25 OCTOBER
Featured Events
2017 Nashville stages a star-studded farewell concert for Kenny Rogers, who has decided to retire after a 60-year music career. A range of acts salute the singer with covers of some of his most memorable songs, with Chris Stapleton taking on "The Gambler," Lionel Richie singing "Lady," and Don Henley performing the Eagles' "Desperado," which Rogers covered. The highlight of the evening is when Rogers takes the stage with his duet partner Dolly Parton, as the two close out the night with "Islands in the Stream."More
2008 Britney Spears returns to the top of the Hot 100 with "Womanizer," her first #1 on that chart since her debut single, "...Baby One More Time," in 1999.More
2006 Forbes declares Kurt Cobain the top-earning dead celebrity, beating out Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Ray Charles, and Bob Marley.More
1993 Time magazine puts Eddie Vedder on the cover with the headline "All The Rage." Both Vedder and Kurt Cobain refused to speak with the magazine for the story, but they run it anyway in an attempt to explain why young people are listening to such angry music.More
1986 Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, hits #1 in America. The song becomes an anthem of acceptance and is reinterpreted many times over the years.
1985 One of the first rap movies, Krush Groove, is released in American theaters. Featuring Run-DMC, New Edition and Sheila E., the film is based on the life story of Russell Simmons, co-founder of the hip-hop label Def Jam.
1977 Elton John appears on The Muppet Show, where he performs "Crocodile Rock," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." Elton is one of the inspirations for Dr. Teeth of the Muppets' house band, The Electric Mayhem.
1975 Paul Simon issues his fourth solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years. "Gone At Last," "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover," and the title track all reach the US Top 40, and the album hits #1, Simon's first to do so. Emancipated from Simon & Garfunkel, fans stop shouting "Where's Artie?" at his shows.
1961 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who haven't seen each other since primary school, run into each other at the Dartford train station in England - Keith is on his way to Sidcup Art College; Mick is headed to the London School of Economics. Noticing the Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry albums Mick is carrying, Keith strikes up a conversation. They later form The Rolling Stones.
25 OCTOBER
In Music History
2025 Meghan Trainor's trainer posts photos showing the "All About That Bass" singer's 60-pound weight loss, done through diet, exercise and GLP-1 drugs. Trainor takes some heat online for being "too thin," prompting her to retort in the song "Still Don't Care."
2024 Phil Lesh, the bass player in the Grateful Dead for their entire run (1965-1995), dies at 84. His bass was often a lead instrument in the band, creating a distinctive sound that meshed with Jerry Garcia's guitar work.
2024 A Spanish version of Brenda Lee's holiday classic "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" ("Noche Buena y Navidad") is released. The song was created using AI trained on Lee's vocals from when she recorded the original at 13. It's the second AI-generated release from a major artist, following Randy Travis' "Where That Came From" six months earlier, and the first use of AI to translate a song to another language.
2014 Jack Bruce, bassist and founding member of Cream, dies at age 71.
2014 Taylor Swift applies to trademark several phrases related to her album 1989, including "Party Like It's 1989," "This Sick Beat" and "Cause We Never Go Out Of Style." When granted, this would give her exclusive rights to use the phrases on an array of items, including pot holders, ornaments and removable tattoos.
2011 Steven Tyler of Aerosmith falls in a shower during a stay in a Paraguay hotel, knocking out two teeth. A local dentist repairs the famous mouth, and Tyler performs the next day.
2010 Reggae musician Gregory Isaacs dies of lung cancer in London, England, at age 59.
2010 Taylor Swift releases her third album, Speak Now. One of the more confessional songs is "Mean," where she takes aim at her critics, including industry insider Bob Lefsetz, who wrote that Swift was "too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made" in performing with Stevie Nicks at the Grammy Awards.
2009 For their last US tour date in 2009, U2 broadcast live on U2.com. Almost 100,000 see the show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
2006 Diddy scores his first #1 album on the Billboard 200 since 1997 with Press Play.
2004 Renowned BBC DJ John Peel dies of a heart attack in Cusco, Peru, at age 65.
2003 Ludacris becomes the first "Dirty South" rapper to land a #1 album when Chicken-N-Beer hits the top spot, powered by the #1 hit "Stand Up."
2002 Aretha Franklin's 12-bedroom home outside of Detroit is destroyed by fire, which is later determined to be arson. The building was unoccupied at the time, as Franklin used the home mainly for storage.
2002 Actor/singer Richard Harris dies of Hodgkin's disease in London, England, at age 72. He portrayed Professor Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies.
2000 Billy Bennett (drummer for Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs) dies of a heart attack in Sykesville, Maryland, at age 56.
Dolly Parton Releases Bluegrass Album
1999As bluegrass music starts to take off in America, Dolly Parton releases The Grass Is Blue. The album gives her career a boost and wins the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.
Dolly, who had her first big hit with the bluegrass song "Muleskinner Blues" in 1970, pays tribute to the mountain music she grew up listening to in Tennessee. She says: "When I did this bluegrass album, there's so much of Dolly in it - Dolly's way of singin', just the way that I phrase and all, but yet, when I sing these songs, that part in my high lonesome soul would remember how the bluegrass people would sing that so it would just naturally come out that way so ... I've always admired, respected and been around true bluegrass musicians and groups and singers and so this was such a natural thing for me to do." Aside from original tunes like "The Grass is Blue" and "Endless Stream of Tears," Dolly takes on folk and bluegrass standards, including the murder ballad "Silver Dagger," Johnny Bond's "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight," Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone," Flatt & Scruggs' "I'm Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open," and the Louvin Brothers' "Cash On The Barrelhead." Her bluegrass spin on Billy Joel's "Travelin' Prayer" earns her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Although the album receives little airplay on country radio, it notches a respectable #24 on the country chart and attracts rave reviews from critics. It also contributes to the steady rise in bluegrass music in America that comes to a head with the O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack less than two months later.
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