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This Week in the 80s – April 4-10

So, what was going on 40 years ago (-ish)?   Time for another look back into the past…

April 4 – (1983) US Interior Secretary James G. Watt causes controversy when he effectively bans the Beach Boys from a return performance at the Fourth of July festivities in Washington, announcing that Wayne Newton would perform instead. Watt claims that rock bands attract “the wrong element”. That same week President Reagan, himself an avowed Beach Boys fan, presents Watt with a plaster foot with a hole in it.

April 6 -(1990) Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee suffers a mild concussion after falling off of scaffolding above his elevated drum kit during a performance in New Haven, Connecticut.

April 7 – (1978) Prince debuts with album For You. It was released by Warner Bros. Records. All tracks were produced, arranged, composed, and performed by Prince.

Price released his debut album, “For You”, on April 7, 1978.

(1979) 110,000 people attend the California Music Festival at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Performers include Aerosmith, The Boomtown Rats, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent and Van Halen.

Ticket stub from the 1979 California World Music Festival. $25 for two days of rock from the likes of Aerosmith, Van Halen, and The Boomtown Rats. Unfortunately, Toto played BOTH days

(1985) Wham! becomes the first Western pop group to perform in China when they play a concert in Beijing’s Workers Stadium during an historic 10-day visit.

April 9 – (1989) The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman announces that he will marry 19-year-old Mandy Smith, his girlfriend for six years.  Don’t do the math.

April 10 – (1985) Madonna begins her very first tour, The Virgin Tour (named after her Like a Virgin album) in Seattle, Washington.

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