Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today April 23
1976
"Ramones" arrives: fourteen songs, twenty-nine minutes, one revolution
The Ramones' debut was released, recorded for about six thousand dollars: fourteen songs in under half an hour, no solos, no fat, no permission asked. It sold little and changed everything: all of British punk came out of that record and their English tour that summer. Few works so influential ever cost so little.
Ramones
1936
Roy Orbison is born, the operatic voice hidden behind dark glasses
Roy Orbison was born in Texas, the shy man with the operatic voice who turned vulnerability into hit material with "Crying" and "Oh, Pretty Woman". Elvis called him the greatest singer in the world. After years of tragedy and neglect, he died in 1988 amid a triumphant comeback with the Traveling Wilburys.
Roy Orbison
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.
