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Today in Music

May, 26

  • 2000 Former Motley Crue drummer and Methods Of Mayhem frontman Tommy Lee is sentenced to five days in jail for violating his parole. Lee, who logged four months of a six-month sentence behind bars in 1998 for kicking his wife, “Baywatch” actress Pamela Anderson, also saw his probation extended until May 2003.
  • 1999 The British punk revivalist band Manic Street Preachers refuse to play a concert to mark the opening of Wales’ parliament because Queen Elizabeth II is present. The Welsh group has vowed never to rock for the monarchy, considering it an outdated institution.
  • 1999 It is announced by SoundScan that Backstreet Boys’ sophomore album “Millennium” sold 1.13 million units in its first week out, establishing a new SoundScan-era record for sales in a single week. The Boys beat the previous record holder, Garth Brooks’ “Double Live,” which moved 1.08 million units.
  • 1998 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy becomes the latest act to vouch for the power of Coke when its new jingle first airs. The neo-swing band, prominently featured in the hit film “Swingers,“ records an original 60-second music spot, “It’s Always Coca-Cola Every Time (Always Big Bad Voodoo Daddy).”
  • 1998 Singer Dusty Springfield joins the growing ranks of artists doing off-balance sheet deals, completing a transaction with RZO Cos. and Prudential Insurance, the team that did the “Bowie Bond” deal. Like David Bowie, rights to her entire 275-song collection are conveyed to a trust which is used as collateral for the sale of bonds, possibly worth $10 million.
  • 1996 Musician Matima Kinuani Mpiosso dies at the age of 45.
  • 1994 Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley secretly wed in the Dominican Republic. Elvis’ daughter files for a divorce 20 months later citing irreconcilable differences.
  • 1980 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Funkytown,” Lipps, Inc.
  • 1974 The crowd loses control at a London concert by teen heartthrob David Cassidy. More than 1,000 people need medical treatment and a 14-year-old girl dies.
  • 1970 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “Everything Is Beautiful,” Ray Stevens.
  • 1959 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: “The Battle of New Orleans,” Johnny Horton. The tune is taken from a folk song for fiddles, “The Eighth of January,” that celebrates the defeat of the British at New Orleans in 1815. Vaughn Monroe takes the song to No. 87 in 1959, while remakes by Harpers Bizarre (No. 95 in 1968) and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (No. 72 in 1974) also make Billboard’s pop singles chart.
  • 1942 The Band’s Levon Helm is born in Marvell, Ark.