Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today May 18
1980
Ian Curtis dies at 23: the shadow that founded all dark rock
On May 18, 1980, on the eve of Joy Division's first American tour, Ian Curtis took his own life at his home in Macclesfield. He was 23, with epilepsy, a broken marriage and two albums that redefined post-punk. From his ashes came New Order and much of the dark music of the following decades. Few absences weigh so heavily on rock.
Ian Curtis
Joy Division
1911
Big Joe Turner is born, the Kansas City shouter who announced rock and roll
On May 18, 1911, Big Joe Turner was born in Kansas City — the blues shouter whose original 1954 'Shake, Rattle and Roll' marked the exact bridge between jump blues and rock and roll. Bill Haley softened it and took the fame, but the power was Turner's. Without voices like his, Elvis would have had no language to learn.
Big Joe Turner
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