15
Featured Events
2014Barbra Streisand appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing selections from her duets album with the host standing in for her various duet partners. It marks her first late-night interview since 1967, when she appeared on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
2010In Toronto, Roger Waters begins his The Wall Live tour, a new production of the show he made famous with Pink Floyd in 1980.More
2007At 17 years and one month old, Soulja Boy boy becomes the youngest artist to write, produce and perform a #1 Hot 100 hit when "Crank That" goes to the top. The record was previously held by Debbie Gibson, who was 17 years and 9 months old when "Foolish Beat" went to #1 in 1988.
2003Johnny Cash is buried in the Cash family cemetery in Hendersonville, Tennessee, next to his wife, June Carter Cash. Among the mourners at the private ceremony: Al Gore, Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow.
1998Marilyn Manson release their third album, Mechanical Animals. Target, Walmart and some other retailers refuse to stock it because of the cover, which depicts the group's frontman in naked female form.More
1998Brandy and Monica, who have been lighting up the chatrooms on AOL, perform their duet "The Boy Is Mine" at the MTV Video Music Awards amid rumors that the young divas have serious beef. Clearing things up, their managers issue a statement saying: "The fact is that Brandy and Monica did interviews together, had their picture taken together, had adjoining dressing rooms, sat together at the show, and held hands and prayed together prior to going on stage to perform."
1983Huey Lewis and the News release the album Sports, which sells over 7 million copies. The album features the singles "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock 'n Roll" and "If This Is It."
15
In Music History
2019The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek dies at 75.
2013Doo-wopper Bobby Mansfield (lead singer of The Wrens) dies in The Bronx, New York, at age 76. Known for the 1955 hit "Come Back My Love."
2013Jackie Lomax (hand-picked by The Beatles to be Apple Records' first big vocal star, but that never happened) dies of cancer while visiting near Liverpool, England, at age 69. Known for the 1968 single "Sour Milk Sea."
2010Calypso/soca musician Alphonsus "Arrow" Cassell dies at age 60 in Montserrat, West Indies, after a two-year battle with cerebral cancer.
2008Rick Wright (keyboardist for Pink Floyd) dies of cancer in London, England, at age 65.
2004Guitarist/songwriter Johnny Ramone (of The Ramones) dies of prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles, California, at age 55.
2003Madonna's first children's book is published in 42 languages in more than 100 countries. The release of The English Roses by Callaway Editions and Penguin Group, in association with various publishers around the world, is touted as the largest simultaneous worldwide release of a book in history.
2000For the first time since learning he has Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), country singer Chris LeDoux returns to the stage while he awaits the necessary liver transplant.
1998Reba McEntire gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Johnny Grant Building at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard.
1998Coolio is arrested in Lawndale, California, and cited for driving on the wrong side of the road with an expired license. He is also charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana. His trouble with the law doesn't hurt his TV career, as he makes frequent appearances on shows like Fear Factor and Hollywood Squares.
1993Steamboat Springs, Colorado, names their "James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge" after the singer.
1988Mark Knopfler announces that Dire Straits has disbanded. He re-forms the group in 1991.
1982At the Los Angeles Forum, Queen play their last American concert with Freddie Mercury, who dies nine years later. Michael Jackson joins the band backstage before the show. On Queen's subsequent tours with Mercury, they skip America.
1980David Bowie debuts on Broadway in The Elephant Man.
1979Led Zeppelin's album In Through The Out Door hits #1 in the US, displacing Get The Knack by The Knack. It stays on top for seven weeks, but ends up being their swan song when drummer John Bonham dies a year later.
Albums Go Mobile With 8-Track Players In Cars
1965Ford offers factory-installed 8-track tape players in its Mustang, Thunderbird and Lincoln models. This marks the first time 8-track players are widely available, so you can only get the tapes in auto parts stores or Ford dealers. The players have a tendency to chew up the tapes, leading to 8-track roadkill as drivers throw the tangled tapes out their windows.
This is the first time 8-track players are widely available, so the tapes are sold not at record stores, but in auto parts stores or Ford dealerships. To this point, the only listening option in cars is radio, since putting a record player in a car would be a bit awkward (and skip), and the cassette format isn't ready for prime time. This means that for the first time, drivers can choose the music they listen to in the car. Before 8-track, there was 4-track, and some of those players were custom installed - Frank Sinatra had one. It was while driving in such a 4-track equipped car that Lear Jet maker Bill Lear got the idea to improve the technology and create the 8-track. The 8-track automobile revolution spills out of cars and into living rooms, making it a popular listening choice and a threat to vinyl, since it takes up less room and songs can be selected with the press of a button instead of the drop of a needle. But there are some serious flaws, most glaringly the tendency of the players to chew up the tapes, leading to piles of tangled tapes on American roadsides as drivers hurl them out their windows in frustration. And also, they only hold, er, eight tracks, so there's a good chance you'll be missing a song or two. The rise of the compact cassette dooms the 8-track to obscurity in the '80s. And unlike vinyl, there's little nostalgia for the format, since listeners don't appreciate tape hiss like they do pops and crackles. But beauty is in the ear of the beholder, and those with fond memories of the format can find 8-track players and tapes on eBay or head to the 8 Track Shack.
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