12 MAY
Featured Events
2000 Following the launch of Metallica's legal case against the popular online file-sharing service Napster, Chuck D of Public Enemy and Lars Ulrich of Metallica appear on The Charlie Rose Show, where they debate whether MP3 downloading is a vehicle for piracy or a return of power to the people.More
1984 Lionel Richie's "Hello," a song inspired by his younger years when he was too shy to talk to the ladies, goes to #1 in America.
1977 The Sex Pistols sign with Virgin Records for £15,000 after being dropped by both EMI and A&M. This one takes, and Virgin issues their landmark album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. "I've always liked Richard Branson because, pompous rich t--t that he is, he has a great sense of rebelliousness," lead singer Johnny Rotten says.
1972 The Rolling Stones release Exile On Main Street, a landmark double album recorded primarily at a villa in France, where the group is living to avoid British taxes (they are "tax exiles," thus the album name).
1967 The first Jimi Hendrix album, Are You Experienced?, is released. Songs include "Foxy Lady," "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze."
1963 Bob Dylan refuses to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show when they won't let him play "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues."More
1929 Burt Bacharach is born in Kansas City, Missouri.More
12 MAY
In Music History
2017 Harry Styles becomes the second One Direction member (following Zayn Malik) to release a solo album. The eponymous album is a departure from his boy band material in 1D, with meaty songs like "Sign of the Times" and "Sweet Creature." It goes to #1 in many countries (including the US and UK) and establishes Styles as a solo artist.
2017 To commemorate the 30th anniversary of their acclaimed 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, U2 embarks upon The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, with an opener in Vancouver, Canada. The band plays through the entire album, including rare treats "Exit" and "Trip Through Your Wires," which haven't been performed since the '80s, and a live first for "Red Hill Mining Town."
2011 David Gilmour and Nick Mason join their former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters at the London 02 Arena performance of Waters' The Wall tour, joining in on "Comfortably Numb" and "Outside The Wall." It's the first time they've played together since Live 8 in 2005.
2011 The Monkees, minus Mike Nesmith, embark on a 45th Anniversary Tour with a date at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. It's the group's fourth and final reunion tour, as Davy Jones dies in 2012.
2011 Jamaican drummer Lloyd Knibb (of The Skatalites) dies of liver cancer at age 80.
2007 Brian May of Queen goes under police protection after a schizophrenic leaves a letter at his home blaming him for his mental illness and threatening to kill him. The news is published in the Sunday Mirror the following day, against May's wishes.
2001 Perry Como dies in his sleep less than week before his 89th birthday.
2001 File this under strange but true: After 27 years as a fugitive from a New Jersey prison, convicted child-killer Edward Solly is arrested in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he has been masquerading as long-dead Sha Na Na guitarist Vinnie Taylor, complete with a website and nightclub act. More
1998 Lenny Kravitz releases his fifth studio album, aptly titled 5. The album features his first Grammy Award-winning hit, "Fly Away."
1997 Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson appear on VH1's Storytellers, where they play each other's songs and swap stories. It's released as an album the following year.
1997 Married country singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill release their first duet, "It's Your Love."
1994 Garth Brooks guest stars on the "Up All Night" episode of the sitcom Mad About You.
1983 Meat Loaf files for bankruptcy.
1981 Debbie Harry branches off from Blondie, announcing her solo career. She continues working with the band, which proves more successful.
1978 Alex Ebert, lead singer of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, is born in Los Angeles. His mother is the actress Lisa Richards, who had a regular role on the soap opera Dark Shadows and appeared on episodes of Fantasy Island and Chips.
Astronaut Plays "Space Oddity" In Space
2013After the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield records the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" on board the International Space Station, his sublime rendition is posted to YouTube, quickly garnering millions of views.
Along with, you know, science stuff, there is a guitar on board the International Space Station, and when Chris Hadfield takes his post as Commander, he puts it to use. A song that every astronaut knows quite well is "Space Oddity," which tells the story of Major Tom, an astronaut who travels to space and becomes adulated by folks back on Earth. Entranced by the tranquil expanse, he cuts himself loose and drifts away. This exact storyline isn't appropriate for Hadfield, as he has every intention of returning home, but the song captured the majesty of space like no other. He alters the lyric so Major Tom doesn't float away and records the track, which is beamed down to Earth where Emm Gryner, a singer-songwriter who did time in Bowie's live band, compiles the song, adding various instruments along with some space station sounds Hadfield recorded. A video comes together with footage of Hadfield in space, and a legal team works out a one-year deal to use the song - a high hurdle because there's no protocol for obtaining rights to a song recorded in orbit. When the video is posted to YouTube, Bowie posts on his Facebook page, "It's possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created." The video comes down when the agreement expires after a year, but it goes back up six months later when a new deal is struck. After Bowie dies in 2016, Hadfield writes, "His art defined an image of outer space, inner self, and a rapidly changing world for a generation finding themselves at the confluence. Being able to record 'Oddity' on the International Space Station was an attempt to bring that art full circle. It was meant as a way to allow people to experience, without it being stated, that our culture had reached beyond the planet. We live in space. I thank him for allowing us the opportunity, and for being so kind since."
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