Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 22
1917
John Lee Hooker is born, the one-chord boogie that hypnotized rock
On August 22, 1917, John Lee Hooker was born in Mississippi — the man of hypnotic boogie who did not need to change chords to paralyze a room. 'Boogie Chillen'' and 'Boom Boom' taught the Animals, Canned Heat and ZZ Top that trance is worth more than technique. His foot stomping the pulse on the floorboards is one of rock's founding sounds.
John Lee Hooker
Listen
Via YouTube
1936
Chuck Brown is born: the godfather of go-go who never left Washington
On August 22, 1936, Chuck Brown was born in North Carolina. He learned guitar in prison and in the seventies invented go-go in Washington: funk without pauses, Latin percussion on top and the band playing right through the gaps between songs so nobody ever stopped dancing. He was never a national hit and didn't care. Forty years on, go-go is still the official music of his city.
Chuck Brown
Listen
Via YouTube
1963
Tori Amos is born, the piano as confessional and battlefield
On August 22, 1963, Tori Amos was born in North Carolina — a child prodigy expelled from the conservatory for improvising too much. With 'Little Earthquakes' in 1992 she turned the piano into a ferocious confessional, addressing trauma and faith with a frankness unheard of in pop. An entire generation of female songwriters found in her the permission to tell everything.
Tori Amos
Listen
Via YouTube
1998
Snoop Dogg tops the chart after escaping Death Row
On August 22, 1998, Snoop Dogg's 'Da Game Is to Be Sold, Not to Be Told' topped the R&B and hip-hop albums chart. It was his first record after breaking with Death Row, Suge Knight's label where he had become famous and which he left accusing it of holding its artists captive. He took refuge at No Limit, Master P's company in New Orleans. Switching sides saved both his life and his career.
Snoop Dogg
Master P
Listen
Via YouTube
2011
Jerry Leiber dies, the lyricist who taught rock and roll how to talk
On 22 August 2011, Jerry Leiber, half of the legendary songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller, died in Los Angeles at 78. From 1950 on, with Mike Stoller, he wrote 'Hound Dog', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Stand By Me', 'Yakety Yak' and 'On Broadway' — the songbook that carried rhythm and blues wit into the heart of early rock. His street-smart, sharply narrative lyrics made Elvis, the Coasters and the Drifters more than sales phenomena. His passing closed one of the founding chapters of twentieth-century popular song.
Jerry Leiber
1961
Andrés Calamaro is born: the Argentine who recorded a hundred and three songs at once
On August 22, 1961, Andrés Calamaro was born in Buenos Aires. He passed through Los Abuelos de la Nada, founded Los Rodríguez in Madrid, and in 1999 released 'Honestidad brutal', a double album; two years later came 'El salmón', a five-disc box with a hundred and three songs. Critics spoke of excess and self-destruction. He answered that he would rather get it wrong often than risk nothing, and his songbook proved him right.
Andrés Calamaro
Listen
Via YouTube
1961
Roland Orzabal is born, the brain behind Tears for Fears
On 22 August 1961, Roland Orzabal was born in England — guitarist, voice and main songwriter of Tears for Fears, the band he founded in Bath with Curt Smith. He turned primal therapy into pop material with 'The Hurting', a UK number one, and conquered America with 'Songs from the Big Chair' and its anthems 'Shout' and 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'. The group's only constant member, he proved synth pop could carry emotional weight and stadium-rock ambition. His melodic writing is still being plundered by later generations.
Roland Orzabal
Tears for Fears
Listen
Via YouTube
1966
GZA is born: the Wu-Tang brain who rapped like a man solving a chess problem
On August 22, 1966, Gary Grice was born in Brooklyn. He was the eldest of the Wu-Tang Clan and the first to have recorded, with a failed album that taught him to distrust the industry. In 1995 he released 'Liquid Swords', produced entirely by RZA, and set the standard for the rhyme as riddle: metaphors from science, chess and chemistry where others put threats. They called him the Genius, and in his case it was a description.
GZA
Wu-Tang Clan
Listen
Via YouTube
1969
The last photo: the Beatles pose together for the final time at Tittenhurst Park
On 22 August 1969, two days after their last joint recording session, the Beatles gathered at Tittenhurst Park, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's home near Ascot, for a photo session. No one billed it as a farewell, but it was the last time all four were together on band duty. Ethan Russell and Monte Fresco captured a serious group in wide-brimmed hats and beards, among donkeys and Victorian gardens. One of those images ended up on the cover of the 'Hey Jude' compilation — an involuntary epitaph for the century's greatest band.
The Beatles
Listen
Via YouTube
1987
'Who's That Girl' at the top while the film sinks without trace
On August 22, 1987, Madonna's 'Who's That Girl' was number one in the United States. The song belonged to a comedy of the same name that flopped resoundingly with critics and at the box office, one of several failed attempts by Madonna to conquer cinema. The tour of the same name, by contrast, filled stadiums worldwide. Her career is explained rather well right there: she always lost on other people's ground and always won on her own.
Madonna
Listen
Via YouTube
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.