25 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2008 Britney Spears returns to the top of the Hot 100 with "Womanizer," her first #1 on that chart since her debut single, "...Baby One More Time," in 1999.More
2006 Forbes declares Kurt Cobain the top-earning dead celebrity, beating out Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Ray Charles, and Bob Marley.More
1999 As bluegrass music starts to take off in America, Dolly Parton releases The Grass Is Blue. The album gives her career a boost and wins the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.More
1993 Time magazine puts Eddie Vedder on the cover with the headline "All The Rage." Both Vedder and Kurt Cobain refused to speak with the magazine for the story, but they run it anyway in an attempt to explain why young people are listening to such angry music.More
1986 Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, hits #1 in America. The song becomes an anthem of acceptance and is reinterpreted many times over the years.
1985 One of the first rap movies, Krush Groove, is released in American theaters. Featuring Run-DMC, New Edition and Sheila E., the film is based on the life story of Russell Simmons, co-founder of the hip-hop label Def Jam.
1977 Elton John appears on The Muppet Show, where he performs "Crocodile Rock," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Elton is one of the inspirations for Dr. Teeth of the Muppets' house band, The Electric Mayhem.
1975 Paul Simon issues his fourth solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years. "Gone At Last," "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," and the title track all reach the US Top 40, and the album hits #1, Simon's first to do so. Emancipated from Simon & Garfunkel, fans stop shouting "Where's Artie?" at his shows.
1961 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who haven't seen each other since primary school, run into each other at the Dartford train station in England - Keith is on his way to Sidcup Art College; Mick is headed to the London School of Economics. Noticing the Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry albums Mick is carrying, Keith strikes up a conversation. They later form The Rolling Stones.
25 OCTOBER
In Music History
2014 Taylor Swift applies to trademark several phrases related to her album 1989, including "Party Like It's 1989," "This Sick Beat" and "Cause We Never Go Out Of Style." When granted, this would give her exclusive rights to use the phrases on an array of items, including pot holders, ornaments and removable tattoos.
2014 Jack Bruce, bassist and founding member of Cream, dies at age 71.
2011 Steven Tyler of Aerosmith falls in a shower during a stay in a Paraguay hotel, knocking out two teeth. A local dentist repairs the famous mouth, and Tyler performs the next day.
2010 Taylor Swift releases her third album, Speak Now. One of the more confessional songs is "Mean," where she takes aim at her critics, including industry insider Bob Lefsetz, who wrote that Swift was "too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made" in performing with Stevie Nicks at the Grammy Awards.
2010 Reggae musician Gregory Isaacs dies of lung cancer in London, England, at age 59.
2009 For their last US tour date in 2009, U2 broadcast live on U2.com. Almost 100,000 see the show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
2006 Diddy scores his first #1 album on the Billboard 200 since 1997 with Press Play.
2004 Renowned BBC DJ John Peel dies of a heart attack in Cusco, Peru, at age 65.
2003 Ludacris becomes the first "Dirty South" rapper to land a #1 album when Chicken-N-Beer hits the top spot, powered by the #1 hit "Stand Up."
2002 Actor/singer Richard Harris dies of Hodgkin's disease in London, England, at age 72. He portrayed Professor Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies.
2002 Aretha Franklin's 12-bedroom home outside of Detroit is destroyed by fire, which is later determined to be arson. The building was unoccupied at the time, as Franklin used the home mainly for storage.
2000 Mounds of pending litigation against it notwithstanding, embattled music file-swapping service Napster continues to expand with the release of a Macintosh-friendly version available for download. The new Mac version comes complete with exclusive features such as file search logs, "drag and drop" capability, and a color scheme that matches the hues on Apple's new iMac models.
2000 SoundScan announces first-week sales of 1,054,000 for Limp Bizkit's album Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water. It's the last rock studio album to sell a million copies in a week.
2000 Billy Ray Cyrus lends his support to Second Harvest Food Bank when his tour bus stops in 16 different locations on Nashville's Music Row throughout the day to collect food for Harvest 2000; later the same night, he headlines a concert benefiting the charity.
2000 Billy Bennett (drummer for Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs) dies of a heart attack in Sykesville, Maryland, at age 56.
Nashville Says Goodbye To Kenny Rogers
2017Nashville stages a star-studded farewell concert for Kenny Rogers, who has decided to retire after a 60-year music career. A range of acts salute the singer with covers of some of his most memorable songs, with Chris Stapleton taking on "The Gambler," Lionel Richie singing "Lady," and Don Henley performing the Eagles' "Desperado," which Rogers covered. The highlight of the evening is when Rogers takes the stage with his duet partner Dolly Parton, as the two close out the night with "Islands in the Stream."
The "All In For The Gambler" event at the Bridgestone Arena draws generations of performers who have been influenced by the 79-year-old singer. The Oak Ridge Boys, who got a career boost opening for a Kenny Rogers tour, start the festivities with "Love or Something Like It," followed by Justin Moore with a rendition of "Lucille." Lady Antebellum revives "She Believes In Me," and Little Big Town recalls "Through The Years." Even the mother-daughter duo The Judds, who have a famously thorny relationship, make peace long enough to sing "Back To The Well." Says Wynonna Judd: "Because when Kenny Rogers sends you a personal note and says, 'I love you Wynonna, I want you to sing, and I want you to bring your mom,' I go, 'Yes, sir.'" The big draw is Rogers and Parton, who hit #1 together with "Islands In The Stream" in 1983, and remained close friends ever since. After Chris Stapleton gives the crowd a little lesson on gambling with a faithful rendition of Rogers' famous 1981 hit, Parton offers a musical gift to her old duet partner: an intimate performance of her classic ballad "I Will Always Love You." She says: "I've always thought there's a part of me that's never, ever going to be touched by anybody else, and I'm going to hold you there forever, and I'm going to sing you a song…" Rogers, clearly touched, regains his composure to join Parton for the last song of the night, "Islands in the Stream," to a rousing response from the audience. Parton then turns to Rogers and asks, "Kenny, how about we go out like rock stars?" The duo simultaneously drop their microphones, link arms, and walk off the stage. Rogers was a member of the New Christy Minstrels and the First Edition before his career as a solo artist exploded in the late '70s. The pop-friendly country singer released close to 40 albums and 80 singles – 21 of them #1 hits on the country chart. In 2013, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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