17 AUGUST
Featured Events
2011 "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" by Katy Perry hits #1 on the Hot 100, making her just the second artist with five #1 singles from the same album (Teenage Dream). The other five-time chart topper: Michael Jackson's Bad.
2004 The venerable "Like A Rock" ad campaign comes to an end, as Chevy stops using the song and ends their association with Bob Seger. The 1986 song wasn't written for Chevy, but was used in the ads since 1989. Two years later, John Mellencamp's "Our Country" becomes the Silverado theme.
2002 Nelly becomes the fifth artist to replace himself at #1 on the Hot 100 when "Dilemma" takes the top spot from "Hot In Herre."
1980 At the Toledo Speedway Jam II in Toledo, Ohio, ZZ Top headline the show with AC/DC, Sammy Hagar and Humble Pie on the undercard. (Also advertised on the poster: 800 kegs of beer, drinking age 18 in Ohio!) It is the last time AC/DC is a support act until 2003, when they open for The Rolling Stones.
1977 It's the day after Elvis Presley is found dead, and throngs of fans come to Graceland to mourn. President Jimmy Carter releases a statement saying, in part, "Elvis Presley's death deprives our country of a part of itself. He was unique and irreplaceable."
1969 Woodstock moves into day three, with performances by Joe Cocker; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Blood, Sweat & Tears; and Country Joe & the Fish, who perform their famous "Fish Cheer."
1968 The Doors' third album, Waiting For The Sun, hits #1 in America thanks to the hit "Hello, I Love You." They recorded the song after scraping plans to put a Jim Morrison poetry piece called "Celebration of the Lizard" on the entire first side.
17 AUGUST
In Music History
2019 Tool's "Fear Inoculum" enters the Hot 100 at #93, becoming the longest song ever to hit that chart. Running 10:22, it outlasts David Bowie's "Blackstar," which clocks in at 9:57. "Fear Inoculum" drops off the chart the following week.
2016 MTV's Catfish: The TV Show introduces Spencer Morrill, a Tennessee native who insists he's been in an online romance with Katy Perry for six years. He even made a ring for her out of a family heirloom. When hosts Nev and Max lure out the catfish in England and bring him face to face with the singer, he believes the real Perry sent the "imposter" as a joke.
2012 Sparkle, starring the aptly named Jordin Sparks as an aspiring singer, opens in theaters. It's the last film for Whitney Houston, who plays her mom.
2012 The first Knotfest goes down in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Curated by the band Slipknot, it features amusement park entertainment and lots of music, including performances by Deftones and Lamb Of God.
2004 Singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg reveals that he is battling advanced prostate cancer.
2002 "Dilemma," a duet between Nelly and Kelly Rowland (Nelly and Kelly) hits #1 in America, where it stays for 10 weeks. It's the first hit for a Destiny's Child member outside the group.
2002 Hours before his wife is murdered, Jacksonville resident Justin Barber downloads the Guns N' Roses song "Used To Love Her." The song is later played at the trial as evidence, with the lyrics displayed for the jury ("I used to love her, but I had to kill her..."). Barber is convicted of first degree murder and given a life sentence.
1999 Derek Longmuir of the Bay City Rollers is arraigned on charges of possession of illegal drugs and child pornography. He is sentenced to 300 hours of community service.
1998 Santana's Carlos Santana is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1997 Liverpool, Nova Scotia, dedicates The Hank Snow Country Music Centre, a museum dedicated to its native country music legend.
1996 The ENIT Festival, organized by Perry Farrell after breaking ties with Lollapalooza, kicks off in Holmdel, New Jersey with Farrell's band Porno For Pyros headlining. It's one of the first ventures to sell tickets on the Internet, but poor planning dooms the festival and it plays just four dates.
1995 Microsoft buys the rights to The Rolling Stones' 1981 smash "Start Me Up" to use as the theme for their Windows 95 rollout.
1995 Depeche Mode lead singer Dave Gahan slashes his wrists with razor blades in a suicide attempt. He is saved when a friend comes by and calls paramedics, who take him to Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he wakes up the next morning in the psychiatric ward.More
1994 Singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers is born in Pasadena, California. She acts in TV commercials before launching a solo career and forming the band Boygenius with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker.
1993 Jeff Buckley performs at the Sin-é café in New York City. A few months later, recordings from the show become his first release, an EP called Live at Sin-é.
Nirvana Shoot "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Video
1991Nirvana shoot their video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It is set to look like a deranged pep rally at "Anarchy High School," and features fans recruited at a concert two days earlier. The video is a huge hit on MTV and helps propel Nirvana into the mainstream.
A strange assortment of young people assembles at GMT Studios in Culver City, California. They've been summoned by a flyer passed out by an as-yet mostly unknown band called Nirvana, comprised of a hulking, sweet-faced bassist; a frenetic drummer; and a rather unlikely frontman, smirking and grungy, dressed in layers despite the summer heat. The crowd knows they've gathered to make a music video, but no one in attendance expects it to take over MTV and the music world like it ultimately will. The video is for a song called "Smells Like Teen Spirit," the first single off the band's second album, Nevermind. It's set in a high school gym in what looks like the eleventh circle of hell, which is exactly what high school feels like for a generation of young fans disillusioned with mainstream music, art, and, well, everything. The "students" are bored and distracted as the song begins, and by the end, the entire gym becomes a furious mosh pit as the crowd helps the band demolish the set. Frontman Kurt Cobain is visibly distressed in the final version of the shoot, perhaps a harbinger of how his success will ultimately wear him down. All this frustration is real: Director Samuel Bayer did take after take, making the kids sit in the bleachers looking bored. Finally, he lets them trash the set, which becomes the cathartic climax. The video airs on MTV for the first time on September 29, 1991, and the response is incredible. With Cobain's coarse, plaintive plea of "Here we are now, entertain us," he propels Nirvana into the hearts of everyone out there who was tired and sick and looking for something beyond the plastic and spandex being sent out over the radio waves in America. Thanks in large part to the success of the "Teen Spirit" video, Nevermind goes on to hit #1 on the Hot 100, knocking the King of Pop off his throne and securing Nirvana's place in music history.
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