20 JULY
Featured Events
2017 Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, 41, is found dead, a suicide by hanging. Bennington was close friends with Chris Cornell, who died in similar fashion two months earlier.
1986 Santana celebrate their 20th anniversary with a massive group reunion, as all 17 current and former members play a concert in San Francisco.
1983 Duran Duran headline a charity concert at Dominion Theatre in London attended by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. At the event, they meet Diana, who has proclaimed them her favorite band, for the first time.
1968 Hugh Masekela's trumpet composition "Grazing In The Grass" hits #1 in America, knocking off trumpet player Herb Alpert's "This Guy's In Love With You."
1964 Chris Cornell (lead singer of Soundgarden, Audioslave) is born Christopher John Boyle in Seattle, Washington.
1940 The industry publication Billboard combines their sales charts for the first time, including all major labels. The first #1 is Tommy Dorsey's "I'll Never Smile Again," with vocals by Frank Sinatra.
20 JULY
In Music History
2023 Before his show in Toronto, Post Malone meets with fan Brook Trafton, who found the one-of-a-kind "One Ring" Magic: The Gathering card, and agrees to buy it for $2 million.
2016 Weed-loving rappers Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg begin their "High Road" tour with a show in West Palm Beach, Florida. Says Khalifa, "It's a joint performance."
1986 Sid and Nancy, the biopic about The Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious, premieres. Gary Oldman stars as Vicious.
1984 The NeverEnding Story debuts in US theaters, featuring a theme song by former Kajagoogoo lead singer Limahl.
1978 Elliott Yamin is born Efraym Elliott Yamin in Los Angeles, California.
1976 Wolfmother lead singer Andrew Stockdale is born in Brisbane, Australia.
1975 Steven Van Zandt makes his first appearance in concert with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
1972 Vitamin C is born Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey.
1970 The Carpenters appear The Dating Game, where they perform "(They Long To Be) Close To You" and each select from three suitors. They never actually go on their dates.
1969 R&B singer Roy Hamilton, who sang a popular cover of "Unchained Melody" in 1955, dies shortly after suffering a stroke at age 40.
1968 Paul McCartney's fiancee, Jane Asher, goes on the BBC TV show Dee Time and announces that she and Paul have broken off their engagement.
1966 Stone Gossard (rhythm guitarist for Pearl Jam) is born in Seattle, Washington.
1965 Bob Dylan releases "Like A Rolling Stone." At 6:13, it's twice as long as the average pop song, but it nonetheless becomes Dylan's first big hit and his most popular song.
1965 The Lovin' Spoonful release "Do You Believe In Magic?" Lead singer John Sebastian wrote it after seeing a beautiful girl dancing at one of their shows.
1965 Frank Sinatra appears at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where he leaves his handprints in the cement outside.
Man Walks On The Moon, Bowie Soundtracks It
1969When the Apollo 11 spacecraft lands on the moon and Neil Armstrong takes his one giant leap for mankind, it reverberates through the world of music.
In the UK, David Bowie's "Space Oddity" is used to soundtrack the coverage - Bowie is grateful for the publicity, even though the song was inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and describes an astronaut (Major Tom) cutting himself loose and drifting into space. In the US, the #1 song is "In the Year 2525" by Zager & Evans, which describes humankind as becoming more detached with each passing millennium: God is gonna shake his mighty head then He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been Or tear it down and start again In the year 9595 Image from NASA, "Buzz Aldrin salutes the U.S. Flag."
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