Pick a Day

Music History Events: TV Appearances

April 19, 1990 The TV movie Summer Dreams: The Story Of The Beach Boys airs on ABC.

March 20, 1990 Eric Clapton plays three songs on Saturday Night Live: "Pretending," "No Alibis" and "Wonderful Tonight."

March 15, 1990 9-year-old Christina Aguilera appears on the show Star Search singing the Etta James song "A Sunday Kind Of Love." She loses, but so did Britney Spears and Alanis Morissette when they appeared on the show. When she becomes a judge on the singing competition show The Voice, Aguilera often consoles losing contestants by telling them about how she lost on Star Search.

January 25, 1990 The Righteous Brothers' Bill Medley guest stars on NBC's Cheers in the two-part episode "Finally!"

September 30, 1989 Neil Young performs "Rockin' In The Free World" on Saturday Night Live.

June 22, 1989 During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Barry Manilow dismisses the tabloid rumor that he's engaged to adult film star Robin Byrd, who is just a friend. Besides, as the public learns much later, Manilow is gay.

March 20, 1989 After 37 years on the air, Dick Clark announces he will discontinue hosting his creation, ABC-TV's highly influential American Bandstand. The show continues with another host, but folds for good soon after.

October 8, 1988 Keith Richards plays his first solo single, "Take It So Hard," on Saturday Night Live.

September 28, 1987 Gladys Night and Smokey Robinson appear on the game show $100,000 Pyramid.

September 5, 1987 American Bandstand airs on network TV for the last time. ABC picked up the show in 1957, and throughout its run on the network, Dick Clark was the host. The show continued another year in syndication and aired one season on the USA network in 1989.

March 8, 1987 The day before releasing The Joshua Tree, U2 debut two songs from the album - "Exit" and "In God's Country" - on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test. Also on the show is a young Irish singer named Sinead O'Connor with her first live TV performance.

February 25, 1987 Frank Sinatra guest stars as a retired police sergeant on the Magnum, P.I. episode "Laura."

November 7, 1986 Willie Nelson guest stars as a corrupt cop on the "El Viejo" episode of Miami Vice.

July 30, 1986 RCA releases John Denver from his contract, possibly over his new single, "What Are We Making Weapons For?," which he recorded with the Russian singer Alexandre Gradsky. RCA had recently been acquired by General Electric, which was a top military contractor.

February 21, 1986 Pat Boone appears on the "Beach Blanket Bounty" episode of the NBC show The Fall Guy.

February 14, 1986 Frank Zappa guest stars on the TV series Miami Vice in the episode "Payback."

August 22, 1985 Rick Nelson and Fats Domino begin filming the PBS special Rockin' With Rick And Fats, which will turn out to be Nelson's last television appearance before his untimely death in a plane crash.

April 23, 1985 Liberace appears on the soap opera Another World.

February 1, 1985 The Eagles' Glenn Frey makes his acting debut in an episode of NBC's Miami Vice that is based on his song "Smuggler's Blues."

August 1, 1984 Jermaine Jackson appears on an episode of CBS's long-running soap opera As The World Turns.

July 4, 1984 Jack Wagner, in character as Frisco Jones, sings the ballad "All I Need" on the soap opera General Hospital. The song is released as a single and climbs to #2, making Wagner the second cast member on the show to become a real-life musician, following Rick Springfield.

November 6, 1983 The ABC miniseries Princess Daisy debuts, featuring Ringo Starr as a gay fashion designer in one of his last acting roles.

November 7, 1981 The Kingston Trio play a reunion concert at the Magic Mountain theme park in Los Angeles that is recorded for a PBS special.

August 13, 1981 Soft Cell perform their hit "Tainted Love" on the UK show Top Of The Pops with lead singer Marc Almond wearing makeup and jewelry. It's a striking visual that sets new fashion standards in electronic music and paves the way for Culture Club.

March 1, 1981 NBC airs Elvis And The Beauty Queen, starring Don Johnson as Elvis Presley. The TV special tells the story of his last years and his affair with Linda Thompson.

February 24, 1981 Peter Noone (of Herman's Hermits) and Stephen Bishop guest star on the Laverne & Shirley episode "I Do, I Do."

February 7, 1981 ABC begins airing the first installment of the mini-series Elvis and Me, based on ex-wife Priscilla Presley's book of the same name.

January 16, 1981 The TV series Harper Valley P.T.A., inspired by the Jeannie C. Riley song and the 1978 movie of the same name, debuts on NBC. Barbara Eden, who played scandalous single mom Stella Johnson in the movie, reprises her role. The show lasts two seasons.

December 12, 1980 Marie Osmond's solo variety series, Marie, premieres on NBC.

May 17, 1980 Weeks after being detained in Tokyo on drug charges, Paul and Linda McCartney appear as musical guests on Saturday Night Live.