Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today November 9
1967
The first issue of Rolling Stone appears: rock gets its own press
The first issue of Rolling Stone magazine appears in San Francisco, founded by Jann Wenner and critic Ralph Gleason, with John Lennon on the cover. For the first time rock was treated as serious culture, with long features and demanding criticism. The magazine invented modern music journalism and, along the way, the very idea of a rock canon.
Rolling Stone
1936
Mary Travers is born, whose "Blowin' in the Wind" made Bob Dylan famous
On November 9, 1936, Mary Travers was born in Kentucky and raised in Greenwich Village by left-wing journalist parents. With Peter Yarrow and Noel Stookey she formed the trio that took political folk into the charts. In 1963 they recorded "Blowin' in the Wind" and sold a million copies in two weeks: that, rather than his own version, is how the world discovered Bob Dylan.
Mary Travers
Peter, Paul and Mary
Bob Dylan
1941
Tom Fogerty is born, the older brother in Creedence's shadow
Tom Fogerty is born in Berkeley, California: rhythm guitarist of Creedence Clearwater Revival. He began as the band's leader until his younger brother John's songwriting talent eclipsed him, a wound that never fully healed and hastened his 1971 exit. His steady strum, even so, is inseparable from CCR's swamp sound.
Tom Fogerty
Creedence Clearwater Revival
1969
Roxanne Shanté is born, who at fourteen started rap's greatest answer-record war
On November 9, 1969, Lolita Gooden was born in Queens. In 1984, aged fourteen, she heard a UTFO song in which three rappers complained about a girl called Roxanne who ignored them. She recorded the reply in one take, improvising: "Roxanne's Revenge". It set off more than a hundred answer records by other artists, the first war of its kind in hip-hop history.
Roxanne Shanté
UTFO
1970
Scarface is born, who put mental health into a rap song before anyone else
On November 9, 1970, Brad Jordan was born in Houston. At thirteen he attempted suicide and spent time in a psychiatric ward. With the Geto Boys he recorded "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" in 1991, a song about paranoia, insomnia and guilt that broke with everything rap had been saying about male toughness. It was the first time the genre spoke about mental health without irony, and it remains the reference.
Scarface
Geto Boys
1922
Dorothy Dandridge is born, whose voice was dubbed in the film that made her famous
On November 9, 1922, Dorothy Dandridge was born in Cleveland, a nightclub singer who in 1954 starred in "Carmen Jones" and became the first Black woman nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. The irony is that she was a professional singer and the studio chose to dub her voice with an opera soprano, which humiliated her. She died in 1965, aged 42, practically penniless.
Dorothy Dandridge
1969
Pepa is born, of the first female rap act to sell a million copies
On November 9, 1969, Sandra Denton was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Queens. She was working with a colleague behind the counter of an electronics store when a fellow student asked them to record a song for a college assignment. Out of that came Salt-N-Pepa, the first female hip-hop group to sell more than a million records, with "Push It" and "Let's Talk About Sex".
Pepa
Salt-N-Pepa
1970
Susan Tedeschi is born, who built a twelve-piece band with her husband
On November 9, 1970, Susan Tedeschi was born near Boston, a blues singer and guitarist who at thirteen was singing in church choirs and at twenty was playing city clubs. In 2001 she married Derek Trucks, a slide guitarist and nephew of an Allman Brothers founder. A decade later they merged their two bands into a single twelve-piece and won a Grammy.
Susan Tedeschi
Derek Trucks
1978
Sisqó is born, whose song about underwear was the most improbable hit of the year 2000
On November 9, 1978, Mark Andrews was born in Baltimore. He started out singing in a group called Dru Hill while working in a sweet shop. In 1999 he went solo and recorded "Thong Song", a song about a type of underwear he himself regarded as a joke. It carried string arrangements and an operatic chorus. It sold millions, and his silver-dyed hair became a marker of the era.
Sisqó
Dru Hill
1984
French Montana is born, who arrived in the Bronx from Casablanca speaking no English
On November 9, 1984, Karim Kharbouch was born in Casablanca and emigrated with his family to the Bronx at thirteen without a word of English. He learned the language by listening to rap. He started out selling homemade DVDs on the street, filming freestyle battles between neighbourhood rappers, and out of that cottage business came a career that ended in platinum records.
French Montana
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