May 16th

May 16th

1983 “Piece Of Mind” arrives.  

Iron Maiden’s first album with drummer Nicko McBrain who replaced Clive Burr, peaks at #14 on the Billboard 200 and goes platinum three years later.  

1987 U2’s epic and tormented “With Or Without” is the #1 song in the U.S.  

The track is on the “Joshua Tree” album. “On a bed of nails she makes me wait.”

1998 “Before These Crowded Streets” is #1 on the Billboard 200.

The third album by the Dave Matthews Band knocks the “Titanic” soundtrack from the top spot after sixteen consecutive weeks at the top.  

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1946 King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp has a birthday. 

1965 Bassist Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) is born. 

1970 “Déjà Vu,” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, holds the top spot on the Billboard 200 for a week. 

1974 P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval enters the world. 

1978 Joe Walsh delivers his fourth studio album “But Seriously, Folks... ” The set, which is Walsh’s best-selling solo effort, contains “Life’s Been Good (To Me So Far),” one of the all-time great songs about Rock excess. 

1981 After losing the #1 slot on the Billboard 200 to Styx’s “Paradise Theater,” REO Speedwagon’s “Hi Infidelity” regains the top spot for the next six weeks. 

2000 Prince states that he will resume using his name (Prince) rather than a symbol to identify himself. The use of the symbol was his response to all sorts of corporate dealings that he had a problem with (to put it mildly). Now that the contracts have expired he’s back to being Prince again.

2005 Trent Reznor gets his day in a New York courtroom when he testifies in the lawsuit he filed the previous year against former Nine Inch Nails business associate John Malm. Reznor accuses Malm of bilking N.I.N. out of millions through deception and shady business tactics.

2006 Busy guy. Bono serves as guest editor for the London newspaper, The Independent. The publication donates half of the day’s profits to the U2 singer’s RED initiative to fight HIV/AIDS in impoverished nations. Bono interviews British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U2 guitarist The Edge covering the revival of New Orleans’ music scene. Bono then embarks on a 10-day mission to Africa to monitor the success of a campaign that seeks to fight poverty and disease on the continent. The trip is promoted by the DATA advocacy organization, which Bono co-founded.

2007 Maroon 5 release their sophomore studio album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long.” It’s a phrase the band adopted to keep themselves motivated while on their tour.

2007 Hellyeah reveal that ex-Damageplan bassist Bob “Zilla” Kakaha has replaced Jerry Montano, who left the group.

2009 Bob Dylan’s “Together Through Life” debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200, moving about 125,000 copies during its first week of release. It’s Dylan’s second consecutive studio effort to top the chart, following ’06’s “Modern Times,” and the fifth #1 of his career.

2010 Vocalist Ronnie James Dio dies in a Houston hospital where he was being treated for stomach cancer. He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and later fronted Heaven & Hell and Dio.

2014 This is not good. A backlash ensues after a YouTube video showing Olivia Douglas, a nine-year-old girl being encouraged to swear on stage by Five Finger Death Punch singer Ivan Moody, goes viral. Filmed and posted by Douglas’ father, it shows Moody hugging the girl while trying to make her chant “Burn motherf***er burn,” a lyric from “Burn MF.” She appears uncomfortable and looks towards her father, behind the camera, for reassurance. There are strenuous objections to using a child as a ‘stage prop’.

2014 This is really not good. Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley reveals in an online post that he was hospitalized after he “collapsed to the ground unconscious” when his “liver and kidney’s collapsed” due to alcohol abuse. “The reason I got so sick is from all the hard boozing I’ve been doing over the years,” writes Whibley. “It finally caught up to me.”

2014 This is bad! Tim Lambesis, singer for As I Lay Dying, is sentenced to six years in prison for attempting to hire a hit man to kill his wife of eight years, Meggan Lambesis.

2018 Women’s advocacy group UltraViolet wants Spotify to remove the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Don Henley (The Eagles), Ted Nugent and other artists from the streaming service for being “glorified despite allegations of abuse.” 

2020 Godsmack’s “Unforgettable” begins a five-week run at #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart. 

2023 The new Lord Mayor of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom uses Metallica’s “Eye Of The Beholder“ as his walk-in music at his inauguration ceremony in the city’s Guildhall.  The track is from Metallica’s fourth studio album, “…And Justice For All.” 

2023 Def Leppard celebrates the release of the hardback edition of “Definitely: The Official Story Of Def Leppard” (part memoir, part scrapbook) at London’s Royal Festival Hall.