Today in Music History: Apple's version of 'history eraser'
September 15, 2015
History Highlight:
Today in 2014, Apple released a tool to remove U2's album, Songs of Innocence, from its customers' iTunes accounts six days after giving away the music for free. Songs of Innocence was meant to be the biggest album launch in history, and on Sept. 9, 2014, it was immediately gifted to all of Apple's iTunes customers worldwide (more than 500 million people). Some users had complained about the fact that U2's latest album had automatically been downloaded onto their devices without permission. In response, Apple's one-click tool immediately removed the U2 album from users' iTunes music libraries and iTunes purchase histories.
Also, Today In:
1956 - Elvis Presley started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. charts with "Don't Be Cruel." The song went on to become Presley's biggest-selling single recorded in 1956, with sales topping six million by 1961.
1961 - A group from Hawthorne, Calif., called The Pendletones attend their first real recording session at Hite Morgan's studio in Los Angeles. The band recorded "Surfin," a song that would help shape their career as The Beach Boys.
1962 - The Four Seasons started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Sherry."
1965 - The Ford Motor Company became the first automaker to offer an 8-track tape player as an option for its entire line of new vehicles. Tapes were initially only available in auto-parts stores, as home 8-track equipment was still a year away.
1968 - The Doors were forced to perform as a trio at a concert in Amsterdam after singer Jim Morrison collapsed while dancing during the Jefferson Airplane's performance.
1970 - Vice President Spiro Agnew said in a speech that the youth of America were being "brainwashed into a drug culture" by rock music, movies, books and underground newspapers.
1979 - Led Zeppelin scored their sixth U.S. No. 1 album when In Through The Out Door started a seven-week run at the top of the charts.
1980 - David Bowie opened on Broadway as The Elephant Man.
1997 - A court ruling in France awarded more than $30,000 to a French citizen after he lost his hearing when he stood too close to loudspeakers at a U2 concert four years earlier.
2004 - Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) died in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with prostate cancer.
Birthdays:
Abba drummer Ola Brunkert was born today in 1946.
Crash Test Dummies drummer Michel Dorge is 55.
Franz Ferdinand drummer Paul Thomson is 38.