1960 -Frank Sinatra launched his own record label, Reprise Records, in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname “The Chairman of the Board.” One of the label’s founding principles under Sinatra’s leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom, and at some point complete ownership of their work. Despite the fact that Frank was not a fan of rock 'n roll, once calling it "the most brutal, ugly, desperate vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear", Reprise later became the home of Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and The Beach Boys.
1967 - What might be the greatest 45rpm ever, The Beatles released the double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane' on Capitol Records in the US. The single spent 10 weeks on the chart peaking at No.1.
On Strawberry Fields Forever, Lennon said this (from his 1980 interview with Playboy magazine): "Strawberry Fields is a real place. After I stopped living at Penny Lane, I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs...Near that home was Strawberry Fields, a house near a boys' reformatory where I used to go to garden parties as a kid with my friends Nigel and Pete we would go there and hang out and sell lemonade bottles for a penny. We always had fun at Strawberry Fields.
The "Penny Lane" referenced in the song is the Penny Lane Bus Station (now gone) next to "the shelter in the middle of the roundabout." When the boys were young they used to meet at this bus station as it was a hub to get them anywhere they wanted to go and was centrally located to all of them.
1969 - Bob Dylan recorded versions of "Lay, Lady, Lay" at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The song was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie Midnight Cowboy, but wasn't submitted in time to be included in the finished film.
1996 - The Fugees release their second album, The Score. It's a landmark, topping the charts around the world and pushing the boundaries of hip-hop. Its success proved there was a substantial untapped audience with an appreciation for rap music but little interest in thug life. Their strong fondness for smooth soul and reggae is underscored by the two hit covers given slight hip-hop makeovers (Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry"). Even when they're not relying on easily recognizable tunes, their original material is powered by a raft of indelible hooks, especially the great "Fu-Gee-La"; there are also touches of blues and gospel, and the recognizable samples range from doo wop to Enya.
Happy Birthday:
Peter Gabriel is 74. Peter Gabriel combines the theatricality of his time as the leader of Genesis in the early '70s with widely appealing sounds and songwriting, making him an international star with the credibility of a cult hero.
Following his departure from Genesis in 1976, Peter Gabriel began work on the first of three consecutive eponymously titled albums; each record was named Peter Gabriel, he said, as if they were editions of the same magazine. He explored dark, cerebral territory, incorporating avant-garde, electronic, and worldbeat influences into his music.
With 1982's Security, he began to move into the mainstream; "Shock the Monkey" became his first Top 40 hit, paving the way for his breakthrough So in 1986. Accompanied by a series of groundbreaking videos and the number one single "Sledgehammer," So became a multi-platinum hit. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
Peter Hook is 68 today. He is best known as the bassist and co-founder of the Joy Division and New Order. He is currently the lead singer and one of the bassists for the band Peter Hook and the Light. With Joy Division and New Order, Hook is currently a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2023.
Henry Rollins is 63. A member of Black Flag and fronted the Rollins Band. He has campaigned for various political causes in the United States, including the promotion of LGBT rights, World Hunger Relief, the West Memphis Three, and an end to all war.
R.I.P.:
2002 - Waylon Jennings died aged 64. Although he disliked the term, Jennings had been one of the major figures in the so-called "outlaw country" movement — artists who bucked the commercial trends of 1970s Nashville, who also included Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
Jennings rejected the conventions of Nashville, refusing to record with the industry's legions of studio musicians and insisting that his music never resemble the string-laden, pop-inflected sounds that were coming out of Nashville in the '60s and '70s, helping the genre adhere to its hardcore honky tonk roots.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Far Out Magazine, and Wikipedia.
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