March 23rd

2002: ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill married longtime girlfriend, filmmaker-actress Charleen McCrory at Tony’s Ballroom in Houston.

1997: U2 reached the top of the Billboard 200 album chart for the fifth time with Pop, which spent one week on top. This is one of their least favorite albums as they admitted they were hurried into completing the album due to a tour being booked in advance.

1985: John Fogerty reached the top of the Billboard 200 album chart for the first and only time to date with Centerfield, which spent one week on top.

Billy Joel married supermodel Christine Brinkley on a boat alongside the Statue of Liberty. This was Joel’s second marriage and they would divorce in 1994.

1979: Van Halen released their second album Van Halen II, which went on to become their first album to reach the top ten of the Billboard 200 album chart, peaking at number six.

1973: John Lennon was ordered to leave the U.S. within 60 days by immigration authorities. This began Lennon’s long fight to obtain his green card, which he received in 1976.

1969: 30,000 people attended the Rally for Decency at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Announcements that publicized the rally warned that “longhairs and weird dressers” won’t be let inside. The rally was held in response to Jim Morrison’s alleged pants-dropping incident in Miami a few weeks earlier.

1964: John Lennon’s first book In His Own Write was published in the U.K.

Birthdays:
Ric Ocasek-singer & guitarist for The Cars born in 1949