History Highlight:

Today in 2000, PJ Harvey released her fifth studio album, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Co-produced by Harvey, Rob Ellis and Mick Harvey (no relation to PJ), the music on the album is more pop- and indie-rock-oriented than PJ Harvey’s previous work, with songs like “Good Fortune” being compared to Pretenders and to Patti Smith. The album’s sound was deeply influenced by the nine months Harvey spent living in New York, but she insists Stories is not a “New York album,” given songs on the album were also written in London and in Dorset. As a producer, Harvey had been interested in trying a different vocalist on some of her songs, so a notable collaborator on the album is Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who contributes vocals on three tracks. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea features the aforementioned “Good Fortune” as well as the songs “A Place Called Home” and “This Is Love.” The album sold more than one million copies in Harvey’s native United Kingdom, and it charted in both the U.K. and the United States.

Today In: 

1940 - Ellie Greenwich is born Eleanor Louise Greenwich in Brooklyn, New York. One of the most successful songwriters of the 1960s, her co-writes include "Leader of the Pack" and "Be My Baby." 

1961 - Dion started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Runaround Sue." 

1962 - A 12-year-old named Little Stevie Wonder recorded his first single for Motown Records. It was called "Thank You For Loving Me All The Way." 

1963 - Bob Dylan began recording "The Times They Are A-Changin" in a two-day session at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. It is one of Dylan's signature tunes - considered one of the greatest protest songs in history and a classic of 20th century popular music. The song was ranked No. 59 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song has been covered by many different artists, including Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, the Byrds, Peter, Paul and Mary, Tracy Chapman, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, Joan Baez, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and Burl Ives. 

1976 - The band Chicago started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "If You Leave Me Now." 

1978 - "Mother" Maybelle Carter, one of the founding members of the pioneering country-folk group The Carter Family (including June, who later wed Johnny Cash), died at the age of 69. 

1979 - Cabaret Voltaire released their debut studio album, Mix-Up. It features a cover of The Seeds' 1966 song "No Escape."

1982 - The Damned released their album titled Strawberries, packaged with a Strawberry-smelling lyric sheet. 

1984 - Some reports maintain Talking Heads released the live album, Stop Making Sense. The album is the soundtrack to the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film of the same name, which got its commercial release just days earlier, on October 19. Filmed and recorded across four nights in December 1983 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, the Stop Making Sense soundtrack album originally included nine songs from the film (subsequent re-releases and anniversary editions have included all songs), including live takes of “Psycho Killer,” “Burning Down The House” and “Once in a Lifetime.” The album spent two years in the Billboard 200 album chart, and Rolling Stone magazine has ranked Stop Making Sense at No. 345 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

1989 - Nirvana played their first-ever European show when they appeared at Newcastle's Riverside Club in the northeast of England. 

1990 - Gear Daddies — from Austin, Minnesota — released their second album, Billy’s Live Bait.

1990 - The Charlatans U.K. released their debut album, Some Friendly. It features “The Only One I Know” and “Then.”

1991 - Rage Against the Machine play live for the first time with a show at California State University, Northridge, opening with "Killing In The Name," which is still an instrumental. 

1995 - Def Leppard gave themselves a place in the Guinness book Of World Records, by playing three gigs in three continents in 24 hours. The shows were in London, England; Vancouver, Canada; and Tangier, Morocco. 

1995 - Cat Power released her debut studio album, Dear Sir.

2001 - The Dismemberment Plan released their fourth studio album, Change. It features the track "Time Bomb," which received a music video despite not being released as a single.

2001 - Pinback released their second studio album, Blue Screen Life. It features the single "Penelope."

2002 - Kanye West was involved in a car crash after he fell asleep at the wheel while driving home from a recording studio in West Hollywood. No other cars were involved in the incident, which left West with his jaw fractured in three places. 

2006 - My Chemical Romance released their wildly popular third album, The Black Parade, which was recorded during the band's stay at the notoriously haunted Paramour Mansion in Los Angeles. 

2007 - Ween released their ninth and final studio album, La Cucaracha. It features the single "Your Party."

2007 - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's first collaborative album, Raising Sand, was released. It features "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)."

2009 - Wolfmother released their second studio album, Cosmic Egg. It features “Back Round,” “New Moon Rising,” “White Feather,” and “Far Away.”

2015 - Joanna Newson released her fourth studio album, Divers. It features "Sapokanikan" and “Leaving the City.”

2015 - Julien Baker released her debut album, Sprained Ankle.

2016 - Dead Or Alive lead singer Pete Burns died of a heart attack at age 57. Known for the 1985 hit "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)," Burns estimated that he had 300 plastic surgeries in his lifetime. 

2019 - The tracklist for Coldplay's forthcoming album was exclusively announced for the first time in a classified advert in the North Wales Daily Post. The ad appeared alongside items for sale including a fridge freezer and a bale of hay, and below a Welsh Government public notice. Coldplay has strong links to North Wales, with the band's guitarist Jonny Buckland having grown up in Pantymwyn, near Mold. The band had been drip-feeding details of their new double album Everyday Life with a series of hints. 

2020 - Gorillaz released their seventh album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.

2020 - Jeff Tweedy released his fourth studio album, Love Is the King.

2020 - The Mountain Goats released their 19th studio album, Getting Into Knives.

2020 - American country music singer and songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker died of throat cancer age 78. He wrote 'Mr Bojangles' a hit for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970. Since then Walker's song has been recorded by many popular artists, including Garth Brooks, Chet Atkins, Jim Croce, Jamie Cullum, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Elton John, Don McLean and Dolly Parton. 

Birthdays: 

Soul singer Carol Fran, who enjoyed hits with her soul-blues covers of “The Great Pretender” and “Crying in the Chapel,” was born today in 1933.

Charlie Foxx, part of R&B duo Inez & Charlie Foxx, was born today in 1939.

Ellie Greenwich — wrote/co-wrote “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Chapel of Love, “Leader of the Pack,” and more — was born today in 1940.

Grammy-winning saxophonist Ernie Watts, who collaborated with the Rolling Stones (Ernie is no relation to Stones’ drummer Charlie Watts), is 80.

Greg Ridley of Spooky Tooth and a founder member of Humble Pie was born today in 1947. 

Michael “Würzel” Burston of Motorhead was born on this day in 1949. 

David Wills (“There’s a Song on the Jukebox”) is 74.

Dianne Reeves is 69.

Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 69. 

Alfred Matthew Yankovic, better known as "Weird Al" is 66.

Mirwais Ahmadzaï, a frequent producer for Madonna (“Music,” “Don’t Tell Me”), is 65.  

Robert Trujillo of Metallica is 61. 

Jimmy Wayne is 53.

Matt Schultz, frontman for Cage the Elephant, is 42.

Miguel is 40.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, AllMusic, Song Facts, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea liner notes, and Wikipedia.