Historic events this week from Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, U2 and Harry Nilsson
FEBRUARY 27, 1971: JANIS JOPLIN’S PEARL IS #1
Janis Joplin’s final album, Pearl, was released 3 months after her death.
The album spent nine consecutive weeks at #1.
Containing “Me and Bobby McGee” & “Mercedes Benz”, Pearl has sold over 4 Million copies in the US alone.
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MARCH 1, 1973: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON RELEASED IN AMERICA
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon gave the band international recognition.
With over 45 million sold, it’s their best selling album.
With each new generation discovering the album, it has spent 900 non-consecutive weeks on the charts.
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MARCH 1, 1995: SOUNDGARDEN WIN THEIR ONLY GRAMMYS
Soundgarden were previously nominated for Best Metal Performance for the albums Ultramega OK and Badmotorfinger, as well as the song “Into the Void (Sealth)”.
They finally became Grammy winners when their album, Superunknown, brought them four more nominations.
Soundgarden won their only Grammys for “Spoonman” (Best Metal Performance) and “Black Hole Sun” (Best Hard Rock Performance).
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MARCH 2, 1988: U2 WIN THEIR FIRST GRAMMYS
U2’s The Joshua Tree received 4 Grammy nominations in 1988.
In addition to winning Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, they won Album of the Year by beating out Whitney by Whitney Houston, Bad by Michael Jackson and Sign o’ the Times by Prince.
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MARCH 3, 1972: NILSSON SCHMILSSON CERTIFIED GOLD
Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson has sold over 500,000 copies thanks to hit singles “Coconut”, “Jump Into the Fire”, and his Grammy-winning Badfinger cover, “Without You”.
It received the Album of the Year nod but lost to his friend George Harrison’s The Concert for Bangladesh.
