Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today June 21
1944
Ray Davies is born, the neighborhood chronicler who invented the heavy riff
On June 21, 1944, Ray Davies was born in London — leader of The Kinks. With 'You Really Got Me' and a razor-slashed amplifier, his band founded proto-hard rock; with 'Waterloo Sunset' and 'The Village Green Preservation Society', he became the great chronicler of everyday England. Few songwriters have ever been so brutish and so delicate at once.
Ray Davies
The Kinks
1951
Nils Lofgren is born, the guitarist everyone wants in their band
On June 21, 1951, Nils Lofgren was born in Chicago — perhaps the greatest supporting musician in rock history. A teenage prodigy on Neil Young's 'After the Gold Rush', leader of Grin and, since 1984, guitarist in Springsteen's E Street Band, he has made a career of the art of serving the song. His egoless virtuosity is a permanent lesson in craft.
Nils Lofgren
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