August 1, 1981: MTV Goes On the Air

August 1, 1981: MTV, standing for "Music Television," goes on the air. The world would never be the same -- and not in a good way. The 1st video was the appropriately, if not quite correctly, titled 1979 hit by The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star."

The Buggles: Geoff Downes (left) and Trevor Horn

Trevor Horn, from County Durham in England's North-East, produced the song, and sang lead and played bass guitar. He has been called "The Man Who Invented the Eighties." Geoff Downes, from Stockport in Greater Manchester, played keyboards. He had previously been in the band Yes, and would soon be in the band Asia with Yes bandmate Steve Howe.

Dave Birch, from somewhere in England, played lead guitar. Paul Robinson, from Rotherham, Yorkshire, played drums. Debi Doss, an American from St. Louis, and Linda Jardim, from somewhere in England, sang the unforgettable chorus. Jardim died in 2015. As of August 1, 2022, the rest are still alive.

There were music videos before MTV debuted. Sometimes, they were called "promotional films," and The Beatles seemed to specialize in them. Before that, in the 1940s, they were called "soundies," and would be shown with movie theaters' newsreels or in jukeboxes containing small film projectors.

But MTV, whether knowingly or not, promoted Marshall McLuhan's idea that "The medium is the message." Suddenly, the visual meant more than anything else. Never mind whether the lyrics, the voices, or the playing of the instruments sounded good: Did the performance look good? (Most of the time, my answer was, "Not to me, but it sure did to a bunch of people with no taste.")

The original commercial showed various performers telling America to demand its MTV, by yelling, "I want my MTV!" (Shades of the 1976 film Network, and, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!") They included The Police, Pat Benatar, and Pete Townshend of The Who, all of them talented enough to know better, but they took the money, anyway.

By 1983, the performers doing the commercials were adding the tagline, "Too much is never enough." These included people who should have known better, including Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones (who, clearly, believed it) and David Bowie.

Oddly, some already-established performers -- including Bowie, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen -- didn't need videos to become famous and respected, yet ended up making great videos. Even the sappiest of disco performers didn't need videos: They just needed to go on American Bandstand, The Midnight Special, Soul Train or Dance Fever, and do their stuff.

Disco sucked, and polluted the airwaves in the Seventies, but it was better than the synthesizer-driven, wouldn't-be-on-the-radio-if-not-for-MTV crap of the Eighties. Duran Duran was crap, but teenage girls loved the way they looked, and so they became huge.

If you'd never heard of these guys, and had to guess

how they sounded, your guess might well be, 

"Like a bunch of twats." And you would be right.

If Bruce Springsteen looked like Jon Bon Jovi, he would have been as big as Elvis Presley; if Bon Jovi looked like Springsteen, we'd have never heard of him. The distance between them is a lot more than the 14 miles of U.S. Route 9 between Springsteen's Freehold and Bon Jovi's Sayreville.

Or, to put it another way: Susan Boyle is 3 years younger than Madonna. If Susan looked like Madonna, she might have become famous at the same time; but if Madonna looked like Susan, she would never have become famous.

Think about it. Doris Day had a hit record in 1942, when she was 20. Teresa Brewer had a hit record in 1950, at 19. Connie Francis had a hit record in 1958, at 19. Lesley Gore had a hit record in 1963, at 16. All of these women, at those respective times, were attractive, but they didn't need to play off that, because they had talent.

Madonna's 1st hit came in 1982, when she was 24. Why not sooner? Was it because she was not attractive enough? No, it was because MTV allowed her to overcome her comparatively lower level of singing and writing talent.

She could stare, she could dance, she could writhe.

But she couldn't sing or write a song worth a damn.

But it was the Eighties, so no one cared.

At first, it seemed like MTV wouldn't play videos by black performers. Then came Jackson's album Thriller, and it was off to the races.

In 1984, they began issuing the MTV Video Music Awards, or VMAs, with the "Moon Man" trophy that evoked their original commercials that seemed to pay tribute to Neil Armstrong -- certainly not to Louis Armstrong.

But by the dawn of the 21st Century, MTV began airing, for want of a better choice of words, original programming. This included The Osbournes, with Ozzy, Sharon, and their kids Kelly and Jack. (Their older daughter Aimee, and Ozzy's children from his 1st marriage, declined to participate.) While it never happened, probably because Kelly and Jack would have known, they could easily have staged a scene in which Kelly or Jack asked Ozzy, "Dad, what does 'MTV' stand for?" The answer, of course, is "Money."

One more note: I mentioned the film Network. Paddy Chayefsky, who wrote that film's screenplay, and also the author of the novels that became the films Marty and Altered States, died of cancer, only 58 years old -- on August 1, 1981, the day that MTV debuted. What a twist of fate that was!

*

August 1, 1981 was a Saturday. The NFL wouldn't start its preseason games for another 4 days. The new NBA and NHL seasons were way off. And baseball was still in its strike. So there were no scores on this dubiously historic day.

June 25, 2009: Michael Jackson Dies

June 25, 2009: Michael Jackson dies of a drug overdose, at a mansion he'd rented in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. "The King of Pop" was 50 years old, and had been preparing for a new tour.

He became a child star with his brothers in The Jackson 5 in 1969, and had been a solo superstar since the release of his album Off the Wall in 1979. Thriller was released in 1982, and in 1983 and 1984, he was the biggest star in the world, as big as Elvis Presley was in 1956, and as big as The Beatles were in 1964.

But, like so many big stars before and after, he couldn't handle it. Prescription drug use and the desire to maintain his youthful appearance through plastic surgery took their toll. Odd details from his personal life reached the public, and while he still maintained an obsessive core of near-worshipful support, he had been tagged "Wacko Jacko." Investigations of child abuse put a cloud over him, which persisted even after an acquittal in court.

Michael Jackson was one of a few celebrities to reach the absolute heights of fame. But he fell as hard as anyone ever has, and he couldn't get up.

At the depth of his reputation, during his 2005 trial, I began to think that, sooner or later, he would fake his death, or perhaps just willingly "disappear," to get away from it all. I wish he had: He might have lived longer. He seemed not to have found peace in life. I hope he's found it in death.

Somehow, Michael Jackson was outlived by Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, Lou Reed and Keith Richards, all of whom were older, and seemed to have abused themselves more with booze and/or drugs.

Joe Jackson, the siblings' abusive father and manager, died in 2018. As of June 25, 2022, the remaining siblings and their mother, Katherine Jackson, are still alive.

UPDATE: Toriano "Tito" Jackson died in 2024.

*

June 25, 2009 was a Thursday. Actress Farrah Fawcett died earlier in the day, but Jackson's death was announced 3 hours after hers, so she didn't get the attention she deserved. And this was also the day of the revelation of the sex scandal of Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who had explained his multi-day disappearance with his ridiculous excuse that he was away "hiking on the Old Appalachian Trail." I have a separate entry for that event.

This was the off-season for the NFL. The NBA season had wrapped up a few days earlier, with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Orlando Magic for the title. The NHL season had also recently concluded, as the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, reversing the result of the previous year's Finals by beating the Detroit Red Wings.

There were 13 Major League Baseball games played: 

* The New York Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-7 at Turner Field in Atlanta. Alex Rodriguez, in the middle of a big hot streak, hit a home run, to help Alfredo Aceves be the winning pitcher in relief of Andy Pettitte, who did not have good stuff.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at the new Citi Field in Queens.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-3 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-5 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-3 at what's now called Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5 in 13 innings at U.S. Cellular (now Rate) Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-8 in 12 innings at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 9-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

* The Colorado Rockies, the Los Angeles Angels, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants were not scheduled for that day. 

June 25, 2009: The Mark Sanford Scandal

June 25, 2009: Mark Sanford resigns as Governor of South Carolina, over a sex scandal. Except, this time, it wasn't really about the sex. It was about dereliction of duty.

He grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and went to high school in Beaufort on the South Carolina coast between Charleston and Savannah. He got degrees from South Carolina's Furman University and the University of Virginia, reached the rank of Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, and founded a real estate firm. He married Jennifer Sullivan, an investment banker, and they had 4 sons.

In 1994, he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from a Charleston-based district, finishing 2nd in the Republican Primary, and then winning the runoff. Re-elected in 1996 and 1998, he was a part of Speaker Newt Gingrich's conservative "revolution." He had promised to be a "citizen legislator," and to serve no more than 3 terms, and kept that promise, refusing to run again in 2000.

The libertarian Cato Institute ranked him as the most fiscally conservative member of Congress. The National Taxpayers Union and the American Conservative Union gave him some of their highest ratings. But he angered some people by voting against some overwhelmingly popular items, including improvements for Charleston's U.S. Navy base, and a bill to preserve sites linked to the Underground Railroad -- thus reminding us that he was a white politician from South Carolina, the 1st State to secede from the Union in the run-up to the Civil War.

In 2002, he was elected Governor. Despite a contentious relationship with the State legislature, he was re-elected in 2006, because, well, he was a white conservative Republican in South Carolina. Except, on Election Day, he went to vote in the wrong place: His driver's license listed his residence as the State capital of Columbia, and he was actually living in the Governor's Mansion; but his official voter registration had him living elsewhere, and he had to go there to vote. He didn't actually break the law, he just made a mistake, and told the State media, "I hope everybody else out there is as determined to vote as I was today."

For a while, that mistake was what he was best known for. He should have remained so lucky.

From June 18 until June 24, 2009, the whereabouts of Sanford were unknown to the public, his wife, and the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for the Governor. The mystery surrounding Sanford's whereabouts garnered nationwide news coverage. Lieutenant Governor André Bauer announced that he could not "take lightly" that Sanford's staff had not communicated with him "for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts."

Before his disappearance, Sanford told his staff that he would be "hiking on the Old Appalachian Trail." While he was gone, he did not answer 15 cell phone calls from his chief of staff. He also failed to call his family on Father's Day.

On the MSNBC show Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Olbermann addressed the absurdity of the hiking excuse: "Had this better be the truth? Because, if this is a cover story, my God, what did he actually do?"

On June 24, Sanford arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Gina Smith, a reporter for The State, the Columbia-based largest newspaper in South Carolina, was there on a hunch, and intercepted him. She began digging. So did other reporters. Sanford knew the game was up, and he had to come clean.

In 2001, he had met María Belén Chapur, at a dance in Uruguay. In 2008, he began an affair with her. Jenny had known about his previous infidelities, but he had told her, and now told the media, that Chapur was "my soul mate." He and Jenny had been to marriage counseling, and she had asked for a trial separation about 2 weeks before his disappearance.

South Carolina to Argentina is some separation. Apparently, good old American mistresses were no longer good enough for Sanford.

And then, just when it looked like the whole world was laughing at Mark Sanford, he caught a break. Actress Farrah Fawcett died of cancer. And, within 3 hours of that announcement, Michael Jackson died. (I have a separate entry for that event.) Suddenly, everyone stopped paying attention to Sanford. It was like the whole sordid, ridiculous thing never even happened.

The State legislature threatened him with impeachment and removal if he did not resign. Knowing that he was term-limited, and couldn't run again in 2010, anyway, Sanford refused to resign, and hand the Governorship over to Bauer, who was even further to the right than he was. The legislature dropped the impeachment inquiry, deciding on the lesser punishment of censure.

In 2010, Bauer embraced his inner white South Carolinian, and made racist remarks. He lost the Republican Primary to Sanford's handpicked successor, State Representative Nikki Haley, who was elected Governor in November. (As far as is known, the relationship between Sanford and Haley was strictly political.)

Also in 2010, the Sanfords divorced. Sanford and Chapur became engaged in 2012, but the engagement was broken in 2014. Jenny Sanford married again in 2018. Mark has never remarried.

In 2012, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina resigned. Governor Haley appointed Representative Tim Scott to his seat. That opened up Scott's House seat. Sanford ran for it, and, less than 4 years after his scandal, was elected with 54 percent of the vote -- against a woman, no less: Elizabeth Colbert Busch, an economist, and the sister of politically-themed comedian Stephen Colbert.

South Carolina. Where you can abandon your job, your wife, and your country to go be with your mistress, and still win an election.

South Carolina. Where it's better to lie about being a Christian, but tell the truth about being a Republican, than to tell the truth about being a Christian and a Democrat.

Oh well, at least you can't propose an anti-gay rights bill because you want to "preserve the institution of marriage," and then get caught violating your marriage vows with a prostitute, and still claim to be following the teachings of a God of brotherly love, and get re-elected. Nope, you can't do that in South Carolina.

To do that, you have to be in Louisiana. Ask Senator David Vitter.

Apparently, another thing you can't do in South Carolina is oppose Donald Trump. In a February 2017 interview, Sanford said that Trump "at some level... represents the antithesis, or the undoing, of everything I thought I knew about politics, preparation and life."

And yet, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight, only 4 Republican House members voted less frequently with Trump than Sanford. After getting attacked by Trump, Sanford ran 2018 re-election campaign ads saying he'd voted with Trump 89 percent of the time. It wasn't enough: He lost the Republican Primary.

On September 8, 2019, Sanford announced he would challenge Trump in the Republican Primaries for President. On November 12, he suspended his campaign.

*

June 25, 2009 was a Thursday. This was the off-season for the NFL. The NBA season had wrapped up a few days earlier, with the Los Angeles Lakers beating the Orlando Magic for the title. The NHL season had also recently concluded, as the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup, reversing the result of the previous year's Finals by beating the Detroit Red Wings.

There were 13 Major League Baseball games played: 

* The New York Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-7 at Turner Field in Atlanta. Alex Rodriguez, in the middle of a big hot streak, hit a home run, to help Alfredo Aceves be the winning pitcher in relief of Andy Pettitte, who did not have good stuff.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at the new Citi Field in Queens.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-3 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-5 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-4 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 11-3 at what's now called Hard Rock Stadium in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-5 in 13 innings at U.S. Cellular (now Rate) Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-4 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-4 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-8 in 12 innings at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres, 9-3 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

* The Colorado Rockies, the Los Angeles Angels, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants were not scheduled for that day.

May 26, 1994: Michael Jackson Marries Lisa Marie Presley

May 26, 1994: Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley. He was 36, and she was 26 -- so, whatever was weird about it, the age difference wasn't especially weird.

Lisa Marie's parents, Elvis and Priscilla, had tried to give her a normal childhood, despite their divorce and Elvis' death when she was 9 years old, but also despite the enormous fortune that Lisa Marie had built after severing Colonel Tom Parker from Elvis' legacy.

Michael's parents, Joe and Katharine, made no such effort. And Joe would have stopped Katharine had she tried. Joe was determined to make his children superstars, especially Michael, the most talented one, as a money machine for him. It's bad enough when Colonel Parker takes over for your father, but when your father is a "Colonel Parker"...

Michael had turned to Lisa Marie for comfort during the first set of accusations against him. She thought she could help him control his drug use. She couldn't. The marriage lasted less than two years.

Some men are obsessed with Elvis Presley. Two men were obsessed enough to marry Lisa Marie: Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage.

In 1996, shortly after the divorce was final, Michael Jackson married Debbie Rowe. Together, they had 3 children: A daughter named Paris, and sons named Michael Jr. and Prince Michael. Michael Jackson died from drugs on June 25, 2009. He was 50 years old.

In addition to Michael and Nic Cage, Lisa Marie was married to Danny Keough first, and Michael Lockwood last. She had 4 children: Model-actress Riley and musician Ben with Keough, and twin daughters Finley and Harper with Lockwood.

UPDATE: Lisa Marie Presley died on January 12, 2023, from complications from a recent surgery. She was 54.

*

May 26, 1994 was a Thursday. There was 1 game in the NBA Playoffs, and it was Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals: The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 89-78 at Madison Square Garden.

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Vancouver Canucks were awaiting the winner of the Eastern Conference Final's Game 7 between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils.

And these 7 games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-10 at Three Rivers Stadium. Former Detroit Tigers star Lance Parrish singled Kevin Young home with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Parrish had homered earlier. Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson homered for the Mets.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 13-5 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 3-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies, 14-4 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Matt Willams hit a home run for the Giants. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

May 16, 1983: Michael Jackson Overshadows the Motown 25 Special

May 16, 1983: NBC airs the special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever – a year ahead of Motown Records' actual 25th Anniversary. It was taped before a live audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California, on March 25.

It was thought that the highlight might be the "Battle of the Bands" between the Temptations and the Four Tops, which led to a highly successful joint tour between them. Or it might be Smokey Robinson reuniting with his former group, The Miracles. Or it might be Marvin Gaye continuing his comeback, with a speech about the history of black music and a performance of his song "What's Going On."

Or it might be Diana Ross singing with The Supremes for the 1st time since 1969. She reunited with Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, who had replaced Florence Ballard in 1967. But the reunion was acrimonious.

 

But when Michael Jackson decided to sing his current single, the Number 1 song in the country at the time, it became one of those "Where Were You?" moments. I was at home in East Brunswick, and I didn't watch it.

Jackson had been a star since he and his brothers, as The Jackson Five, had their 1st Number 1 hit, "I Want You Back," in 1969. He had become a solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall. He'd released Thriller, including "Billie Jean," the preceding November 29, making him bigger than ever. But this performance lifted him up to another level, the way appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show did for Elvis Presley in 1956 and The Beatles in 1964.

"Billie Jean" had hit Number 1 on March 5, and lasted 7 weeks on top, including the day of the special's taping. It had been succeeded for 1 week by "Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners. That was succeeded, immediately the next week, by Jackson's next single, "Beat It," which had Eddie Van Halen on lead guitar, the 1st fusion of Motown and metal. "Beat It" was still Number 1 when the special aired.

When the Jackson Five were starting out, Michael said he wanted to wear a hat onstage, like his idol, the aforementioned Marvin Gaye. He was told no, because it was an "adult" thing to do. Apparently, women went crazy when Marvin took off his hat, and flung it offstage.

This time, as the opening notes to "Billie Jean" began, Michael put a hat on, and the girls screamed. He did some moves that no one had ever seen before, but became a standard part of his routine. Then he took the hat off, and flung it offstage. Then he started sliding backwards, which he called the "moonwalk."

He didn't invent it. Cab Calloway was seen using it on film in 1932. Suggesting it was already well-known back then, he said in 1985 that it was called "the buzz." Bill Bailey did it in the all-black 1943 film musical The Cabin in the Sky. In 1944, Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien did it in Meet Me in St. Louis. Around the same time, Marcel Marceau, the world's foremost mime, began doing something like it.

In 1958, Dick Van Dyke appeared on, of all things, The Pat Boone Show, and did a routine he called "Mailing a Letter on a Windy Corner," which included a move similar to the Moonwalk. And in 1969, just 4 months after Apollo 11 landed on the actual Moon, Judy the Frog taught a dance called "The Moonwalk" on the kids' show H.R. Pufnstuf.

During the special, Jackson wore a sequined glove on his left hand, but not on his right. In later appearances, he would wear one on his right, but not on his left. He later explained: "I felt that one glove was cool… Wearing two gloves seemed so ordinary."

A joke came out of this: "Did you hear the New York Mets signed Michael Jackson? Just what they need: Another guy who wears a glove on only one hand for no apparent reason." Actually, there had already been a Mike Jackson in the major leagues, pitching for 4 different teams from 1970 to 1973; and there would later be a Michael Jackson, pitching for 8 teams from 1986 to 2004, collecting 142 saves. But neither of them ever played for the Mets.

Before the special, Michael Jackson was as big as most stars ever get. After it, he was as big as the biggest stars ever got.

It would become a blessing... and, alternately, a curse.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, Michael Jackson was played as a boy by Bentley Green, and as an adult by "Nice" Peter Shukoff, against "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist as Elvis Presley.

*

May 16, 1983 was a Monday. The NBA was in the middle of its Conference Finals, but no games were played. The Philadelphia 76ers would beat the Milwaukee Bucks, the Los Angeles Lakers would beat the San Antonio Spurs, and then the Sixers would beat an injury-stricken Laker team in 4 straight to win the title.

The Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 3 and 4. The next night, the New York Islanders beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum in Hempstead, New York, to win their 4th straight Stanley Cup. One dynasty was not quite ready to give way to the next. The following season, it did: The Isles' "Drive For Five" was ended in the Finals by the Oilers of Wayne Gretzky.

And there were 5 games played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Ron Guidry pitched a 3-hit shutout, giving up only a double to Lou Whitaker, and singles to Lance Parrish and Chet Lemon. For the Yankees, Ken Griffey Sr. went 3-for-4 with a walk, and Dave Winfield went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Darryl Strawberry, on his way to being named National League Rookie of the Year, hit a home run.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. An error by catcher Ted Simmons, with former Yankee top prospect Mickey Klutts at the plate, allowed Barry Bonnell to score the winning run in the top of the 11th inning. Robin Yount went 1-for-5. Paul Molitor went 0-for-5, but did draw a walk.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-6 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The A's led 7-0 going into the bottom of the 9th, but the Twins nearly came all the way back: The inning began with back-to-back home runs by Dave Engle and Bobby Mitchell, followed by a walk, a strikeout, a groundout, a 2-run homer by Gary Gaetti, another walk, another 2-run homer by Mickey Hatcher, and a single, meaning the tying run was on base, before reliever Tom Burgmeier, replacing the melting-down Dave Beard, slammed the door. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

February 28, 1984: "Weird Al" Yankovic Wants You to "Eat It"

February 28, 1984: "Weird Al" Yankovic releases his album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D. It contains his best-known song, "Eat It."

Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born on October 23, 1959 in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California, and grows up in neighboring Lynwood. Known as "Weird Al" Yankovic (always billed with the nickname in quotation marks) rose to fame copying Michael Jackson, turning Jacko's songs "Beat It" into "Eat It" (which actually hit Number 12 in the Billboard Hot 100, an extraordinary feat for a parody) and "Bad" into "Fat."

Early on, he seemed to specialize in food, turning The Knack's "My Sharona" into "My Bologna," Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll" into "I Love Rocky Road," and Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," from the film Rocky III, into "The Rye or the Kaiser." Years later, he became a vegan, and people asked him how he can be a vegan and still sing songs about meat. He said, "The same way I can rationalize playing at a college even though I'm not a student anymore." In a 2011 interview, he said he was still a vegetarian, but not a strict vegan, because he likes cheese on pizza.

Since this was the founding era of MTV, he also had to copy the videos, matching the joke along the way, and he turned out to be every bit as good at it as the original performers. A personal favorite of mine is his copy of James Brown's "Living In America" from Rocky IV as "Living With a Hernia."

He could have remained a briefly popular novelty act, like Jewish comedians and parodists Mickey Katz (father of Joel Grey and grandfather of Jennifer Grey) in the mid-1950s, and Allan Sherman in the early 1960s; or a niche performer, like political comedian and parodist Mark Russell, who, given his age (born in 1932, and still alive, but retired in 2016), specialized in Tin Pan Alley and show tunes.

But a funny thing happened on the way to becoming irrelevant: He didn't. He kept copying the trends of the time, and since he was an admitted joke -- unlike, say, Milli Vanilli or Vanilla Ice -- people accepted it.

He got more famous than ever in 1996, when he turned Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" into "Amish Paradise," which had fun with the image of the Amish while still managing to show respect for them. He even had an actual Top 10 hit in 2006, when he turned Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Dirty" into "White and Nerdy."

With his 2014 album Mandatory Fun, he turned Robin Thicke's twisting of Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up," "Blurred Lines," into "Word Crimes," and it may be his best work: You don't even have to know Thicke's version to like it. (Lucky you.)

That same year, he played Isaac Newton against Nice Peter's Bill Nye on an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, proving that a 54-year-old Polish guy from the L.A. suburbs could flow with the best of them.

In 2022, he produced the film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. He was played by Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. But it was a parody of rock star biographies. It suggested that Michael Jackson did "Beat It," stealing "Eat It" from him. It suggested an affair with Madonna, played by Evan Rachel Wood. It suggested that his father initially opposed his music career, based on his own experience, having left the Amish to be a musician, leading to "Amish Paradise." Finally, it showed Madonna having him assassinated, then standing over his grave, before a zombie Al pulls her in with him. As with everything else, Al let everyone know that the movie was a joke.

*

February 28, 1984 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-96 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-92 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Chicago Bulls, 124-108 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 142-137 in double overtime at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. World B. Free scored 35 points.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 111-105 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena is now the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Joel Osteen's "megachurch." Lewis Lloyd of the Rockets scored 36 points.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 116-104 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio. Mike Mitchell scored 44 for the Spurs.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Utah Jazz, 113-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets, 140-137 in overtime at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Mickey Johnson of the Warriors scored 40 points.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Diego Clippers, 117-99 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils, metropolitan area rivals, played to a tie, 3-3 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 at the Colisée de Québec.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at the St. Louis Arena.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Los Angeles Knigs, 9-1 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

January 28, 1985: "We Are the World" Is Recorded

January 28, 1985: "We Are the World" is recorded in Los Angeles. It is the American response to the British recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and its fundraising for relief for the famine in the African nation of Ethiopia.

It was produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian. It was the idea of singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, after he'd heard the British single.

Officially, the name of the "performer" on the Columbia Records single release was "USA for Africa." The song was listed as having been written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, at Havenhurst, the Jackson family home in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino, California. One particular note is the changing of an original lyric: "There's a chance we're taking, we're taking our own lives." Jackson wasn't satisfied with that, and Jones suggested, "There's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives."

The first tracks for recording were laid down on January 22, 1985, at Lion Share Recording Studio in Los Angeles, owned by country superstar Kenny Rogers. The main session was on January 28, at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood.

A sign taped to the studio door read: "Check your ego at the door." Stevie Wonder greeted the musicians as they entered, and said that if the recording was not completed in one take, he and Ray Charles, two blind men, would drive everybody home. They began at 10:30 PM, Pacific Time (1:30 AM, January 29, Eastern Time). The singers were as follows:

* First verse: Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel.

* First chorus: Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

* Second verse: Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau.

* Second chorus: Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry of Journey, and Daryl Hall.

* Bridge: Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Carnes.

* Third, fourth and fifth choruses: Everybody, with Bob Dylan coming in for the second half on the fourth and fifth chorus.

* Sixth chorus: Ray Charles.

* Seventh chorus: Stevie and Bruce.

* Eighth chorus: Everybody... and so on.

* Backing vocalists, in alphabetical order: Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, Sheila E., Bob Geldof (it seemed natural to invite him, as the starter of it all), music producer Bill Gibson; Jackie, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Tito Jackson; Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, Daryl Hall's usual singing partner John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne; Anita, June and Ruth Pointer; Smokey Robinson; and, from Huey Lewis' band, The News, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Chris Hayes and Sean Hopper.

Louis Johnson of The Brothers Johnson played bass guitar. From the band Toto, David Paich and Steve Porcaro played synthesizers. In addition, keyboards were played by Omartian, John Barnes, Michael Boddicker, Ian Underwood from Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention; and Greg Phillinganes, who was then Michael Jackson's musical director, and had also worked with Stevie Wonder and Toto. John Robinson played drums, as he had previously for Jackson on the albums Off the Wall and Thriller, both with Quincy Jones producing. Brazilian musician Paulinho da Costa played percussion.

The session is as interesting for who didn't participate as for who did. There was no lead guitarist. Paul Simon was there, but not his former singing partner Art Garfunkel. Lindsay Buckingham was invited, but none of his former Fleetwood Mac bandmates were. No acts identified primarily with disco were involved.

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson had worked together many times, and, later in 1985, would form The Highwaymen with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson; however, despite their own previous (and later) charity work, neither Cash nor Kristofferson was involved on this occasion. Nor was any other act usually considered "country," including Dolly Parton.

Despite the heavy Motown Records presence, there were no members of the Temptations or the Four Tops; and, sadly, Marvin Gaye had been killed the year before. Bonnie Pointer had left The Pointer Sisters in 1977, and did not participate. Given Jackson's affinity for Elvis Presley, it has to be considered that, had Elvis lived, he would have been invited.

Aside from the courtesy to Geldof, it was all American acts, so there were no Canadian singers like Neil Young or Geddy Lee of Rush. Nor were Young's occasional singing partners David Crosby (American), Stephen Stills (Canadian) and Graham Nash (British), nor Nash's former girlfriend Joni Mitchell (Canadian).

Madonna, probably then too new a star, was not invited. Nor was any member of Van Halen, despite Eddie Van Halen having played on Jackson's "Beat It." Nor was any other act considered to be "heavy metal," or any act considered to be "punk" or "New Wave." Prince was invited, but the reason he didn't participate is disputed, from his ego getting in the way to his being miffed that Geldof had once called him "a creep."

Eddie Murphy was then the biggest comic actor in the world, and was close with both Michael and Stevie, but he turned it down because he was working on something else, and later said, "After I realized what it was, I felt like an idiot."

John Denver, whose charitable bona fides had long been established, asked to participate, and was turned down, because his style was considered too light for a "pop-rock anthem." He said, "It broke my heart not to be included."

It's often forgotten that there was an entire album, titled We Are the World, which Columbia released on April 1. Side One: "We Are the World"; "If Only for the Moment, Girl," by Perry; "Just a Little Closer," by The Pointer Sisters; "Trapped," Springsteen's cover of a Jimmy Cliff song; and "Tears Are Not Enough," by Northern Lights.

Side Two: "4 the Tears in Your Eyes," Prince; "Good for Nothing," Chicago, with lyrics by Richard Marx; "Total Control," Tina Turner; "A Little More Love," Kenny Rogers; and "Trouble in Paradise," by Huey Lewis.

"We Are the World" was released as a single on March 7, just 38 days after being recorded, and sold over 20 million copies, winning 4 Grammy Awards. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" sold 12 million. In spite of the fundraising of both songs, much of the money was converted not into food for the starving, but into guns and other amenities for the ruling party. In the end, Ethiopia, which had 40 million people before the famine started, lost 1.2 million people to death by starvation, and 400,000 people fled the country. The Communist regime collapsed in 1991, but the country has been in civil war on and off ever since.

Aretha Franklin, enjoying something of a comeback in 1985, was not involved in recording the song, although she led a performance of the song, along with Jackson, Jones, Ross and Rogers, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, as part of the ceremonies honoring the Inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993.

A&M Studios is now part of Jim Henson Studios. The building is still standing, at 1416 North La Brea Avenue, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Waylon Jennings died in 2002, Ray Charles in 2004, June Pointer in 2006, Michael Jackson in 2009, Louis Johnson in 2015, Al Jarreau in 2017, James Ingram in 2019, Kenny Rogers in 2020. As of January 28, 2022, the rest are still alive.

UPDATE: Anita Pointer died in 2022. Harry Belafonte and Tina Turner died in 2023. Tito Jackson and Quincy Jones died in 2024.

*

January 28, 1985 was a Monday. Jermaine Lamarr Cole, the rapper known as J. Cole, was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football season had ended 8 days earlier, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins in the Super Bowl. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 117-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Houston Rockets, 97-93 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena is now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 111-109 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Mark Aguirre scored 49 points for the Mavs.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat their arch-rivals, the Utah Jazz, 104-100 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And there was 1 game in the NHL: In "the Battle of Alberta," the Edmonton Oilers beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. The Flames led, 3-2, but Paul Coffey scored with 1:20 left in regulation, and Mike Krushelnyski scored with 2 seconds left.

January 27, 1984: Michael Jackson's Pepsi Commercial Goes Horribly Wrong

This photo is from an earlier take that night.

January 27, 1984: Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial with his brothers, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

The Jacksons were preparing for their Victory Tour, trying to strike while the iron was hot, and Michael's iron was hotter than any musical performer's had been since The Beatles in 1964. Tito played lead guitar, Jermaine played bass, and Randy, Marlon and Jackie played percussion instruments. David Williams and Gregg Wright also played guitars. Rory Kaplan, Pat Leonard and Jai Winding played keyboards. And Jonathan Moffett played drums.

To help build publicity for the Tour -- and to help sell Pepsi-Cola -- 2 Pepsi commercials were filmed. One was fairly innocent, with Alfonso Ribeiro, at age 12 already a Broadway star in The Tap Dance Kid, dressing like Michael in the "Billie Jean" moonwalking backwards while drinking from a can, and bumping into the real Michael, and then Alfonso and the Jacksons dance together.

The other was a simulated concert at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with pyrotechnics. But on the 6th take, a spark from the pyrotechnics landed on Michael's head, and his hair caught fire. As with President Ronald Reagan after he got shot, he was more badly hurt than anyone let on at the time.

He recovered, but it's been alleged that, to alleviate the pain, he began taking the drugs that drove him to bizarre behavior, and eventually killed him.

*

January 27, 1984 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Football season ended 5 days earlier, when the Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins, 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII at Tampa Stadium. No games were scheduled for the NBA. But there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Northlands Coliseum. It had been just 2 months earlier that the Oilers had beaten the Devils, 13-4, and Wayne Gretzky called the Devils "a real Mickey Mouse operation." 

* The Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Buffalo Sabres played to a 2-2 tie at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 10-8 at the St. Louis Arena. For the Stars, Dino Ciccarelli had 3 goals and 3 assists, while Gordie Roberts had 4 assists.

* The Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames played to a 2-2 tie at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.