23 April

Pick a Day

23 APRIL

In Music History

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2018 After a screening of her documentary Horses: Patti Smith And Her Band at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, Bruce Springsteen joins Smith to perform "Because The Night." Springsteen wrote the music and chorus lyrics to that song in 1976, and Smith filled in the verses a year later. When it appeared on her Easter album in 1978, it became her biggest hit.

2017 Kerry Turman, bassist for The Temptations, dies at age 59 following a performance in Missouri.

2017 Bananarama announce their intention to reunite with a UK tour. Aside from a brief regroup for a Eurovision special years earlier, the original trio hasn't performed together since Siobhan Fahey's departure in 1988.More

2012 Neil Diamond, 71, marries his longtime manager, Katie McNeil, 42.

2011 Tom King (founder of the rock band The Outsiders) dies at age 68 of congestive heart failure.

2007 Bevan Davies replaces Will Hunt as drummer for Static-X.

2001 Metallica start recording their album St. Anger, which turns into some kind of monster: Frontman James Hetfield ends up in rehab during the sessions, and the band only complete it with the help of a psychologist who talks them through their issues in group therapy.

1996 Hootie & the Blowfish release their second album, Fairweather Johnson. It doesn't approach the 21 million in sales of their debut (Cracked Rear View), but still sells an impressive 3 million.

1994 Pink Floyd's album The Division Bell goes to #1 in the US, where it stays for four weeks.

1991 Johnny Thunders of The Heartbreakers and New York Dolls dies from a drug overdose at age 38.

1988 Enjoying a comeback as interest in his music surges, Roy Orbison celebrates his 52nd birthday at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Los Angeles, where Bruce brings him onstage so the crowd can sing him "Happy Birthday." Orbison dies that December of a heart attack.

1988 Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" hits #1 on the Hot 100 for the first of two weeks. It's her seventh #1 on that tally.

1987 Carole King sues her former label head and mentor, Lou Adler, for $400,000 in royalties and the publishing rights to some of her older recordings from the late-'60s.

1986 Songwriter Harold Arlen ("Over The Rainbow," "Stormy Weather") dies at age 81.

1985 Liberace appears on the soap opera Another World.

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Ramones Debut Album Creates The Punk Sound

1976

The Ramones release their self-titled debut album, a punk rock landmark filled with frantic 2-minute songs like "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat On The Brat."

The album sells slowly but its raucous punk sound inspires a generation of bands, including British contemporaries The Sex Pistols and The Clash, and defines both the look and sound of the punk movement in the UK. The Ramones' legacy later extends to the DIY ethic of grunge acts such as Nirvana and Green Day - both of whom cite the album as an influence. Mostly recorded live at Plaza studios in Manhattan over a period of just seven days, the album is the antithesis of the epic productions being made by the '70s biggest stars. With production costs of records made by major artists running to $500,000, the Ramones debut comes in at a cost of just $6,400. Ramones is a raw and noisy record, and most of its songs - including the two supporting singles "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" - are comprised of just three chords. While the prog-rockers release concept albums with songs taking up a full side of vinyl, the Ramones focus on short, catchy songs. They manage to cram 14 songs into less than half an hour on the record. Unlike other rock acts at the time, the Ramones do not dress up in spandex or have elaborate stage shows - they look just like their audience, many of whom begin to realize that rock stardom is not out of their reach. As a consequence, dozens of garage bands spring to life, with a lack of musical ability no longer seen as a barrier. Despite modest sales, the album's critical legacy grows over time - it is even placed into the Library of Congress for preservation in 2012. In 2014, 38 years after its release, the album finally racks up sales of 500,000 copies.

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