11 AUGUST
In Music History
1997 Backstreet Boys release their second album, Backstreet's Back, in international markets. It tops the charts in several countries, including Canada, Spain and Germany. In America, some of the songs appear on their next album, Millennium, in 1999.
1996 Mel Taylor (drummer for The Ventures) dies of lung cancer at age 62 in Los Angeles, California.
1993 Soundgarden play the Civic Auditorium in Rapid City, South Dakota, their first show on an 8-date trek with headliner Neil Young and opener Blind Melon. These dates end up being Soundgarden's only live performances of the year.
1992 The Mall of America opens in Bloomington, Minnesota, with Ray Charles performing "America The Beautiful."
1989 Bruce Springsteen joins Ringo Starr onstage at a concert in New Jersey, where they perform "Get Back," "Long Tall Sally," "Photograph" and "With A Little Help From My Friends."
1987 LL Cool J's second album, Bigger And Deffer, goes Platinum, making him the first rap solo act to hit that mark.
1987 Rolling Stone magazine declares The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band the best album of the last 20 years.
1985 J-Boog (of B2K) is born Jarell Damonte Houston in Compton, California.
1982 Donna Summer has her first daughter, Amanda Grace Sudano, with husband Bruce Sudano.
1978 Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly of Kris Kross is born in Atlanta, Georgia. The rap duo becomes known for their hit "Jump" and for wearing their clothes backwards, a look they call "totally krossed out."
1976 With the help of some weed and tequila, Neil Young records an album's worth of songs in a single evening at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio in Malibu, California. Featuring "Pocahontas" and "Powderfinger," the album is buried by record executives until September 8, 2017, when it's released under the title of Hitchhiker.
1973 The Edgar Winter Group releases "Free Ride."
1973 Rather than join Paul McCartney in traveling to Nigeria to record the band's latest album, Band On The Run, Henry McCullough and Denny Seiwell both quit Wings, forcing Paul, wife Linda, and Denny Laine to record the album as a trio.
1972 The mayor of San Antonio, Texas, declares today "Cheech and Chong Day" after the popular comedy duo, although neither was born anywhere near the city.
1970 Jimmy Buffett releases his debut album, Down To Earth, a folk-rock collection that includes "The Captain and the Kid" - a song written in honor of his late grandfather. The album sells just 374 copies.
Keith Moon Shows His Dark Side In A Moment Of Lunacy
1976Keith Moon trashes a hotel room - no surprise there. But this time The Who drummer is hospitalized after beating up his room at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami.
Read more11 AUGUST
Featured Events
1995 Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer as an inner-city schoolteacher, debuts in US theaters. The movie's soundtrack tops the Billboard albums chart thanks to its lead single, Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise."
1986 The Monkees, on a reunion tour, have an amazing six albums on the Billboard 200. The highest is The Monkees at #92.
1980 Johnny Cash sings a duet of "Jackson" with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show. He also gets under the fur of Rowlf the dog with his song "Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog."
1973 The first big oldies revival kicks off in earnest as George Lucas' new film, American Graffiti, opens in theaters. Set in 1962, the film creates a wave of nostalgia for songs from the '50s and early '60s.More
1973 At a dance party in the Bronx, DJ Kool Herc plays a set with lots of instrumental breaks that his friend MCs over, marking what many consider the beginning of hip-hop.More
1964 With Beatlemania at a fever pitch, the group's first movie, A Hard Day's Night, debuts in America.More
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