29 AUGUST
Featured Events
2005 Hurricane Katrina pounds New Orleans. One of the victims is Barry Cowsill of The Cowsills, who dies by drowning at age 50. Fats Domino, 77, survives after he is rescued from his home in the Ninth Ward.
2004 "Hey Ya!" wins Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, one of four wins for Outkast on the night. The show also marks the first red carpet appearance for Jay-Z and Beyoncé as a couple.
1994 Oasis release their debut album, Definitely Maybe. The record goes on to sell over a million copies in the US, spearheading a second British Invasion, but for now the band remain unknown outside of the UK.More
1986 Madonna stars in the movie Shanghai Surprise, which bombs at the box office and is pilloried by critics. The film is produced by George Harrison's production company, HandMade Films. He says of the star, "She doesn't have a sense of humor, which is unfortunate, because it was a comedy."
1976 The British music magazine Sounds publishes letters responding to Eric Clapton's racist rant at his Birmingham concert earlier in the month. "Own up, half your music is black," one of them states. "You are rock music's biggest colonist."
This particular missive includes a call to action with an address to join Rock Against Racism, "A rank and file movement against the racist poison in rock music." Rock Against Racism soon becomes a viable movement, holding a series of concerts and festivals in support of tolerance.More
1958 Michael Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana.
29 AUGUST
In Music History
2021 Lee "Scratch" Perry, a transgressive reggae musician who produced albums for Bob Marley, The Clash, and many others, dies at 85.
2013 Fergie and her husband Josh Duhamel have their first child: a boy named Axl. She says the name came to her in a dream where she was watching Axl Rose perform.
2011 Delta bluesman David "Honeyboy" Edwards dies of congestive heart failure in Chicago, Illinois, at age 96.
2009 Two months after Michael Jackson's death on what would have been his 51st birthday, 13,597 people in Mexico City perform the Thriller dance, establishing a new Guinness World Record.
2006 Rockabilly singer/songwriter Jumpin' Gene Simmons dies after a long illness in Tupelo, Mississippi, at age 73.
2004 Jet take home the award for Best Rock Video for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" at the MTV Video Music Awards and perform the song live during the strangely un-hosted ceremony at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.
2002 Pepsi pull their commercial with Ludacris after Bill O'Reilly blasts the rapper on his show The O'Reilly Factor for "peddling antisocial behavior." Luda does just fine: His next three albums go to #1 and he lands a role in the Fast & Furious franchise.
2002 Enrique Iglesias and the tennis star Anna Kournikova show up as a couple for the first time when they attend the MTV Video Music Awards, where Eminem takes Video Of The Year for "Without Me."
1999 HBO premieres Cher: Live In Concert From Las Vegas. The singer performed at the sprawling MGM Grand Las Vegas, the second largest hotel in the world (by number of rooms).
1998 Country/rockabilly musician Charlie Feathers dies of complications from a stroke-induced coma in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 66. Known for '50s hits like "Peepin' Eyes."
1995 The US Internal Revenue Service places a lien on Aretha Franklin's home for $600,000 in back taxes.
1994 During the Meat Puppets set opening for Stone Temple Pilots at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, the famous DJ Howard Stern joins them on stage to jam on "Lake of Fire."
1993 Liam Payne of One Direction is born in Wolverhampton, England.
1990 After soundcheck for her concert in Saratoga Springs, New York, Sinead O'Connor dons a disguise and joins protesters outside the venue. The hubbub is over her concert from a week earlier when she asked that the National Anthem not be played before her performance.
1980 UB40 release their seminal debut, Signing Off. It climbs to #2 in the UK, becoming the first reggae album to reach those heights. In 2010, to mark the group's 30th anniversary and Signing Off's far-reaching influence, the band performs the record in its entirety during a series of intimate concerts across the UK.
The Beatles Play Their Last Paid Concert
1966The Beatles play their last paid concert, wrapping up their tour at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Jaded by poor sound systems and the rigors of the road, they turn their attention to studio work.
About 25,000 fans show up to see the group perform, but they don't know it will be their goodbye, as The Beatles haven't announced the news. One of their publicists records the show on cassette; it is never officially released, but does show up on bootlegs. It's a typically windy day in San Francisco, and the group responds with alacrity. "It's been wonderful being here in this wonderful sea air," Paul McCartney tells the crowd. The show opens with a cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music" and closes with little Richard's "Long Tall Sally," two songs they often played in their formative years. The Beatles do one last performance on January 30, 1969 when they play impromptu on the rooftop of Apple Records in London (footage appears in their documentary Let It Be). Their decision to focus on studio work doesn't ease tensions in the band but does result in some of the most popular and acclaimed albums ever recorded, including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album and Abbey Road.
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