Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 20
1948
Robert Plant is born, the golden god who gave hard rock its voice
On August 20, 1948, Robert Plant was born in West Bromwich — Led Zeppelin's voice and the visual and vocal archetype of the hard rock frontman. His howl on 'Whole Lotta Love' and his lyricism on 'Stairway to Heaven' defined an entire genre. The most admirable part came later: he refused to live off nostalgia and built a curious, award-winning artistic old age in constant motion.
Robert Plant
Led Zeppelin
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1949
Phil Lynott is born, the romantic poet of Irish hard rock
On August 20, 1949, Phil Lynott was born — Thin Lizzy's leader and Ireland's first great Black rock star. A bassist, singer and lyricist with a romantic soul, he signed 'The Boys Are Back in Town' and the twin-guitar attack half the scene copied afterwards. He died at 36, leaving Dublin a statue and rock an unrepeatable mold of roguish elegance.
Phil Lynott
Thin Lizzy
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1965
'Satisfaction' finally hits British record shops
On 20 August 1965, the Rolling Stones released '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' in the UK — the single that had been number one in America since June. Keith Richards' distorted riff, born on a tape recorded half-asleep in a hotel room, became the definitive anthem of sixties youth dissatisfaction. Within weeks it topped the British charts too, sealing the Stones' transformation from a blues covers band into major songwriters. Rarely have three fuzz notes changed rock history so much.
The Rolling Stones
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1965
KRS-One is born: the rapper who appointed himself the teacher
On August 20, 1965, Lawrence Parker was born in the Bronx. He lived in homeless shelters before founding Boogie Down Productions with DJ Scott La Rock, who was shot dead in 1987 just after the first album came out. KRS-One answered with 'Stop the Violence' and spent the next three decades demanding that hip-hop take itself seriously. He called himself 'the Teacha' with no irony at all, and earned it.
KRS-One
Boogie Down Productions
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1977
'Best of My Love': three sisters from Chicago take the summer
On August 20, 1977, The Emotions' 'Best of My Love' was number one in the United States. The Hutchinson sisters came out of Chicago gospel and had spent a decade at Stax without taking off, until Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire produced them and wrote this song. They spent five weeks at the top and won a Grammy. It's one of those records that sounds like happiness without apologising, which is far harder than it looks.
The Emotions
Maurice White
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1942
Isaac Hayes is born, architect of Stax's symphonic soul
On 20 August 1942, Isaac Hayes was born in Covington, Tennessee, raised by his grandparents after a hard childhood. As Stax's in-house songwriter alongside David Porter he penned classics for Sam & Dave and shaped the Memphis sound that fed so much of rock. He then reinvented soul as a solo artist with expansive orchestrations, winning the 1971 Oscar for the 'Shaft' theme — a groove guitarists and rock and funk bands plundered for decades. His deep voice and symphonic ambition widened the map of American popular music.
Isaac Hayes
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1946
Ralf Hütter is born: the German who invented the future with slow machines
On August 20, 1946, Ralf Hütter was born in Krefeld, co-founder of Kraftwerk. From Düsseldorf, four motionless men with synthesizers decided music could sound like a motorway, a train and a calculator. Afrika Bambaataa borrowed 'Trans-Europe Express' for 'Planet Rock' and out of that came electro, Detroit techno and a good part of hip-hop. Nobody has influenced Black American music so much from such an improbable place.
Ralf Hütter
Kraftwerk
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1952
Doug Fieger is born, the voice behind 'My Sharona'
On 20 August 1952, Doug Fieger, singer and guitarist of The Knack, was born in Detroit. With guitarist Berton Averre he wrote 'My Sharona', the biggest US hit of 1979, spending six straight weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. That tense, urgent single turned power pop into a mass phenomenon and brought the nervous energy of guitars back to radio at the height of the disco era. Fieger died in 2010, but his riff remains one of the most recognizable openings in late-seventies rock.
Doug Fieger
The Knack
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1988
'Strictly Business' tops the chart and rap finds out it can sound relaxed
On August 20, 1988, EPMD's 'Strictly Business' topped the R&B and hip-hop albums chart. Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith rapped unhurried, almost dragging their words, over beats built from seventies funk and an Eric Clapton cover. In a year when rap was shouting political slogans, they made a record about business and calm. The group's name meant, literally, Erick and Parrish Making Dollars.
EPMD
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2011
'4' hits number one and Beyoncé fires her father as manager
On August 20, 2011, Beyoncé's '4' topped the R&B and hip-hop albums chart. It was her first record after dismissing her father, Mathew Knowles, as her manager, and it sounded like somebody deciding for herself: long ballads, strings, little concession to radio. Critics received it tepidly, and today it is cited as the moment she stopped being a pop star and became an author.
Beyoncé
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