20 JANUARY
Featured Events
2016 Mamma Mia, here we go again! The Swedish pop quartet ABBA reunite for the first time in eight years to celebrate Mamma Mia! The Party, a restaurant inspired by the long-running musical.More
2006 The TV movie High School Musical premieres on the Disney Channel, creating a teen and tween sensation and the biggest album of 2006.More
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.More
1986 After years of campaigning to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday, Stevie Wonder commemorates the occasion with a star-studded concert celebration in Washington, D.C.More
1982 While performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat.More
1977 Jimmy Buffett releases his seventh studio album, Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes, which features his signature song "Margaritaville." Peaking at #8, the tropical-themed track remains his highest entry on the Billboard Hot 100.More
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.More
20 JANUARY
In Music History
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.
Melissa Etheridge, K.D. Lang and Janis Ian Come Out At Triangle Ball
1993At the Triangle Ball, the first gay and lesbian inaugural ball, Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang and Janis Ian come out publicly, declaring that they are gay and in same-sex relationships.
Lang, Etheridge and Ian haven't been hiding their homosexuality, they just haven't announced it publicly. At the Triangle Ball, they get it out in the open, making it clear they are gay and proud of it. Held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the $100-per-person Triangle Ball is one of many celebrations accompanying Bill Clinton's inauguration as president of the United States. Clinton's support for ethnic diversity and gay rights earned him the suport of the gay community, and his rock 'n' roll sensibility (he plays the saxophone) appealed to many musicians (the MTV Rock and Roll Inaugural Ball is going on at the same time over at the Convention Center). For Etheridge, who worked on Clinton's campaign, it's a way to escape the informal "don't ask, don't tell" policy imposed by her record company, meaning she didn't have to deny that she was gay, but she couldn't declare it either, keeping songs like "Bring Me Some Water" gender neutral. But it's also something more: a chance to unite the gay community and help eliminate any stigma associated with it. It's also important in putting up a united front to combat AIDS. "It was very empowering," says Etheridge in an interview with Dan Rather. "And when we found that we could make a difference in our American government, in politics, it was enlightening." Janis Ian was talked into it by the leader of the Human Rights Campaign, who explained that many young people were committing suicide because they thought they were gay. Ian also realized that there were no publicly gay musicians she could emulate when she was starting out, and it was time to change that. Etheridge's next album, released in September, is called Yes I Am, a nod to her coming out. It sells 6 million copies in America, making her a household name. In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres comes out publicly, and over the next few years it becomes more common for high profile entertainers to do the same. The Triangle Ball goes down as a turning point. "Janis, k.d. and Melissa coming out made me feel like it was OK to be who I was," Kristen Ellis-Henderson of Antigone Rising tells Songfacts. "I'm just grateful to them for being brave enough."
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