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May 1978 | ||||||
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2 The Bee Gees receive their second platinum single awarded in less than two months, for "Night Fever," which was preceded by "Stayin' Alive." Both are from the bestselling soundtrack Saturday Night Fever. |
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4 Jefferson Starship receive a platinum record for Earth, what will be their last LP with Grace Slick and Marty Balin. Just a few weeks later, both will be gone, and leader Paul Kantner will be forced to revamp the entire band, eventually taking on singer Mickey Thomas and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. |
5 In a converted gas station at the corner of St. Paul and College Streets in Burlington, Vermont, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream begins dishing it out. Scraping up $12,000, longtime pals Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield begin making their rich, dense ice cream with quirky names like Chunky Monkey and Dastardly Mash, later paying tribute to Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia with Cherry Garcia. The original store goes under in 1982, but by then Ben & Jerry's is already a profitable force for social change and environmental responsibility. |
6 At a joint news conference at United Nations headquarters in New York City with TV talk-show host David Frost and RSO Records chief Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees announce the launching of a unique concept: Music for UNICEF benefit concerts by major rock and pop music stars. |
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7 The 90,000 tickets on sale for Bob Dylan's upcoming concerts at London's Wembley Empire Pool sell out in less than eight hours. After Rolling Stone magazine takes especial pleasure in mentioning, several times, that the Eagles had lost a softball game to a team led by rock impresario Bill Graham, the band challenges the scribes to a game. If the Eagles lose, they'll grant an interview. Intensely competitive publisher Jann Wenner puts his team through several weeks of rigorous practices, but to no avail: today the Eagles beat the "Stones" at USC. For the rock rag, it's gonna be a heartache tonight, but no interview. |
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9 Lead singer Fee Waybill of the Tubes falls off the stage during a concert in England and breaks his leg. The corpse of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is found in the trunk of a Renault 4 in Via Caetani, in the historic centre of Rome, after 55 days of imprisonment. After being kidnapped by a group of Red Brigades terrorists on March 16, Moro was submitted to a political process and the Italian government was asked for an exchange of prisoners. Later a plaque will be erected in the location where his body was found commemorating the Christian Democratic statesman. |
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13 The Top Five 1. "If I Can't Have You" - Yvonne Elliman 2. "The Closer I Get to You" - Roberta Flack 3. "With a Little Luck" - Wings 4. "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" - Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams 5. "Night Fever" - Bee Gees |
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14 Bianca Jagger files for divorce from Mick. |
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17 Lou Reed begins a week-long series of concerts at the Bottom Line club in New York City, portions of which are recorded for his forthcoming live album, Take No Prisoners. The highlight of the album is an extended verbal rap in which Reed castigates rock critics like Robert Cristgau of the Village Voice and John Rockwell of the New York Times. Thank God It's Friday, the cinematic celebration of disco that is Casablanca Records chief Neil Bogart's response to Saturday Night Fever, premieres in Los Angeles. Directed by Robert Klane and set in a "typical" Hollywood disco on a "typical" Friday night, the film stars Donna Summer as a singer looking for her big break, and introduces her hit song "The Last Dance," which goes on to top the pop chart and wins the 1978 Academy Award for Best Song. The film also stars Paul Jabra and the Commodores, and its soundtrack features Diana Ross, the Village People and others. Despite all this, the film will be a resounding flop. |
18 The Buddy Holly Story, a film directed by Steve Rash and starring Gary Busey as Holly, has its world premiere in Dallas, Texas. The film will be a critical and commercial success, with Busey -- who sings such Holly classics as "That'll Be the Day," "Maybe Baby," "Peggy Sue," "Rave On" and "It's So Easy" -- being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Midnight Express, a film based on American tourist Billy Hayes's book about his hellish five year stay in a Turkish prison for drug smuggling and his eventual escape, is shown to an audience of world press at the Cannes Film Festival. Forty-three days later the United States and Turkey will enter into formal negotiations for the exchange of prisoners. |
19 Italy passes a new abortion law allowing doctors to refuse the procedure that angers feminists, however it is not expected to reduce illegal abortions significantly. |
20 The Top Five 1. "With a Little Luck" - Wings 2. "The Closer I Get to You" - Roberta Flack 3. "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" - Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams 4. "You're the One That I Want" - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John 5. "If I Can't Have You" - Yvonne Elliman |
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24 Heavy metal is dead and buried -- or so they say. In blacklit basements everywhere, though, copies of Black Sabbath's Paranoid are still spun at wall-shattering volume. Van Halen, a young bar band-cum- heavy-rock group from Pasadena, score their first time out with Van Halen. But the band differs from early Seventies hard-rock groups; its songs offer a surprising degree of melody, topped with Hollies-like harmonies. And then there's Eddie Van Halen, whom lead vocalist David Lee Roth calls "the first guitar hero of the Eighties." Many agree. The album goes gold on this date. |
25 The Who perform a second "secret" concert in London to be filmed for their documentary movie on the band's career, The Kids Are Alright. This is Keith Moon's last performance with the band before his death. |
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30 Swan Song Records announces that Led Zeppelin have entered a recording studio for the first time since the death of Robert Plant's son in July 1977. The sessions will result in the band's final album, 1979's In through the Out Door. |
31 One of the biggest disco hits of the year belongs to the Trammps: "Disco Inferno" (#11). Their Disco Inferno LP does just as well, turning gold on this date. |
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