1972 -Stevie Wonder puts out Talking Book, an innovative album where he creates most of the sounds himself using a Clavinet and a custom-made synthesizer. It focused into a laser beam of tight songwriting, warm electronic arrangements, and ebullient performances -- from the love song, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" to the funk of "Superstition". Like no other Stevie Wonder LP before it, Talking Book is all of a piece, the first unified statement of his career.
1975 - After releasing the single and album Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen had the rare honor of simultaneous covers on both Time and Newsweek magazines in the US.
1982 - Prince released his fifth album, 1999. His songwriting was improving by leaps and bounds and then there was the music. Side one had the hits: The groove of "1999", the pop of "Little Red corvette", and the rockabilly riffs of Delirious".
After that opening salvo, all the rules go out the window -- "Let's Pretend We're Married" is a salacious extended lust letter, "Free" is an elegiac anthem, "All the Critics Love U in New York" is a vicious attack at hipsters, and "Lady Cab Driver," with its notorious bridge, is the culmination of all of his sexual fantasies. Sure, Prince stretches out a bit too much over the course of 1999, but the result is a stunning display of raw talent, not wallowing indulgence. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
1986 - David Byrne, who has recently directed the movie True Stories (with a soundtrack by his band, Talking Heads), makes the cover of Time magazine under the headline "Rock's Renaissance Man."
The article reflects Byrne's polymath nature, noting his accomplishments in visual media as well as music. Byrne directed the early Talking Heads videos and created the concept for their stage show that became their acclaimed 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, which is celebrating it's 40th anniversary.
Nowhere on the cover is Byrne's band, Talking Heads, mentioned. This exacerbates tensions with the group, who feel that Byrne is downplaying their contributions and hogging all the credit for their accomplishments. The band breaks up after one more album, Naked, released in 1988.
1993 -Glenn Frey's TV series South of Sunset makes its debut on CBS. Frey plays Cody McMahon, a security chief/bodyguard who starts a detective agency in Hollywood. The show gets terrible ratings and is cancelled after just one episode. The following year, Frey reunites with the Eagles,
Birthdays:
Garry Tallent, bass player with the Bruce Springsteen E Street Band, is 74. He started playing with Springsteen in 1971 and as of 2013, and not counting Springsteen himself, Tallent is the only original member of the E Street Band remaining in the band.
Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran is 65. He joins the band in 1980 as a replacement for Stephen Duffy - turning up for his audition in a pair of pink leopard print pants. dress for the job you want, not the one you have, right?
Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots was born today in 1967. After rocketing to fame as the frontman for grunge-era favorites Stone Temple Pilots, singer Scott Weiland later mounted a solo career and joined the supergroup Velvet Revolver.
R.I.P.:
2002 - Record producer Tom Dowd died. He recorded albums by many artists including Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Derek and the Dominos, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Cream, The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, and Otis Redding.
interesting note: He worked on the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb.
2013, Lou Reed passed away at the age of 71. Well-known as the guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of the Velvet Underground, his solo career, which began in 1972. He often said that his goal was to apply the freedom and creative sensibility of literature to rock music. Reed was not as celebrated as a guitarist, but the energetic report of his rhythm playing and the noisy grace of his leads and solos made him a hero to musicians who valued passion and feel over chops.
As he told MOJO Magazine, " I am what I am, it is what it is and f-you..."
On this Day In Music History was sourced from This Day in Music, Allmusic, MOJO,, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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