more brave than me
more blond than you
e e cummings
November 1, 1960: Elvis Presley released the single "Are You Lonesome Tonight."
The young Elvis, the vengeful sex-demon who took the country by storm in the mid-’50s, was the best Elvis, the one who changed the world and completely rewrote the rule-book of American popular song.
October 31, 2000: Lifehouse released their debut album, No Name Face.
While there were plenty of alt-rock anthems on the airwaves to choose from in 2000, American audiences fell hard for the band's inaugural single "Hanging by a Moment" and the mélange of Wade's impassioned delivery and the song's irresistible hook.
October 30, 1975: Bob Dylan performs the first show of his Rolling Thunder Revue at the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In 1975, in an America defined by both the self-mythologizing pomp of the upcoming bicentennial and ongoing sociopolitical turmoil, Bob Dylan and a band of troubadours embarked on a now-legendary tour known as the Rolling Thunder Revue,.
October 29, 1971: Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia.
Duane Allman, a slide guitarist and the leader of the Allman Brothers Band, is killed on October 29, 1971 when he loses control of his motorcycle and drives into the side of a flatbed truck in Macon, Georgia. He was 24 years old.
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| Duane Allman |
October 28, 1978: The movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park was televised by NBC.
The tale of rock band KISS and their efforts to thwart a diabolical plan by mad scientist Abner Devereaux. Devereaux has found a way to clone humans into robots in his laboratory at an amusement park.
October 27, 1982: Prince releases his fifth album, 1999. It's a breakthrough thanks to "Little Red Corvette" and the title track.
Get ready to party like it's 1982 on Nov. 29 when Warner Records reissues Prince's classic album 1999 with no fewer than 35 previously unreleased tracks and a complete live concert performance on DVD.
October 26, 2001: The science fiction film Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal , premieres in US theaters. The movie features Gary Jules' haunting cover of Tears For Fears' 1982 song "Mad World."
"Mad World" is a 1982 song by the British band Tears for Fears. Written by Roland Orzabal and sung by bassist Curt Smith, it was the band's third single release and first chart hit, reaching number 3 on the UK Singles Chart in November 1982.
October 25, 1986: Bon Jovi first moved into the Number 1 position on the Album chart with Slippery When Wet after seven weeks of release.
Bon Jovi did all right for themselves with their first two albums, but they were far from content with life in rock 'n' roll's second string.
October 24, 1978: The movie version of The Wiz, which debuted as a Broadway stage production in 1975, hits theaters.
October 23, 1990: AC/DC's Back In Black album is certified Diamond for US sales of 10 million.
For many bands, the sudden and horrific death of their lead singer at the peak of their popularity would be a career-ender. AC/DC took a few weeks to regroup and then recorded one of the biggest albums of all time.
October 22, 1983: Culture Club topped the UK Album chart with Colour By Numbers.
‘Colour By Numbers” is the second album from the British Pop/New Wave group Culture Club.
October 21, 1992: Madonna's book Sex is released.
In 1990, Madonna was as astronomically popular as a boundary-bulldozing, unapologetically bacchanalian performance artist could get. Drawing from Harlem drag balls, “Vogue” went Number One nearly worldwide.
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| Madonna's Sex |
October 20, 1976: The Led Zeppelin concert documentary The Song Remains The Same opens in London and New York.
October 19, 1979: Music History Today: October 18, 2020 releases his sophomore album, Prince, containing the Number 1 R&B hit "I Wanna Be Your Lover."
Prince's self-titled second album found him expanding his sound in search of the mainstream success that his debut, For You, failed to secure.
October 18, 1969: Promoter Richard Nader puts on the first "Rock and Roll Revival" concerts at Madison Square Garden.
Richard Abi-Nader and his brother Sheb grew up with the music of the 1950s in their hometown of Masontown, Pa. While in high school Richard began promoting shows and hosting record hops. He worked his way through college and wound up as a disc jockey for the Armed Forces.
October 17, 1957: The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, premiers at Loews State Theatre, where Elvis worked as an usher five years earlier.
Vince Everett is serving a one-year jail sentence for manslaughter. While in the big house, his cellmate, a former country singer, introduces him to the record business.
October 16, 1976: Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life hits number 1on the album charts.
The album "Songs in the Key of Life," — two LPs plus an additional four-song EP — was the culmination of a historic period of creativity, a concentrated burst of music matched only by a handful of artists.
October 15, 1988: UB40 reached Number 1 with "Red Red Wine" taking over from Def Leppard's "Love Bites."
"Red, Red Wine" had been included on the Neil Diamond’s second album Just For You, released in the summer of 1967.
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| UB40 |
October 14, 1994: Pulp Fiction opens in theaters, reviving classic '60s songs such as "Son Of A Preacher Man," "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon," and "Misirlou."
Not many surf-rock classics can trace their roots back to the Ottoman Empire, but "Misirlou" is one of them. Its earliest known recording is from Greece in 1927, and American pianist and xylophonist Jan August made it a hit in 1946.
October 13, 1941: Paul Simon was born in Newark, New Jersey.
Paul Simon was born on October 13, 1941, to Jewish-American parents living in New Jersey, and grew up in Forest Hills, New York.
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| Paul Simon |
October 12, 1978: Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
On 12 October 1978, Sid Vicious, born John Simon Ritchie, woke up from a drug binge at New York's Chelsea Hotel.
October 11, 2004: The Vote for Change tour wraps up in Washington, DC.
The Vote for Change tour wrapped last night (October 11) with a star-studded finale at Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center.
October 10, 1979: A motion picture called The Rose, starring Bette Midler, premiered in Los Angeles.
Bette Midler plays The Rose, a female rock star strikingly similar to Janis Joplin. This movie follows Rose's career during her last tour.
October 9, 1940: John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England.
In 1985, on what would have been his 45th birthday, a section of Central Park in New York City is christened "Strawberry Fields" in his memory.
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| Strawberry Fields in Central Park, NYC |
October 8, 1980: Talking Heads release their fourth album, Remain In Light.
Released on 1980's Remain in Light, "Once in a Lifetime" shows the growing influence that producer Brian Eno, was having over the group.
October 7, 1995: Alanis Morissette became the first Canadian female artist to top the Billboard album chart when "Jagged Little Pillreached Number 1.
The song "Ironic" was published in 1995 and was the third track released from Jagged Little Pill, the award winning album by Alanis Morissette that was released in the same year.
The Jazz Singer was the first feature-length movie with spoken dialogue and it was one of the most important movies ever made.
October 5, 1978: Dolly Parton becomes the first country singer to pose for Playboy.
Dolly Parton recently turned 74, but the music icon says she has no plans to stop working any time soon. In fact, she has some specific aspirations in mind for when she hits the big 7-5.
October 4, 1970: Janis Joplin was found dead from heroin at 27 at the Landmark Motor Hotel in Hollywood, California.
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| Janis Joplin |
October 3, 1992: Sinead O'Connor damaged her career she tore a picture of the pope during her appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
On October 3, 1992: Irish musician Sinéad O’Connor stunned the audience at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and viewers across the United States when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a performance on Saturday Night Live.
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| Sinead O'Connor in SNL 1992 |
If you’re wondering why we’ve referenced both “Maggie May” and “Reason to Believe,” the Tim Hardin cover that Stewart recorded, well, that’s because it was actually the latter song that was the A-side of this single.
