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
1993 At 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.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
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.
"Margaritaville" Introduced On Buffett Album
1977Jimmy 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.
Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes indeed marks some significant changes in Buffett's career. After five albums with producer Don Gant (starting with 1973's A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean) he began a new partnership with Norbert Putnam, a former Muscle Shoals session musician who produced records by Joan Baez, Dan Fogelberg, and Linda Ronstadt. Putnam had a studio in Nashville but knew he needed a more suitable atmosphere for songs about the laidback life in the tropics, so he brought Buffett and his band to Criteria Studios in Miami. When the singer told him the Coral Reefers were more Stones than Opry the producer encouraged him to develop the trop-rock style that would define his career. They worked in the studio by day and on Buffett's sailboat by night. "For that album, we were trying to get the rhythms and the vibe to match the rhythm of the ocean waves against the boat," Putnam told Mix. "Sounds crazy, but it was working. We were getting a vibe for the record." As for "Margaritaville," Putnam wasn't crazy about the title, but he knew Buffett was on to something once he heard it. "I was thinking that it had these sort of jazz-hipster overtones like 'coolsville' or something like that. But when he played it, me and the band knew instantly that this was the song. This was the single. This was it. It wasn't a song - it was a three-minute screenplay." Once the single hits radio, millions of "Margaritaville" fans seek out the album. Selling more than a million copies, Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes peaks at #2 on the Country Albums chart and #13 on the genre-spanning Billboard 200. Buffett parlays the success of his signature tune into an entire brand. It spawns several enterprises, including a restaurant chain, a retail store, multiple hotels, a Sirius XM radio station and, of course, a margarita mix. The novelty never wears off, not even for Buffett. "People ask if I ever get tired of playing it," he says. "The answer is no. It has paid the rent for a long time and seems to put a few minutes of joy into this troubled world when sung by fans at a show. I feel very lucky."
Categories
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC
Comments
send your comment