21 July

Pick a Day

21 JULY

In Music History

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2023 At the Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, The 1975 frontman Matt Healy speaks out against the country's ban on homosexuality and kisses bass player Ross MacDonald in protest. The Malaysian government responds by canceling the last two days of the festival.

2023 Tony Bennett dies at 96 after a battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was still making music at 95, when he released his last album, Love For Sale, a collaboration with Lady Gaga.

2017 The day after the suicide of lead singer Chester Bennington, Linkin Park cancel their upcoming tour and set up a tribute page on their website with resources for suicide prevention.

2012 Singer-songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos is cleared of conspiring to supply Class A drugs after the notorious "Fake Sheikh" Mazher Mahmood sets up one entrapment operation too many.

2009 Brad Paisley performs at the White House, where he plays his new song "Welcome to the Future," which was inspired by Barack Obama's election. Paisley returns in 2012 to play a 4th of July concert at the White House, and in 2013 he plays an inauguration concert after Obama is re-elected.

2008 Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O premieres her new side project, Native Korean Rock, at Union Pool in Brooklyn, New York.

2006 Herbie Kalin (of The Kalin Twins) dies of a heart attack at age 72.

2005 Blues singer Long John Baldry, a huge influence on Elton John, dies of a chest infection at age 64. Baldry had a #1 UK hit with "Let The Heartaches Begin."

2004 Jerry Goldsmith, an Academy Award-winning film composer known for Chinatown, The Omen, and five of the original Star Trek films, among others, dies of colon cancer at age 75.

2002 Gus Dudgeon, frequent producer of Elton John's recordings, dies in a car accident along with his wife, Sheila, at age 59. Elton dedicates his 2004 album, Peachtree Road, to the couple.

2002 At the Peoria Civic Center in Illinois, fans riot at the third annual Gathering Of The Juggalos when police try to stop Juggalettes from taking their shirts off. Peoria joins Novi, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio on the list of cities where this Gathering is no longer welcome.

2001 Lauryn Hill tapes her MTV Unplugged special, playing new songs in a very emotional performance. It's clear that she's not going for mainstream appeal, and is not about to follow up her The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill album with another big seller.

1999 Charley Pride receives a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 MP3.com, a website that lets users download music files for free, goes public and quickly reaches a valuation of $6.9 billion. Months later, they're sued by various record companies and the RIAA. In 2001, it sells to Vivendi for $372 million.

1997 As the forerunner of a new era of women in rock, Jewel becomes the first Atlantic Records artist to grace the cover of TIME magazine.

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Guns N' Roses Release Debut Album Appetite For Destruction

1987

Guns N' Roses release their first album, Appetite For Destruction. It's a landmark debut, featuring the hits "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine."


The band formed in the cradle of the Los Angeles glam metal scene in the mid-'80s. None of the Gunners are from California (Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin are from Indiana, Slash is from England), but they fit right in on the Sunset Strip, where decadence and depravity intermingled. Like their brethren in Mötley Crüe, they lived in squalor but had no shortage of drugs, groupies, alcohol or attitude. They channelled this lifestyle into songs like "Mr. Brownstone" (about heroin) and "Nightrain" (about cheap wine), but also came up with a rock-and-roll love song for the ages in "Sweet Child O' Mine" and a savage soon-to-be stadium anthem in "Welcome To The Jungle." The band built a local following and signed with Geffen Records in March 1986. By the time Appetite For Destruction is released 16 months later, they've earned a reputation as untamed, self-destructive hedonists who happen to be the most exciting new band in the world. It takes a while for word to get out. The album first charts in August 1987 at #182 and doesn't climb to #1 until a year later. When it does, GnR are opening for Aerosmith on the Permanent Vacation tour. In November, Rolling Stone, which planned to put Aerosmith on the cover, calls an audible and goes with Guns N' Roses instead. The hype is warranted: The album goes on to sell over 18 million copies just in America, making it the best-selling rock debut of all time in that country. Predictably, the band struggles to keep it together. Adler gets booted for drug abuse (palpable irony) in 1990, and their next albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, don't appear until 1991, four years post-Appetite. When they do, they are released simultaneously and debut at the top two chart positions.

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