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Click on a date below to find out what happened on that day in music history... |
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U2 leave the Island label--their home for nearly 25 years--for Mercury. Don't be too shocked ... both labels are owned by the same company, Universal.
U2
Barbra Streisand tells a heckler at her Madison Square Garden show to "Shut the f*ck up." Honey, I paid $250 for my ticket. I can say what the hell I like.
Barbra Streisand
Franz Ferdinand top the U.K. album chart with their second album You Could Have It So Much Better. The No. 1 single is Sugababes' "Push the Button."
Franz Ferdinand
Sugababes
Limp Bizkit are sued by 172 fans for storming off stage at the Summer Sanitarium tour's Chicago stop after only playing 17 minutes. The band had been bombarded with garbage.
Limp Bizkit
Singer Jon Stevens leaves INXS over musical differences. He originally joined the "Need You Tonight" band in 2002 following the death of Michael Hutchence.
INXS
Michael Hutchence
R.E.M. are reunited with original drummer Bill Berry at a greatest hits show in Raleigh, N.C. Berry sings on "Radio Free Europe" and bangs the drums for "Permanent Vacation."
R.E.M.
For the first time ever, each place in the U.S. singles Top 10 chart is taken by an African-American artist. Sitting at No. 1 is Beyonce and Sean Paul with "Baby Boy."
Beyoncé
Sean Paul
The Strokes kick off their latest tour in support of new album Room on Fire in Philadelphia, with hotly tipped Southerners, Kings of Leon, supporting.
The Strokes
Kings Of Leon
Barry White shares lessons from several decades of lovemaking with the students of Oxford University when he addresses their debating union.
Barry White
What would have been John Lennon's 60th birthday is celebrated with a new museum dedicated to him opening in Tokyo, reissues of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Double Fantasy, and the publication of the Beatles Anthology book.
The Beatles
John Lennon
The Plastic Ono Band
Two NetAid concerts are held in New York and London. By all accounts they suck the big one. Bono and Wyclef Jean are particularly nonplussed at playing to a near-empty Giants Stadium. Organizer Ken Kragen blames the not-Live Aid-size turnout on "compassion fatigue."
Bono
Wyclef Jean
Glam star Gary Glitter, whose "Rock & Roll, Part 2" can still be heard in sports stadiums today, declares bankruptcy.
Gary Glitter
Glam
John Lennon and Yoko Ono celebrate his and Sean's birthdays with a party at New York's Tavern on the Green.
Yoko Ono
John Lennon
One of Bowie's heroes, the fiery Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel dies from cancer at age 49.
Jacques Brel
David Bowie
The Clash delay the start of a concert in Sweden after a bomb scare.
The Clash
Rather differing philosophies are on display at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, where the Who and the Grateful Dead co-headline.
The Who
The Grateful Dead
To John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a son. Sean Taro Ono Lennon is born. The boy weighs 8 lb. 10 oz. It's also Lennon's 35th birthday.
Yoko Ono
John Lennon
This evening, John Lennon celebrates his 31st birthday with a party in a New York hotel room that includes guests Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and Phil Spector. Everybody gets very drunk.
Eric Clapton
Ringo Starr
John Lennon
Phil Spector
Van Morrison releases his single "Wild Night." It's his last top 40 hit in America, peaking at No. 28.
Van Morrison
Yoko Ono's exhibition This Is Not Here opens at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, N.Y.
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono suffers a miscarriage after being taken to London's King's College Hospital.
Yoko Ono
Fifth Beatle Murray the K is fired from his DJ slot at WOR in New York because of his "inability to live with direction."
In London, the Beatles attend a party held by the composer Lionel Bart to celebrate his new musical Twang!, about Robin Hood. No. 1 in the U.S. today is the Beatles' "Yesterday." It goes on to become one of the most recorded songs in history.
The Beatles
Lionel Bart
The Rolling Stones announce they are canceling their South African tour after the British Musicians' Union declares an anti-apartheid embargo.
The Rolling Stones
Shortly after midnight, the Beatles attend a performance by jazz sax player Roland Kirk. Later in the day, the still-spry Beatles record a performance of "She Loves You" to appear on The Ken Dodd Show. That night, the BBC broadcasts a documentary on the Mersey sound of Liverpool beat bands.
Roland Kirk
The Beatles
Topping the American singles chart today is Ray Charles with "Hit the Road, Jack." Peaking at No. 2 is Roy Orbison with "Crying."
Ray Charles
Roy Orbison
Bobby Darin, 22, becomes the youngest performer ever to headline at the Copa Room in Las Vegas' Sands Hotel.
Bobby Darin
Eddie Cochran records the rockabilly classic "C'mon Everybody."
Eddie Cochran
Jackson Browne, the archetypal Californian singer/songwriter, is born in ... Heidelberg, Germany?
Jackson Browne
Reggae star Peter Tosh is born in Westmoreland, Jamaica.
Peter Tosh
John Lennon is born in the middle of an air raid at Liverpool, England's Oxford Street Maternity Hospital at 630 p.m. GMT.
John Lennon
Great Memphis soul singer O.V. Wright ("I'd Rather Be [Blind, Crippled & Crazy]") is born in Leno, Tenn.
O.V. Wright
 
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