Today in rock history: On this date in 1980, Talking Heads released its fourth album, the fantastic Remain In Light. Experimenting with African music influences along with its own vastly original approach to the new wave music the band had been making, this album took Talking Heads to a new level of originality and ingenuity while incredibly showing its range and scope incredibly, too. Featuring guest artists guitarist Adrian Belew, singer Nona Hendryx and produced by genius Brian Eno, this is another amazing album in the Talking Heads canon. "Once In A Lifetime" and "Houses in Motion" are the recognizable songs normally equated with this gem, but "Crosseyed and Painless" really shows the depths the band traveled. David Byrne just played Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg — read a review and see photos from the show.
Today in rock history: On this date in 1980, Prince released his third album, the pivotal and immensely important masterpiece, Dirty Mind. The album found the young Minneapolis musical genius experimenting with fusing rock and roll with R&B and exploring provocative and taboo subjects while doing so. Although his first two albums were moderately successful, this was the album that made rock critics and press notice Prince and praise him for his boldness. Featuring the hits "Uptown" and the title track, this is without a doubt one of the very best records Prince ever released throughout his amazing career.
Today in rock history: On this date in 1981, post-punk favorite Joy Division released its very last album, the posthumously released 2-LP collection, Still. Released after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis, the record consisted of unreleased studio recordings as well as live material from the band's very last performance.
TODAY IN ROCK HISTORY
Ian Curtis commits suicide, Miami Pop Festival is born, Simple Minds goes No. 1 and more
Today in rock history: On this date in 1966, the very first rock and roll radio station to broadcast on FM radio was launched. WOR-FM in New York City featured live in-studio DJs, on this date as a result of FCC regulations that required popular AM stations to start broadcasting on FM. The station featured DJs Scott Muni, Murray “the K” Kaufman, Rosko and Johnny Michaels. The very first song played on the groundbreaking station was "Wild Thing" by The Troggs.
This article appears in Oct 4-11, 2018.