30 JANUARY
Featured Events
2016 David Bowie's Blackstar album hits #1 in America, 20 days after his death. It's Bowie's first #1 album in the States.
1999 America is abuzz with Britney Spears, whose debut single "...Baby One More Time" goes to #1 as her album also reaches the top.More
1994 Natalie Cole sings the US national anthem at Superbowl XXVIII in Atlanta, Georgia. Halftime is country, with Clint Black, The Judds and Travis Tritt among the performers.
1973 Kiss play their first concert, performing at the Popcorn Club in Queens, New York. They wear makeup onstage, but not the look they become known for.
1972 British soldiers open fire on 26 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in 14 deaths. The incident inspires Paul McCartney to write "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" (Wings' debut single) and gives rise to the U2 song "Sunday Bloody Sunday."
1969 The Beatles stage their famous rooftop concert on the roof of Apple Records in London. After performing a few songs, including "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down," the police shut them down as a large crowd gathers. It is The Beatles' last public performance.More
1958 Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" enters the UK chart at #1, the first single ever to do so.
30 JANUARY
In Music History
2015 Record producer Suge Knight is arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of murder the day after he was involved in a hit-and-run that killed his friend Terry Carter and injured actor Cle Denyale Sloan. Knight was on the set of the N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton when he allegedly argued with the two men, then followed them to a burger joint where he ran them down in the parking lot. Witnesses claim he even backed over the victims with his truck before leaving the scene, but Knight's lawyer insists he was fleeing for his own safety.
2014 Poison lead singer Bret Michaels introduces his new line of cologne: Roses & Thorns. Because every rose has its thorn.
2013 Patty Andrews (lead singer of The Andrews Sisters) dies at age 94. She was the youngest and last surviving member of the group of singing sisters.
2002 Freddy Fender is released from a San Antonio, Texas, hospital after successfully recovering from kidney transplant surgery.
2000 Backed by drummers, bagpipers, and sign language interpreters, Faith Hill sings the National Anthem at Super Bowl XXXIV, which the Rams win over the Titans. Like Whitney Houston's 1991 Super Bowl performance, it goes over so well that it's released as a single, charting at #118.
1999 In Deerfield Beach, Florida, Cake play the Bar Mitzvah of superfan Mitchell Schop, who wrote them a letter with the request. The next day they start their world tour with a show in Orlando, supporting their album Prolonging The Magic and the hit single "Never There."
1996 Eazy-E's posthumous album Str8 off tha Streetz of Muthaphukkin Compton is released. It debuts at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart and #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
1993 The Eazy-E EP 5150 Home 4 tha Sick, his first recording since the end of N.W.A., debuts at #70 on the Billboard 200 chart.
1989 Exodus releases their third studio album, Fabulous Disaster.
1989 With Steven Adler in rehab, Don Henley fills in on drums for Guns N' Roses when they play "Patience" at the American Music Awards. Axl Rose had recorded vocals for Henley's song "I Will Not Go Quietly," which appears later in the year.
1989 Singer Samantha Fish is born in Kansas City, Missouri.
1988 Robbie Robertson of The Band appears on Saturday Night Live, making his first live TV appearance in 12 years.
1988 Two years after a cover of Nanci Griffith's "Love At The Five And Dime" gave Kathy Mattea her first hit, she lands her first #1 on the Country chart with another Griffith tune: "Goin' Gone."
1988 INXS land their first and only US #1 with "Need You Tonight."
Star-Filled FireAid Concerts Aid Victims of LA Wildfires
2025A parade of stars including Stevie Wonder, Olivia Rodrigo and Katy Perry perform at the FireAid benefit concerts in Los Angeles to raise money for victims of the California wildfires, which left 29 dead and destroyed thousands of homes. The concert is held at two venues and runs for six hours.
Many of the performers have ties to LA, including Joni Mitchell, Gracie Abrams and No Doubt. The setlist is heavy on songs the evoke the city or bring some kind of healing. For example: Jelly Roll sings Bob Seger's "Hollywood Nights" Tate McRae sings "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House Red Hot Chili Peppers sing "Californication" and "Under The Bridge" The Black Crowes sing Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" There's a surprising set of Nirvana songs with the surviving members of the group, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl (back on drums) going through four songs with guest vocalists St. Vincent, Joan Jett, Kim Gordon and Grohl's daughter Violet, who sings "All Apologies." The show also reunites Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, who sing their Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young classic "Teach Your Children." The concerts start at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and continue at the nearby Kia Forum. It's streamed across video platforms like Netflix and YouTube, and also on music services like Spotify and Amazon Music. It raises at least $60 million, which is matched by Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO who owns the venues. Four days later, relief efforts are a focus at the Grammy Awards, where a group of firefighters present the award for Album Of The Year.
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