Leo Fender, the inventor of the famous Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars, passed away on March 21, 1991, at 81. He set the standard for electric guitars, which have had a huge impact on 20th-century rock music. Here are some key moments in rock history that happened on March 21.
1964: The Beatles reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for the second time with “She Loves You.” Their first hit was “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
1981: REO Speedwagon scored their first No. 1 hit with “Keep on Loving You,” which topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for one week.
1987: U2 hit the U.K. charts with their fifth album, The Joshua Tree. It became the fastest-selling album in U.K. history and went Platinum within 48 hours.
1994: Bruce Springsteen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song with “Streets of Philadelphia,” marking the first Oscar win for a rock star.
2009: Exactly 22 years after U2’s The Joshua Tree topped the U.K. charts, their twelfth album, No Line on the Horizon, debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling nearly half a million copies in its first week.
Other notable events include:
1949: Singer Eddie Money was born in New York City. He had eleven Top 40 singles over his career.
1956: The movie Rock Around the Clock was released, featuring Bill Haley and His Comets.
1984: Yoko Ono attended the groundbreaking for Strawberry Fields in Central Park, dedicated to her late husband, John Lennon.
1952: The Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland is considered the first rock and roll concert, but it ended in chaos.
1961: The Beatles, with drummer Pete Best, played their first evening show at Liverpool’s Cavern Club.
1983: Pink Floyd released their album The Final Cut in the U.K.
