Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 26
1970
Isle of Wight 1970 opens: Europe's Woodstock and Hendrix's farewell on the big stage
On August 26, 1970, the Isle of Wight festival began, gathering some 600,000 people — more than Woodstock — to see Hendrix, The Who, The Doors and Joni Mitchell. It was Hendrix's last great British performance; he would die three weeks later. Amid torn-down fences and financial chaos, the golden era of free festivals peaked and began its fall.
Jimi Hendrix
The Who
Joni Mitchell
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1966
Shirley Manson is born, the Scot who gave alternative rock ice and fire
On August 26, 1966, Shirley Manson was born in Edinburgh — the voice of Garbage. Recruited by Butch Vig after he saw her on video, she made the band one of the nineties' most elegant projects, blending rock, electronics and pop cynicism on 'Only Happy When It Rains'. Frank and unfiltered about the industry and aging, she became a benchmark of honesty in rock.
Shirley Manson
Garbage
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1968
Hey Jude: seven minutes that launched Apple and broke every record
On August 26, 1968, the Beatles released the single Hey Jude in the United States, backed with Revolution — the first release on their brand-new Apple label. Written by Paul McCartney to comfort Julian Lennon during his parents' divorce, the ballad defied radio rules with its seven-plus minutes and endless na-na-na coda. It spent nine weeks at number one on Billboard, a record at the time, and was the year's best-selling single in four countries. Few songs have turned a gesture of tenderness into a universal anthem.
The Beatles
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2000
'Doesn't Really Matter' at the top: Janet Jackson takes her tenth number one
On August 26, 2000, Janet Jackson's 'Doesn't Really Matter' was number one in the United States. It came from an Eddie Murphy comedy and arrived fourteen years after 'Control', the album with which she stopped being somebody's little sister and became an author alongside Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Few careers have held the summit so long having started in such a large family shadow.
Janet Jackson
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1901
Jimmy Rushing is born: the Kansas City shouter who lent swing its voice
On August 26, 1901, James Andrew Rushing was born in Oklahoma City. He sang with Count Basie's orchestra for fifteen years and set the model for the blues shouter: a voice able to carry over an entire big band without a microphone, because in Kansas City there wasn't always one. Out of that trade of shouting in tune came Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris and, by that route, a good deal of rock and roll.
Jimmy Rushing
Count Basie
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1938
Jet Black is born: the drummer who joined punk past thirty
On August 26, 1938, Brian John Duffy — known as Jet Black, drummer and founder of The Stranglers — was born in Ilford, Essex. An ice-cream and off-licence businessman before turning professional musician, he joined the British punk scene pushing forty, twice the age of most of his peers. His precise, jazz-inflected pulse drove classics like Peaches, No More Heroes and Golden Brown. He played with the band well past seventy-five, a record of endurance in British rock.
Jet Black
The Stranglers
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1943
Dori Caymmi is born: the arranger who gave Brazilian song its orchestra
On August 26, 1943, Dori Caymmi was born in Rio de Janeiro, son of Dorival, one of the fathers of Brazilian popular music. Carrying that surname could have crushed him; instead he chose a less visible and more decisive trade, arranger and producer, and signed the arrangements on records by Milton Nascimento, Nana Caymmi and Gal Costa. His guitar and his strings sit underneath half a century of Brazilian song.
Dori Caymmi
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2006
'Port of Miami' tops the chart and Miami invents itself a kingpin
On August 26, 2006, Rick Ross's 'Port of Miami' topped the R&B and hip-hop albums chart. His debut built a drug-lord persona named after a real eighties kingpin, and it worked so well that two years later the revelation that Ross had worked as a prison guard caused a scandal. He survived it without blinking: rap, like the western, always knew the myth is what rules.
Rick Ross
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One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.