Category: Milestones

Milestones: Siouxsie and the Banshees play 1st concert 35 years ago today (audio)

Milestones: Siouxsie and the Banshees play 1st concert 35 years ago today (audio)

Thirty-five years ago today, a nascent Siouxsie and the Banshees — with co-founders Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin joined by Sid Vicious on drums — played their first concert at the famed 100 Club Punk Special, opening for The Clash and the Sex Pistols. Hear it here.

Milestones: Nirvana films 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' music video 20 years ago today

Milestones: Nirvana films ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ music video 20 years ago today

Twenty years ago today, first-time director Samuel Bayer gathered several dozen fans and three young musicians on a Culver City, Calif., soundstage to film the video for Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ a soon-to-be iconic clip — the infamous high school pep rally from hell — that ultimately would be as era-defining as the song itself.

Milestones: MTV debuts 30 years ago today; watch first full hour of music videos

Milestones: MTV debuts 30 years ago today; watch first full hour of music videos

This is a little more mainstream than what we usually cover, but it’s hard to deny the significance: Thirty years ago today, on Aug. 1, 1981, MTV went on the air (‘Ladies and gentlemen, rock ‘n’ roll…’), changing the course of music in the ’80s and beyond.

Milestones: Daniel Ash is 54 today; watch Love and Rockets' '120 Minutes' promo

Milestones: Daniel Ash is 54 today; watch Love and Rockets’ ‘120 Minutes’ promo

Daniel Ash — he of ’80s darkwave trifecta Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets — turns 54 today, and to mark the occasion, we present this little nugget: It’s a promo for MTV’s ‘120 Minutes’ featuring a cue-card reading Ash and his Love and Rockets bandmates David J and Kevin Haskins that aired sometime around 1986.

Milestones: Lollapalooza debuted 20 years ago today; watch MTV '120 Minutes' coverage

Milestones: Lollapalooza debuted 20 years ago today; watch MTV ‘120 Minutes’ coverage

Twenty years ago today, the Perry Farrell-spawned Lollapalooza festival — which, in retrospect, joins Nevermind as perhaps the best historical encapsulation of ‘the year punk broke’ — made its debut in the sun-baked Arizona desert with performances by Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Jane’s Addiction.

Milestones: Peter Murphy is 54 today; watch Bauhaus' 1984 film 'Shadow of Light'

Milestones: Peter Murphy is 54 today; watch Bauhaus’ 1984 film ‘Shadow of Light’

Today we commemorate the birthday of Peter Murphy — he’s 54 — by turning the clock back to the Bauhaus era and presenting “Shadow of Light,” a 40-minute film released on VHS in 1984 that includes live performances mixed in with music videos.

Milestones: Neil Tennant is 57 today; watch Pet Shop Boys' 'Highlights' concert film

Milestones: Neil Tennant is 57 today; watch Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Highlights’ concert film

Today marks the birthday of Neil Tennant — he’s 57 — and we celebrate by presenting the Pet Shop Boys’ earliest concert film, ‘Highlights.’ Released on VHS in 1990, this short film — which has yet to be released on DVD — features eight songs performed at London’s Wembley Arena in July 1989 during the duo’s MCMLXXXIX Tour.