Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 18
1969
Hendrix sets the US anthem ablaze at Woodstock and creates the perfect sonic protest
On the morning of August 18, 1969, before Woodstock's stragglers, Jimi Hendrix transformed 'The Star-Spangled Banner' into a sonic battlefield: bombs, sirens and screams pouring out of a white Stratocaster. Without saying a word, he made the most eloquent comment on Vietnam that music ever produced. Three minutes worth an entire era.
Jimi Hendrix
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1962
Ringo plays with the Beatles for the first time: the last piece falls into place
On August 18, 1962, Ringo Starr debuted as the Beatles' official drummer at a dance in Port Sunlight, two days after Pete Best's sacking. Some fans protested the change for weeks; history answered them decisively. With Ringo in the seat, the definitive lineup was complete and pop's most famous machine started rolling.
The Beatles
Ringo Starr
1979
'Good Times' hits number one and gives away the bassline of the century
On August 18, 1979, Chic's 'Good Times' reached number one in the United States. Weeks later the Sugarhill Gang rebuilt that bassline for 'Rapper's Delight' without asking; Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards sued and ended up credited as co-writers of hip-hop's first mass hit. John Deacon, who had been at the sessions, took the idea to Queen and wrote 'Another One Bites the Dust'. Four notes founded two genres.
Chic
Nile Rodgers
The Sugarhill Gang
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2001
'Fallin'' reaches the top and a classical pianist rearranges R&B
On August 18, 2001, Alicia Keys' 'Fallin'' was number one in the United States, the first of her career. She was twenty, had studied classical piano since childhood in Harlem, and wrote a song built on three chords that come and go like a doubt. At a moment when R&B was made of synthesizers and programming, she sat down at a real piano. She won five Grammys with her first album.
Alicia Keys
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1943
Carl Wayne, the theatrical voice of The Move, is born
On August 18, 1943, Colin David Tooley — known as Carl Wayne, original singer of The Move — was born in Birmingham. With his crooner's stage presence and a band famous for smashing televisions on stage, he carried hits like "Flowers in the Rain" and "Blackberry Way" to the top of Britain's psychedelic-era charts. From that Birmingham seedbed would later spring the Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard, and Wayne closed the circle decades later as a voice of the Hollies.
Carl Wayne
The Move
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1945
Sarah Dash is born: one of the three women who arrived from space
On August 18, 1945, Sarah Dash was born in Trenton, New Jersey. With Labelle, alongside Patti LaBelle and Nona Hendryx, she did what no Black girl group had attempted: swapped choir dresses for silver science-fiction costumes and sang about prostitution on 'Lady Marmalade'. In 1974 they became the first Black pop group to play New York's Metropolitan Opera. The costume was the argument.
Sarah Dash
Labelle
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1950
Dennis Elliott, Foreigner's British engine, is born
On August 18, 1950, Dennis Elliott was born in London — Foreigner's original drummer and one of the British halves of that half-English, half-American band. Seasoned in the jazz-rock of If and in sessions with Ian Hunter, he supplied the precise punch that carried monumental hits like "Cold as Ice", "Hot Blooded" and "I Want to Know What Love Is". After leaving music in the early nineties he reinvented himself as a wood sculptor, trading stadiums for the workshop.
Dennis Elliott
Foreigner
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1953
Marvin Isley is born: the youngest brother who gave the family funk its bass
On August 18, 1953, Marvin Isley was born in Cincinnati, the youngest of the family. The Isley Brothers had been changing skins since the fifties — doo-wop, Motown, soul — and when the younger brothers formally joined in 1973, the band became a funk machine with electric guitars. His bass holds up 'That Lady' and 'Fight the Power'. Few families have managed to reinvent themselves across six straight decades.
Marvin Isley
The Isley Brothers
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