Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today August 31
1945
Van Morrison is born, the Belfast lion who sings in a trance
On August 31, 1945, Van Morrison was born in Belfast — the mystic throat of Celtic soul. From the garage fury of 'Gloria' with Them to the ecstasy of 'Astral Weeks' and the perfection of 'Moondance', he built a body of work where rhythm and blues becomes meditation. A legendary curmudgeon and undisputed genius: when he falls into a trance on a single vowel, time stops.
Van Morrison
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1948
Rudolf Schenker is born, the eternal engine of Scorpions
On August 31, 1948, Rudolf Schenker was born in Hildesheim — founder, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter of Scorpions, the band that took German rock to the world. He co-wrote 'Wind of Change', the ballad that became the anthem of the Cold War's end, and 'Rock You Like a Hurricane'. Sixty years after founding the band, he still leads it with inexplicable energy.
Rudolf Schenker
Scorpions
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1969
Dylan resurfaces at the Isle of Wight: the gig of the decade
On August 31, 1969, Bob Dylan closed the Isle of Wight Festival in his first major concert after nearly three years of retreat following his 1966 motorcycle accident. Dressed in a cream suit à la Hank Williams and backed by The Band, he ran through 17 songs spanning the country of Nashville Skyline and reworked versions of his classics. Rumors that the Beatles would join him on stage inflated the date into what the press called the gig of the decade. Dylan had turned down Woodstock two weeks earlier; his comeback chose an English island.
Bob Dylan
The Band
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1987
'Bad': the impossible album that had to beat 'Thriller'
On August 31, 1987, 'Bad' was released, Michael Jackson's last work with Quincy Jones. It carried an impossible sentence: follow the best-selling album in history. It sold thirty-five million copies, a colossal figure read as a disappointment, and put five singles at number one — something no album had achieved before and none has repeated since. A relative failure can also be an absolute record.
Michael Jackson
Quincy Jones
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1957
Gina Schock is born: drummer of the first all-woman band to hit number one
On August 31, 1957, Gina Schock was born in Baltimore. She joined The Go-Go's as drummer, a group out of the Los Angeles punk scene, and in 1982 'Beauty and the Beat' hit number one on the albums chart: the first time an all-woman band that wrote its own songs and played its own instruments had managed it. Forty years on, that feat still hasn't been repeated many times.
Gina Schock
The Go-Go's
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1957
Glenn Tilbrook is born: the melodic half of Squeeze
On August 31, 1957, Glenn Tilbrook was born in London — voice and guitar of Squeeze and one of British pop's finest pens. With Chris Difford he formed a songwriting partnership critics compared to Lennon and McCartney: Difford supplied the lyrics, Tilbrook the impossibly catchy melodies. Songs like Up the Junction, Cool for Cats and Tempted turned everyday South London life into jeweler's pop. His crystalline voice remains the hallmark of a band that never stopped writing well.
Glenn Tilbrook
Squeeze
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1970
Debbie Gibson is born: the teenager who wrote her own hits
On August 31, 1970, Deborah Gibson was born in Brooklyn. At seventeen she reached number one with 'Foolish Beat', which she had written, produced and performed entirely on her own: she became the youngest person ever to do so in Hot 100 history. The press treated her as a product for girls — the same press that celebrated authorship in any boy her age holding a guitar. The double standard is decades old.
Debbie Gibson
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2004
Carl Wayne dies: the theatrical voice of The Move
On August 31, 2004, Carl Wayne — vocalist and co-founder of The Move — died at 61 of oesophageal cancer, weeks after his final concert in Norway. Fronting the Birmingham band, he signed British psychedelia gems like Flowers in the Rain, the first song ever played on BBC Radio 1 in 1967, along with I Can Hear the Grass Grow and Blackberry Way. His stage instinct, somewhere between cabaret and televisions smashed on stage, defined the group's show. He closed his career with dignity as a voice of The Hollies, singing until the end.
Carl Wayne
The Move
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2013
'Rebellious Soul' debuts on top and reality TV becomes a springboard
On August 31, 2013, K. Michelle's 'Rebellious Soul' debuted at number one on the R&B albums chart. Her fame came from a reality show about the partners of Atlanta rappers, a format the industry looked down on and which turned out to be the decade's most effective channel for launching a career. The album was classic, painful R&B. The way in had changed; the music, not so much.
K. Michelle
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