History Highlight:

Today in 1974, Carrie Brownstein was born, making her 51. Best known for her work as a guitarist, singer and co-founding member of the band Sleater-Kinney, Brownstein has also carved out a successful career as an actor, most notably for her role in the series Portlandia. Beyond music and acting, Brownstein is an accomplished writer, having worked for Slate magazine and for NPR Music. She published a memoir, Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, in 2015 through Penguin Books. Meanwhile, Sleater-Kinney’s work continues apace; the band’s most recent album, Little Rope, was released in January 2024 and the band have been busy touring in support of that record.

Also, Today In: 

1964 - The Beach Boys made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show where they performed "I Get Around" and "Wendy". 

1973 - After becoming a devotee of the guru Sri Chinmoy, Carlos Santana starts using the name Devadip, which means "the Lamp of the Light Supreme." 

1975 - John Denver's "I'm Sorry" hits #1, giving him his second chart-topper of the year, following "Thank God I'm A Country Boy." 

1979 - Leonard Cohen released his sixth studio album, Recent Songs. It features the singles "The Guests," "The Window," "The Smokey Life," and "The Gypsy's Wife."

1980 - David Bowie scored his fourth U.K. No. 1 album with Scary Monsters And Supercreeps. The album featured the singles "Ashes to Ashes" and "Fashion". 

1980 - Kurtis Blow becomes the first rapper to perform on national television when he does "The Breaks" on Soul Train. Host Don Cornelius is flummoxed. "It doesn't make sense to old guys like me," he tells Kurtis in the interview segment. 

1982 - Depeche Mode released their second studio album, A Broken Frame. It features the singles "See You," "The Meaning of Love," and "Leave in Silence."

1984 - Alphaville releases "Forever Young." 

1986 - The pioneering rap/rock version of "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. hit the Top 5. 

1986 - The Beatles track "Twist and Shout" re-entered the U.S. singles chart over twenty-five years after it first appeared, when the song was featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

1990 - Marvin Gaye received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

1993 - James released their fifth studio album, Laid. It features the singles "Sometimes (Lester Piggott)" and "Laid."

1994 - R.E.M. released their ninth studio album, Monster. It features “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” “Bang and Blame,” “Crush with Eyeliner,” “Strange Currencies,” and “Tongue.”

1994 - Slayer released their sixth album, Divine Intervention.

1994 - Ween released their fourth studio album, Chocolate and Cheese. It features “Voodoo Lady” and “Freedom of ‘76.”

1994 - Veruca Salt released their debut studio album, American Thighs. It features “Seether.”

1994 - The Dave Matthews Band released Under the Table and Dreaming. The album featured their first commercial hits "What Would You Say," "Satellite," and "Ants Marching." The album was dedicated to Matthews' older sister Anne, who was killed by her husband in 1994. The band is road-tested, with a huge fanbase in the Virginia area, where they have been playing live since 1991. They earn a legion of new fans when the tracks "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching" get airplay across America, helping the album sell over 6 million copies. 

1994 - Soul Coughing released their debut album, Ruby Vroom.

1994 - The Music from the Motion Picture Pulp Fiction soundtrack was released. It revived the popularity of songs such as Dick Dale & His Del-Tones’ “Misirlou,” Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie,” Dusty Springfield’s “Song of a Preacher Man,” and Neil Diamond’s "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon," as covered by Urge Overkill.

1994 - Brandy released her self-titled debut album. It features “I Wanna Be Down.”

1997 - Bob Dylan played "Knocking On Heaven's Door" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" for Pope John Paul II and an audience of 300,000 at the World Eucharist Congress in Bologna, Italy. For the 77-year-old Pope, it was a chance to connect with young people, and the pontiff did so by invoking Dylan's song "Blowin' In The Wind" during his sermon.  

2000 - Quincy Jones' Listen Up Foundation donates $25,000 to five South Central Los Angeles youth organizations. 

2003 - Carly Simon sues the owners of New York's famous Dakota apartment complex, claiming they kept her $59,000 down payment after rejecting her rental application.

2004 - Interpol released their second studio album, Antics. It features “Slow Hands,” “Evil,” and “C’mere.”

2004 - Legendary record producer Phil Spector was formally charged with murder in the February 3rd, 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. 

2005 - Metric released their second studio album, Live It Out. It features “Monster Hospital” and “Poster of a Girl.”

2005 - Wolf Parade released their full-length debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary. It features "Modern World" and "You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son."

2005 - Sheryl Crow released her fifth studio album, Wildflower. It features “Good Is Good” and “Always on Your Side.”

2005 - Panic! at the Disco released their debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. It features "I Write Sins Not Tragedies."

2005 - Big Star released their fourth (and final) studio album, In Space.

2005 - The White Stripes were reportedly the first to webcast a concert when their show at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland was streamed on NPR.org. With opening act M. Ward, the shows were included in NPR Music's live concert series from All Songs Considered. 

2006 - The Killers released their second studio album, Sam's Town. It features the singles "When You Were Young," "Bones," "Read My Mind," and "For Reasons Unknown."

2011 - Tony Bennett became the oldest living person to top the U.S. album chart when the 85-year-old's Duets II album went to No. 1. The record, which featured collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, was also his first U.S. No. 1 in his 60 year career. The previous oldest performer to top the chart was Bob Dylan in 2009 with Together Through Life. At the time he was 67-years old. 

2011 - Wilco released their eighth studio album, The Whole Love. It features the singles "I Might," "Born Alone," "Dawned on Me," and "Whole Love."

2011 - Dum Dum Girls released their second studio album, Only in Dreams. It features the singles "Coming Down" and "Bedroom Eyes."

2011 - Blink-182 released their sixth studio album, Neighborhoods. It features the singles "Up All Night" and "After Midnight"

2012 - Birthday boy Lil Wayne became the new champion of the Billboard Hot 100 by placing his 109th song on the chart as an artist. Though Wayne remains one of the most prolific solo rap artists in the history of the genre, it was thanks to Weezy’s feature on The Game’s “Celebration”– which also featured Chris Brown, Tyga, and Wiz Khalifa – that earned the MC his record-holding status. The Louisiana legend broke the record established by Elvis Presley, who tallied 108 turns on the Hot 100. Wayne is, according to that run, more commercially successful with other artists than he is on his own. As a solo artist, he churned out 42 charting records, while as a featured artist, he assisted on 67. 

2013 - Lorde released her debut studio album, Pure Heroine. It features the singles "Royals," "Tennis Court," "Team," and "Glory and Gore."

2013 - Haim released their debut studio album, Days Are Gone. It features the singles "Forever," "Don't Save Me," "Falling," "The Wire," "If I Could Change Your Mind," and "My Song 5."

2016 - Bruce Springsteen publishes his autobiography, Born To Run. He started working on it after his 2009 performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. 

2018 - Singer, songwriter Marty Balin died at the age of 76. He was best-known as the founder and one of the lead singers of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship who had the 1967 U.S. No. 18 single "White Rabbit". Balin played with Jefferson Airplane at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.  

2019 - The New Pornographers released their eighth studio album, In the Morse Code of Brake Lights. It features "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile."

2019 - Tegan and Sara released their ninth studio album, Hey, I’m Just Like You. It features re-recordings of unreleased demo songs that the duo recorded as teenagers.

2019 - Sturgill Simpson released his fourth studio album, Sound & Fury. It features “Sing Along.”

Birthdays: 

Bud Powell was born today in 1924.

Soul Train host Don Cornelius was born today in 1936.

Alvin Stardust (previously known as Shane Fenton) was born today in 1942.

Randy Bachman of Guess Who is 82. 

Meat Loaf was born on this day in 1947. He passed away in January of 2022 at the age of 74. 

Barbara Dickson (“I Know Him So Well”) is 78.

Session drummer Russell Kunkel — who played with Bill Withers, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Cass Elliot, Dan Fogelberg, Glenn Frey, Art Garfunkel, and many more — is 77.

Greg Ham of Men at Work was born today in 1953.

Shaun Cassidy is 67.

Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind is 61.

Brad Arnold, frontman for 3 Doors Down, is 47.

Jon McLaughlin is 43.

Lil Wayne is 43. 

Avril Lavigne is 41. 

Alexis Krauss who fronts the band Sleigh Bells, is 40. 

Mitski is 35. Born Mitski Miyawaki, she is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter who quickly rose to fame as an indie artist. Mitski self-released her first two albums, Lush (2012), and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), while studying at Purchase College's Conservatory of Music as student projects. After graduating, she released her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek (2014), through Double Double Whammy. It was followed by Puberty 2 (2016) and Be the Cowboy (2018), released on Dead Oceans. Following the release of her fifth studio album, Mitski announced a hiatus from music, performing, and social media for the foreseeable future. By early 2020, Mitski had changed her mind and decided to return to music, partly because she owed her label another album and partly for herself. Laurel Hell was released in 2022, followed by the recently released, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We. 

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.