The Who released two studio albums with Jones as drummer, Face Dances (1981)
The group opened and closed the 1981 concert film, Urgh! A Music War . The film, which captured the music scene in the wake of punk , was masterminded by Stewart Copeland’s brothers Ian and Miles. The film had a limited release but developed a mythic reputation over the years.
The band was formed as Still Life in 1981 in Jamestown, New York , by Dennis Drew (keyboards), Steven Gustafson (bass), Chet Cardinale (drums), Robert Buck (guitar), and Buck’s ex-wife Terri Newhouse (vocals). Gustafson invited Natalie Merchant , who was 17 at the time, to do some vocals. John Lombardo…
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At the 1981 American Music Awards in January, “Another One Bites the Dust” won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single, and Queen were nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo, or Group.
During the 1981 accompanying tour, Siouxsie and Budgie secretly became a couple. At the same time, they debuted a drum-and-voice duo the Creatures , releasing their first EP , Wild Things .
In early 1981, the group reconvened and decided to tour the US that year, leaving little time to write and record a new album, as well as to rehearse for the tour. That year’s resulting album, Tattoo You , featured a number of outtakes from earlier recording sessions, including lead…
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For Juju (1981), the band took a different approach and practised the songs in concert first before recording them. Juju , according to Severin, became an unintentional concept album that “drew on darker elements”. Sounds hailed it as “intriguing, intense, brooding and powerfully atmospheric”. The album later peaked at number…
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Their 1981 American Tour was their biggest, longest, and most colourful production to date. It was the highest-grossing tour of that year. It included a concert at Chicago’s Checkerboard Lounge with Muddy Waters, in one of his last performances before his death in 1983. Some of the shows were recorded.
In 1981, the band collaborated with Talking Heads ‘ David Byrne to produce a third full-length studio album. Reportedly due to differences with Byrne over the album’s musical direction, recording sessions for the album were aborted, prompting the band to release Mesopotamia in 1982 as an EP . (In 1991,…
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In the summer of 1981, Gustavo Cerati and Hector Zeta Bosio, then 22 and 23 respectively, met at Punta del Este , Uruguay , both studying majors and both part of rock bands, Cerati with his group Sauvage and Bosio with the Morgan. Cerati and Bosio, each drawn by the…
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