20 January

Pick a Day

20 JANUARY

In Music History

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2022 Meat Loaf dies at 74. His 1977 album Bat Out Of Hell is one of the best-selling albums of all time; its 1993 sequel, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, contains the #1 hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."

2021 Garth Brooks sings "Amazing Grace" at the inauguration of Joe Biden at the request of incoming First Lady Jill Biden. Brooks explains his performance is not a political statement, but "a statement of unity."

2021 At Joe Biden's inauguration, Lady Gaga sings the national anthem and Jennifer Lopez belts out "This Land Is Your Land" before he is sworn in. At night, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Demi Lovato, and Tim McGraw all perform on a socially distanced concert special capped by a massive fireworks display on the National Mall as Katy Perry sings, of course, "Firework."

2021 On his last day in office, President Donald Trump pardons Lil Wayne, who pleaded guilty to weapons charges. Days before the election, the rapper was photographed with Trump and tweeted his support.

2019 Marking the 37th anniversary of that time he bit the head off a bat, Ozzy Osbourne's official store releases a plush bat with a detachable head.More

2015 Edgar Froese (drummer for Tangerine Dream) dies of a pulmonary embolism at age 70 in Austria.

2013 Bob Engemann (of The Lettermen) dies of complications from heart bypass surgery at age 77.

2012 Etta James dies at age 73 of leukemia complications.More

2011 Appearing on the Bravo show Watch What Happens Live, Tiffany talks about dating Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block in the '80s, and inadvertently outs him, saying, "He became gay later."More

2009 Bon Iver releases Blood Bank, a four-track EP and follow up to the hugely-successful For Emma, Forever Ago. The song "Woods," which features on the EP, will go on to be sampled by Kanye West on his track "Lost in The World."

2009 Beyoncé serenades Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the Neighborhood Ball as the couple shares their first dance together as president and first lady of the United States. The choice of song, Etta James' signature hit "At Last," throws the blues singer into a fit of rage aimed at Beyoncé.More

2009 David "Fathead" Newman, a jazz and R&B saxophonist who played alongside Ray Charles, dies at age 75 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

2009 Kid Rock, Kanye West and Fall Out Boy perform at President Barack Obama's inauguration, playing the Youth Ball, which is broadcast live on MTV. Obama headlines, making a speech where he hypes the crowd with his "Yes We Can" slogan. Rock and West later throw their support to the next president: Obama's ideological opposite, Donald Trump.

2001 With the debut Lifehouse album climbing the charts, lead singer Jason Wade marries his longtime girlfriend, Braeden.

1999 Bill Albaugh (drummer for the psychedelic pop group The Lemon Pipers) dies at age 53.

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Dick Dale Launches Surf Music Craze With "Let's Go Trippin'"

1962

Dick Dale's guitar instrumental "Let's Go Trippin'" hits #60, becoming the first Surf Rock song to chart. Many groups, including The Beach Boys, subsequently cover the song.

Dick Dale and the Del-Tones release "Let's Go Trippin" on Dale's own record label, Deltone Records, in September 1961. The single, which beats the release of "Surfin" by the Beach Boys by two months, becomes the first surf music hit. Unlike many musicians who cash in on the surf music phenomenon, Dale really is a surfer. However, when the sun goes down, he is a ferocious guitar player. Dale began as a country singer in the same vein of Hank Williams but became known by Southern California locals as the King of Surf Guitar before the 1950s came to an end. "Let's Go Trippin" debuts at a Del-Tones show at the Rendezvous Ballroom on Balboa Island in the summer of 1961. The energy and staccato rhythm of Dale's guitar draws huge crowds to the venue, which had begun to lose some luster from its glory days of the 1930s and 1940s. Dale records the song in the fall and it spends nine weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #60. He is never the commercial success of the bands that follow his lead, such as Jan & Dean and The Beach Boys - he has to settle for being their opening acts, but his place as the King of Surf Guitar remains secure.

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