Wednesday 6pm: Max 20th Century – 1987 (Part 2)

May 9 – Ireland’s Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Brussels, Belgium, with the song “Hold Me Now”, making him the first artist to win the contest twice. The song tops the charts in Ireland, and peaks at No. 2 in the UK.
June 14 – Madonna starts her Who’s That Girl Tour in Osaka, Japan.
June 27 – Whitney Houston’s second album Whitney becomes the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
July 4
Kylie Minogue’s recording career begins with the release of her cover version of the Little Eva hit The Loco-Motion; the single spends seven weeks at number one in her native Australia and leads to a contract with UK-based record producers Stock Aitken Waterman.
The first joint rock concert between the United States and the Soviet Union is held in Moscow to promote peace. The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Santana and Bonnie Raitt share the bill with Soviet rock group Autograph.
July 21 – American rock group Guns N’ Roses release Appetite for Destruction which, after initial slow sales will become the best selling debut album of all time with more than 18 million copies sold in the US alone to date
August 1
Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama are married in Normandy, France.
MTV Europe is launched. The first video played is “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits.
August 3 – Def Leppard releases Hysteria, the longest rock album ever released as a single LP or cassette.
August 27 – The Jello Biafra criminal trial is dismissed after ending in a hung jury in Los Angeles court. Biafra and his manager had been charged with distributing harmful material to minors due to a poster included in the Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist album of a painting depicting rows of sexual organs.
August 31 – Michael Jackson releases Bad, his first studio album since Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. The album would produce five number one singles in the USA, a record which has not been broken.
September 3 – Fugazi plays their first live show (as a three-piece; Guy Picciotto had not joined the band yet) at the Wilson Center in Washington DC.
September 6 – Madonna ends her Who’s That Girl Tour in Florence, Italy.
September 7 – Pink Floyd release A Momentary Lapse of Reason, their first album after the departure of, and legal battle with, bassist Roger Waters. The subsequent tour grossed around $135 million worldwide, a sum that was only equaled by the earnings of Michael Jackson and U2 combined.
September 11 – Reggae musician Peter Tosh is murdered during a robbery in his home.
September 12 – Michael Jackson starts the Bad World Tour, supporting his Bad album.
September 25 – CBS launches an American version of the long-running UK television show Top of the Pops. It lasts one year.
October 4 – Electronic data gathering completely replaces the old sales diary technique in compiling the UK singles and albums chart. The publication day of new charts is moved from Tuesday to Sunday.
October 8 – Chuck Berry receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
October 19 – Mötley Crüe release the song “You’re All I Need” as a single. MTV refuse to play its video because of the level of violence.
October 19 – INXS releases KICK.
October 30 – George Michael releases his first solo studio album, Faith, which would win the Grammy Award for album of the year and sell 11 million copies in the USA alone.
October 31 – The Zorros headline on Halloween for the last-ever show at the Crystal Ballroom, Melbourne’s premier Punk/New Wave venue. The Crystal Ballroom has seen almost ten years of intense musical evolution. The venue has chandeliers, stained glass windows, paisley wallpaper and a tiled foyer.

Monday 6pm: Max 20th Century – 1987 (Part 1)

January 3 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The other inductees this year consist of The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, Clyde McPhatter, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson and Jackie Wilson.
January 5 – Elton John, after several months of voice problems, undergoes throat surgery in an Australian hospital. The outcome would hinder his voice permanently and he would soon start singing in a deep register.
January 16 – Beastie Boys become the first act to be censored by American Bandstand.
January 24 – Steve “Silk” Hurley’s innovative “Jack Your Body” becomes the first house music record to top the UK singles chart.
February 6 – Sonny Bono announces his candidacy for mayor of Palm Springs, California.
February 14
Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” reaches #1 in the USA. It would be 1987’s biggest hit song worldwide.
Los Angeles radio station KMET signs off after nineteen years on the air. The station had been a pioneer of underground progressive rock programming.
February 15 – Video Hits premieres on Australian television.
February 26 – The first four Beatles albums, Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, and Beatles for Sale are released on compact disc. Capitol Records decides to release the original UK mixes of the Beatles albums, which means that the first four CDs are released in mono. This marks the first time that many of these mono mixes are available in the US.
March 9
U2 releases The Joshua Tree, an album that launches them into superstar status in the music world. The album would sell over 14 million copies worldwide in 1987 alone and would win the Grammy for “Album of the Year” (at the 1988 ceremony). U2 have two #1 hit songs from this album on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Carole King is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City.
The career that would end in an infamous appearance at The Brit awards and the burning of a million pounds began in Britain, as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu release their debut single, “All You Need Is Love”.
March 13
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the US, Bryan Adams’ “Heat of the Night” becomes the first single to be commercially released on cassette. Cassette singles become known as cassingles.
March 27 – Inspired by The Beatles’ 1969 rooftop concert, U2 shoots a music video for the song “Where the Streets Have No Name” on a rooftop in Los Angeles.
April 23 – Carole King sues the owner of her record company, Lou Adler, claiming that she is owed more than $400,000 in royalties. King also asks for rights to her old recordings.

Monday 6pm: MaxMusic 20th Century – 1986 (Part 1)

January 30 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame holds its first induction ceremony with many rock pioneers attending.
May 28 – The Monkees held a press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City to officially announce that they would embark on a 100-plus city tour. The tour became one of the biggest grossing tours of the year.
June 10 – Bob Geldof is awarded with a knighthood in recognition of his work in organizing Live Aid and other concerts that raised millions of dollars for the starving people of Africa.
June 30 – Madonna releases her “True Blue” album, which tops the charts in over 28 countries & becomes the best selling album of 1986.
September 27 – A tour bus carrying the heavy metal band Metallica crashes in Sweden, killing their influential bassist, Cliff Burton.
November 17–18 – Billy Eckstine makes his final recordings, later released on his album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter.
December 12 – The Smiths play Brixton Academy, their last ever gig before their dissolution.
Approximate date – Axé (music) originates in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Friday 6pm: Max 20th Century – 1985 (Part 3)

A story published in The New York Times declares that country music is “dead.” However, a number of new acts – Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakam among them – are working behind the scenes to change the trend.

The Country Music Association Awards introduced a new award, Music Video of the Year. The first recipient was Hank Williams Jr.’s video for “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight.”

Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid cofounds the Black Rock Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the creative freedom and works of black musicians interested in playing rock music.

Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider testifies at The Parents Music Resource Center Senate hearings on rock censorship at Washington D.C. on September 19, 1985.

David Lee Roth releases his solo debut (EP) Crazy from the Heat in January 1985. With it comes the announcement he has permanently left Van Halen.

Black Sabbath reunites at Live Aid with Ozzy Osbourne.

Led Zeppelin reunites at Live Aid with Phil Collins replacing deceased drummer John Bonham.

Kam Lee leaves Death and Chuck Schuldiner becomes the vocalist.

Uriah Heep’s former lead singer, David Byron dies on February 28, due to alcohol complications.

Welcome to Venice compilation is released, featuring Suicidal Tendencies, Beowulf, and others, showing the growing crossover trend among the Venice Beach hardcore and metal scenes.

Newly formed bands
Aria
Carcass
David Lee Roth
Deliverance
Dream Theater (under the name “Majesty”)
Exhorder
Extreme
Guns N’ Roses
Iced Earth (known as “Purgatory” until 1988)
Jane’s Addiction
King Diamond
MX Machine
Neurosis
Macabre
Mr. Bungle
Racer X
Realm
Sanctuary
Tarot (under the name “Purgatory” until record deal)
White Zombie

Wednesday 6pm: Max 20th Century – 1985 (Part 2)

July 13 – The Live Aid concert takes place in Wembley Stadium, London, UK and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, USA. The headlining acts at the latter venue included a Led Zeppelin reunion, the first since their 1980 disbandment. The former venue, however, becomes the more notable of the two over the years, in part due to the high acclaim of Queen’s performance of “Radio Ga Ga”, which serves as the band’s comeback in the United Kingdom (Queen would still remain a pariah in the United States in the wake of Hot Space until after Freddie Mercury’s death six years later). With a little help from the British Concorde jet, singer Phil Collins manages to perform at both venues.
September 6 – Michael Jackson purchases the publishing rights for most of the Beatles’ music for $47 million, much to the dismay of Paul McCartney, against whom he is bidding.
September 19 – The Parents Music Resource Center’s (P.M.R.C.) United States Senate hearing on rock censorship begin in Washington, D.C. Heavy metal singer Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, rock star Frank Zappa and country singer John Denver testify against the P.M.R.C.
September 22
The Farm Aid concert is held in Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Massimo Bogianckino, general manager of the Paris Opera and former head of both the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and La Scala, is elected mayor of Florence.
December 5 – The first fully digital reggae single, Wayne Smith’s “(Under Me) Sleng Teng”, is recorded at Prince Jammy’s studio; it is the beginning of ragga style reggae.
December 23 – Two young fans of Judas Priest in Sparks, Nevada shoot themselves, one fatally, after listening to the band’s records. A lawsuit is brought against the group in 1986 claiming that they were compelled by backwards subliminal messages hidden in their music.
December 31 – The fourteenth annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special is aired on ABC television, with appearances by Four Tops, The Judds, Barry Manilow, The Motels, Tears for Fears and The Temptations.

Also in 1985

Several hundreds of thousands of US dollars in publishing royalties are released to the surviving members, and families of the deceased members, of the British music group, Badfinger. Two band members, Pete Ham and Tom Evans, previously committed suicide due to financial problems.
Metal Edge magazine is launched.
Roger Waters announces his intention to leave Pink Floyd; describing the band as “a spent force creatively,” he would spend the next two years in a legal battle with his now-former bandmates over the rights to the “Pink Floyd” name and other associated assets.