Historic events this week from Guns N’ Roses, The Police, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Eagles, Stevie Nicks and Bryan Adams
JULY 21, 1987
Guns N’ Roses released their debut LP, Appetite for Destruction, and it did very well, boasting three top 10 singles:
“Welcome to the Jungle”, “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”
Major albums by Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and George Michael, as well as the Dirty Dancing soundtrack kept Appetite for Destruction from going to #1 for over a year. The debut album has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
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JULY 23, 1983
Synchronicity, the final album from The Police, went to #1 a week after its release.
Thanks to “King of Pain”, “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and the massive “Every Breath You Take”, Synchronicity spent 17 non-consecutive weeks at #1, on its way to 8 million copies sold in the US.
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JULY 23, 1977
After swapping places with the Eagles and Barry Manilow a few times, Fleetwood Mac were back at #1. Rumours would spend 31 non-consecutive weeks at the top. The longest stretch at #1 was an astonishing 19-straight weeks from July 23-November 26, 1977.
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JULY 25, 1968
The Rolling Stones‘ Beggars Banquet was delayed for months after their label rejected an album cover featuring a graffiti riddled bathroom wall with a visible toilet and toilet roll.
Beggars Banquet was released with a plain cover, resembling an invitation. Subsequent reissues of the album have used the “offending” cover.
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JULY 25, 1980
Five months after the death of Bon Scott, AC/DC had a new album with Brian Johnson on lead vocals.
Back in Black has sold over 18 million copies in the US thanks to songs like “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution”, “You Shook Me All Night Long”, and “Hells Bells”.
With 50 million sold worldwide, Back In Black remains #2 bestselling album of all time, behind Michael Jackson‘s Thriller.
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JULY 26, 1975
The Eagles‘ fourth studio album, One of These Nights, was their first #1 on the Billboard charts. The album would remain at #1 for five straight weeks.
“Lyin’ Eyes” earned the band their first Grammy, winning for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
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JULY 27, 1981
Stevie Nicks‘ solo debut, Bella Donna, is her biggest album outside of Fleetwood Mac.
The 4 million selling album would spend a week at #1 and contained the hits “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and “Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)”.
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JULY 27, 1991
Bryan Adams had his second US #1 hit (after “Heaven”) with the release of “(Everything I Do) I Do it for You”.
The massive hit appeared on the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack, as well as Adams’ sixth studio album, Waking Up the Neighbours. The single made Bryan Adams a Grammy winner and an Oscar nominee.
