Pick a Day

Music History Events: Releases

September 23, 1986 Following a split with their record label and some lineup changes, Boston release Third Stage, their first album since Don't Look Back in 1978. The first single is "Amanda," the group's only #1 hit in America. They don't put out another album until 1994.

September 15, 1986 John Farnham's "You're The Voice" is released in Australia, where it becomes an institution, sung wherever fighting spirit is needed. In America is barely makes a ripple, charting at #82 in 1990.

July 21, 1986 Landing on Water, Neil Young's 15th studio album, is released.

July 4, 1986 Flotsam and Jetsam's only full-length studio album with bassist Jason Newsted, Doomsday for the Deceiver, is released via Metal Blade Records. Doomsday is co-produced by the band with the label's head, Brian Slagel, and is the only album in the history of Kerrang! Magazine to receive a "six K" review (out of a possible five "K's").

July 1, 1986 Misfits issue their second compilation, a self-titled, 20-track release with two songs Metallica later cover: "Green Hell" and "Die, Die My Darling."

June 2, 1986 Randy Travis releases his debut album, Storms Of Life. Thanks to the #1 Country hits "On The Other Hand" and "Diggin' Up Bones," it goes on to sell over 3 million copies, establishing Travis as a star.

May 19, 1986 Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel transitions from cult performer to pop star with the release of his fifth solo album, So, which includes the hit single "Sledgehammer."More

March 24, 1986 "No One Is To Blame" by Howard Jones is released in the US. It goes on to become Jones' biggest-selling single in the US, peaking at #1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and #4 on the Hot 100.

March 20, 1986 Country singer Kathy Mattea releases her third album, Walk The Way The Wind Blows, featuring her breakthrough single - a cover of Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime." It peaks at #3 on the country chart.

February 3, 1986 The Firm release Mean Business, their second and final album.

October 15, 1985 Power Windows, Rush's 11th album, is released. It is the last Rush album to achieve Platinum status until Roll the Bones comes out six years later.

August 16, 1985 Red Hot Chili Peppers release the cocaine-fueled funk album Freaky Styley, produced by Parliament-Funkadelic founder George Clinton, and welcome back guitarist Hillel Slovak.More

August 12, 1985 Neil Young releases Old Ways, his 14th studio album and one of the lowest-selling and least appreciated albums of his career.

August 1, 1985 Tom Waits releases Rain Dogs, widely considered one of his most important and innovative works. Synthesizers and samples - very common in the 1980s - are deliberately absent as Waits develops the unique approach he began on Swordfishtrombones.

June 18, 1985 Weird Al Yankovic's Dare To Be Stupid, featuring the Devo-inspired title track, makes history as the first album of comedic music ever released on compact disc.

June 3, 1985 Bryan Ferry releases his sixth solo album, Boys and Girls.

April 29, 1985 Freddie Mercury releases his solo album Mr. Bad Guy. Although it sells okay in the UK, in the US it doesn't make even the top 150.

April 28, 1985 Bryan Ferry releases "Slave To Love."

April 25, 1985 Exodus release their first studio album, Bonded By Blood.

April 22, 1985 Prince releases his seventh album, Around The World In A Day, the follow-up to Purple Rain. It's his first issued on his Paisley Park imprint and primarily recorded at his Paisley Park studios.

March 22, 1985 Alcatrazz's only studio album with Steve Vai, Disturbing the Peace, is released. Produced by Eddie Kramer, the album's lead-off track, "God Blessed Video," attracts a whole new audience years later when it's included on the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

January 25, 1985 Prince releases "Take Me With U," the last single from Purple Rain.

January 10, 1985 Chris Isaak releases his debut album, Silvertone. The LP is named after his three-piece backup band.

December 3, 1984 "Do They Know It's Christmas?," the first charity single on a grand scale, is released in the UK with proceeds going to help famine victims in Ethiopia. It becomes the biggest-selling single in UK history, a record that stands until 1997 when it's overtaken by Elton John's updated version of "Candle In The Wind." The single is released in America a week later.

November 28, 1984 Prince releases "I Would Die 4 U," where he declares: "I'm not a woman. I'm not a man. I am something that you'll never understand." In 1993, he changes his name to a symbol incorporating the male and female signs.

November 23, 1984 Metallica release "Creeping Death," the only single from Ride The Lightning.

October 29, 1984 Deep Purple release Perfect Strangers, their first album since 1975. The subsequent tour does big business.

September 27, 1984 Alphaville releases "Forever Young."

August 25, 1984 Menudo, the Puerto Rican boy band with the ever-changing lineup, release their 16th studio album, Evolucion. The album introduces their new 12-year-old singer, Ricky Martin.

July 27, 1984 Metallica release their second album, Ride The Lightning, via Megaforce Records. It is reissued a short time later when they sign to Elektra Records.