History Highlight:

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, guitarist for Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, turns 70 today. Though his career as a guitarist is nothing short of impressive, you can hardly talk about Baxter without mentioning what he's currently up to these days - chairing a Congressional Advisory Board on missile defense, which he fell into in the mid-1980s as his interest in music recording technology led him to wonder about hardware and software that was originally developed for military use.

Also, Today In:

1966 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded "Foxy Lady" in London.

1969 - Diana Ross took the Latino Casino in Philadelphia to court for $27,500 after her two pet dogs died after eating cyanide tablets left by an exterminator in her dressing room.

1969 - Bob Dylan was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, on sale for $.35.

1975 - David Bowie's "Golden Years" was released. The song was the main single from Bowie's Station To Station album. Bowie has said he was looking to emulate something of the feeling of the song "On Broadway", which he was playing on piano in the studio, when he came up with "Golden Years".

1976 - Aerosmith peaked at number eleven on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Toys in the Attic, their first album to reach the top forty on the Billboard 200 Album chart. It later went on to sell eight million copies in the U.S.

1976 - Three days after its release, Wings over America, the first and only live album by Wings was certified Gold by the RIAA.

1986 - Billy Idol peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with his third full length studio album Whiplash Smile which went on to go Platinum in the U.S.

1993 - Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash joined Billy Joel onstage during a concert at the Los Angeles Sports Arena to contribute a solo to "Shameless".

1996 - Jerry Maguire, directed by Cameron Crowe, opened in North American theaters. The film featured cameos from Glenn Frey of the Eagles and Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains.

2000 - After former Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore delivered his concession speech to George W. Bush in Washington, D.C., Gore held a party in his home with a performance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which featured guest appearances by Jon Bon Jovi and Stevie Wonder.

2008 - Kanye West went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with 808s & Heartbreak, his fourth studio album.

Birthdays:

Ted Nugent is 70.

Tom Verlaine, singer-songwriter for Television, is 69.

Nick McCarthy, guitarist for Franz Ferdinand, is 44.

Tom DeLonge of Blink 182 is 43.

Taylor Swift is 29.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.