History highlight:

On this day in 2000, Elliott Smith released his fifth studio album, Figure 8. It features “Happiness” and “Son of Sam.” The final album released during Smith’s lifetime, it debuted at No. 99 in the Billboard 200 and remained in the chart for five weeks. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Figure 8 at No. 86 in its 100 Best Albums of the 2000s, noting the album’s influence on the subsequent “wave of rustic, gorgeous music coming out of Smith's adopted home, the Pacific Northwest.”

Also, today in:

1969 - The Beatles record "Old Brown Shoe" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)."

1973 - 19-year-old Declan "Costello" McManus played his first solo gig in Twickenham, England. He would change his first name to Elvis by the time he released his 1977 debut, My Aim Is True.

1975 - John Lennon released his cover of "Stand By Me."

1975 - Four Bay City Rollers fans were taken to the hospital, and 35 others required on-site treatment, after they attempted to swim across a lake to meet their heroes.

1980 - The Cure released their second studio album, Seventeen Seconds. It features “A Forest.”

1983 - Kajagoogoo released their debut studio album, White Feathers. It features the singles "Too Shy," "Ooh to Be Ah," and "Hang on Now."

1983 - Pulp released their debut studio album, It. It features the singles "My Lighthouse" and "Blue Girls."

1984 - Michael Jackson underwent surgery in a Los Angeles hospital to repair damage done after his hair caught fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.

1985 - Liberace broke his own record at Radio City Music Hall, pulling in $2 million for his latest engagement.

1987 - Aretha Franklin and George Michael's duet "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" hit No. 1 in the U.S., returning Franklin to the top spot for the first time since "Respect" in 1967. The feat broke the record for the longest span between No. 1 hits.

1988 - The trial began in Jamaica for the September 11, 1987 murder of reggae star Peter Tosh.

1988 - Legendary Motown songwriters Holland/Dozier/Holland were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the Motown sound in the 1960s.

1994 - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released their eighth studio album, Let Love In. It features “Red Right Hand” (featured in Scream movies and Peaky Blinders) and “Do You Love Me?” The album received universal acclaim and remains one of the group’s best-selling releases.

1994 - Pulp released their fourth studio album, His ‘n’ Hers. It features “Do You Remember the First Time?” and “Lipgloss.”

1996 - Bernard Edwards (the bass guitarist for Chic) died of pneumonia at age 43 after a Chic concert at the Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

1997 - Lifter Puller released their self-titled debut studio album, Lifter Puller. It features the singles "Bloomington" and "The Mezzanine Gyp."

2000 - Apples in Stereo released their fourth studio album, The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone.

2003 - Etta James got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2006 - Drive-By Truckers released their seventh studio album, A Blessing and a Curse. It features the singles "Easy on Yourself" and "Gravity’s Gone."

2008 - Madonna released her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It features the singles "4 Minutes," "Give It 2 Me," and "Miles Away."

2012 - American Bandstand host Dick Clark died of a heart attack at age 82. Many artists got a huge boost after appearing on Bandstand, which Clark hosted from 1956 to 1989.

2013 - Public Enemy became the fourth hip-hop act inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (following Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Run-DMC, and the Beastie Boys). Spike Lee and Harry Belafonte inducted Public Enemy in, citing their blend of politics, philosophy and rap that changed the game for the better. 

2013 - Cordell "Boogie" Mosson (bassist for Parliament-Funkadelic) died at age 60 of liver failure.

2015 - Built to Spill released their eighth studio album, Untethered Moon.

2015 - Green Day were inducted into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame. The Californian rockers, best known for their albums Dookie and American Idiot, scored enough votes to enter the Rock Hall in their first year of eligibility.

2013 - Storm Thorgerson, a visionary designer who did classic artwork for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, dies of cancer at age 69.

Birthdays:

Tony Mottola — guitarist for Ray Charles, Dick Hyman, Frank Sinatra, and more — was born today in 1918.

Blues musician Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was born today in 1924.

Glen Hardin — pianist for Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, and more — is 86.

Mike Vickers of Manfred Mann is 85.

Les Pattinson, co-songwriter and bassist for Echo and the Bunnymen, is 67.

Conan O’Brien is 61.

Mark 'Bez' Berry, of Happy Mondays, is 61.

Greg Eklund of Everclear is 55.

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