Historic events this week from Bruce Springsteen, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Dire Straits and more
AUGUST 25, 1975: BRUCE RELEASES BORN TO RUN
Bruce Springsteen‘s breakthrough album, Born to Run, peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200. The title track is far and away Springsteen’s most played song in concert.
With 6 million sold in the US, Born to Run remains his 2nd biggest album behind the massively successful Born In the U.S.A. (20M in sales worldwide).
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AUGUST 27, 1990: STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN DIES
Stevie Ray Vaughan boarded a helicopter after an Alpine Valley show of classic songs including “Tightrope”, “Pride and Joy” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”. Limited visibility, due to fog, resulted in the helicopter crashing shortly after takeoff. He was 35.
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AUGUST 29, 1966: THE BEATLES’ FINAL PAID PERFORMANCE
The Beatles performed their last paid ($5.50/ticket) concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. They played 11 songs in 30 minutes.
Among the songs played were “Paperback Writer”, “Yesterday”, “Nowhere Man” and “Day Tripper”.
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AUGUST 30, 1992: NIRVANA HEADLINES READING
Nirvana headlined Reading Festival in front of 50,000 fans. The legendary performance would be widely bootlegged until its eventual release on CD/DVD 17 years later.
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AUGUST 31, 1973: GOATS HEAD SOUP
The Rolling Stones‘ Goats Head Soup continued their streak of US #1 albums by spending 4 weeks at the top.
The album’s biggest single, “Angie”, would spend a week at #1 in October. The single would go on to sell a million copies alone. With 3 million sold in the US, Goats Head Soup was their biggest selling album until Some Girls in 1978.
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AUGUST 31, 1985: DIRE STRAITS’ BROTHERS IN ARMS IS #1
Dire Straits‘ penultimate studio album, Brothers in Arms, spent nine weeks at #1.
Brothers in Arms has sold 30 million copies worldwide thanks to strong singles like “So Far Away”, Walk of Life” and the Grammy-winning #1 hit “Money for Nothing.”
