Today in Music History: Radiohead release 'In Rainbows'
October 01, 2015
History Highlight:
Today in 2007, Radiohead's official website crashed after the band announced that their new album In Rainbows would only be available to order via www.radiohead.com. In Rainbows was one of the first major albums to be released via the "let the listener pay whatever they choose" model. Fans could also choose to pay a fixed price of £40 (more than $80 at the time) for a "discbox" that included two CDs, two records, plus artwork and booklets.
Also, Today In:
1956 - After test audiences gave a negative reaction to Elvis Presley dying at the end of the film Love Me Tender, Presley was called back to re-shoot the scene. (Spoiler alert: In the new ending, the hero lives.)
1965 - Bob Dylan appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He introduced his new touring band on this tour, made up of guitarist Robbie Robertson, organist Garth Hudson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manual and drummer Levon Helm. They will become known simply as The Band.
1967 - Pink Floyd arrived in New York to begin their initial tour of the U.S. in support of their first album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. It had to be cancelled midway through the tour due to co-founder Syd Barrett's increasingly bizarre behavior.
1970 - Curtis Mayfield left the Impressions to go solo.
1970 - Jimi Hendrix was buried at The Greenwood Cemetery at the Dunlop Baptist Church in Seattle. Among the mourners were Miles Davis, Eric Burdon, Johnny Winter, and members of Derek and the Dominoes.
1977 - Meco started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with a disco version of the Star Wars Theme.
1980 - The Paul Simon film, One Trick Pony, premiered. It was a semi-autobiographical picture, written by and starring Simon and featuring guest appearances by Lou Reed, The B-52's and Sam & Dave.
1982 - John Cougar went to No. 1 on both the U.S. album and singles charts with American Fool and "Jack And Diane," respectively.
1982 - Sony launched its first compact-disc player, the CDP-101, for $730. That's the equivalent of about $1,630 today.
1990 - Forbes magazine listed New Kids On The Block as the fifth richest entertainers in the U.S., with an income of $78 million.
2004 - John So, then the mayor of Melbourne, Australia, officially opened "AC/DC Lane," a street named after the veteran rockers. The mayor erected the sign to cheers and to bagpipes playing the AC/DC song, "Long Way To The Top." The City of Melbourne had extra copies of the sign made in anticipation of fans stealing them.
Birthdays:
Richard Harris was born today in 1930. He had a hit with the song, "MacArthur Park," ("… someone left the cake out in the rain …"), although most people nowadays know him best as "the first Dumbledore" from the Harry Potter films.
Julie Andrews, known for her roles in such musical films as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, is 80.
Martin Cooper of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark is 57.
Senegalese singer Youssou N'dour is 56.
Dizzee Rascal is 30.