Music History Today: March 22, 2021

March 22, 1980: Pink Floyd tops the Hot 100 with "Another Brick In The Wall (part II)," which stays a total of four weeks. 

 

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March 22, 1975: Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album hits number 1, where it will stay for six weeks.

Fans can make a case for virtually every Led Zeppelin album’s incomparable greatness but only one represents the very pinnacle of the group’s career achievements: 1975's expansive, all-encompassing (and arguably all-eclipsing) double album Physical Graffiti. 

Physical Graffiti
in-store promo display

One of Physical Graffiti’s best-loved epics, “In the Light” features the sort of songwriting innovation and clever instrumental gimmicks that set Led Zeppelin apart from every other heavy rock band of the ‘70s and beyond. 

Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock

 

March 22, 1975: "My Eyes Adored You" by Frankie Valli moves to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

At a certain point in the mid-’70s, it must’ve felt like the Beatles never happened. 

Frankie Valli

A decade earlier, the Beatles had driven a permanent wedge into the history of pop music, separating it into the before and the after. But because of moony-eyed baby-boomer nostalgia, that wedge came to seem a whole lot less permanent around 1975.  

Read more: Stereogum

March 22, 1986: Heart had the first number 1 song of their career with "These Dreams."

Bernie Taupin and synth-popper Martin Page got together to write “We Built This City,” the now-reviled smash from Jefferson Starship. That was the first song they ever wrote together. The second was “These Dreams,” which would be the first-ever chart-topper for ’70s folk-metal greats Heart.

Read more: Stereogum

March 22, 2005: Billy Idol releases the studio album "Devil's Playground."

Upon its release on March 22, 2005, Devil’s Playground drew guardedly positive reviews. Critics like Slug Mag’s Ryan Michael Painter seemed happy to have the sneering Idol of old back, declaring the album “1985 redux” as well as the year’s best guilty pleasure.

Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the disc’s killer tunes, while declaring himself perplexed by Idol’s appropriation of hard-edged heavy metal. “It’s as if his posturing in the '80s was more than an affectation,” Erlewine wrote. 

Read more: Ultimate Classic Rock

 

Another Brick In The Wall 
Pink Floyd