1999Standin' On The Corner Park opens in Winslow, Arizona. Inspired by the city's famous mention in the Eagles song "Take It Easy," the park features a statue of a man with a guitar standing on the corner. The park quickly becomes a popular photo op for folks passing through Winslow.
1990Starring a young rapper named Will Smith, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuts on NBC. Smith hones his acting skills during his six seasons on the show, which features guest appearances by his musical partner, DJ Jazzy Jeff.More
1988Guns N' Roses, on tour as the opening act for Aerosmith, hit #1 in America for the first of two weeks with "Sweet Child O' Mine."
1966The Beatles' Revolver hits #1 despite a firestorm over John Lennon's comments that the group is "more popular than Jesus now."
2015Craig David breaks his hiatus with a guest slot on BBC Radio 1Xtra during a takeover by spoof garage and grime collective Kurupt FM, made popular by the BBC mockumentary People Just Do Nothing (also featuring grime MCs Big Narstie, Stormzy and MC Vapour). The session goes viral and helps launch David's comeback alongside the rising grime scene.More
2010Delta bluesman Foster "Mr. Tater" Wiley dies in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 63.
2009Nine Inch Nails completes its Wave Goodbye Tour at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater, with Trent Reznor declaring that the band is done performing live for "the foreseeable future." The band maintains its hiatus for roughly four years, returning on July 26, 2013, with their Twenty Thirteen Tour.
2008Abingdon Street in Peoria, Illinois, is designated "Fogelberg Parkway" after their native son Dan Fogelberg. The street is where the events of his song "Same Old Lang Syne" took place.
2001Jo Dee Messina releases "Bring On The Rain," which becomes an anthem of grief and resilience after the terrorist attacks the next day.
1996Neil Peart employs some jazz-influenced traditional drum grips on Rush's 16th studio album, Test for Echo. It's the last album the band releases before the death of Peart's daughter, followed ten months later by the passing of his wife, leads the band to take a six-year recording hiatus.
1996Blues guitarist Lee Baker (of Lee Baker & The Agitators) is murdered at age 53, along with his elderly aunt, in Memphis, Tennessee.
1984Matthew Followill (lead guitarist for Kings Of Leon) is born Cameron Matthew Followill in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1975PBS airs the special The World Of John Hammond, celebrating the Columbia Records executive who signed Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to the label. Dylan performs three songs in tribute.
1975Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight" is certified Gold.
1973The BBC, predictably, bans The Rolling Stones' single "Star Star," which is better known as "Starf----r."
1972At the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, The Doors, who have continued as a trio since the death of Jim Morrison in July 1971, play their last concert. Their final song is "Light My Fire," the last song Morrison performed before his death.
1970B.B. King plays for inmates at Cook County Jail in Chicago. The show is released the following year as the album Live at Cook County Jail.
1968Rapper Big Daddy Kane is born Antonio Hardy in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Known for 1988's "Ain't No Half-Steppin'."
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Unleashed
1991
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is released as a single, forever changing the musical meaning of the word "Alternative."
In 1991, the music charts are dominated by the pop sounds of artists like Bryan Adams, Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, and Michael Jackson. The hair-metal craze of the '80s is struggling to survive, and although there are plenty of punk and alternative fans hiding out in garages and dive bars, the sound has yet to really take over the mainstream.
That changes in the fall of 1991. Nirvana appears as if out of nowhere, knocking the music world flat on its ass with the undefinable sound of their first single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It isn't straight hard rock, it isn't quite punk, it certainly isn't metal; the only label we can think to put on it is Grunge, slid into the broader "alternative" category that up until then had been occupied by the likes of The Cure, R.E.M., and The Smiths.
Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain is the antithesis of the pop star image, with his thrift store layers and bad haircut, not so much singing as groaning and screaming the nearly-unintelligible lyrics that somehow make sense to a generation bored to death with all things smooth and polished. Alternative is nothing new, but his alternative is viable, and the release of "Teen Spirit" opens the door for a music revolution.
That changes in the fall of 1991. Nirvana appears as if out of nowhere, knocking the music world flat on its ass with the undefinable sound of their first single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It isn't straight hard rock, it isn't quite punk, it certainly isn't metal; the only label we can think to put on it is Grunge, slid into the broader "alternative" category that up until then had been occupied by the likes of The Cure, R.E.M., and The Smiths.
Lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain is the antithesis of the pop star image, with his thrift store layers and bad haircut, not so much singing as groaning and screaming the nearly-unintelligible lyrics that somehow make sense to a generation bored to death with all things smooth and polished. Alternative is nothing new, but his alternative is viable, and the release of "Teen Spirit" opens the door for a music revolution.
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