25 OCTOBER
In Music History
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 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 Bennett (drummer for Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs) dies of a heart attack in Sykesville, Maryland, at age 56.
1999 Los Angeles sheriff's investigators search for Sandra Ann Rosas, the wife of Los Lobos singer-guitarist Cesar Rosas, after finding her van abandoned in La Puente, California. They arrest her half-brother, parolee Gabriel Gomez, for investigation of kidnapping.
1998 R.E.M. play an exclusive concert for BBC Radio 1 at the Radio Theater at Broadcasting House in London for an audience primarily consisting of fan club members and contest winners.
1997 During a concert in Flint, Michigan, Johnny Cash tells the crowd he has Parkinson's Disease after he falls over trying to pick up a guitar pick. The crowd thinks he's joking, but Cash's manager confirms it in a statement two days later.
1996 The first Ozzfest is held as a two-day festival in Phoenix, Arizona, and Devore, California, with Ozzy Osbourne headlining and a metal-packed lineup that includes Slayer, Sepultura and Fear Factory. The festival returns every year until 2008, helping to launch bands like Slipknot, System Of A Down and Disturbed.
1995 Cliff Richard is invested as Sir Cliff Richard, becoming the first pop star to receive a knighthood for services to music.(Bob Geldof received his honorary knighthood nine years earlier).
1994 Hootie & the Blowfish begin their first US tour in South Bend, Indiana. They're the opening act for Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
1993 Howie Blauvelt (bass guitarist for Ram Jam) dies of a heart attack. Blauvelt also played bass for Billy Joel's former group The Hassles.
1992 Country singer Roger Miller dies of lung and throat cancer in Los Angeles, California, at age 56.
1992 The "Sinead Brigade," a group supporting Sinéad O'Connor, who tore up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live a few weeks earlier, protests outside of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, where Cardinal John O'Connor is holding mass. Wearing masks of O'Connor, they mimic her display by tearing up photos of the Pope.
1991 The renowned concert promoter Bill Graham, who ran the Fillmore and Fillmore East venues, dies in a helicopter crash returning home from a Huey Lewis & the News concert. Graham, 60, provided a more intimate and elegant concert experience with improved sound and even light shows. Some of his bigger productions included The Band's "Last Waltz" final concert and the Grateful Dead's New Year's Eve shows.
1991 Margo Sylvia (lead singer of The Tune Weavers) dies of a heart attack and stroke in San Diego, California, at age 55. Known for the 1957 hit ''Happy, Happy Birthday Baby."
1988 Chico and Bobby DeBarge (of DeBarge) are convicted in Michigan of trafficking cocaine.
Grunge Is All The Rage As Eddie Vedder (Unwillingly) Makes The Cover Of Time
1993Time 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.
Read more25 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2017 Nashville 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."More
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
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.
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