Pick a Day

23 JULY

In Music History

1984 MTV broadcasts the WWF Women's Championship match live from Madison Square Garden, where Wendi Richter, managed by Cyndi Lauper, takes the title. Part of the "Rock And Wrestling Connection," it's the most-watched program in the history of MTV. Lauper returns to manage Richter the following year at the first WrestleMania.

1984 An appeals court overturnes a ruling that the Bee Gees plagiarized a song called "Let It End" on their hit "How Deep Is Your Love." The judge agrees that there are "striking similarities" between the two songs, but believes the Bee Gees claim that they hadn't heard "Let It End," which was never released and only available as a demo sent to publishers. The case puts the onus on plaintiffs to prove that defendants had access to songs they are accused of copying.

1983 The Police's last album, Synchronicity, hits #1 in America.

1982 Dolly Parton stars as a brothel owner in the musical film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, alongside Burt Reynolds. She earns a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

1981 Steve Jocz (drummer for Sum 41) is born in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. He directs music videos for the band's "Underclass Hero," "With Me," and "Screaming Bloody Murder."

1980 Billy Joel gets his first Gold record, for "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me."

1980 Michelle Williams (of Destiny's Child) is born in Rockford, Illinois.

1980 Grateful Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux, 32, dies of head injuries sustained in a car accident two days earlier. He had been on the way home from his birthday party at the time of the crash.

1979 Iran's new leader, the Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, bans rock and roll as a corruptive influence on the people, a decision that eventually inspires both the graphic novel Perseopolis and the Clash song "Rock The Casbah."

1977 Barry Manilow's "Looks Like We Made It" hits #1 in America.

1977 Before taking the stage at Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, along with their manager, Peter Grant, beat up a member of promoter Bill Graham's staff. They are later arrested and hit with a lawsuit, which is settled out of court.

1971 Chad Gracey (drummer for Live, The Gracious Few) is born in York, Pennsylvania.

1971 Dalvin "Mr. Dalvin" DeGrate (rapper for the R&B quartet Jodeci) is born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1970 Sam Watters (of Color Me Badd) is born in Camp Springs, Maryland. He follows up his Color Me Badd tenure as a hit songwriter for Kelly Clarkson ("All I Ever Wanted") and Fantasia ("When I See You"), among others.

1968 The up-and-coming UK band The Iveys sign to the Beatles' label Apple Records, which rechristens them Badfinger. They become the first signing to generate hits for the label, but their story does not end well as Apple falls apart and Badfinger ends up in a legal hell that drives two members to suicide.