1979 - Unknown Pleasures, the debut long-player from British post-punk band Joy Division, is released. Although it does not chart, it becomes hugely influential and is widely critically acclaimed as one of the defining albums of the post-punk era.
The band do not release any singles in support of Unknown Pleasures, and record only one more album - Closer (1980) - which is released shortly after the suicide of Ian Curtis in May 1980. The remaining members, together with Gillian Gilbert, continue to write and perform as New Order.
1985 - Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Brothers In Arms. Dire Straits had never been so concise or pop-oriented, and it wore well on them. Of course, the success of Brothers in Arms was helped considerably by the clever computer-animated video for "Money for Nothing," a sardonic attack on MTV.
1989 - Nirvana's debut album Bleach was released. This is one case where the legend really precedes the record itself. Cut for about 600 dollars over just a matter of days, this captures Nirvana at a formative stage, still indebted to the murk that became known as grunge, yet not quite finding their voice as songwriters. The title for the album came from a poster 'Bleach Your Works' urging drug users to bleach their needles. Kurt Cobain claimed that most of the lyrics on the album were written the night before recording while he was feeling "pissed off", and that he did not regard them highly.
1996 - The Beastie Boys hosted the first Tibetan Freedom Concert, with performers that included Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins and John Lee Hooker. About 100,000 attend the two shows, raising money for the Milarepa Fund.
1999 - After a seven-year recording hiatus, Santana release the album Supernatural, which goes to #1. It's their first chart-topping album in 28 years. Nearly every track on Supernatural features popular contemporary acts like Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas, Lauryn Hill and Cee Lo Green, Everlast, Dave Matthews, Eagle-Eye Cherry, and Eric Clapton. The range of influences adds notes of alternative rock, pop, and R&B to Santana's signature sound.
2005 - Coldplay went straight to No. 1 on U.S. album chart with their third album, X&Y. It's deliberate and sleek, cinematic and pristine, hip enough to sample Kraftwerk and blend in fashionable retro-'80s post-punk allusions without altering the band's core. (Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty Images for Radio.com)
2014 - American Top 40 host (and voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo) Casey Kasem dies at age 82.
2016 - Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page denied stealing the riff to "Stairway To Heaven" when he took the stand at a copyright trial in the U.S. The band was accused of lifting the opening guitar line from "Taurus", a 1968 track by the band Spirit. Page testified that he had never heard the song until people started posting comparisons online a few years ago. Under questioning, he conceded that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled debut, on which the track appears, but could not recall how it came to be part of his collection.
2017 - Jay-Z became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Birthdays:
Waylon Jennings was born on this day in 1933.
Nilsson was born today in 1941.
Noddy Holder of Slade is 75.
Ice Cube is 52.
Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol is 45.
On This Day In Music History is sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.