Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today December 9
1967
Jim Morrison is arrested on stage in New Haven
During a Doors concert in New Haven, Connecticut, police walk on stage and arrest Jim Morrison, who had been telling the audience about a backstage altercation with an officer. It was the first arrest of a rock star mid-show, and it made Morrison a symbol of the clash between counterculture and authority.
Jim Morrison
The Doors
1927
Pierre Henry is born, who made music out of doors, sighs and magnetic tape
On December 9, 1927, Pierre Henry was born in Paris. With Pierre Schaeffer he invented musique concrète: compositions assembled from recorded real-world sounds manipulated on tape. His "Psyché Rock", from 1967, mixed organ, drums and electronic noise twenty years before the word techno existed. Half the electronic scene claims him as a grandfather.
Pierre Henry
Pierre Schaeffer
1932
Donald Byrd is born, whom jazz purists hated for selling a million records
On December 9, 1932, Donald Byrd was born in Detroit, a hard bop trumpeter who in 1973 released "Black Byrd", a jazz funk album that became the best-selling record in Blue Note history. Critics accused him of betrayal. Byrd, who was also a university professor, formed the group The Blackbyrds out of his own students; they are now among hip hop's most sampled artists.
Donald Byrd
The Blackbyrds
1934
Junior Wells is born, who joined Muddy Waters' band at eighteen
On December 9, 1934, Amos Blakemore was born in Memphis. He moved to Chicago as a child and at eighteen replaced none other than Little Walter in Muddy Waters' band. As Junior Wells he recorded "Hoodoo Man Blues" with Buddy Guy in 1965, one of the first blues records conceived as a whole album rather than a collection of loose singles.
Junior Wells
Buddy Guy
Muddy Waters
1950
Joan Armatrading is born, the quiet pioneer of British folk soul
Joan Armatrading is born in Saint Kitts, raised in Birmingham, and became the first Black British female singer-songwriter to achieve international success with her own material. “Love and Affection” (1976) is a lesson in intimacy and groove that influenced generations. Without scandals or headlines, she built a solid body of work on pure talent.
Joan Armatrading
1977
Imogen Heap is born, who made a worldwide hit by singing into a harmony box
On December 9, 1977, Imogen Heap was born in Essex. She recorded "Hide and Seek" practically alone, running her voice through a harmony processor and using almost no other instruments. The song became inescapable on American television and later in sampling. Heap then went on to build electronic gloves for making music by moving her hands through the air.
Imogen Heap
1964
Paul Landers is born, guitarist of the German band that conquered Latin America untranslated
On December 9, 1964, Paul Landers was born in East Berlin. He grew up playing in punk bands inside communist Germany, where rehearsing was already suspicious. After the Wall came down he founded Rammstein with five other musicians from the east. The group fills stadiums in Mexico, Chile and Argentina singing exclusively in German, a language hardly anyone in the crowd understands.
Paul Landers
Rammstein
1971
Geoff Barrow is born, the studio assistant who invented trip hop from the back room
On December 9, 1971, Geoff Barrow was born in Somerset. He worked changing tapes at the studio where Massive Attack were recording their first album. He came out of it with an idea: cross hip hop with sixties spy soundtracks. He formed Portishead, released "Dummy" in 1994 and won the Mercury Prize with a record no radio station knew where to place.
Geoff Barrow
Portishead
Massive Attack
1972
Tré Cool is born, who joined Green Day at seventeen and recorded "Dookie" at twenty-one
On December 9, 1972, Frank Edwin Wright III was born on an American military base in Germany. He grew up on a mountain in northern California with no neighbours and started playing drums in a local band that gave him the nickname Tré Cool. At seventeen he joined Green Day and four years later recorded "Dookie", the album that put punk back on commercial radio.
Tré Cool
Green Day
1974
Canibus is born, rap's most admired technician who lost the battle that mattered
On December 9, 1974, Germaine Williams was born in Jamaica and raised across the United States and several other countries. As Canibus he built a reputation for the densest technique in nineties rap, until in 1998 he took on LL Cool J in a public battle that he lost in front of everyone. He never fully recovered the career, but he remains required listening among rappers.
Canibus
LL Cool J
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.