Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 8
1969
Ten minutes on a zebra crossing: the Beatles shoot the 'Abbey Road' cover
On the morning of August 8, 1969, photographer Iain Macmillan climbed a stepladder in the middle of the street and took six shots of the Beatles walking the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Ten minutes of work produced the most imitated album cover in history. The crossing is now a protected landmark and a site of worldwide pilgrimage.
The Beatles
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1961
The Edge is born, the minimalist who built cathedrals out of echo
On August 8, 1961, David Evans — The Edge, U2's guitarist — was born in England. His use of delay turned simple patterns into infinite architectures: 'Where the Streets Have No Name' is a skyscraper made of repetitions. In an era of fast virtuosos, he proved sonic imagination is worth more than a thousand notes per second. Half of modern guitar thinks like him.
The Edge
U2
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1970
'Close to You' rules the summer and the Carpenters unsettle everyone
On August 8, 1970, '(They Long to Be) Close to You' was number one in the United States. Burt Bacharach and Hal David had written it years earlier and nobody had cared, until Richard Carpenter took it apart and rebuilt it around his sister Karen's voice, a warm contralto that sounded like someone speaking into your ear. In the middle of the Woodstock era, the softest song in the country was the most played.
The Carpenters
Burt Bacharach
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1980
The Clash release 'Bankrobber' and punk surrenders to Jamaican dub
On August 8, 1980, The Clash released 'Bankrobber', recorded in Manchester and produced by Jamaica's Mikey Dread. The band weren't playing punk any more: they were playing reggae, bass up front and echo swallowing half the instruments. CBS thought it uncommercial and blocked the twelve-inch carrying the dub version. It reached number twelve in Britain anyway. No white band understood better that Kingston had more to teach than London.
The Clash
Mikey Dread
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1987
U2 crown their perfect year: second straight US number 1
On August 8, 1987, 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, U2's second in a row after 'With or Without You'. That gospel-souled hymn of spiritual searching confirmed that 'The Joshua Tree' was not just a great record: it was the phenomenon that turned four Dubliners into the biggest band on the planet. Few rock groups have lived a year as complete as U2's 1987.
U2
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1933
Joe Tex is born: the preacher who told jokes inside soul music
On August 8, 1933, Joseph Arrington Jr. was born in Texas. As Joe Tex he invented a way of singing all his own: half spoken, half sermon, dispensing marital advice in the middle of a song. 'I Gotcha' was his biggest hit, in 1972, and his rivalry with James Brown fed gossip for a decade. While soul was turning solemn, Tex proved you could also get people dancing by making them laugh.
Joe Tex
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1961
Rikki Rockett is born, the glam pulse of Poison
On August 8, 1961, Richard Allan Ream — forever known as Rikki Rockett — was born in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Founding drummer of Poison, he drove Sunset Strip anthems like 'Talk Dirty to Me' and 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'. With his hairspray-and-makeup image, he embodied like few others the '80s glam metal party that ruled MTV before grunge arrived.
Rikki Rockett
Poison
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1962
Kool Moe Dee is born: the rapper who invented the modern battle
On August 8, 1962, Mohandas Dewese — Kool Moe Dee of the Treacherous Three — was born in Harlem. In 1981, at the Harlem World club, he took Busy Bee Starski apart in a battle that was taped and is often cited as the moment rap stopped being party hosting and became a writing contest. His solo hits and his long feud with LL Cool J came later, but the battle had already set the rules of the trade.
Kool Moe Dee
Treacherous Three
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1973
Scott Stapp is born, the baritone that filled stadiums with Creed
On August 8, 1973, Scott Stapp, vocalist and lyricist of Creed, was born in Orlando, Florida. His dramatic baritone and redemption-soaked lyrics took post-grunge to unthinkable numbers: 'Human Clay' sold over ten million copies in the US alone and 'With Arms Wide Open' won a Grammy. Loved by audiences and punished by critics, Stapp was one of the defining voices of late-'90s rock.
Scott Stapp
Creed
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2009
'I Gotta Feeling' owns the summer and the dancefloor moves into the phone
On August 8, 2009, the Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling' topped the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed all month and well into the next. Produced by David Guetta, it was French house dressed as American pop, and it arrived exactly as digital downloads replaced the physical single. It became one of the best-selling songs of the digital era. The dancefloor had left the club and moved into everybody's headphones.
The Black Eyed Peas
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