History Highlight:

Today in 1989, Nirvana's debut album Bleach was released. Hailing from Aberdeen, a small logging community in Washington State, Nirvana caught the attention of Sub Pop records, an indie label that captured Seattle's burgeoning grunge sound with acts like Soundgarden and Mudhoney on the roster. With Kurt Cobain as their frontman, the group showed up to Reciprocal Studios to record a handful of tunes under the helm of producer Jack Endino. The sessions turned into their debut album, Bleach, its title inspired by advertisements that instructed drug users to clean up their needles to help quell the AIDS epidemic. 

Also, Today In: 

1963 - Kyu Sakamoto started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Sukiyaki," the first-ever Japanese song to do so. Lyricist Rokusuke Ei wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting a continued U.S. Army presence. It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 13 million copies worldwide. On August 12, 1985, the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 became the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history, on which 520 people (including Sakamoto) were killed. 

1969 - The Doors played a concert at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  

1976 - The Sex Pistols recorded their first demos in Clapham's Majestic studios. 

1977 - Former 5th Dimension singers Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. host a summer TV variety series on CBS. They are the first African American married couple to host a network television series. 

1979- Unknown Pleasures, the debut long-player from British post-punk band Joy Division, is released. Although it does not chart, it becomes hugely influential and is widely critically acclaimed as one of the defining albums of the post-punk era. 

1985 - Dire Straits started a nine-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Brothers In Arms. 

1989 - The Offspring's self-titled debut album is released only on vinyl. A CD and cassette reissue are eventually released in 1995. 

1994 - The Disney film The Lion King hits theaters. The soundtrack goes Diamond, meaning over 10 million copies sold - a record for the soundtrack to an animated film. The key songs in the film - "Circle of Life," "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" - are written by Elton John without his usual songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin. Taking on the lyrics is Tim Rice, whose CV includes music from Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When the Academy Awards rolls around, three of the five slots in the Song of the Year category are taken up by Lion King tunes. 

1996 - Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald died in Beverly Hills, CA, at age 79.  

1996 - The Beastie Boys hosted the first Tibetan Freedom Concert, with performers that included Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins and John Lee Hooker. About 100,000 attend the two shows, raising money for the Milarepa Fund. 

1997 - Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson appear on VH1's Storytellers. 

1999 - After a seven-year recording hiatus, Santana release the album Supernatural, which goes to #1 thanks to hit singles like "Smooth," "Maria Maria," and "Put Your Lights On." It's their first chart-topping album in 28 years. 

2003 - Metallica were at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with St. Anger, the band's fourth U.S. No. 1. 

2005 - Coldplay went straight to No. 1 on U.S. album chart with their third album, X&Y. 

2014 - American Top 40 host (and voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo) Casey Kasem dies at age 82. 

2016 - Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page denied stealing the riff to "Stairway To Heaven" when he took the stand at a copyright trial in the U.S. The band was accused of lifting the opening guitar line from "Taurus", a 1968 track by the band Spirit. Page testified that he had never heard the song until people started posting comparisons online a few years ago. Under questioning, he conceded that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled debut, on which the track appears, but could not recall how it came to be part of his collection. 

2017 - Jay-Z became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 

Birthdays: 

Waylon Jennings was born on this day in 1937. 

Harry Nilsson was born today in 1941. 

Noddy Holder of Slade is 77. 

Ice Cube is 54. 

Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol is 47. 

Aurora is 27. 

Steve Walsh is 72.  

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