Dear Reader,
Welcome to our new series, Today in Music History! Starting today, March 24, we will be going through some of the most important events in music history that occurred on this calendar date. These can be anything from album releases, births, deaths, really anything that’s important to the industry. So without further ado, here is our first edition.
1960: German singer-songwriter Nena is born
You probably know the subject of our first entry from her unforgettable 1984 hit “99 Luftballons“, the only hit that she (and her band of the same name) has in the United States. But in their native country of Germany, the band was far more successful, racking up three albums in the top five of the country’s album chart throughout the 1980s. And Nena would go on to have a successful career on her own much later, with seven of her solo albums reaching the top 10 in her own country, the most recent being released in 2020. She’s had an incredible impact on music, both at home and abroad, and we at BTS wish her a happy birthday!
1962: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform their first paid gig
You probably know these two legendary musicians from their work in The Rolling Stones, a band that needs no introduction, if we could even provide one. But that band was not their first. Before that was Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys, a project so short-lived that it is not even mentioned on the Stones’ Wikipedia page.
That is not to say that it is not notable, however, as it was the name under which two of the Stones’ members performed together for the first time and got paid for it. So while this performance would not bear fruit for Little Boy Blue and The Blue Boys, it was an important step on the road to creating one of the most important bands in music history.
1992: Arrested Development releases “3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the life of…”
Arrested Development are not the most well-remembered group today, largely due to a second album that frustrated fans and as a result, sold extremely poorly. But for a few years in the early to mid-1990s, they were one of the most important names in hip-hop, winning two Grammys in 1992, including Best New Artist. That was largely due to this album, which sold six million copies worldwide. This album serves mostly as a fascinating look into a career that could’ve been, a group that could’ve been one of hip-hop’s biggest for decades, but couldn’t quite make it.
Nena Photo Credit: Stefan Brending
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