1970 - Paul McCartney released his debut solo album, McCartney (the black cover with the cherries). McCartney retreated from the spotlight of the Beatles by recording his first solo album at his home studio, performing nearly all of the instruments himself. Appropriately, McCartney has an endearingly ragged, homemade quality that makes even its filler -- and there is quite a bit of filler -- rather ingratiating. Only a handful of songs rank as full-fledged McCartney classics, but those songs -- the light folk-pop of "That Would Be Something," the sweet, gentle "Every Night," the ramshackle Beatles leftover "Teddy Boy," and the staggering "Maybe I'm Amazed", are full of all the easy melodic charm that is McCartney's trademark.
1973 - The Eagles released their second studio album Desperado. A concept album about Old West outlaws, but it had no specific narrative. On Eagles, the group had already begun to marry itself to a Southwest sound and lyrical references and all of this became more overt on Desperado. But where Eagles seemed deliberately to balance the band's many musical styles and the talents of the band's members, Desperado, despite its overarching theme, often seemed a collection of disparate tracks. That said, the result was an album that was simultaneously more ambitious and serious-minded than its predecessor. Highlights: Tequila Sunrise, Desperado, Out Of Control, and Doolin-Dalton.
1975 - Elvis Presley bought a Convair 880 Jet formally owned by Delta Airlines for $250,000, which he re-christened Lisa Marie. Presley spent a further $600,000 refurbishing the Jet to include personal quarters, a meeting area and a dance floor.
1983 - Joe Strummer of The Clash ran the London Marathon, finishing with a time of 4 hours 13 minutes. He claimed that his training included 10 pints of beer the night before.
1989, Pixies release their second studio album, Doolittle. Doolittle, reins in the noise of Surfer Rosa, in favor of pop songcraft and accessibility. Their poppy side surfaces on the irresistible single "Here Comes Your Man" and the sweetly surreal love song "La La Love You." There's still arty, noisy weirdness on the gleefully demented singles like "Debaser" and "Wave of Mutilation," their surfy ode to driving a car into the sea. Their most accessible album, Doolittle's wide-ranging moods and sounds make it one of their most eclectic and ambitious. A fun, freaky alternative to most other late-'80s college rock, it's easy to see why the album made the Pixies into underground rock stars.(Photo by Jonathan Wood/Getty Images)
2009 - Morrissey walked off stage during his set at the Coachella festival in California after declaring he could "smell burning flesh". A strict vegetarian, Morrissey was reacting to the smoke coming from nearby barbecues.
2020 - Fiona Apple releases her fifth album, Fetch The Bolt Cutters. Everything seems restless: overdubbed harmonies don't quite jibe, rhythms are cluttered, narratives turn inside out, and Apple treats her own voice as a rubber instrument, stretching it beyond comfort. As pure sound, it's exhilarating. It's rare to listen to a pop album and have no idea what comes next, and Fetch the Bolt Cutters delivers surprises that delight and bruise at a rapid pace. The title is a reference to a line Gillian Anderson says in the TV series The Fall and is a metaphor for setting yourself free. Rage sits alongside heartache and humor, the shifts in mood occurring with a dramatic flair and a disarming playfulness.
Birthdays:
Don Kirshner —once described by Time Magazine as “the man with the golden ear”. Formed a publishing house called Aldon Music, and gathered together all the best young writers in New York. Those unknown writers included Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Cynthia Weil, Barry Mann, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, among others.
In 1966, the enterprising Kirshner embarked on the second stage of his professional career when he developed America's answer to the Beatles. By creating the Monkees, a group assembled by placing advertisements in various trade papers, for the NBC network, Kirshner created a cute, lovable, slightly anti-establishment rock group that would parade around in a half-hour TV show while going on zany adventures à la the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night and Help!
Kirshner formed Don Kirshner Productions in 1973 to produce his successful Don Kirshner's Rock Concert series.
Jan Hammer is 76. A keyboard titan, Jan Hammer is best known for his work scoring the stylish '80s cop series Miami Vice, as well as for being a charter member of John McLaughlin's legendary fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra. A classically trained performer, Hammer first emerged in the 1970s, appearing with Mahavishnu before issuing his own synth-based albums. He has also collaborated with a bevy of name performers including Jeff Beck, Al Di Meola, Neal Schon, and many more.
Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks was born today in 1955. With their crisp melodies, Pete Shelley's biting lyrics, and Shelley's and Steve Diggle's driving guitars, Buzzcocks were one of the most influential bands to emerge in the initial wave of British punk rock. Largely eschewing politics, they instead brought an intense, brilliant vigor to the three-minute pop song, powered by Shelley's alternately funny and anguished lyrics about adolescence and love, backed by melodies and hooks that were concise and memorable.
Afrika Bambaataa is 67. A seminal Bronx DJ during the 1970s, Afrika Bambaataa ascended to godfather status with "Planet Rock," the 1982 hip-hop classic that blended the beats of hip-hop with techno-pop futurism inspired by German pioneers Kraftwerk. Even before he began recording in 1980, Bambaataa was hip-hop's foremost DJ, an organizer and promoter of the large block parties during the mid- to late '70s that presaged the rise of rap.
Singer/songwriter Liz Phair is 57. One of the pivotal figures of American rock & roll in the 1990s, Liz Phair became a sensation with the 1993 release of her debut album in Exile in Guyville. Prior to Exile, Phair released a series of lo-fi cassettes under the Girly-Sound moniker, tapes that became an underground sensation in her native Chicago and beyond. Girly-Sound proved to be the launching pad for Exile in Guyville, a bravura double-album that paired swaggering rockers with stark, moody ballads, its varying moods tied together by Phair's wit and candor.
R.I.P.:
1998 - Linda McCartney died after a long battle against cancer. Married Paul McCartney in 1969 when she was working as a photographer. As well as a being a member of Wings, she became an animal rights campaigner and launched her own brand of vegetarian food.
2008 - Danny Federici, the longtime keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen and a member of The E Street Band, died at the age of 58. Federici had worked with Springsteen for over 40 years, starting with Steel Mill and Child with Springsteen.
1987 - Reggae drummer and percussion player Carlton Barrett of The Wailers was shot outside his house in Kingston, Jamaica. Joined Bob Marley and The Wailers in 1970, wrote the Marley song 'War'. Barrett was the originator of the one-drop rhythm, a percussive drumming style.
1983 - Felix Pappalardi, producer and bass player with American rock band Mountain was shot by his wife Gail Collins during a jealous rage. Collins was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to four years in prison. Pappalardi who was 43 had produced the Cream albums 'Disraeli Gears' and 'Wheels of Fire.'
1960 - While touring in the UK, 21-year-old US singer Eddie Cochran was killed when the taxi he was travelling in crashed into a lamppost. Eddie Cochran was one of the first great stars of rock & roll and an artist whose influence would far outstrip his brief career. Occasionally cited as one of the pioneers of rockabilly, but his style was more muscular and less twangy than those of his peers, adding a bluesy accent to the music that meshed comfortably with his country-influenced melodies.
On This Day In Music History was sourced, curated, copied, pasted, edited, and occasionally woven together with my own crude prose, from This Day In Music, Allmusic, Song Facts and Wikipedia.
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