21 SEPTEMBER
In Music History
1999 Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails earns the first #1 in its career, as The Fragile debuts at the top of The Billboard 200, easily outpacing all other competitors in a market crowded with new releases.
1998 The Fireman, Paul McCartney's trance music duo with producer Martin Glover, release their second album, Rushes. Says Glover: "Linda [Paul's wife] was very ill, and by the time we'd finished it she was dying, and for me it became very much a requiem for her."
1998 Madonna enrolls her daughter, Lourdes Ciccone, at the prestigious Cheltenham Ladies College in England. Tuition at the boarding school is $22,650 a year.
1998 Oz Bach (of Spanky and Our Gang) dies of cancer at age 59.
1997 The life and career of Jimmie Rodgers is celebrated with a concert capping the "Waiting for a Train: Jimmie Rodgers' America" conference in Cleveland. A collaboration between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, John Prine, Steve Earle, Levon Helm, Iris DeMent, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore all perform songs by Rodgers.
1997 Radiohead's video for "Karma Police" debuts on the MTV show 120 Minutes.More
1996 Hank Williams III, 23, makes his debut at the Grand Ole Opry, following the legacy of his father, Hank Williams Jr., and grandfather,Hank Williams, in performing there. His set includes "Lovesick Blues," which Hank Sr. played at his Opry debut in 1949.
1993 Nirvana release In Utero.
1993 Melissa Etheridge releases her fourth album, Yes I Am, her first since publicly coming out as lesbian. Any anti-gay sentiment is overwhelmed by support; the album is by far her best seller and includes two songs that spend months on radio station playlists: "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window."
1993 Bad Religion release their seventh full-length studio album, Recipe for Hate. This album was originally released on Epitaph Records, but was quickly reissued by their now-former label Atlantic.
1992 ABBA, which split up in 1982, release Gold: Greatest Hits, which in America becomes by far their best-selling album, moving over 6 million copies.
1991 Status Quo set a world record when they play four separate British arenas in one 11-hour period.
1989 Rush move away from their keyboard-heavy sound with Presto, their 13th studio album and first under the Atlantic Records label. The album's four singles are "Show Don't Tell," "Presto," "The Pass," and "Superconductor."
1989 Less than six months after hitting #1 with "Eternal Flame," the Bangles announce their split, with Susanna Hoffs launching a solo career. They re-form in 1998.
1987 Jaco Pastorius of Weather Report, age 35, dies of a massive brain hemorrhage ten days after a violent altercation with a club bouncer left him a coma.
R.E.M. Disbands
2011R.E.M. announce that they're calling it quits after more than 30 years. In a post on their website, the band members write, "To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening."
Read more21 SEPTEMBER
Featured Events
2004 Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens), is denied entry into the United States when he shows up on a terrorist watch list, accused of funding terror groups.More
2004 Green Day release American Idiot, their first album in four years. Overtly political in places, it takes on President George W. Bush, especially on the title track. With a more refined sound, the album outsells even their punk rock touchstone Dookie, released 10 years earlier.
2001 The benefit concert America: A Tribute To Heroes, airs on most major TV networks, raising over $128 million for victims of the September 11 attacks. Performers include Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, and Willie Nelson.
1996 Jack Gillis marries Meg White. He takes her last name, and the couple forms The White Stripes. They tell reporters they are brother and sister, which goes over until a reporter for the Detroit Free Press uncovers their marriage license in 2001.
1993 "All Apologies," backed with "Rape Me," is released. It's the last Nirvana single released while Kurt Cobain is still alive.
1985 "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits hits #1 in America. The song is co-written by Sting, who sings the line "I want my MTV." Sting is also on the chart with "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" and "Fortress Around Your Heart," both from his debut solo album, Dream Of The Blue Turtles.
1979 Bruce Springsteen debuts his song "The River" at a show in Madison Square Garden. He is performing as part of Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE) in a protest against nuclear power. Other artists that go on before him have to contend with the constant droning of "Broooooooooooooce," as he's the main attraction. Bonnie Raitt doesn't figure out until after her set that the crowd was not booing her, just anticipating Springsteen's performance.
1978 Do you remember the 21st night of September? The first line of Earth, Wind & Fire's song was group leader Maurice White's due date for his son Kahbran.
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