17 DECEMBER
In Music History
1969 Thanks to play on freeform FM radio stations, Chicago Transit Authority's self-titled debut album goes Gold, eight months after its release. For their next album, the band shortens their name to Chicago.
1967 The Beatles' John Lennon and George Harrison throw a party in London for the area secretaries of their official Fan Club. The film Magical Mystery Tour is screened here for the first time.
1965 Judy Garland, with opening act The Supremes, plays the first concert in the Houston Astrodome.
1961 Sarah Dallin (of Bananarama) is born in Bristol, England.
1958 Mike Mills (bassist, keyboardist for R.E.M.) is born in Orange County, California. He meets future bandmate Bill Berry when he moves to Macon, Georgia, at age 10.
1954 Bill Haley and his Comets' "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (originally recorded by Big Joe Turner) becomes the first rock song to hit the UK chart, where it lands at #4.
1951 Wanda Hutchinson (of The Emotions) is born in Chicago, Illinois.
1950 Carlton "Carlie" Barrett (drummer for The Wailers) is born in Kingston, Jamaica.
1949 Paul Rodgers, lead singer and lyricist of Free and Bad Company, is born in Middlesbrough, England.
1948 Jim Bonfanti (drummer for The Raspberries) is born in Windber, Pennsylvania.
1942 Paul Butterfield (of Paul Butterfield Blues Band) is born in Chicago, Illinois.
1941 Dave Dee (of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich) is born David John Harman in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. He is one of the first police cadets on scene at Eddie Cochran's fatal car accident and learns to play the guitar on Cochran's impounded Gretsch.
1939 Eddie Kendricks (of The Temptations) is born in Union Springs, Alabama. Kendricks' famous falsetto takes the lead on "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and "Just My Imagination."
1939 George Formby records "Mr Wu's A Window Cleaner Now."
1937 Art Neville, keyboard player with The Neville Brothers, is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Gilbert O'Sullivan Beats The Biz In Landmark Sampling Case
1991A judge rules in favor of the British singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan in his case against the rapper Biz Markie, who sampled Sullivan's song "Alone Again (Naturally)" without permission. The landmark case establishes that samples must be cleared before they are used.
Read more17 DECEMBER
Featured Events
2009 The much-read blog Boing Boing posts the video of "Prisencolinensinainciusol," the 1972 "gibberish rock song written by Italian composer to sound like English." The song quickly gains an American following and is later used in episodes of Fargo and Trust.
1989 The Simpsons debuts on Fox with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." The show quickly attracts big-name guest stars, including many musicians. In Season 3, Michael Jackson, Sting and Aerosmith appear.
1984 Run-DMC's self-titled debut album is certified Gold, making it the first rap album to do so.
1982 The Who play the last show of their farewell tour at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, which is filmed for an HBO special called Who's Last. They re-form to play Live Aid in 1985, then tour again in 1989.
1977 Elvis Costello gets banned from Saturday Night Live when he abruptly halts his performance of "Less Than Zero" and plays the searing "Radio Radio" instead.More
1971 David Bowie releases his fourth album, Hunky Dory, which opens with the anthemic "Changes."
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