Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today May 22
1959
Morrissey is born, the insufferable poet Manchester gave the world
On May 22, 1959, Steven Patrick Morrissey was born in Manchester. Fronting The Smiths alongside Johnny Marr, he turned shyness, sarcasm and working-class melancholy into the most literary songbook of eighties British pop. However controversial he has become personally, his work with the Smiths remains untouchable: nobody sang loneliness better with gladioli in hand.
Morrissey
The Smiths
1958
The scandal that froze rock: Jerry Lee Lewis lands in London with his 13-year-old wife
On May 22, 1958, Jerry Lee Lewis arrived in London for a tour and the press discovered his new wife, Myra, was his 13-year-old cousin. The tour was cancelled amid jeers, his career collapsed overnight and rock lived through its first great media scandal. An early reminder that the genre could devour its own stars.
Jerry Lee Lewis
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.