History

Seeing how they've dominated airwaves and concert arenas over the past three decades, it’s easy to forget that Bon Jovi faced odds as steep as any lottery when they released their self-titled debut album in January 1984.

If you've lived in Lapeer for a long time and you were listening to 103.1FM in 1984, then you can probably understand why I feel like this is a return to the past for me. In 1984, I was doing the morning show on what was then known as WDEY-FM, and I also did a Saturday night oldies show called the "Goldrush". Today, I return to 103.1FM in a new role.

Def Leppard's multi-platinum breakthrough album 'Pyromania' was released on Jan. 20, 1983.

It started with a meeting between Paul McCartney and John Lennon's widow.

At that point, he'd been kicking around the music business since the mid-'60s.

Most stints in rehab take place secretly, or at the very least privately. Then there was Eric Clapton’s famed Rainbow Concert, which served as an all-too-public, one-night cold turkey of sorts proclaiming the legendary guitarist's resurgence from the dire depths of heroin addiction – goosed along by some well-intentioned celebrity friends.

Long before the Dell dude, the Budweiser wassup guys or Jared there was Clara Peller.

This isn't the band's biggest or most popular album, but it may be their most important.

Producer Robert Lombard was abruptly fired before they completed the shoot.

John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had already temporarily left, only to eventually reconcile.

Back then, no small amount of confusion still surrounded these legendary Illinois rockers.

On Dec. 17, 1963, the U.S. still had no idea what was in store. The Beatles had yet to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show where they seemingly overnight changed the landscape of pop music forever. That wouldn't occur until February 1964. However on a mid-December day in 1963, Carroll James of WWDC in Washington, DC played a Beatles record. He wasn't the first to do so in America, but it was the first