Rock and Culture Anniversaries

Anyone looking for the match-light moment when they exploded onto the national scene needs to search no further.

They were already at a crossroads after just one jammy studio project.

"The Power of Love" became their first chart-topping smash, but it didn't exactly begin with lofty expectations.

Chaffing at their country-rock roots, they regrouped to construct a "nasty track with pretty vocals."

There was momentum to keep, and America still to be conquered.

His arrival led to critically lauded triumphs like '2112' and multiplatinum smashes like 'Moving Pictures.'

Will Ferrell's skit was so surreal that it ended up being aired toward the end of an episode.

'Tattoo You' hit No. 1 and stayed there for nine weeks. That record still stands as the longest chart run the Rolling Stones have ever had.

He was a guitar god with one of rock's fastest-rising young bands and she was a sitcom star with a squeaky-clean image.

This LP arrived during a low ebb in the relationship between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Richard Ramirez spent a portion of 1984 and '85 committing a string of unspeakable crimes under cover of darkness.

Generally derided, this album tends to challenge your expectations today – and even your memory.