19 SEPTEMBER
In Music History
2002 No-frills rock music comes back into fashion with the emergence of The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, and Jet. Rolling Stone heralds the trend with a cover featuring The Vines and the headline "Rock Is Back!"More
2000 MTV2 previews Radiohead's album Kid A by playing a vinyl copy from start to finish with a camera pointed at the record player.
2000 It's "Kenny Chesney Day" in the singer's hometown of Luttrell, Tennessee. Chesney returns to Gibbs High School, where the faculty tells stories about his exploits.
1998 Fabian marries his third wife, Andrea (a former Miss Pennsylvania and Miss West Virginia).
1997 Christian singer-songwriter Rich Mullins dies in an automobile accident in Illinois while en route to a benefit concert at Wichita State University in Kansas. Mullins, age 41, was thrown from the vehicle and hit by an oncoming semi-trailer truck.
1997 The VH1 show Storytellers airs live for the first time with an episode featuring Elton John from the House of Blues in New Orleans.
1996 George Benson gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1994 Frankie Kennedy (flautist/tin whistle player for Altan) dies of cancer (Ewing's sarcoma) in Belfast, Ireland, at age 38.
1993 Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas is robbed at gunpoint outside a West Hollywood restaurant.
1989 Janet Jackson releases her groundbreaking album Rhythm Nation 1814. It contains seven Top 5 hits and a message imploring young people to come together and stand up for education and equality.More
1988 Erasure release "A Little Respect."
1987 Michael Jackson's duet with Siedah Garrett, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," hits #1, becoming the first of five singles from the Bad album to top the chart.
1985 Frank Zappa, John Denver and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testify at a Senate hearing where the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) argue for a ratings system on music. The musicians explain that this is censorship, but the PMRC wins a victory and warning labels are ordered on albums containing explicit lyrics.More
1981 Simon & Garfunkel reunite for a free concert in New York's Central Park.
1971 The Jackson 5's Goin' Back To Indiana TV special airs on ABC.
Rockers Protest Nuclear Power
1979James Taylor, Jackson Browne, The Doobie Brothers, Graham Nash and Bonnie Raitt perform at Madison Square Garden for the first of five "no nukes" concerts.
Read more19 SEPTEMBER
Featured Events
1999 The Dixie Chicks become the first country group to top the Billboard albums chart when Fly debuts at #1. More
1997 The pitch-correction software Auto-Tune hits the market and soon becomes ubiquitous in recording studios, especially after Cher hits #1 with her Auto-Tuned "Believe."More
1991 Michael Jackson is a guest voice on The Simpsons, where he plays a mental patient Homer befriends named Leon Kompowsky.
1990 Eddie Vedder is selected as lead vocalist of what will become Pearl Jam after Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready hear his demo tape where he added vocals to three instrumental tracks the band had recorded.
1987 The Grateful Dead hit #10 on the US Hot 100 with "Touch Of Grey," the only hit song for the band.More
1984 At a whistle-stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, campaigning president Ronald Reagan praises singer Bruce Springsteen, saying: "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about." This leads to widespread criticism in the press because Springsteen's recent hit, "Born In The U.S.A.," is in fact a bitter cry of outrage at how poorly the United States treats its veterans, which Reagan had apparently mistaken for a straight-forward patriotic anthem - an easy mistake to make if you listen to the chorus only and not the lyrics.
1981 Thanks to MTV airplay for the lead single "Start Me Up," the Rolling Stones album Tattoo You goes to #1 in America, where it stays for nine weeks. It's their last #1 album in the US.
1973 Gram Parsons of The Byrds dies at age 26 after taking a shot of liquid morphine in his room at Joshua Tree Inn. Parsons had been recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, but relapsed during his trip to Joshua Tree National Park. "He was clean and took a strong shot," his friend Keith Richards says. "It's the one mistake you don't want to make."
1960 Chubby Checker's version of "The Twist" goes to #1 in America, while the original version by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters reaches its peak chart position of #28. Checker's version tops the chart again in 1962.
1952 Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers is born in New York City. His sophisticated disco group transforms the genre in the '70s with hits like "Le Freak," "Good Times" and "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)." Rodgers becomes a legendary producer for the likes of Diana Ross (Diana), David Bowie (Let's Dance), Daft Punk (Random Access Memories), and Madonna (Like A Virgin).
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