30 SEPTEMBER
Featured Events
1998 On The Drew Carey Show episode "In Ramada Da Vida," Slash, Lisa Loeb, Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, Dave Mustaine, Jonny Lang, Joey Ramone, Joe Walsh and Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen audition for Drew's band, which has a gig at the Ramada Inn. Walsh gets the job.
1995 Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" becomes just the second single to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the first was Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone"). It stays at the top spot for eight weeks.
1993 George Harrison and David Crosby play their animated selves on the Season 5 premiere of The Simpsons, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet."
1989 Bette Midler is awarded $400,000 in her lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company, which had her former backing singer Ula Hedwig sing Midler's hit "Do You Want To Dance" in a 1985 commercial for the Mercury Sable. The verdict means that companies can't purposely imitate the vocals of a famous singer in advertisements without consent.
1987 Roy Orbison's comeback picks up speed at a Los Angeles concert filmed for the Cinemax special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, and J.D. Souther all perform at the show, which is fittingly filmed in black and white.
1955 James Dean is killed in a car accident at age 24. Dean dies around the same time rock and roll comes alive (the #1 song the day he dies: Pat Boone's cover of "Ain't That A Shame" - clearly America is at a crossroads).More
30 SEPTEMBER
In Music History
2021 Tony Bennett, 95, releases an album of standards with Lady Gaga called Love For Sale, making him (according to Guinness) the oldest person to release an album of new material.
2019 Green Day and the National Hockey League announce a partnership deal that includes the band playing halftime of the 2020 All-Star Game, and their song "Fire, Ready, Aim" as the opening theme to the Wednesday Night Hockey broadcasts.
2012 Faith Hill becomes the first country artist to debut a song on Twitter when she posts "American Heart."
2011 Marv Tarplin of The Miracles dies in Las Vegas, Nevada, at age 70.
2011 Pearl Jam wrap up a week-long tribute to Pink Floyd on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with a performance of "Mother."
2010 After 10 years, the first ever John Lennon museum closes. Located outside of Tokyo, it shuts down because Yoko Ono wants Lennon's spirit to remain in motion, saying, "If the Museum which houses his spirit never moved, it would be a grave, not a Museum."
2008 Hot on the heels of the mega-successful Evolution of Robin Thicke, Robin Thicke's third solo album, Something Else, debuts at #3 on the Billboard 200. The album moves 140,000 copies in the first week.
2008 Disney releases Nightmare Revisited, a cover album of songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The new album commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of the film's original 1993 release and features new arrangements by KoRn, Amy Lee of Evanescence, and Marilyn Manson.
2006 Farm Aid co-founders Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young are joined by Dave Matthews (The Dave Matthews Band), Steel Pulse, Gov't Mule, Jerry Lee Lewis, Steve Earle and Allison Moorer for the organization's 21st anniversary concert at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey.
2006 Shine On, Jet's sophomore album, is released to mixed reviews. Most notably the indie music website Pitchfork's review is nothing but a video of a chimpanzee urinating into its own mouth. The title track and third single from the record, "Shine On," is a tribute to Nic and Chris Chester's dad, who died from cancer in 2004.
2003 Rockabilly performer Ronnie Dawson dies of throat cancer in Dallas, Texas, at age 64.
2002 Pat Boone guests on the TV series Seventh Heaven.
2002 Pianist Ellis Larkins dies of pneumonia at age 79.
2002 Faith Hill releases "Cry," the title track from her latest country pop album. It's another crossover success for the country singer, landing at #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and giving her a second win for Best Female Country Vocal Performance (the first being for "Breathe").
2002 The Rolling Stones release Forty Licks.
Mary J. Blige Awkwardly Serenades Hillary Clinton
2016Mary J. Blige debuts her Apple Music talk show, The 411, and welcomes Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton as her first guest. Halfway through the intimate conversation, Blige bursts into a rendition of Bruce Springsteen's protest anthem "American Skin (41 Shots)" in a bid to address the rash of police brutality against African Americans. The attempt falls flat with viewers, who heckle the singer on social media.
At first, it seems like a typical interview. Blige, who first met Hillary while performing at the Democratic National Convention, peppers the Secretary of State with questions about faith, family, and living in the public eye before broaching the subject of police brutality. Blige is concerned about the increasing number of unarmed black men and women being killed by police throughout the country. Being a singer, Blige is reminded of Springsteen's ballad about the 1999 death of Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant killed by NYPD officers who mistakenly believed he was reaching for a gun instead of his wallet. Mid-interview, she clutches Hillary's hand and launches into a rendition of the song: If an officer stops you, always be polite And never ever run away Promise Mama you'll keep your hands inside Is it a gun? Is it a knife? Is it a wallet? This is your life, It ain't no secret It ain't no secret, no secret my friend You can get killed just for living in your American skin Most critics judge the interview by its teaser clip, which showcased the impromptu performance and Hillary's blank reaction, and lambast Blige for singing about the issue instead of actually addressing it. The actual conversation, however, does delve into matters of race and implicit bias. Blige stands by her decision. "I wanted to incorporate the song in the show because the lyrics resonated with me so deeply and so heavily because of all the shootings and police brutality and I never got a chance to say anything," she said. "I'm a singer first ...so that's the only way I can express myself and ...the only way I can get that reaction from (Hillary) is to sing it."
Categories
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC
Comments
send your comment