It’s October 29th, and these are some of the things that happened on this day in pop music history:
- In 2012, Imagine Dragons released “Radioactive” as the lead single from their debut album Night Visions. Eight months earlier, the song was released on the the band’s EP Continued Silence. “Radioactive” peaked at No. 5 in Canada and went on to win a Grammy Award.
- In 1995, Ottawa’s Paul Anka – Canada’s first pop star – played himself on an episode of The Simpsons titled Treehouse of Horror VI. He and Lisa Simpson sang “Just Don’t Look,” a song about advertising mascots terrorizing Springfield.
- In 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood released their debut album, Welcome To The Pleasuredome, which featured hits like “Two Tribes,” “Relax” and “The Power of Love.”
- In 1965, Peter Timmins was born in Montreal. Two decades later, the drummer and siblings Margo Timmins and Michael Timmins (with Alan Anton) formed Cowboy Junkies. The band had hits in Canada like “Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning” and “Anniversary Song” but is best known for a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane.”
- In 1983, the No. 1 song on the U.S. pop chart belonged to country artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. “Islands in the Stream,” written by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb, spent two weeks in the top spot.
- In 2007, Australian singer Kylie Minogue became the first female artist – and the youngest – to receive the Music Industry Trust award in London. She was honoured as an “icon of pop and style” and for her ability to “reinvent, experiment and inspire.”
And that’s what popped on this day.