History Highlight:

Today in 1975, Paul Simon (who just turned 84 on October 13) released his fourth studio album, Still Crazy After All These Years. The album includes four tracks that landed in the Top 40: the title track, “Gone at Last,” “My Little Town” (on which Simon reunited with singer Art Garfunkel for the first time in five years) and the No. 1 hit “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” One day after the album’s release, Simon was host and musical guest of the second-ever episode of the NBC series Saturday Night Live; during the musical segments of the program, Simon appeared with Garfunkel, and the pair performed two selections from their back catalogue, "The Boxer" and "Scarborough Fair," alongside their new song, "My Little Town.” Still Crazy After All These Years reached No. 1 in the Billboard album chart, and it won Album of the Year at the 1976 Grammy Awards, with the title track winning the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Also, Today In: 

1962 - The Beatles made their first TV appearance in Britain on Granada Television's People & Places. They sang "Love Me Do." 

1969 - Despite problems obtaining permits from the American Federation of Musicians as a result of drinking and fighting onstage at previous engagements, The Kinks finally launched their first U.S. tour in four years. 

1977 - Lynyrd Skynyrd released Street Survivors, the last album with frontman Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, as both were killed three days later after the band's plane went down en route to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

1978 - Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand record "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." The superstar session is produced by Bob Gaudio, who keeps a full orchestra standing by in the lobby. 

1980 - Dire Straits released their third studio album, Making Movies. It features “Tunnel of Love,” “Skateaway,” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

1980 - Bruce Springsteen released The River. It features “Hungry Heart,” “Fade Away,” “Sherry Darling,” “The River,” “Cadillac Ranch,” and “Point Blank.”

1981 - Thieves attempting to steal Rolling Stones tickets in Maryland shot one man dead and wounded another. 

1984 - Whodini released their second studio album, Escape. It features “Friends” and “Freaks Come Out at Night.”

1986 - Sid and Nancy, the biopic of Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, graced the silver screen for the first time. 

1988 - The Waterboys released their fourth studio album, Fisherman's Blues. It features the singles "Fisherman's Blues" and "And a Bang on the Ear."

1988 - R.E.M. released their first greatest hits album, Eponymous. It features "Radio Free Europe," "Gardening at Night," "Talk About the Passion," "So. Central Rain," "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville," "Can't Get There from Here," "Driver 8," "Romance," "Fall on Me," "The One I Love," "Finest Worksong," and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

1989 - Billy Joel releases the album Storm Front, with his enduring hit "We Didn't Start The Fire."

1994 - Jamiroquai released their second album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. It features the songs “The Kids,” “Space Cowboy,” “Half the Man,” “Light Years,” and “Stillness in Time.” Considered a continuation of Jamiroquai’s debut album a year earlier, the follow-up The Return of the Space Cowboy contains more complex songwriting, dealing with more topical matters including loss, street life, drug use, hope, protests, and issues facing Indigenous Americans. The track “Space Cowboy” reached No. 1 in Billboard’s U.S. Dance Club Songs chart.

1995 - Rhino released all 58 episodes of the The Monkees in a deluxe VHS box set. It's a big box: 21 tapes, making it the largest video release of all time. 

1998 - "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies hit No. 1 in the U.S., where it stays for... one week. 

2000 - Johnny Cash released his 66th studio album, American III: Solitary Man. It features “I Won’t Back Down,” “Solitary Man,” “One,” and “I See a Darkness.”

2000 - The Mountain Goats released their fifth album, The Cornoner’s Gambit.

2000 - Superdrag released their third studio album, In the Valley of Dying Stars. It features “Lighting the Way” and “Keep It Close to Me.”

2000 - At a charity auction organized by Mick Fleetwood in London, singer George Michael paid 1.5 million pounds for the upright piano on which John Lennon wrote the 1971 hit "Imagine." 

2002 - The Ronettes lost their case against Phil Spector, claiming they were owed royalties for songs used in movies, TV shows and commercials. 

2004 - At the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Music Awards, Jet dominated the competition, winning awards for six of their seven nominations, including Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group and Breakthrough Artist. 

2005 - Fats Domino returned to his Ninth Ward home for the first time since Hurricane Katrina to find it utterly destroyed, with his piano and several of his gold records among the ruined items. 

2005 - Boards of Canada released their third studio album, The Campfire Headphase. It features “Dayvan Cowboy.”

2006 - LCD Soundsystem released their one-track studio album, 45:33. Commissioned by Nike as part of the Nike+ Original Run series, it features the segments "Intro," "You Can't Hide / Shame On You," "Out in Space," and "Ships Talking."

2006 - Stevie Wonder receives a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. 

2008 - Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs died at his Detroit home, aged 72. 

2009 - Johnny Depp presented Keith Richards with the 'Rock Immortal' Award at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California, as part of that year's Scream Awards. 

2011 - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds released their debut studio album, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. It features the singles "The Death of You and Me," "AKA... What a Life!," "If I Had a Gun...," "Dream On," and "Everybody's on the Run."

2017 - Canadian rock musician Gord Downie died of glioblastoma at age 53. He was the lead singer and lyricist for The Tragically Hip, and he also released six solo albums. The band's final concert was held at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, on August 20, 2016 and was broadcast and streamed live by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on television, radio and internet. It was viewed by an estimated 11.7 million people. For more on Downie, you can read tributes from musicians and friends and a rundown of the songs we played during a Coffee Break in his honor. 

2020 - Directed by Spike Lee, the film version of David Byrne's American Utopia, which ran on Broadway from October 2019 to February 2020, debuts on HBO. Many of the songs from Stop Making Sense, the concert film Byrne did with the Talking Heads, are also in this one, but a showstopper is a cover of Janelle Monáe's "Hell You Talmbout," which ties into the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Birthdays: 

Iconic actor, singer and dancer Rita Hayworth was born today in 1918.

The Singing Nun (aka Jeannine Deckers) who enjoyed a No. 1 hit in the U.S. with the French-language song, “Dominique,” was born in Belgium today in 1933.

Rico Rodriguez, trombone player from The Specials, was born today in 1934. 

Country singer-songwriter Earl Thomas Conley, who enjoyed 18 No. 1 hits in the 1980s, was born today in 1941.

Jim Seals of Seals & Croft was born today in 1941. He passed away in June 2022. 

Gary Puckett of Gary Puckett & the Union Gap is 83.

Michael Hossack of the Doobie Brothers was born today in 1946.

Jim Tucker of The Turtles was born today in 1946. He passed away in 2020. 

Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap and wacky neighbor Lenny Kosnowski in Laverne & Shirley) is 78. McKean gained widespread recognition as a member of the fictional rock band "Spinal Tap" alongside Christopher Guest and Harry Schearer in the classic mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. Its sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, was released September 12, 2025. In 1994, McKean became a Saturday Night Live cast member — the only person to date to have been a musical guest and a host on SNL before becoming a cast member. McKean has also been part of an acoustic musical collaboration with Guest and Shearer, collectively known as "The Folksmen,” who featured in the 2003 film, A Mighty Wind.

Fran Cosmo of Boston is 69.

Pino Palladino — bassist for the Who, John Mayer, Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails, Tears for Fears, and more — is 68.

Alan Jackson is 67. 

Beavis and Butthead creator Mike Judge is 63.

René Dif of Aqua is 58.

Ziggy Marley is 57. 

Wyclef Jean is 56. 

Chris Kirkpatrick of NSYNC is 54. 

Eminem is 53. 

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