History Highlight:

On this day in 2020, Bob Dylan released his 39th studio album, Rough and Rowdy Ways. Recorded in Los Angeles just before the pandemic took hold, Dylan recorded the tracks alongside his longtime touring bandmates and with guests Fiona Apple and Blake Mills. Rough and Rowdy Ways includes the tracks "I Contain Multitudes" and "False Prophet," as well as the album’s lead single, the nearly 17-minute song, “Murder Most Foul,” which recounts the JFK assassination. Not only is "Murder Most Foul” the longest song Dylan ever recorded, it is also the very first time in his entire career that one of his songs topped any of the Billboard charts when it hit No. 1 in Billboard’s Rock Digital Song Sales on April 11, 2020.

Also, Today In:

1965 - The Four Tops went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "I Can't Help Myself."

1971 - Carole King started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "It's Too Late / I Feel The Earth Move." Both songs were from her Tapestry album. "I Feel The Earth Move" is one half of the double A-sided single; the flip side which was "It's Too Late". Together, both became among the biggest mainstream pop hits of 1971. Since Billboard had declared the record a double A-side, it is generally listed in books and articles that both songs reached No. 1. The songs, together, were named by the Recording Industry Association of America as No. 213 of 365 "Songs of the Century".

1973 - The stage version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show opened in London starring Tim Curry, who also later appeared in the film version, released two years later. The production ran for a total of 2,960 performances and won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical.

1974 - The Delinquents, a band featuring Mick Jones (later of The Clash), made their debut at the Students union bar at Queen Elizabeth College in Kensington, London.

1976 - Future Smiths singer Steven Morrissey had a letter published in the music magazine Record Mirror and Disc, asking the editor why the paper had not included any stories on The Sex Pistols.

1980 - Donna Summer became the first act to be signed by David Geffen to his new Geffen record label.

1981 - Siouxsie and the Banshees released their fourth studio album, Juju. It features "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights."

1990 - Prince played the first of 12 sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in London.

2001 - Gorillaz released their self-titled debut in the U.S. (It was released on March 26 in the U.K.)

2001 - The Shins released their debut studio album, Oh, Inverted World. It features "Caring Is Creepy" and "New Slang."

2001 - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists released their second studio album, The Tyranny of Distance. It features “Biomusicology,” “Dial Up,” and “Timorous Me.”

2001 - !!! released their self-titled debut on CD. It features "Feel Good Hit of the Fall."

2001 - D12 released their debut album, Devil’s Night. It features “Purple Pills.”

2001 - Stone Temple Pilots released their fifth studio album, Shangri-La Dee Da. "Days of the Week" and "Hollywood Bitch" were released as singles.

2007 - The Polyphonic Spree released their third album, The Fragile Army.

2008 - Girl Talk released their fourth studio album, Feed the Animals.

2009 - The Temper Trap released their debut studio album, Conditions. It features “Sweet Disposition.”

2009 - Dance-punk band Gossip released their fourth studio album, Music for Men. The album was recorded with producer Rick Rubin at his Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, and features the singles “Heavy Cross” and “Love Long Distance.” “When we put out Music for Men and [we put] my face on the cover, it was a very intentional message to put this butch and masc-presenting person front and center,” said Gossip drummer Hannah Blilie in an interview with LGBTQ+ publication Them earlier this year. The group, fronted by the incredible lead singer Beth Ditto, launched a 10-year anniversary tour for the album in 2019.

2012 - Fiona Apple released her fourth studio album, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do. Oft abridged as The Idler Wheel…, it features “Every Single Night.”

2013 - Slim Whitman, country music singer/songwriter and instrumentalist died at age 90. Known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth high octave falsetto, he sold more than 120 million records during his career. Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists and George Harrison cited Whitman as an early influence.

2014 - Gerry Goffin, who wrote chart-topping songs with his then-wife Carole King died at the age of 75 in Los Angeles. He wrote dozens of hits over two decades, including "The Loco-Motion", "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". After their divorce in 1968, Goffin continued writing songs, including Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You" in 1985.

2015 - Blues musician Wendell Holmes died at age 71. He released 12 albums as part of The Holmes Brothers, a family band that included his siblings Sherman and Willie. During their career, the brothers played with many artists including Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Willie Nelson.

2016 - Artists including Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, U2 and Paul McCartney called for online copyright laws to be reformed. More than 180 artists signed an open letter criticising the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). They claimed the law benefits companies that "exploit music for their financial enrichment", but not artists.

Birthdays:

Lester Flatt, of Flatt and Scruggs, was born today in 1914.

Tommy DeVito of the Four Seasons was born today in 1928.

Nick Drake was born on this day in 1948.

Ann Wilson of Heart is 75.

Lou Pearlman, disgraced manager of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, is 71.

Marty DeBarge of DeBarge is 66.

Paula Abdul is 63.

Brian Vander Ark, lead singer of the Verve Pipe, is 61.

Brian “Head” Welch, of Korn and Love and Death, is 55.

Scott Avett of the Avett Brothers is 49.

Ben Haggerty - better known as Macklemore - is 42.

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