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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America Learns The Electric Slide

1990

After being revived by a Washington DJ, "The Electric Boogie" by Jamaican singer Marcia Griffiths peaks at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, as the "Electric Slide" line dance craze sweeps the nation.

Before the Spanish-flavored dance moves of the "Macarena" or the aerobics-inspired "Cha Cha Slide" encourage Americans to embarrass themselves at social events, the '90s are all about a Jamaican party ride known as the "The Electric Slide." Jamaican singer Marcia Griffiths, half of the '60s duo Bob and Marcia and a member of Bob Marley's famed backing group the I-Threes, covers Bunny Wailer's 1976 tune "Electric Boogie" in 1982. It soars to #1 on the Jamaican charts, but with Marley's death the year before, record execs in the US aren't putting much stock in the reggae genre, and the tune never makes it off the island. By 1988, Marley's son Ziggy is making international waves with his album Conscious Party that lands him a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album and tunes listeners into a fresh sound straight off the island. The following summer, a reggae-loving DJ in Washington, DC, plays "The Electric Boogie" for the first time in the US and it line-dances its way across the country, where it lands at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. No one is more surprised by the phenomenon than Griffiths: "When I sang it in Washington, DC, the entire audience got up and started doing the dance - I was forced to learn it on the spot! I said, 'Lord, this is unbelievable.' After that, it just got bigger and bigger."

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