberge, which have their own musks. You might not move like Jagger, but maybe you can smell like him. The deal was initiated by J. Walter Thompson, Jovan's advertising agency. It's a risk for both parties: The Stones could face sell-out accusations, and the stink from any indiscretions on the tour could rub off on Jovan. But this is not the Rolling Stones of the '60s, when they were getting arrested, losing a member to a drug overdose (Brian Jones), and using gang members for security. Thank in part to a sober Keith Richards, the tour goes off without incident, grossing about $52 million and selling over 3 million tickets, making it far and away the top trek of 1981. Bands and advertising agencies smell an opportunity, leading to more tour sponsorships of this ilk. When The Who embark on their 1982 tour, it's sponsored by Schlitz. Eric Clapton's 1983 tour is sponsored by Camel cigarettes. That same year, Jovan spreads their scent even further by teaming up with Kenny Rogers. In addition to the tour sponsorship, they introduce two new Rogers-inspired scents: The Gambler and Lady. When the Stones launch their next world tour, Steel Wheels in 1989, it's sponsored by Budweiser.
No comments:
Post a Comment