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Featured Events
2012Darius 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.
2003Apple launches a Windows version of the iTunes store, previously available only on Macs.
2001Etta Jones dies of cancer at age 72 in Mount Vernon, New York, the same day HighNote releases her album Etta Jones Sings Lady Day.
2001Bob 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.
1992Sinéad 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.More
1991Red 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.
1986Chuck 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.
1972Creedence 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.
1962At 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.
16
In Music History
2017Ed 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
2014Tim Hauser (of The Criterions, The Manhattan Transfer) dies of a cardiac arrest at age 72.
2003Simon & Garfunkel open their new "Old Friends" Tour with a concert in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
1999Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of folk singer Arlo Guthrie, marries Johnny Irion. They begin performing together as an acoustic duo the following year.
1999Pop 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."
1993Aretha Franklin sings the US national anthem in Toronto before Game 1 of World Series between the Blue Jays and the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.
1992The Offspring release their second studio album, Ignition. It's their first release on Epitaph Records, a label owned by Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz.
1990Jazz drummer Art Blakey dies of lung cancer in Manhattan, New York, at age 71.
1988U2, Ziggy Marley and Keith Richards are among the performers at the Smile Jamaica concert, which benefits victims of Hurricane Gilbert.
1977John Mayer is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
1975Bruce 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.
1973Drummer Gene Krupa dies of leukemia in Yonkers, New York, at age 64.
1969Brian Wilson's wife Marilyn gives birth to their second child, Wendy. Along with Chynna Phillips and her older sister Carnie, she forms the group Wilson Phillips.
"Disco Duck" Becomes Last Novelty Song To Waddle To #1
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.
Dees established himself as a popular comic DJ while working at WMPS AM 680 ("The Great 68") in Memphis, Tennessee. Responding to the disco craze, he wrote and recorded the novelty song "Disco Duck," featuring a Donald-like duck voice done by a guy Dees met at the gym.
Released on the local label Fretone, the song got enough attention in the South to earn a distribution deal with RSO, which promoted it nationally. Dees, though, couldn't play it on the air because management considered it a conflict of interest. On October 11, 1976, he was fired for merely talking about it on his show. Five days later, the song goes to #1.
Combining funky-style disco beats with rhythmic quacking, "Disco Duck" tells the story of a man at a disco who tries his luck with a duck dance - it catches on and soon everyone is doing it. Breaks in the song have Donald Duck's voice jabbering encouragement.
Disco is clearly on the rise, but its days are numbered: "Disco Demolition Night" is just three years away.
Released on the local label Fretone, the song got enough attention in the South to earn a distribution deal with RSO, which promoted it nationally. Dees, though, couldn't play it on the air because management considered it a conflict of interest. On October 11, 1976, he was fired for merely talking about it on his show. Five days later, the song goes to #1.
Combining funky-style disco beats with rhythmic quacking, "Disco Duck" tells the story of a man at a disco who tries his luck with a duck dance - it catches on and soon everyone is doing it. Breaks in the song have Donald Duck's voice jabbering encouragement.
Disco is clearly on the rise, but its days are numbered: "Disco Demolition Night" is just three years away.
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