On this day in music history…
In 1979, “I Don’t Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats hit number 1 on the U.K. singles chart. It was the first single from the Rats’ The Fine Art of Surfacing album, which would peak at number 7 on the U.K. albums chart. “I Don’t Like Mondays” remains the only Boomtown Rats song to make the U.S. singles chart, peaking at number 73.
In 1993, a concert put on by New York radio station Z100, billed as the Z100 Birthday Party, took place at Madison Square Garden. The lineup consisted of Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, The Proclaimers, Terence Trent D’Arby, and 10,000 Maniacs. That show was 10,000 Maniacs’ final performance with frontwoman Natalie Merchant, who would leave the group shortly thereafter to start her solo career. The band continued with Mary Ramsey as their lead singer, and Merchant’s debut solo album, Tigerlily, was released a couple years later.
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