1973 - David Bowie released his seventh album Pin Ups. The album is a collection of cover versions of some of Bowie's favorite songs, including tracks by Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, The Who, The Yardbirds and The Kinks.
1979 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release Damn The Torpedoes. Their label, Shelter, was sold to MCA Records. Petty struggled to free himself from the major label, eventually sending himself into bankruptcy. He settled with MCA and set to work, digging out some old Mudcrutch numbers and quickly writing new songs. Amazingly, through all the frustration and anguish, Petty & the Heartbreakers delivered their breakthrough and arguably their masterpiece with Damn the Torpedoes. It offered a tough, streamlined fusion of the Stones and Byrds and thanks to Jimmy Iovine's clean production, sounded utterly modern yet timeless. (Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images)
1979 - Prince releases his sophomore album, Prince, containing the #1 R&B hit "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and the original version of "I Feel For You," later a hit for Chaka Khan. It's his first album certified Platinum for sales over 1 million.
1984 - The Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense opens in theaters. A highly unconventional film that doesn't rely on crowd shots or backstage footage, it's hailed as a triumph of the genre.
The title comes from a line in the song "Girlfriend Is Better," which Byrne performs wearing a very big suit. In an interview with himself to promote the film, Byrne asked why. "I wanted my head to appear smaller and the easiest way to do that was to make my body bigger," he said, "because music is very physical and often the body understands it before the head."
1985 - A-ha went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Take On Me," making them the first Norwegian group to achieve a No. 1 hit in America. The song's success might be attributed to its distinctive music video - which features the band in a pencil-sketch animation method called rotoscoping - which won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
2005 - A survey conducted by the U.K. branch of Prudential concluded that the average person spent around $42,000 on music during their lives; the total included the amount spent on sound equipment, concerts and albums. Survey participants who identified as music enthusiasts were likely to spend more than double that, parting with slightly more than $89,000 in a lifetime.
2011 - Coldplay released their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, Co-produced by Brian Eno. Eno's echoes and ambience positively sparkles when they meet the band’s bright, chipper melodies. Mylo Xyloto has a leg up on other Coldplay records for the simple reason that they’re no longer attempting to mimic U2's portentous piety. They’ve embraced their schoolboy selves and are simply singing songs of love and good cheer,
Birthdays:
Harris Glenn Milstead, who performs as the drag queen Divine, is born in a suburb of Baltimore. Most famous as an actor (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray), he also records dance music, was born on this day in 1945.
Jeannie C. Riley ('Harper Valley PTA') is 77.
Keith Reid of Procol Harum is 76.
Pat Simmons, guitarist, singer with The Doobie Brothers is 74.
Karl Wallinger, keyboardist with The Waterboys, before forming World Party, is 65,
Peter Tosh was born on this day in 1944. Singer, musician, composer, and rebel, Peter Tosh cut a swathe through Jamaican music, both as a founding member of the Wailers and as a solo artist. He helped reggae cross over to mainstream audiences in the late '70s, touring with the Rolling Stones and scoring an international hit with a duet with Mick Jagger. Tosh was an outspoken Rastafarian, and some of his most popular music explored Rasta culture and politically charged anti-war sentiments. He was an advocate for the legalization of marijuana and was an accomplished unicyclist.
On This Day In Music History was sourced from Allmusic, This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.