On this day in music history…
In 1992, the MTV Video Music Awards took place at the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Guns N’ Roses and Nirvana were both part of the festivities. Notably, the two bands weren’t exactly fond of each other. Upon seeing each other, members of the respective groups traded several insults and, at one point, there was nearly a physical fight backstage.
In 2014, U2 released their 13th studio album, Songs of Innocence. U2’s plans for the album release were big—maybe too big. The band teamed up with Apple, and Songs of Innocence was automatically loaded into the music libraries of iTunes users for free. As a result, U2 and Apple were heavily criticized, and eventually, the auto-download of the new album was reversed. Despite U2’s unexpected PR difficulties surrounding the release, Songs of Innocence went on to chart at number 9 in the U.S. and number 2 in their native Ireland.
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