17 MAY
Featured Events
2017 After performing with Soundgarden in Detroit, Chris Cornell is found dead from an apparent suicide at the age of 52.More
2013 Eight years in the making, Daft Punk's fourth album, Random Access Memories, features guest appearances from a range of artists including Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams. It becomes their first US chart topper, propelled by the massive worldwide hit single (and Nile Rodgers collaboration) "Get Lucky."
2012 Donna Summer dies of lung cancer at her home in Naples, Florida, at age 73.
2008 A pregnant Ashlee Simpson marries Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. The union lasts three years.
1966 Bob Dylan, who had recently "gone electric" and added rock and roll instruments to his folk music, appears at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Just before he begins a version of his latest hit, "Like A Rolling Stone," a member of the audience, a folk purist angry at the move to rock, shouts out, "Judas!" Dylan responds with, "I don't believe you," adding, "You're a liar!" He then proceeds to tell the band to play the song "f--king loud."
1965 The FBI ends its two-year investigation into the Kingsmen song "Louie Louie," determining that the largely indecipherable lyrics are not obscene.
1963 It's the very first Monterey Folk Festival, featuring Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez.
17 MAY
In Music History
2022 The Greek composer Vangelis, known for "Chariots Of Fire," dies at 79 from heart failure.
2019 Tyler, The Creator releases his fifth album, Igor, also the name of his blond-haired alter-ego. It becomes his first #1 album and earns Tyler his first Grammy win when it takes the trophy for Best Rap Album.
2016 Ne-Yo begins a two-episode stint as Mindy's new love interest on Hulu's comedy series The Mindy Project.
2016 Alanis Morissette sues her former business manager, Jonathan Schwartz, claiming he stole $4.7 million from her from 2009-2016. The following year, Schwartz admits to that theft and also to stealing another $2 million from other clients. Morissette is compensated in a settlement.
2016 Moby releases his memoir Porcelain, named because he threw up into a lot of porcelain toilets. It's also the title of a hit single from his landmark album, Play.
2015 Twenty One Pilots release their fourth studio album, Blurryface, their first record to land at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
2013 Singer-songwriter Alan O'Day dies of brain cancer at age 72.
2011 Rapper Wiz Khalifa and his girlfriend Amber Rose narrowly escape danger at a London nightclub. Khalifa is performing in the packed club when a bystander breaks a bottle over another patron's head. A fight ensues and Khalifa and Rose dodge bottles as they promptly exit the club with their entourage. Club promoters are upset that Khalifa ended his show early, as they reportedly paid the rapper 14,000 euros to do the show.
2008 Madonna's Hard Candy album hits #1 in America, her seventh to hit the top spot.
2008 The Brothers Four's Bob Flick marries his third wife, actress Loni Anderson.
2005 The reality series Britney and Kevin: Chaotic debuts on the UPN network, chronicling the adventures of the newly married Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. It proves unwatchable, and lasts just five episodes. The couple divorce two years later.
2005 System Of A Down release Mezmerize, with the war protest "B.Y.O.B." It debuts at #1 in America, as does their next album, Hypnotize, released six months later (a tactic cribbed from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies).
2003 June Carter Cash's funeral is held in her hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee. Among the 2000 mourners are Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, The Oak Ridge Boys, Sheryl Crow - and her husband, Johnny Cash.
2002 Blues singer Little Johnny Taylor, known for '60s hits like "Part Time Love," dies in Conway, Arkansas, at age 59.
1996 Blues musician Johnny "Guitar" Watson dies of a myocardial infarction at age 61 after collapsing on stage during a tour in Yokohama, Japan.
Tom Petty's House Burns Down
1987Tom Petty's home in Encino, California, burns to the ground. Petty and his family escape unharmed, but are traumatized by the blaze, which is determined to be arson. The perpetrator is never caught.
Petty is in the house with his wife, daughter and housekeeper around 10 a.m. when his daughter notices the flames. They all evacuate, Petty crawling out as the smoke lowers. Within an hour, the house is burned to the ground, with only parts of Petty's basement recording studio spared. The housekeeper suffers burns on hair and hands, but everyone else is unharmed. The family retreats to a hotel and begins to rebuild - Annie Lennox, who was at Petty's neighbor Dave Stewart's house at the time of the fire, makes sure they have clothes and other essentials. Police determine that the fire was started deliberately, with clear-cut evidence of arson. This sobering news torments Petty, who has to deal with the fact that someone tried to kill him and his family. His tour with Bob Dylan goes ahead as planned, with his family joining him on the road. Gradually, Petty comes to terms with the ordeal, using music as his outlet of expression. His 1989 album, Full Moon Fever, includes the song "I Won't Back Down," where he sings: I'll keep this world from draggin' me down Gonna stand my ground He does just that, rebuilding his house on the same plot of land. "It was kind of like starting over for me," he says.
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