On November 1, 1980, Bruce Springsteen scores his first #1 album, The River, which features the Top 5 single, "Hungry Heart". Oddly, 1978's Darkness On The Edge Of Town, which was released to much fanfare after the success of Born To Run, managed to peak at #5. That The River, which was a double-album no less, could manage to do what no previous Springsteen album had been able to do spoke to the singer's growing popularity while actively shunning commerciality at every turn. Says Springsteen, "(The River) was a record that was sort of the gateway to a lot of my future writing. It was a record we made after Darkness on the Edge of Town. It was a record made during a recession - hard times in the States. Its title song is a song I wrote for my brother-in-law and sister. My brother-in-law was in the construction industry, lost his job and had to struggle very hard back in the late 70s, like so many people are doing today. It was a record where I first started to tackle men and women and families and marriage. There were certain songs on it that lead to complete records later on: "The River" sorta went to the writing on Nebraska, "Stolen Car" went to the writing on Tunnel of Love. Originally it was a single record. I handed it in with just one record and I took it back because I didn't feel it was big enough."
On this day in music, 2000, UK boy-band-singer-turned-solo-star Robbie Williams offered to donate bone marrow in an attempt to save the life of a dying fan, Johanna MacVicar, who was suffering from leukemia. Williams not only pledged to donate marrow but urged his fans, and any healthy male donors across the UK, to do the same. Sadly, MacVicar passed away from the disease in 2005.
BORN ON THIS DAY:
The King of Schlock Pop, David Foster, born 1949. He has produced hit albums and singles for the likes of Chicago, The Tubes, Michael Bublé, Clay Aiken, Céline Dion, Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Faith Hill, The Corrs, George Harrison, Earth, Wind & Fire, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Brandy, Richard Marx, Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child, Olivia Newton-John, and many more.
Country singer Lyle Lovett, born 1957.
The Alarm bassist Eddie MacDonald, born 1959.
Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, born 1962.