Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 9
1995
Jerry Garcia dies and the long strange trip comes to an end
On August 9, 1995, Jerry Garcia died in a California rehab clinic at 53. Grateful Dead's guitarist and soul, he had turned psychedelic improvisation into a way of life followed by a nomadic nation of Deadheads. With his death the band ended, and so did the last living utopia of the sixties. The trip was long and strange, just as the song required.
Jerry Garcia
Grateful Dead
Listen
Via YouTube
1959
Kurtis Blow is born: the first rapper signed to a major label
On August 9, 1959, Kurtis Walker was born in Harlem. At twenty he became the first rapper signed by a major record company, Mercury, and in 1980 'The Breaks' became the first rap record certified gold — over eight hundred thousand copies, at a time when nobody believed this was a business. He went on to produce Run-DMC and the Fat Boys. Before Kurtis Blow hip-hop was a block party; after him it was an industry.
Kurtis Blow
Listen
Via YouTube
1963
Whitney Houston is born, the voice that redefined what was possible
On August 9, 1963, Whitney Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey, daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and cousin of Dionne Warwick. Raised among church choirs, she turned that schooling into a vocal technique that shaped entire generations of singers. With over 200 million records sold and her monumental version of 'I Will Always Love You', she became one of the most influential artists in pop history.
Whitney Houston
Listen
Via YouTube
1986
Knebworth 1986: the last time Freddie Mercury sang with Queen
On August 9, 1986, Queen closed their 'Magic' tour before more than 120,000 people at Knebworth Park. Nobody knew it then, but it was Freddie Mercury's final concert with the band: illness would keep him from the stage until his death in 1991. They finished with 'We Are the Champions' and the national anthem. Few involuntary farewells were ever so perfect.
Queen
Listen
Via YouTube
1997
'No Way Out' hits number one and mourning becomes an industry
On August 9, 1997, Puff Daddy and the Family's 'No Way Out' topped the R&B and hip-hop albums chart. It had arrived three months after the murder of The Notorious B.I.G. and opened with 'I'll Be Missing You', the requiem built on The Police's 'Every Breath You Take'. Bad Boy turned grief into a gleaming product and sold millions. It was the moment rap learned it could weep in public and still cash the cheque.
Puff Daddy
The Notorious B.I.G.
Listen
Via YouTube
1963
'Ready Steady Go!': British TV surrenders to beat music
On August 9, 1963, the first episode of 'Ready Steady Go!' aired — the show that shouted 'the weekend starts here' every Friday on British television. That debut with Billy Fury and Pat Boone opened the door to a historic parade: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the whole beat wave passed through its studio. More than a music show, it was the mirror where 1960s British youth learned to see itself.
Billy Fury
Pat Boone
Listen
Via YouTube
1969
Cielo Drive: the night the hippie dream was stained with blood
On August 9, 1969, followers of Charles Manson murdered Sharon Tate and four others at a house on Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. Manson was no stranger to music: Dennis Wilson had put him up at his home and the Beach Boys had recorded one of his songs, renamed 'Never Learn Not to Love'. That summer would end with Woodstock and with this. The counterculture discovered it could produce monsters too.
Charles Manson
The Beach Boys
Dennis Wilson
Listen
Via YouTube
1972
Juanes is born: the metalhead who ended up singing vallenato
On August 9, 1972, Juan Esteban Aristizábal was born in Medellín. Before fame he was the guitarist of Ekhymosis, a metal band playing in a Colombia torn by drug violence. When he went solo he took that heavy guitar, mixed it with vallenato accordion and wrote 'A Dios le pido'. He is one of the few Latin American artists to reach the whole world without translating a single line into English.
Juanes
Listen
Via YouTube
1975
'Chocolate Chip' tops the chart and Isaac Hayes joins the disco parade
On August 9, 1975, Isaac Hayes' 'Chocolate Chip' topped the R&B albums chart. This was the man who had broken the mould in 1969 with 'Hot Buttered Soul', stretching other people's songs to twelve minutes, and who had won an Oscar in 1971 for the theme from 'Shaft'. Now he was adapting to the dancefloor with the same ease. Hayes never chased a trend: he stood in front of it and waited to be caught up with.
Isaac Hayes
Listen
Via YouTube
1995
Kiss reunite without makeup on MTV Unplugged
On August 9, 1995, Kiss taped their 'MTV Unplugged' at Sony Music Studios in New York with an unexpected twist: Ace Frehley and Peter Criss joined Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, reuniting the original lineup for the first time in fifteen years. It was the only time the four founders played publicly without their iconic makeup. That night's chemistry lit the fuse for the 1996 reunion tour, one of the decade's biggest box-office draws.
Kiss
Ace Frehley
Peter Criss
Listen
Via YouTube
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.