23 OCTOBER
In Music History
1984 The BBC runs a news report showing shocking and disturbing footage of famine in Ethiopia. Bob Geldof springs into action, setting up the Band-Aid relief effort, which releases the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" a little over a month later. Geldof later organizes Live Aid to assist in relief efforts.
1981 In Honolulu, George Thorogood embarks on his 50/50 tour, playing 50 shows in 50 states on 50 consecutive nights. After a flight to Alaska and then to Portland, Oregon, the rest of it is one the road, finishing as scheduled in Pasadena, California.
1979 The Police shoot the video for "Walking On The Moon" in front of a Saturn V rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
1978 Neil Young's Zuma Beach, California, home burns to the ground in a brush fire.
1978 "Mother" Maybelle Carter dies in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at age 69, inspiring her son-in-law Johnny Cash's song "Tears in the Holston River."
1978 CBS Records jacks up album prices for their big-name releases to $8.98, becoming the first label to do so.
1976 Leonard Lee (of Shirley & Lee) dies of a heart attack at age 40.
1976 Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now," written and sung by their bass player, Peter Cetera, hits #1 in America for the first of two weeks. The band starts moving in a soft rock direction, marginalizing their famous horn section. In the '80s they score big with Cetera sung ballads like "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" and "Hard Habit To Break."
1975 As part of "Elton John Week" in Los Angeles, Elton is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
1969 Columbia Records announces its intention to prosecute the purveyors of Great White Way, an unauthorized collection of unreleased Bob Dylan demos that is often considered the first "bootleg" record.
1968 Elvis Presley's movie Live A Little, Love A Little is released.
1966 The Jimi Hendrix Experience records "Hey Joe."
1966 The Yardbirds, in their first concert featuring Jimmy Page on lead guitar, open at San Francisco's Fillmore West.
1966 Gospel singer David Thomas (of Take 6) is born.
1964 Robert Trujillo (bassist for Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies) is born in Santa Monica, California.
"Weird Al" Yankovic Is Born
1959"Weird Al" Yankovic is born Alfred Matthew Yankovic in Downey, California, and raised in Lynwood.
Read more23 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2006 My Chemical Romance release their wildly popular third album, The Black Parade, which was recorded during the band's stay at the notoriously haunted Paramour Mansion in Los Angeles.More
2004 Ashlee Simpson gets caught lip-synching on Saturday Night Live when her pre-recorded vocals come on but her mouth isn't moving. She does a little dance, then walks off stage as they go to commercial. Her career takes a tumble as she's ridiculed for not actually singing on the show.More
2002 Kanye West, recently signed to Roc-a-Fella Records, falls asleep at the wheel and crashes his car into an oncoming vehicle. His jaw is shattered, inspiring his song "Through The Wire," which he records with his jaw wired shut. The song appears on his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004.
1976 Led Zeppelin, who avoid TV appearances because of sound problems, appear on American television for the first time when footage of them performing "Black Dog" and "Dazed and Confused" from their concert film The Song Remains The Same airs on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.
1961 Dion's "Runaround Sue" hits #1 for the first of two weeks. Dion pulled the name Sue out of thin air, but when he later marries a woman named Sue, she tells everyone the song is about her - even though she knows it isn't.
1940 Ellie Greenwich is born Eleanor Louise Greenwich in Brooklyn, New York. One of the most successful songwriters of the '60, her co-writes include "Leader of the Pack" and "Be My Baby."
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