Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 15
1969
Woodstock begins: three days of peace, music and a myth forever
On August 15, 1969, on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York, Woodstock began before a human tide of over 400,000 that overwhelmed every forecast. Richie Havens opened by improvising 'Freedom' because nobody else could reach the stage. Amid mud and shortages, the counterculture's founding myth was born — the yardstick every festival is still measured against.
Richie Havens
Janis Joplin
The Who
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1965
The Beatles at Shea Stadium: the stadium concert is born (and nobody heard a thing)
On August 15, 1965, the Beatles played to 55,600 people at New York's Shea Stadium, the first great stadium concert in rock history. The screaming completely drowned the music: with the era's amplifiers, the band could not even hear themselves. It was the peak of Beatlemania and also the beginning of their exhaustion with live performance.
The Beatles
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1967
The day Britain silenced the pirates of the sea
On August 15, 1967, the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act came into force, the law with which Harold Wilson's government outlawed the pirate stations broadcasting rock from ships anchored off the British coast. Stations like Radio London signed off on the eve; Radio Caroline held out in open defiance. The BBC, which barely programmed pop, was forced to create Radio 1 weeks later, hiring the very DJs it had just left without a ship. Few laws shaped so profoundly how the United Kingdom listened to its own musical revolution.
Radio Caroline
Radio London
1981
'Endless Love' reaches the top and defines the romantic duet forever
On August 15, 1981, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie's 'Endless Love' reached number one in the United States, where it stayed for weeks. Richie had written it for a forgettable film and it became one of the most successful songs in Motown's history. The mould was set right there: two enormous voices, a piano, no irony at all. Every duet ballad of the forty years since is, willingly or not, its child.
Diana Ross
Lionel Richie
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1992
'End of the Road' begins thirteen weeks on top and breaks the record
On August 15, 1992, Boyz II Men's 'End of the Road' hit number one in the United States and stayed thirteen consecutive weeks, until November 7 — a longevity record for the time. It came from the 'Boomerang' soundtrack and was written and produced by Babyface, L.A. Reid and Daryl Simmons. The record itself didn't last: that same year Whitney Houston beat it with fourteen weeks of 'I Will Always Love You'.
Boyz II Men
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1925
Bill Pinkney is born: the deep bass of the first Drifters
On August 15, 1925, Bill Pinkney was born in South Carolina — an original member of The Drifters and one of doo-wop's most recognisable bass voices. Their version of 'White Christmas', with that bass line holding up the whole arrangement, became a permanent fixture of the American Christmas. The Drifters changed line-ups so often they became less a group than a franchise; Pinkney was there at the very beginning.
Bill Pinkney
The Drifters
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1934
Bobby Byrd is born: the man who got James Brown out of prison
On August 15, 1934, Bobby Byrd was born in Toccoa, Georgia. He founded the group that became The Famous Flames and met James Brown while Brown was serving a sentence; instead of competing with him, he brought him into his band and handed him centre stage. For twenty years he was the answering voice on 'Sex Machine' and the glue of the funk sound. His solo records are among hip-hop's most sampled.
Bobby Byrd
James Brown
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1946
Jimmy Webb, the architect of "Wichita Lineman", is born
On August 15, 1946, Jimmy Webb was born in Elk City, Oklahoma, the son of a Baptist preacher; he learned piano in his father's church choir. By 21 he had already won the Grammy for Song of the Year, and his pen signed classics like "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park" and "Wichita Lineman", raising popular song to orchestral architecture. His influence runs through pop and rock: few writers proved better that a three-minute song can be an entire novel.
Jimmy Webb
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1951
Bobby Caldwell is born: the singer his label hid from the sleeve
On August 15, 1951, Bobby Caldwell was born in New York. When he recorded 'What You Won't Do for Love' in 1978, his label decided not to put his face on the cover: they feared Black radio would stop playing him once listeners learned he was white. The song was an enormous hit and ended up sampled by Tupac and half of nineties hip-hop. The industry lied to the audience, and the audience, once it knew, didn't change its mind.
Bobby Caldwell
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1958
Buddy Holly marries: five hours to a proposal, seven months of marriage
On August 15, 1958, Buddy Holly married María Elena Santiago at the family home in Lubbock, Texas. He had met her barely two months earlier at the reception desk of a New York music publisher, and proposed five hours into their first date. The intimate wedding sealed the most feverish period of the rock and roll pioneer, who was then writing and recording nonstop. Less than seven months later, the winter tour plane would go down near Clear Lake, and María Elena would remain the guardian of his legacy.
Buddy Holly
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