Lafayette’s Rock and Alternative 106.3 wants to help you look back at the best events, music, news stories, and more from the rock and alternative genre.
Each week, we will bring you a list of major events from history that opened in our music scene.
Let’s dive in!
April 14
1984- Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” marks its 37th week at #1 in the US. Seven singles came from the album: “The Girl Is Mine”, “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ “, “Human Nature”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, and “Thriller”, all of which reached Billboard’s Top Ten for the King of Pop.
April 15
1992- The three surviving members of Queen raised over $15 million at a charity concert in honor of the late Freddie Mercury, who died the previous November. They were joined by David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, and more.
April 16
1964- The Rolling Stones’ self-titled, debut album was released in Great Britain, selling over 200k copies and becoming the first non-Beatles album to top the UK chart before coming to the US six weeks later and reaching #11 on the chart.
April 17
1973- Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon” goes Gold
Their historic album got its first of many recognitions.
April 18
2015- Ringo Starr was inducted into Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, becoming the last of The Beatles to receive that honor.
April 19
1982- Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunite for a European tour after the success of their New York Central Park concert the year before. Tensions between them forced them to split again before they could tour the US, and by the time the album they were working on came out eighteen months later, all traces of Garfunkel’s contributions had been removed.
April 20
1999- Billy Joel performs what he says is his last Rock music concert at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, but later returned to touring and singing his hits.