20 AUGUST
Featured Events
2016 The Tragically Hip play their final concert, calling it quits at a show in lead singer Gord Downie's hometown of Kingston, Ontario. Downie was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in December 2015.More
1995 After a lengthy press-fueled feud culminates in simultaneous singles releases, Blur's "Country House" beats Oasis' track "Roll With It" to the #1 spot in the UK. Oasis go on to enjoy worldwide mainstream success, while Blur later veer from the Britpop sound, developing an artier, more experimental style – heavily inspired by Pavement.
1988 At the Monsters Of Rock festival at Castle Donington, England, two fans are killed during a set by Guns N' Roses, whose frontman Axl Rose had implored the crowd, "Don't f--kin' kill each other." With the ground wet and a record crowd of 107,000 at the festival, the surge of bodies during the set causes the two fans to be trampled or crushed to death.More
1983 Taco's cover of the Irving Berlin song "Puttin' On the Ritz" reaches #9 on the Hot 100, making the 95-year-old Berlin the oldest living songwriter ever to land a Top 10 on that tally.
1977 The Emotions hit #1 in the US with the disco track "Best Of My Love" for the first of five weeks. Two years earlier, the Eagles hit #1 with a song with the same title.
1977 The Voyager 2 space probe is launched, carrying with it a "Golden Record" of sounds and images representing Earth. More
1972 Stax Records commemorates the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots with a star-studded benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. More than 100,000 fans show up to hear Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, The Staple Singers, and Kim Weston, among others, perform at what becomes known as Black Woodstock.More
1948 Robert Plant is born in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. Best known at Led Zeppelin's lead singer, he wins the Album of the Year Grammy for Raising Sand, his 2007 collaboration with Alison Krauss.
1942 Soul superstar Isaac Hayes is born in Covington, Tennessee.
20 AUGUST
In Music History
2020 Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali dies of pancreatic cancer at 68.
2018 The RIAA certifies the Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 at 38 million units, making it the best-selling album of all-time in America, besting Michael Jackson's Thriller by 5 million (another Eagles album, Hotel California, is third with 26 million). Worldwide, Thriller is by far the biggest selling album.
2016 Tom Searle of the band Architects dies of skin cancer at age 28.
2016 Former 3 Doors Down guitarist Matt Roberts is found dead in a Wisconsin hotel room at age 38, presumably from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
2012 A Green Day version of the video game Angry Birds is released, featuring Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool as green pigs. Players can unlock a new Green Day song from the 10th level of the game.
2011 Jazz singer Ross Barbour (of The Four Freshmen) dies of cancer in Simi Valley, California, at age 82.
2009 Keyboardist/bassist Larry Knechtel (of Bread) dies of a heart attack in Yakima, Washington, at age 69.
2005 On what would have been Phil Lynott's 56th birthday, a concert is held in Dublin featuring Thin Lizzy members Brian Downey, Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. Eric Bell, the original lead guitarist with Thin Lizzy, and Gary Moore share the lead on the classic "Whiskey In The Jar."
1997 The "Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway" is dedicated in Alabama, where the singer was born. The 50-mile stretch on Interstate 65 starts at his childhood home of Georgiana and ends in Montgomery, the site of his grave. The ceremony takes place in Montgomery (the state capitol), with Hank Williams Jr. on hand to speak.
1992 Sting marries Trudie Styler at their estate in Wiltshire, England. The couple first met in 1977 when Sting was a struggling musician and Trudie was trying to make it as an actress.
1992 Demi Lovato is born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1991 Spin Doctors release their debut album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite. It sells over 5 million copies thanks to the hits "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" and "Two Princes."More
1990 Prince releases his album Graffiti Bridge, which contains the tracks "Thieves In The Temple" and "New Power Generation."More
1988 Soundgarden play Capitol Lake Park in Olympia, Washington as part of Capitol Lake Jam. Also on the bill: Nirvana.
1987 Metallica play a secret show at The 100 Club in London. Two days later, they play Donington Park at Castle Donington as part of the massive Monsters of Rock Festival, headlined by Bon Jovi.
Following "Cop Killer," Ice-T Wears A Police Uniform On Rolling Stone Cover
1992Embroiled in controversy over his song "Cop Killer," Ice-T doubles down by appearing in a police uniform on the cover of Rolling Stone.
"Cop Killer" is a track on Body Count, the eponymous album from Ice-T's thrash metal band. It gets little attention until months after its release when a police group in Texas noticed the track and threatened to boycott Ice-T's parent label, Warner Bros. The label held firm, and the controversy spread, hitting a hot-button topic in an election year. The song is about what the title implies: murdering a cop. It's a revenge fantasy told from the perspective of a deranged sociopath fed up with how he's been treated by police. Ice-T drew from his days as a street hustler in Los Angeles. He had run-ins with the law and witness racism-fueled police brutality, but he never considered murder. "It's a record about a character," he says. "I know the character, I've woken up feeling like this character." The character argument holds water: He played a cop in the 1991 film New Jack City, and nobody accused him of promoting law enforcement. By appearing on the cover in uniform, he's simply portraying another character. Point taken. "Cop Killer" makes reference to Rodney King, a black motorist savagely beaten by four white police officers in Los Angeles. When the song was released, the trial was ongoing; in April 1992, the officers were found not guilty, lending credence to Ice-T's stance that police in the city consistently get away with brutalizing black suspects. After the verdict, riots raged in the city for days. Swept up in the controversy, Ice-T was targeted at the highest levels. Oliver North of the Freedom Alliance group called for criminal proceedings against Time Warner for sedition; President George H. W. Bush didn't mention the song by name, but said, "It is wrong for any company to issue records that approve of killing law enforcement officers." The Body Count album eventually sells over 500,000 copies. Ice-T and Warner Bros. part ways, and his next album, the menacing Home Invasion, is released on Priority Records in 1993. He again plays a cop when he joins the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2000 as Detective Fin Tutuola.
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