History Highlight:

Today in 1956, Ian Curtis, singer-songwriter and frontman of the band Joy Division, was born in Stretford, Greater Manchester. Interested in poetry, art and music from a very early age, Curtis met Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook in 1976 at a Sex Pistols gig. Sumner and Hook were trying to form a band, and Curtis immediately proposed himself as vocalist and lyricist. After recruiting drummer Stephen Morris, they formed Joy Division and released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979, and recorded their follow-up, Closer, in 1980. Among the band's better-known songs are "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Transmission," the latter of which is used as the theme music by our own Jake Rudh on his program of the same name. Joy Division disbanded in 1980 after Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy and depression, took his own life. The remaining members formed the band New Order. Today, Joy Division are considered pioneers of the post-punk movement and are seen as one of the most influential bands of the late 1970s.

Also, Today In:

1952 - Eight-year-old prodigy Gladys Knight appeared on the TV show Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, which was a precursor to shows like Star Search and American Idol. She won the top prize of $2,000 for her performance of Nat King Cole's "Too Young."

1958 - John Lennon's mother Julia was killed by a car driven by a drunk driver. John was 17 at the time.

1965 - This week's U.S. top three singles were No. 3 The Byrds, "Mr Tambourine Man," No. 2 The Four Tops, "I Can't Help Myself" and at No. 1. The Rolling Stones with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." A random chart fact for you.

1972 - Elton John started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Honky Chateau, his first U.S. chart topper.

1973 - Induced by exhaustion and a falling-out with his wife, Ray Davies announced that he was departing The Kinks. After a week of rest, he changed his mind.

1978 - The Rolling Stones started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with "Some Girls," the group's seventh U.S. No. 1 album.

1978 - Bob Dylan performed at what was the biggest open-air concert in history for a solo artist, playing for over 200,000 at "The Picnic at Blackbushe" at Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire, England.

1986 - Run-DMC's Raising Hell became the first rap album certified platinum.

1989 - Simply Red scored their second U.S. No. 1 single with "If You Don't Know Me By Now," a 1973 U.K. hit for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

1998 - Aerosmith were forced to cancel a forthcoming U.S. tour after drummer Joey Kramer was involved in a freak accident in which he was filling his car with gasoline and it caught fire. Kramer hospitalized with second-degree burns.

2007 - Prince released Planet Earth, his thirty-second studio album. The album was distributed as a free covermount with The Mail on Sunday national newspaper in the U.K., followed by the album's worldwide distribution. This move brought much criticism from U.K. record stores which resulted in Columbia refusing to distribute the album in the U.K., though its release in the rest of the world remained unaffected. Fun fact: This was not Prince's first or only time releasing albums for free. In 2004, he gave free copies of Musicology to all concert goers during the "Musicology" tour, and he gave away copies of Planet Earth with tickets to his 2007 concerts in London.

2009 - 45 years after he played at the Ed Sullivan Theater with The Beatles, Paul McCartney returned to the venue to appear on The Late Show With David Letterman. Earlier in the day, McCartney played a few songs from the theater's marquee, surprising the onlookers in Manhattan.

2012 - "Gangnam Style" was unleashed upon the world. Performed by K-Pop singer PSY, the song debuted on YouTube and became its most-watched video (ever. in history.), surpassing even Justin Bieber's hit "Baby" in that capacity. The song, partly in Korean, is about the lifestyle of the Gangnam district in Seoul, Korea. The video features PSY's now-famous signature dance moves and it spawned several parodies, animated versions, and mash-ups. "Gangnam Style" goes on to become a worldwide phenomenon, with its dance moves attempted by President Obama and British prime minister David Cameron; it was also declared a "force for world peace" on the floor of the United Nations.

2015 - A judge trimmed more than $1 million from the damages Pharrell Williams was ordered to pay after the "Blurred Lines" copyright trial. The case revolved around the question of whether Williams and his co-writer Robin Thicke had copied Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit "Got To Give It Up". The judge also gave Gaye's family a 50 percent cut of future earnings from the song.

Birthdays:

Johnny Thunders, New York Dolls singer, was born today in 1952.

American Soul and R&B singer Millie Jackson is 75.

Linda Ronstadt is 73.

Guitarist Joe Satriani is 63.

John Dolmayan of System of a Down is 46.

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