We’re talking about a big year today on Throwback Thursday – 1983!
February 26th – Michael Jackson’s Thriller album hits #1 on the US charts, the first of thirty-seven (non-consecutive) weeks it would spend there on its way to becoming the biggest-selling album of all time.
February 28th – U2 releases their 3rd album War which debuts at #1 in the UK and produces the band’s first international hit single.
March 2nd – Compact discs go on sale in the United States. They had first been released in Japan the previous October. The first album to be released on CD was Billy Joel’s 52nd Street.
http://youtu.be/nV6PUGAbY7M
April 11th – Dave Mustaine is fired from Metallica just as the band is set to begin recording its début album. He is replaced by Kirk Hammett.
June 18th-19th – Menudo’s second visit to New York is an even bigger event. This time, the band plays four shows at Madison Square Garden; all 80,000 available tickets had sold out within three days of going on sale.
July 19th – Simon and Garfunkel begin their North American summer tour in Akron.
August 16th – Johnny Ramone suffers a near-fatal head injury during a fight over a girl in front of his East Village apartment.
August 20th – The Rolling Stones sign a new $28 million contract with CBS Records, the largest recording contract in history up to this time.
September 1st – Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon of The Clash issue a press statement announcing that Mick Jones has been fired from the group.
http://youtu.be/4yA6teSevmw
September 4th – Phil Lynott performs his final show with Thin Lizzy in Nuremberg, Germany.
September 18th – The members of Kiss show their faces without their makeup for the first time on MTV, simultaneous with the release of their album Lick It Up.
http://youtu.be/XScG_utl0Lw
December 2nd – Phish plays first known show.