2012 Darius Rucker is inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. He's just the third African American to join the club, following cast member DeFord Bailey and Charley Pride, who was inducted in 1993.
2003 Apple launches a Windows version of the iTunes store, previously available only on Macs.
2001 Etta Jones dies of cancer at age 72 in Mount Vernon, New York, the same day HighNote releases her album Etta Jones Sings Lady Day.
2001 Bob Dylan is turned away by security guards at his concert at the Jackson County Exposition Center in Oregon because he doesn't have a credential. The guards were under orders from Dylan's security director not to let anyone through without a pass. "He said no exceptions," explained the venue manager.
1991 Red Hot Chili Peppers kick off their Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour with a show in Madison, Wisconsin. Their opening acts are Smashing Pumpkins and a new band called Pearl Jam.
1986 Chuck Berry's 60th birthday bash (held three days before his actual birthday) takes place in St. Louis with a tribute concert featuring Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt. Footage is shot for the 1987 documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll.
1976 Disc jockey Rick Dees hits #1 in the US with "Disco Duck," a goofy number that envisions Donald Duck enjoying the spoils of the disco era. It is the last novelty song to top the Hot 100.More
1972 Creedence Clearwater Revival calls it quits, announcing in a press release: "We don't regard this as breaking up. We look at it as an expansion of our activities." The band never reforms, but John Fogerty emerges with a successful solo career.
1962 At the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, Motown Records launches their first package tour, the "Motortown Revue." Mary Wells and The Contours (thanks to their hit "Do You Love Me") are the big draws; lower on the bill are Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Little Stevie Wonder.
2017 Ed Sheeran breaks his wrist and elbow in a biking accident, forcing him to cancel dates on his tour of Asia. He calls his time off "the most depressing six weeks of my life."More
2014 Tim Hauser (of The Criterions, The Manhattan Transfer) dies of a cardiac arrest at age 72.
2010 Nicki Minaj, whose debut album is still a month away, sets a record for most entries on the Hot 100 at the same time, with seven: #11 "Bottoms Up" (with Trey Songz) #33 "2012 (It Ain't the End)" (with Jay Sean) #42 "What's Wrong With Them" (with Lil Wayne) #40 "Letting Go (Dutty Love)" (with Sean Kingston) #50 "Check It Out" (with will.i.am) #61 "Your Love" #74 "Right Thru Me"
2003 Simon & Garfunkel open their new "Old Friends" Tour with a concert in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
1999 Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of folk singer Arlo Guthrie, marries Johnny Irion. They begin performing together as an acoustic duo the following year.
1999 Pop singer Ella Mae Morse dies of respiratory problems in Bullhead City, Arizona, at age 75. Known for '40s hits like "Shoo-Shoo Baby" and "Blacksmith Blues."
1993 Aretha Franklin sings the US national anthem in Toronto before Game 1 of World Series between the Blue Jays and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
1992 The Offspring release their second studio album, Ignition. It's their first release on Epitaph Records, a label owned by Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz.
1990 Jazz drummer Art Blakey dies of lung cancer in Manhattan, New York, at age 71.
1989 Kate Bush releases her sixth studio album, The Sensual World. The title track, inspired by James Joyce's novel Ulysses, earns her a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Performance.
1988 U2, Ziggy Marley and Keith Richards are among the performers at the Smile Jamaica concert, which benefits victims of Hurricane Gilbert.
1982 Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," a #1 Country hit in 1974, goes back to the top spot thanks to its use in the movie The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. This makes it the first song to top that chart twice.
1977 John Mayer is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
1976 Stevie Wonder's LP Songs In The Key Of Life hits #1.
1975 Bruce Springsteen begins a series of shows at The Roxy in Los Angeles, where he earns adulation from many celebrities and a glowing review in the L.A. Times. This leads to cover stories on Springsteen in both Time and Newsweek on October 27th.
Sinéad O'Connor is booed when she takes the stage at Bobfest, a Bob Dylan tribute at Madison Square Garden. O'Connor had torn up a picture of the Pope 13 days earlier on Saturday Night Live, making her the most polarizing person in music. At Bobfest, she keeps going against the grain, scrapping her expected Dylan cover and shouting out a protest song instead.
Kris Kristofferson introduces O'Connor by saying her name has become "synonymous with courage and integrity." She enters to a raucous mix of cheers and catcalls that intensifies when she stands motionless at the front of the stage. The band starts playing her scheduled song, Dylan's "I Believe in You," but Sinead stops the music, generating even more heat from the crowd. Kristofferson emerges to lend his support - he puts his arm around her and quotes the title to one of his songs: "Don't let the bastards get you down." The band tries again, but now O'Connor is more defiant than ever. She silences them once again and screams out Bob Marley's "War," the same song she sang before ripping up the picture of the Pontiff on SNL: Me say war That until there no longer First class and second class Citizens of any nation She leaves the stage and Kristofferson gives her a warm embrace. This being a Bob Dylan tribute, O'Connor was expecting a more sympathetic audience. "What occurred to me in those seconds was that if this audience felt like this, then they hadn't actually listened to what Bob Dylan said, they didn't actually get it," she tells Time magazine. "These are the people who supposedly believed in Bob Dylan, but they've fallen asleep." When the concert is released on home video, all of this is excised, replaced with rehearsal footage of O'Connor singing "I Believe in You." The show itself is also remembered for an all-star performance of "My Back Pages" with Dylan, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Neil Young and Roger McGuinn. Kristofferson stands firm in his support of O'Connor, and the two later perform together on Irish television.
©2024 Songfacts®, LLC
Comments
send your comment