History Highlight:

On this day in 1975, Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album and big breakthrough, Born to Run. Although Springsteen’s first two albums were critically praised, they didn’t sell well beyond the northeastern United States. Springsteen conceived of a unifying theme for the album, and he worked alongside manager Mike Appel and producer Jon Landau to create a “Wall of Sound” effect with the E Street Band. Recorded over six months in New York, the effort was well worth it; the album charted well in much of the world, and it catapulted Bruce Springsteen from regional act to global superstar. Born to Run features the title track, “Thunder Road,” “Jungleland,” “Backstreets,” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”

Also, Today In: 

1958 - Staten Island, N.Y., doo-wop group The Elegants went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with their re-worked version of the Mozart lullaby, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," re-titled "Little Star." 

1962 - Little Eva went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Loco-motion." Songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin had offered the tune to Dee Dee Sharp ("Mashed Potatoes"), but she turned it down. As a result, King and Goffin asked their babysitter, Eva Boyd, to record it — and she took it to No. 1. 

1967 - Brian Wilson returned to performing live with The Beach Boys in Honolulu after a two-year hiatus. 

1967 - Bobbie Gentry started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Ode To Billy Joe." Gentry is known for being one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. The song was a No. 1 hit in the United States, and became a big international seller. The song is a first-person narrative that reveals a family at dinnertime on the day that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

1970 - Elton John performed in the U.S. for the first time. His gig at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles launched a 17-date tour and the first big impact Elton John would make in America. 

1973 - At the Las Vegas Hilton, Bobby Darin performed his final concert. Darin died on Dec. 20, 1973, following open-heart surgery. He was 37 years old. 

1976 - Boston released their self-titled debut album, which despite being mostly recorded in Tom Scholz' basement studio, became one of the best-selling debuts of all time. It features “More Than a Feeling,” “Long Time,” and “Peace of Mind.”

1979 - The Knack started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "My Sharona," the group's only chart topper. 

1981 - The Replacements released their first studio album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash via Twin/Tone Records. Retrospectively, AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine considered Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash to be "one of the best LPs the entire scene produced in the early '80s." To celebrate its 40th anniversary, on October 22, 2021, Rhino Entertainment released a deluxe edition of the newly remastered album which included a previously unreleased 27-track live concert recorded on January 23, 1981 at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. It features “I’m in Trouble.”

1986 - Paul Simon released his epic Graceland album. It features “You Can Call Me Al,” the title track, “The Boy in the Bubble,” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”

1986 - The Jets performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

1987 - The Cars released their sixth studio album, Door to Door. It features “You Are the Girl.”

1987 - Aerosmith released their ninth studio album, Permanent Vacation. It features the singles "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," "Angel," and "Rag Doll."

1988 - Metallica released their fourth studio album, …And Justice for All. It features “One.”

1989 - Chicago mayor Richard Michael Daley declares today "Pops Staples Day" in honor of the native musician and leader of The Staple Singers. 

1992 - Eric Clapton released Unplugged. It features “Tears in Heaven.”

1992 - Lucinda Williams released her fourth studio album, Sweet Old World. It features “Six Blocks Away” and “Somthing About What Happens When We Talk.”

1992 - The Wallflowers released their self-titled debut album. It features “Ashes to Ashes.”

1992 - Bobby Brown released his third studio album, Bobby. It features “Humpin’ Around” and “Something in Common.”

1994 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant taped a show in London for MTV's Unplugged series. It was later released as Unledded. 

1995 - 43-year-old bassist and singer Doug Stegmeyer took his own life. The New York-based artist worked with many artists during his career, including Billy Joel, Hall and Oates and The Carpenters. 

1997 - Stereophonics released their debut studio album, Word Gets Around.

1998 - Fugees member Lauryn Hill released her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first-week sales by a female artist. It featured three hit singles: "Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything". "Doo Wop (That Thing)", the lead single, peaked at No. 1 in the U.S., with the latter two singles peaking within the Top 40. To promote the album, Hill did performances on Saturday Night Live and the Billboard Music Awards before embarking on a sold-out, worldwide concert tour, and the album became the first hip-hop album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. 

1998 - Elliott Smith released his fourth studio album, XO. It features "Waltz #2 (XO)" and “Baby Britain.”

1998 - Godsmack released their self-titled second studio album.

1998 - Rob Zombie released his debut solo studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International.

1998 - Bob Mould released his fourth solo studio album, The Last Dog and Pony Show. It features "Classifieds" and "Moving Trucks."

2000 - Academy Award-winning film score composer and record producer Jack Nitzsche died of a heart attack. He produced The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield and The Walker Brothers. Musical scores including The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, co-wrote 'Up Where We Belong' with Buffy Sainte-Marie from 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. 

2001 - After shooting the music video for "Rock The Boat" in The Bahamas, 22-year-old Aaliyah died in a plane crash along with eight others when the overloaded aircraft went down shortly after takeoff. 

2003 - The Raveonettes released their debut studio album, Chain Gang of Love. It features "That Great Love Sound."

2009 - Arctic Monkeys released their third studio album, Humbug, in the U.S. It features “Crying Lightning,” “Cornerstone,” and “My Propeller.”

2009 - During a radio broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music, Bob Dylan revealed that he was speaking to a number of car companies about becoming the voice of their GPS systems. Dylan said he thought it would be good for drivers to hear him saying things like, "Take a left at the next street. No, a right. You know what, just go straight." 

2009 - Chris Brown is sentenced to five years probation and six months hard labor for assaulting Rihanna the night of the Grammy awards. 

2013 - Miley Cyrus released 'Wrecking Ball' which became Cyrus' first No.1 song on the chart after the release of its controversial music video. Nine weeks later, the track returned to number one, and consequently had the largest gap between No.1 sittings in Billboard Hot 100 history within a single chart run. 

2013 - Sheryl Crow performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

2014 - Ariana Grande released her second studio album, My Everything. It features “Problem,” “Break Free,” “Bang Bang” and “Love Me Harder.”

2014 - Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was voted the greatest guitar riff of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in the U.K. 

2016 - Kanye West begins his Saint Pablo Tour in Indianapolis. This is the tour that featured the floating stage. 

2017 - Daniel Caesar released his debut album, Freudian. It features “Get You.”

2017 - Queens of the Stone Age released their seventh studio album, Villains. It features "The Way You Used to Do."

2017 - The War on Drugs released their fourth studio album, A Deeper Understanding. It features “Thinking of a Place” and “Pain.”

2017 - Stevie Nicks performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

2018 - The Minnesota State Fair Grandstand hosted The Current’s Music On-A-Stick featuring Trampled By Turtles with special guests Lord Huron and Lissie.

2018 - Neil Young and American actress and environmental activist Daryl Hannah married in a secret ceremony in Atascadero, California. It was Young's third marriage and her first. 

2022 - Blues singer Mable John, the first female artist signed to Berry Gordy’s Tamla label, died at the age of 91.

2023 - The Chicks performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand. Here’s a recap.

Birthdays: 

Composer Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story, others) was born today in 1918. He passed away in 1990. 

Jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who played with Miles Davis, was born today in 1933.

Gene Simmons of KISS is 76.

Willy DeVille, frontman of Mink DeVille (no relation to The Current’s Bill DeVille), was born today in 1950. 

Rob Halford of Judas Priest is 74.

Geoff Downes of the Buggles, Yes, and Asia, is 73. 

Elvis Costello, born Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus, is 71.

John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees was born today in 1955.

Director Tim Burton is 67.

Billy Ray Cyrus is 64.

Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard and Dio is 63.

Shock G of Digital Underground was born today in 1963.

Mia Zapata of the Gits was born today in 1965.

Derek Sherinian, keyboardist for Alice Cooper and Billy Idol, is 59. 

Norman Rogers known professionally as Terminator X of Public Enemy is 59. 

Jeff Tweedy is 58. Tweedy is a musician, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Originally from Belleville, Illinois, he started his music career in high school in his band The Plebes with Jay Farrar, which subsequently transitioned into the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. After Uncle Tupelo broke up, Tweedy formed Wilco which found critical and commercial success, most notably with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, the latter of which received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005. Across his career Tweedy has released 20 studio albums, including four with Uncle Tupelo, eleven with Wilco, three solo studio albums, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians.  

Stuart Murdoch, frontman of Belle & Sebastian, is 57.

Spider One of Powerman 5000 is 57.

Jo Dee Messina is 55.

Cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib, who wrote the book Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest, is 42. 

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