4 SEPTEMBER
Featured Events
2002 Kelly Clarkson beats Justin Guarini to become the first winner of American Idol.More
2001 System Of A Down release Toxicity, a classic of the Armenian folk-metal genre that sells over 3 million copies.More
1982 "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band hits #1 in the US, giving the veteran rocker his third chart-topper.More
1981 Beyoncé Knowles is born in Houston, Texas. She finds fame as the lead singer of the '90s girl group Destiny's Child before becoming Queen Bey.
1976 "You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees goes to #1 in America. The next year, it is used in the Saturday Night Fever scene where John Travolta clears the dance floor.
1968 "Street Fighting Man" by The Rolling Stones is banned in Chicago and some other cities as local officials fear it will incite riots.
4 SEPTEMBER
In Music History
2023 Smash Mouth frontman Steve Harwell dies of liver failure at 56.
2023 Diana Ross makes a surprise appearance at Beyoncé's Los Angeles show to wish her a happy 42nd B'Day. After singing her hit "Love Hangover," Ross leads the crowd in "Happy Birthday."
2023 Gary Wright, known for his 1975 hit "Dream Weaver," dies at 80 after a battle with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia.
2021 After two pandemic postponements, Harry Styles finally launches his Love On Tour in Las Vegas. The 169-show run stretches nearly two years, selling 5 million tickets and grossing $617 million - more than One Direction earned across their entire career.
2014 All is well in Seattle as the Super Bowl champion Seahawks play the first game of the season, with local band Soundgarden performing during the pregame.
2012 Imagine Dragons release their debut album, Night Visions, which takes off thanks to bombastic rockers like "Radioactive" and "Demons."
2009 The-Dream and Christina Milian elope in Las Vegas; they separate three months later, though the split is not made public until July 2010.
2007 The Bob Dylan "biographical" movie, I'm Not There: Suppositions On A Film Concerning Dylan, premieres at the Venice (Italy) Film Festival.
2004 Simon Cowell's music competition show The X Factor debuts in the UK. It quickly becomes a star-making machine, with Little Mix, Leona Lewis, Olly Murs and One Direction emerging from the show. The American version of The X Factor debuts in 2011; their biggest success story is Fifth Harmony.
1997 Accepting the award for Best New Artist, 19-year-old Fiona Apple rages against the machine, saying: "This world is bulls--t. And you shouldn't model your life about what you think we think is cool, what we're wearing, and what we're saying."More
1996 At the MTV Video Music Awards, Van Halen, who recently parted ways with lead singer Sammy Hagar, appear on stage with their founding frontman David Lee Roth for the first time in 11 years to present an award. The reunion is short lived - a month later they announce Gary Cherone (formerly of Extreme) as their new lead singer. Roth releases a statement saying, "I was an unwitting participant in this deception." Van Halen release one album with Cherone before reuniting with Roth in 2007.
1991 Country singer Dottie West, 58, dies five days after getting in a car accident on her way to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.
1986 Gregg Allman is arrested in Belleview, Florida, when a police officer sees his 1985 Trans Am weaving on Route 441. He blows a .27 (legal limit: .10) and is charged with drunken driving and driving with an expired license. Allman is sentenced to five days in jail and ordered to do community service, which he serves by playing a drug-and-alcohol-free graduation party for area high schools. He does his time in January 1987, a month before his aptly titled solo album I'm No Angel is released.
1980 Pop singer Dan Miller (of O-Town) is born in Laconia, New Hampshire.
1972 John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on Jerry Lewis' muscular dystrophy telethon.
First Fleetwood Mac Album With Buckingham And Nicks Hits #1
1976Fleetwood Mac's self-titled album makes #1 a year after its release, knocking off Peter Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive. It's the band's first album with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
The album was recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, which is an important part of Fleetwood Mac history. Mick Fleetwood ventured in looking for a place to record the group's next album, and he ended up with two new members. To demo the studio, co-owner Keith Olsen played a song called "Frozen Love" by a duo he had signed to a production deal: Buckingham Nicks. Fleetwood was impressed with the studio (especially the state-of-the-art Neve 8078 mixing console), but also with the guitarist on "Frozen Love." Bob Welch had recently left Fleetwood Mac, leaving a vacancy on guitar that the group was struggling to fill. When Fleetwood inquired, Olsen told him that the guitarist was Lindsey Buckingham, but he came in a package deal with his girlfriend, Stevie Nicks. Also, Olsen was part of the deal, as he had them under contract. Fleetwood Mac already had a female vocalist - Christine McVie - but Mick figured they could use another one, especially if she could write songs. The Buckingham Nicks debut album had tanked, so Fleetwood's offer to join the band was appealing (Nicks was working as a waitress). They came on board, bringing along some songs they had planned for their next album: "Landslide," "Rhiannon" and "Monday Morning." Per the agreement, Olsen co-produced the album. This new combination clicked in the studio, transforming Fleetwood Mac from a blues mainstay to a pop powerhouse. When it comes time to make their next album, Rumours, they continue to click, but also clash, reaching stunning levels of both success and dysfunction.
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