10 FEBRUARY
Featured Events
2017 Tom Petty is honored as Person of the Year at the MusiCares gala, held two days before the Grammy Awards. "Twenty years ago I'd have been way too cynical to do this, but I'm 66 now and I feel ya," he says in his speech.More
2011 The video for Rebecca Black's song "Friday" is uploaded to YouTube, where it becomes a viral smash.More
2010 John Mayer describes his ex-girlfriend Jessica Simpson as "sexual napalm" in a Playboy interview.More
1997 Blur's eponymous fifth album is released. Although the band is huge in Europe, American success has proven elusive. The single "Song 2" becomes the band's biggest US hit, topping out at #55 on the Hot 100.
1981 Natalie Cole is trapped in her suite on the 26th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton hotel when it catches fire.More
1978 Van Halen release their self-titled debut album. The lead single is a cover of the Kinks classic "You Really Got Me."
1971 Carole King releases her seminal album Tapestry.More
1968 Rolling Stone magazine offers free roach clips to new subscribers.More
10 FEBRUARY
In Music History
2020 While performing at the Get Out The Vote rally in New Hampshire in support of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, The Strokes debut the animated video for their new single "At The Door." They also perform the forthcoming followup single "Bad Decisions" for the first time.More
2019 At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, Leon Bridges and PJ Morton tie for Best Traditional R&B Performance when Bridges' "Bet Ain't Worth The Hand" and Morton's cover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" both win the title. It's the first Grammy win for both artists.
2017 Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2013 Janis Ian wins the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for her autobiography Society's Child, beating out Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres. Ian quips: "I keep thinking there's got to be a punchline here: an ex-president, the First Lady and three lesbians walk into a bar..."
2008 Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around" wins the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He also takes Best Dance Recording for "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows."
2008 Amy Winehouse is the big winner at the Grammy Awards, taking five trophies, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (both for "Rehab").
2008 Ne-Yo's sophomore album, Because Of You, wins the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. It's the singer-songwriter's first Grammy win.
2008 Famous spaghetti western composer Ennio Morricone and Bruce Springsteen win the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental. Springsteen covered Morricone's classic "Once Upon a Time in the West."
2008 Daft Punk make their first televised live appearance at the 50th Grammy Awards, joining Kanye West in a performance of "Stronger" at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
2006 James "Jay Dilla" Yancey dies of a heart attack at age 32, just three days after the release of his final album, Donuts.
2004 Eminem is among the guests heard on the second season premiere episode of Comedy Central's Crank Yankers. The rapper gives voice to "Bobby's Brother" opposite comedian Jim Florentine's "Bobby" in a prank phone call to a restaurant.
2001 Jennifer Lopez' album J.Lo goes to #1 in America. Her movie The Wedding Planner is #1 at the box office, making her the first person with a #1 movie and album at the same time.
1993 Michael Jackson appears on Oprah's prime time special, where he talks about having a skin condition called Vitiligo, and claims he's had just 2 plastic surgery operations.
1990 Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract," a duet with MC Skat Cat (Minnesota DJ Derrick "Delite" Stevens), goes to #1 in America, where it stays for three weeks.
Kanye West Drops Debut Album The College Dropout
2004Kanye West, known for producing tracks on Jay-Z's 2001 album The Blueprint, releases his debut album, The College Dropout.
West is indeed a college dropout, bowing out of Chicago State University (where he majored in English) after a year and taking a production deal with Jay-Z's label, Roc-A-Fella Records. He made a name for himself producing tracks like Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name," Twista's "Slow Jamz," and four tracks on Jay's The Blueprint. In 2002, Roc-A-Fella signed him as a solo artist. The College Dropout is a dazzling debut from West, who gets away from the gangsta rap template to cover topics more introspective and spiritual. The first single, "Through The Wire," he wrote and recorded in the weeks after a devastating car accident broke his jaw in three places - he literally sang through the wire that held his jaw shut. He wrote the album during the long recovery period from the accident, with a new perspective after his near-death experience. A standout track is "Jesus Walks," where West raps about the Devil trying to bring him down - the ongoing battle with his demons becomes a common theme in his work. It's a wildly innovative song, mixing a gospel choir with an army aesthetic, the kind of fresh take welcomed in a hip-hop scene that is getting a little stale. As he tours and promotes the album, it becomes clear that West is as unpredictable and irreverent as his music. And cocky. "Anyone who doesn't give it a perfect score is lowering the integrity of the magazine," he says of the reviews. That arrogance becomes his calling card, but he backs it up: The College Dropout sells 3 million copies in America, as does his next album, Late Registration. Over the next several years, he becomes one of the most controversial, awarded (Late Registration wins the Grammy for Best Rap Album) and accomplished artists of his time.
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