11 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2004 The Vote for Change tour wraps up in Washington, DC. with a concert featuring Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., The Dave Matthews Band, Dixie Chicks and James Taylor. The goal of the tour is to get president George W. Bush voted out of office in the November elections. Bush wins by a narrow margin.
2003 Justin Timberlake makes his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, doing double-duty as host and musical guest. It's the first of many appearances he makes on the show through the coming years; his sketches eventually grow to include a Bee Gees parody, a sketch about dating Lady Gaga, a bailiff in a courtroom trial of an alligator, "the Target lady," appearing in drag onstage with Beyoncé, and the infamous "Dick in a Box" bit.
1991 Apple Computers reaches an agreement with The Beatles' Apple Corps, paying $26.5 million for the rights to run music software - an update to their 1981 deal that prohibited the computer maker from selling anything music-related. The deal is revised from time to time as Apple Computer makes music a major part of their business.
1986 "When I Think of You" by Janet Jackson goes to #1 on the Hot 100, making her and Michael the first siblings to land #1 solo singles on the chart. The song is also the first #1 produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who reach the summit 15 more times.
1983 Lionel Richie releases his second solo album, Can't Slow Down, which goes on to sell over 10 million copies in America.More
1981 Opening a show for The Rolling Stones at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Prince gets booed off the stage. The Stones have good intentions in bringing in a rising star, but his act isn't a good fit for this crowd, and when he opens his trench coat to reveal bikini briefs, it gets ugly. Prince never again performs as an opening act.
1975 Saturday Night - a title later changed to Saturday Night Live - makes its debut on NBC. Music is a big part of the show, and the first episode features two musical guests performing two songs each: Janis Ian doing "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter," and Billy Preston playing "Nothing from Nothing" and "Fancy Lady."More
11 OCTOBER
In Music History
2024 The movie Piece By Piece, a biography of Pharrell Williams set in the animated LEGO universe, opens in theaters. Many of his close collaborators, including Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg, lend their voices and appear as Lego avatars.
2024 Brantley Gilbert stops his show in Tupelo, Mississippi when he gets word that his wife is in the tour bus and has gone into labor (assisted by a midwife). Gilbert witnesses the birth and returns to the stage to finish the set, telling the crowd, "We got a baby!"
2018 The Music Modernization Act is passed into law, clarifying how artists, songwriters and producers are compensated for music played on streaming services, online radio, and satellite radio. It also grants royalties for songs written before 1972.
2018 Kanye West, an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, visits the White House, where he delivers a rambling, 10-minute monologue as the President looks on.More
2016 Rod Stewart is knighted at Buckingham Palace, becoming Sir Roderick David Stewart.
2013 Lady Gaga makes her movie debut playing shape-shifting assassin La Camaleon in the Robert Rodriguez action-crime flick Machete Kills.
2011 George "Mojo" Buford (harmonica player for Muddy Waters's band) dies after a long illness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 81.
2006 The Darkness lead singer Justin Hawkins announces that he's leaving the British band to continue his drug rehabilitation. This shutters the band until 2011, which Hawkins returns.
1999 Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's second wife, files for divorce and grants Jackson full custody of their two children, Prince and Paris.
1999 The City of Miami, under threat of legal action from the American Civil Liberties Union and Havana Caliente Records, allows Cuban dance band Los Van Van to perform at the James L. Knight Center.
1998 The first Smoke Out Festival sparks up in San Bernardino, California. Organized by Cypress Hill, about 40,000 fans converge in the celebration of music and marijuana. The festival returns every year through 2003, then returns in 2009.
1997 Gregg Allman, Bo Diddley, Keb'Mo', Buddy Guy and John Hiatt are among the musicians who perform at a tribute to Muddy Waters at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
1997 On the UK albums chart, it's battling Britpop as The Verve's Urban Hymns knocks Oasis' Be Here Now out of #1.
1994 Korn release their self-titled debut album, a furious set of songs that deal with lead singer Jonathan Davis' demons - a common theme in their lyrics. The album gets little attention at first but goes on to sell over 2 million copies as the band builds a fanbase.
Rihanna is Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive
2011Esquire names Rihanna the Sexiest Woman Alive. She's the only musician ever to win the award, which they bestow from 2004-2015. Other winners include Minka Kelly and Halle Berry.
In 2004, Esquire started naming their Sexiest Woman Alive. After all, People magazine had been handing out the Sexiest Man Alive award since 1985. Their first sexy woman was Angelina Jolie, and every selection thereafter is an actress, until Rihanna is selected in 2011. The story is written based on a dispatch from her Loud tour, with the reporter noting how Rihanna doesn't really dance, but instead does what amounts to "choreographed oozing." Noting her saucy stage show, he crowns her the "indisputable champion of carnal pop." For the cover shot, Rihanna is wearing nothing but seaweed, as if she just washed up on shore. On the cover of her next album, Unapologetic, she's naked, concealed with some carefully placed graphics.
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