Today in rock history: on this date in 1983, as Duran Duran mania was about to hit a fever pitch, the band broke things wide open when its released a third studio album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger. After the growing attention that had been paid to the band (thanks to its first two releases and exposure on music video channel MTV), Duran Duran fans were geared and primed for a new album. This, its most successful release of an initial run of records, was Duran Duran's first to reach the No. 1 spot on British album charts as well as faring well in America and various other countries around the world. The record produced three major hit singles: “Union of the Snake,” “New Moon On Monday” and “The Reflex,” a song that hit No. 1 on singles charts all around the globe and remains one of the band’s most popular songs. The album prompted the band’s first worldwide headlining tour (including a stop at local venue, Lakeland Civic Center in March of 1984) that made them bona fide superstars. Sadly, the record would be the last the original five-piece lineup of the band would record and release together until a brief reunion in 2004 brought their eleventh studio album, Astronaut. Read our review of the band's 2016 Tampa set here.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1988, Irish post-punk band My Bloody Valentine released its innovative debut album, Isn’t Anything. Largely credited with helping popularize the rock sub-genre known as “shoegaze” which mixes elements of psychedelia, distortion and feedback, the band’s debut album instantly drew praise and accolades from hip rock journalists. Drawing inspiration from its contemporaries Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain, the album climbed to the No. 1 spot on the U.K.’s Independent Album Chart and kick-started the emergence of similar bands who’d follow in MBV’s footsteps. Widely considered to be one of the most ambitious and groundbreaking debut albums of the 1980s, Isn’t Anything has earned countless honors over the years and helped pave the way for the band’s full-length follow up release, 1991’s Loveless which is often cited as being the band’s masterwork.

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Concert review: Steely Dan serves up no static at all in Tampa

Today in rock history: on this date in 1980, jazz/rock ensemble Steely Dan released its seventh studio album, Gaucho. The record’s creation and recording was plagued with delays causing the completion of the album to last almost two years. Over 40 studio musicians were used during the recording sessions for the album and, reportedly, the band’s record company was not thrilled with the length of time it took to finish the record. Nonetheless, the record was another hit for the band; it cracked the top 10 on American album charts and produced another bona fide hit single, “Hey Nineteen” which too reached the top 10 on singles charts in the U.S. The record would be the last Steely Dan’s core duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen would record before a twenty-year split would divide them.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1980, after years of paying their dues and relentless touring, Champaign, Illinois rock and roll band, REO Speedwagon released the record that would prove to be its breakthrough. Hi Infidelity. The band’s ninth studio album was a mix of catchy pop tunes, power ballads and rockers, and the timing for the release was just right. Suddenly the veteran band found itself added to playlists of radio stations catering to many different genres including pop, hard rock and adult contemporary. The record shot straight to No. 1 and has, since its release, gone on to join the prestigious diamond club, a milestone that’s achieved when an album’s sales exceed ten million copies sold in America. Hit singles from the record included “Keep On Loving You” (which also hit No. 1 on U.S. singles charts), “Take It On The Run,” “In Your Letter” and “Don’t Let Him Go”.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1970, shortly after its family singing group television series had premiered, The Partridge Family was at the top of the Billboard pop singles chart with its debut release, I Think I Love You where it stayed for three solid weeks. Members of the fictional singing group portrayed on the popular weekly series who actually possessed a background in music were Broadway and film actress Shirley Jones who starred on the show as the family’s mom and David Cassidy, teenage eldest son of the group who soon became an incredibly popular teen idol due to the success of the program. Cassidy was an accomplished electric guitarist who preferred the sounds of Jimi Hendrix over the bubblegum pop the family churned out on the show but, nonetheless, the success of the program translated to massive record sales and a prime time television run that lasted four seasons.