21 JULY
In Music History
1995 A Los Angeles judge throws out a lawsuit filed against Michael Jackson by five of the pop star's security guards, who alleged that they were fired after learning the "truth" about Jackson's nighttime visits with young boys.
1989 The Spike Lee joint Do The Right Thing opens in theaters, introducing the Public Enemy anthem "Fight The Power," which opens the film and plays on Radio Raheem's boombox whenever he shows up.
1989 UHF, a comedy film written by and starring Weird Al Yankovic, debuts. The soundtrack features many of Yankovic's signature song parodies, as well as a few of his original songs. While the film does poorly in box office due to bad timing at the beginning of summer just before blockbuster season, the film gains a huge cult following. "UHF" stands for "Ultra High Frequency," an archaic method of television broadcast in the United States which tended to feature local, mom-and-pop stations and shoestring-budget content.
1988 In Aiken circuit court in South Carolina, James Brown pleads guilty to charges of gun possession and resisting arrest. Brown was arrested in May after leading police on a car chase.
1987 Paul McCartney records "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "Ain't That A Shame," and "Crackin' Up."
1986 Landing on Water, Neil Young's 15th studio album, is released.
1983 Diana Ross plays a free concert in New York City's Central Park on a rainy day. She has a good attitude, claiming the rain "feels good" and saying, "It took me a lifetime to get here, I ain't going nowhere." Positive thinking cannot save the show, however, and it is stopped and rescheduled for the next day.
1981 Blake Lewis, runner-up from Season 6 of America Idol, is born in Redmond, Washington.
1979 Robert Palmer releases "Bad Case of Loving You."
1977 Linda Ronstadt, who's just released a cover version of The Rolling Stones' "Tumblin' Dice," hops onstage at the band's Tucson, Arizona concert to sing it with them.
1976 Cat Stevens' brother David gives him a copy of the Quran, leading him down a spiritual path that finds him converting to Islam the following year and changing his name to Yusuf Islam.
1973 "Mary Wilson Day" is declared in Detroit in honor of The Supremes member.
1973 Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" hits #1.
1972 Korey Pingitore is born in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She becomes Korey Cooper when she marries Skillet frontman John Cooper in 1997 and joins the band as a keyboardist and guitarist.
1971 Carole King's "It's Too Late" hits #1 in America.
Milli Vanilli Busted For Lip-Synching
1989Performing on the Club MTV tour at a stop in Bristol, Connecticut, Milli Vanilli's tracks go screwy when they try to lip-synch to the song "Girl You Know It's True." As the line "girl you know it's..." repeats over and over, the duo panic and scurry off stage. It is later revealed that they didn't sing on their album.
Read more21 JULY
Featured Events
2016 Ivanka Trump speaks in support of her father Donald at the Republican National Convention, taking the podium as "Here Comes The Sun" plays. The estate of George Harrison, who wrote the song, Tweets: "The unauthorized use of #HereComestheSun at the #RNCinCLE is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate. If it had been "Beware Of Darkness," then we MAY have approved it! #TrumpYourself"
2015 When Drake doesn't promote Meek Mill's album on Twitter, Mill accuses him of using a ghostwriter, tweeting: "Stop comparing drake to me too.... He don't write his own raps! That's why he ain't tweet my album because we found out!" A feud ensues when Drake releases the diss track "Charged Up," which Mill says is "Baby lotion soft."
2002 Steve Earle appears on the HBO series The Wire playing a recovering drug addict in what becomes a recurring role. He has no trouble playing the part, having struggled with addiction for much of his life.
2000 About 7,000 Insane Clown Posse fans, many in clown makeup like the group, descend on the Novi Expo Center in Novi, Michigan for the first Gathering Of The Juggalos. By the end of the Gathering, the place is sticky with Faygo soda and left in ruins - all to be expected at an ICP fete.More
1990 With a bevy of special guests, Roger Waters performs The Wall at the former site of the Berlin Wall, which came down eight months earlier.More
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."More
1948 Cat Stevens is born Steven Demetre Georgiou in Marylebone, London, England. In 1977, he becomes a Muslim and changes his name to Yusuf Islam.
1942 Kim Fowley is born in Los Angeles, California. The flamboyant writer and record producer puts together the all-female rock band The Runaways in 1975 and later goes on to write for Kiss and Alice Cooper.
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