Starship - Knee Deep in the Hoopla

Today (September 10th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Knee Deep in the Hoopla, the first studio album from Starship (the band formerly known by Jefferson Starship and, before that, Jefferson Airplane). The line-up for the group was Mickey Thomas (vocals), Grace Slick (vocals), Donny Baldwin (drums and vocals), Craig Chaquico (guitars) and Pete Sears (bass). The Platinum selling 1985 album hit number 65 in the Netherlands, number 45 in Germany, number 43 in New Zealand, number 29 in Switzerland, number 22 in Sweden, number 15 in Canada and number 7 on the US Billboard Album chart (with a total of fifty weeks on that latter chart).

Jefferson Starship - Nuclear Furniture

Today (May 30th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of Nuclear Furniture, eighth and final studio album from Jefferson Starship (they would later reform under the name of just Starship). It spent twenty-three weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 28.

Grace Slick - Software

Yesterday (January 30th) marked the thirtieth anniversary of Software, the fourth and last (to date) solo studio album from Grace Slick, lead singer of Jefferson Airplane in the 60's and Jefferson Starship in the 70's. This 1984 release stalled at number 206 on the US Billboard Album chart. Most of the tracks featured lyrics written by Slick and music by Austrian musician Peter Wolf (not to be confused with the member of the J. Geils Band); Wolf also played keyboards and synth bass on the record.

Jefferson Starship - Winds of Change

Awhile back, someone I converse with on Twitter pondered how a band could go from "White Rabbit" to "We Built This City". The answer would be part of the transition from Jefferson Airplane to just Starship and that would include the middle period of Jefferson Starship.

Yesterday (October 4th) marked the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Winds of Change, the seventh studio album by the group under the name of Jefferson Starship. It was also the first album since the return of Grace Slick to the group. It reached number 26 on the US Billboard Hot 200.

Rick James - Throwin' Down

To follow up his hugely successful album Street Songs (click here for that review), Motown records released Rick James’ sixth studio album Throwin’ Down on March 13th, 1982 - thirty years ago from today.

The album peaked at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 2 on the R&B charts, generating a Gold sales certification. In the UK, the album only got as high as number 93 on the charts.