Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 13
1965
Jefferson Airplane take off at the Matrix: San Francisco switches on its sound
On August 13, 1965, Jefferson Airplane debuted at the opening of San Francisco's Matrix club, co-owned by their singer Marty Balin. That night the San Francisco sound officially began: within months the city would boil with bands, lysergic posters and ballrooms. American psychedelia has many parents, but this is one of its birth certificates.
Jefferson Airplane
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1952
The original howl: Big Mama Thornton records "Hound Dog"
On August 13, 1952, in Los Angeles, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton recorded "Hound Dog", a twelve-bar blues written by two twenty-somethings named Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Her version, roared with an authority no one could match, spent seven weeks at number one on the R&B chart and sold half a million copies. Four years later Elvis Presley turned it into a worldwide phenomenon, and much of the public forgot who had sung it first. The history of rock and roll begins in recordings like this one: a Black woman, a modest studio and an unrepeatable take.
Big Mama Thornton
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1971
King Curtis dies, the saxophone that made soul talk
On August 13, 1971, King Curtis was stabbed to death outside his New York building, at 37. His saxophone defined the sound of R&B and early rock: he played on 'Yakety Yak', led Aretha Franklin's band and opened for the Beatles at Shea Stadium. Aretha and Stevie Wonder performed at his funeral. Few deaths ever left such a concrete silence in the groove.
King Curtis
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1983
'Every Breath You Take': the stalking song everybody heard as romantic
On August 13, 1983, The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' sat at number one in the United States, inside an eight-week run. Sting wrote it after his marriage collapsed and always insisted it was sinister, the voice of somebody watching; the world danced to it at weddings anyway. Fourteen years later Puff Daddy turned it into the requiem for Biggie and handed Sting a second fortune.
The Police
Sting
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2005
'We Belong Together' and the least likely comeback of the decade
On August 13, 2005, Mariah Carey's 'We Belong Together' had been at number one for weeks, on its way to fourteen in total. Four years earlier she had been written off: 'Glitter' had flopped, the press mocked her mental health and her label had paid her to go away. 'The Emancipation of Mimi' reversed all of it. Billboard would later name it the song of the decade, and that wasn't hyperbole.
Mariah Carey
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1951
Dan Fogelberg, soft rock's craftsman, is born
On August 13, 1951, Dan Fogelberg was born in Peoria, Illinois, the son of a classical pianist and a school band director to whom, years later, he would dedicate "Leader of the Band". A multi-instrumentalist and fine melodist, he strung together hits like "Longer" and "Same Old Lang Syne" that defined the most artisanal side of seventies and eighties soft rock. His blend of folk, rock and confessional writing made him a touchstone for a whole generation of American singer-songwriters.
Dan Fogelberg
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1958
Feargal Sharkey, the quavering voice of Derry punk, is born
On August 13, 1958, Feargal Sharkey was born in Derry, Northern Ireland; his unmistakable vibrato made the Undertones the most endearing punk band of their generation. With teenage anthems like "Teenage Kicks" — John Peel's favourite song — he proved punk could also be luminous pop in the middle of the Northern Irish conflict. In the eighties he triumphed solo with "A Good Heart", a UK number one, before reinventing himself as a campaigner for Britain's rivers.
Feargal Sharkey
The Undertones
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1961
Koji Kondo is born: the most-heard composer nobody can name
On August 13, 1961, Koji Kondo was born in Nagoya — the man who in 1985 wrote the 'Super Mario Bros.' theme with five sound channels and a few kilobytes of memory. More people on the planet recognise that thirty-second melody than almost any rock song, and he also authored the sound world of 'Zelda'. Technical limitation forced him to write melodies so simple they turned out to be indelible.
Koji Kondo
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1977
The fourth Gibb brother reaches the top and can't work out how to stay
On August 13, 1977, Andy Gibb's 'I Just Want to Be Your Everything' was number one in the United States. He was nineteen, his brother Barry had written it, and it was the first of three consecutive number ones — something no artist had managed with their first three singles. Being the Bee Gees' little brother in the year of 'Saturday Night Fever' turned out to be an unbearable weight: he died at thirty.
Andy Gibb
Barry Gibb
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1994
'We Come Strapped' tops the chart and Compton answers Death Row
On August 13, 1994, MC Eiht's 'We Come Strapped' topped the R&B and hip-hop albums chart. He came out of Compton's Most Wanted, and his rough unadorned voice had already reached more people through film than radio: he played A-Wax in 'Menace II Society'. While Dr. Dre polished g-funk until it gleamed, Eiht stayed on the coarse side of the same city and sold just as well.
MC Eiht
Compton's Most Wanted
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