1988 MTV refuses to play Neil Young's video for "This Note's For You," citing a policy against videos that mention products. The video is a parody of various ad campaigns, with lyrics mentioning Coke, Pepsi, Miller and Bud.More
1975 50 Cent is born Curtis Jackson III in Queens, New York. Dropped from Columbia Records in 2000, he makes a name on the New York City rap scene and lands a deal with Dr. Dre's Shady/Aftermath Records. His label debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin', is released in 2003 in blows up, with the hit "In Da Club" going to #1.
1974 "Rock The Boat" by The Hues Corporation becomes the first disco song to top the Hot 100.
1973 In the UK, Queen release their self-titled debut album, along with their first single, "Keep Yourself Alive." The album is released in America on September 4.
1972 David Bowie performs "Starman" on Top Of The Pops, causing an uproar among the conservative British audience by singing with his arm coquettishly draped around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson – a move that makes him as a household name overnight.More
1971 Louis Armstrong dies of a heart attack in his sleep in Corona, Queens, New York, a month shy of his 70th birthday. More
1957 Paul McCartney and John Lennon meet for the first time at the Village Fete in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton, where Lennon's group, the Quarrymen, are performing. When they meet again, Lennon asks McCartney to join his band.
2020 On his 85th birthday, The Dalai Lama releases the album Inner World, a collection of Buddhist mantras and prayers set to music.
2020 Charlie Daniels dies at 83 after suffering a stroke.
2019 With 13 weeks at #1, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X breaks the record for longest-running hip-hop song on the Hot 100. "Lose Yourself," "Boom Boom Pow" and "See You Again" all had runs of 12 weeks.
2016 In a small ceremony at Peckforton Castle in Liverpool, England, Ciara marries Russell Wilson, quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks.
2009 Alanis Morissette begins an eight-episode stint on the Showtime drama Weeds, playing obstetrician Audra Kitson.
2009 Guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker announce they are leaving Panic At The Disco. That leaves vocalist Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith to continue the band.
2003 Skip Battin (bassist for The Byrds, NRPS, Flying Burrito Brothers) dies of complications from Alzheimer's disease at age 69.
1999 Folk singer Richie Havens publishes his autobiography, They Can't Hide Us Anymore.
1998 Roy Rogers, star of many Western films in which he sang, dies of heart failure at 86. The other singing cowboy of his era, Gene Autry, dies a few months later.
1994 The light-hearted drama Forrest Gump hits theaters. Aside from becoming the top-grossing film of the year in North America and winning multiple Academy Awards, the movie spawns a hit soundtrack with songs from Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, The Doors, The Byrds, The Mamas & the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, and more.More
1991 Grunge music takes baby steps into the mainstream as the Alice in Chains album Facelift peaks at #42 in the US, and "Man In The Box" goes to #18 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
1987 Neil Young & Crazy Horse release Life, their last album under the Geffen label. With the exceptions of studio recordings "Cryin' Eyes" and "We Never Danced," the tracks are all taken from live performances.
1985 Phil Collins' "Sussudio" - a song about a girl with a funny name - hits #1. It holds the position for one week.
1979 Van McCoy, known for the 1975 disco hit "The Hustle," dies of a heart attack at age 39.
1979 The B-52s release their self-titled debut album, featuring one of their signature songs in "Rock Lobster."
Performing at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on the final stop of Pink Floyd's first stadium tour, Roger Waters spits on an unruly fan and excoriates the crowd for setting off fireworks. The experience inspires their next album, The Wall.
Waters is performing the gentle acoustic number "Pigs On The Wing," but the crowd is more interested in mayhem. The fan who gets a gob in the face is screaming and climbing up the stage; the fireworks are the last straw. "For f--k's sake, stop letting off fireworks and shouting and screaming," Waters says. "I'm trying to sing this song!" After the show, Waters thinks about the barrier that comes between the band and the audience. He imagines a huge wall in front of the stage, an image he sketches out and start to discuss. The concept becomes the basis for the next Pink Floyd album, The Wall, which explores this disconnect. Some artists love to see waves of people enjoying the music in a stadium setting, but Waters would rather have the audience engaged with the band in more intimate arenas. When touring for The Wall, he insists on indoor venues and an elaborate stage show where a physical wall is built in front of the band, driving home the concept. The production is a financial sinkhole, but, money, so they say, is the root of all evil.
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