1979 - Blondie released Eat To The Beat, which contained the hit "Dreaming." A bit more pop that `Parallel Lines', the band tried to cover too many stylistic bases. But "Die Young Stay Pretty," for example, dipped into an island sound complete with modified reggae beat (a foreshadowing of the upcoming hit "The Tide Is High"). The album was huge in the UK, not so much here.
1986 - The Beatles track "Twist and Shout" re-entered the U.S. singles chart over twenty-five years after it first appeared, when the song was featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
1997 - Bob Dylan played "Knocking On Heaven's Door" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" for Pope John Paul II and an audience of 300,000 at the World Eucharist Congress in Bologna, Italy. For the 77-year-old Pope, it was a chance to connect with young people, and the pontiff did so by invoking Dylan's song "Blowin' In The Wind" during his sermon.'
2011- Tony Bennett became the oldest living person to top the U.S. album chart when the 85-year-old's Duets II album went to No. 1. The record, which featured collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, was also his first U.S. No. 1 in his 60 year career. The previous oldest performer to top the chart was Bob Dylan in 2009 with Together Through Life. At the time he was 67-years old.
2016 - Bruce Springsteen publishes his autobiography, Born To Run. The singer’s candid memoir sheds light on his long-standing battle with depression and his drive to perform.
“Exposed in front of thousands, I have always felt perfectly safe,” he says. “That’s why you can’t get rid of me.” (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Birthdays:
Meat Loaf was born on this day in 1947. His 1977 Jim Steinman-produced debut, Bat Out of Hell, has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. Meat Loaf carved out an impressive arc as an actor, appearing in the original Broadway theater cast of The Rocky Horror Show, the musical Hair, and in the David Fincher-directed film Fight Club.
Randy Bachman of Guess Who is 79.
Robbie Shakespeare, best known as one half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar, was born on this day in 1953.
Greg Ham (keyboard/flute player for Men At Work) is born on this day in 1965. His solo on "Down Under" lead to a lawsuit saying it infringed on the nursery rhyme, "Kookaburra". Despite appeals, the band lost the suit. Ham said he was deeply affected by the judgment and felt it tarnished his reputation, saying: "I'm terribly disappointed that that's the way I'm going to be remembered—for copying something."
Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind is 58.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Song Facts, The Guardian, Allmusic, and Wikipedia.