This week in rock history, Pink Floyd released their debut single, Led Zeppelin ran into some trouble with the von Zeppelin family, Janet Jackson launched her Rhythm Nation World Tour, Whitney Houston’s signature song set a Billboard record and President Obama gave Stevie Wonder the highest honor in American pop music.
February 27, 1967: Pink Floyd release their first single
Before they floated a pig over Battersea Station and constructed The Wall, Pink Floyd made a curious debut. Their first single, "Arnold Layne," was a messy, psychedelic preamble to their great career – and if the lyrics were any indication, it seemed to concern a roving transvestite underwear thief pillaging their native Cambridge, England.
The single cracked the U.K. Top 20 and the Netherlands Top 30, giving the group their first shot of fame – one of the many drugs that singer-guitarist Syd Barrett would soon come to endorse. In 1968, he was replaced by his school friend David Gilmour for all concert duties and was fired from the band two months later.
source: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/week-in-rock-history-whitney-houston-sets-a-billboard-record-20120227
