History Highlight:

Today in 1965, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. was born, making him 60 today. The band formed in 1984 and released 12 albums across four decades, including the 2021 release, Sweep It Into Space. Mascis was ranked No. 86 in a Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists", and he has released several solo albums, including 2024’s What Do We Do Now.

Also, in:

1949 - Fats Domino recorded his first tracks for Imperial Records. One of those songs was called "The Fat Man", which later became his nickname.

1965 - Eighteen-year-old David Bowie recorded "Can't Help Thinking About Me" at Pye Studios in London. The song was later released as a single under the name David Bowie with The Lower Third. It became the first David Bowie record to be released in the U.S. as well as the first time the name "Bowie" appeared under the songwriter’s credit.

1966 - The Beach Boys went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Good Vibrations," the group's third U.S. No. 1. The song stemmed from a childhood memory of Brian Wilson, who recalled his mother telling him that dogs could pick up "vibrations" from people.

1967 - Otis Redding and several members of his band died when their plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. Redding’s biggest hit, "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," had been recorded just three days earlier. Redding was 26.

1971 - Playing the first of two nights at London's Rainbow Theatre, Frank Zappa was pushed off stage by an audience member. Zappa fell onto the concrete-floored orchestra pit — the band thought Zappa had been killed. He suffered serious fractures, head trauma and injuries to his back, leg, and neck, as well as a crushed larynx, which ultimately caused his voice to drop a third after healing. This accident resulted in him using a wheelchair for an extended period, forcing him off the road for over half a year.

1973 - The CBGB Club (Country, BlueGrass, and Blues), opened in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Founded by Hilly Kristal, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands such as Blondie, Television, Patti Smith, and the Ramones.

1976 - Queen released their fifth studio album, A Day at the Races. It features the singles "Somebody to Love," "Tie Your Mother Down," "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)," "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy," and "Long Away.”

1983 - Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Say Say Say." It was Jackson's 10th No. 1 (solo and The Jacksons) and McCartney's 29th (solo and The Beatles).

1995 - Hip-hop artist Darren Robinson died age 28. He was also known as Buffy, The Human Beat Box, and DJ Doctor Nice and was a member of the 1980s hip hop group The Fat Boys. He, along with Doug E. Fresh and others, were pioneers of beatboxing, a form of vocal percussion used in many rap groups throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

1998 - Bruce Springsteen was victorious in a $4 million court battle to prevent the release of an album of his early recordings.

2002 - Common released his fifth studio album, Electric Circus. It features the singles "Come Close" and "I Got a Right Ta."

2007 - The surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for their first full-length concert in nearly thirty years. Original band members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones were joined on stage by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham. The Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert was a benefit concert held in memory of music executive Ahmet Ertegun at the O2 Arena in London, and more than one million people had taken part in a ballot for the 20,000 tickets available for the show with all proceeds going to Ahmet's charity. Zeppelin performed 16 songs including two encores.

2008 - Fall Out Boy released their fourth studio album, Folie à Deux. It features the singles "I Don't Care," "America's Suitehearts," "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet," and "What a Catch, Donnie."

2008 - The Associated Press reported that the U.S. military used loud music to "create fear, disorient and prolong capture shock" for prisoners at military detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Among the songs blasted 24 hours a day were "Born In The USA" by Bruce Springsteen, "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC, "White America" by Eminem, "The Theme From Sesame Street" and "I Love You" from the Barney and Friends children's TV show.

2009 - In an interview with Q magazine, Paul McCartney was asked if his marriage to Heather Mills was the worst mistake of his life. He replied "OK, yeah. I suppose that has to be the prime contender." The divorce settlement had cost McCartney $38.9 million, plus annual payments for his daughter, Beatrice.

2010 - The original handwritten lyrics to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin" sold at a New York auction for $422,500. The song, one of Dylan's most politically charged, was the title track of his 1964 album.

2013 - Childish Gambino released his second studio album, Because the Internet. It features the singles "3005," "Crawl," "Sweatpants" and "Telegraph Ave."

2015 - The TV movie Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors aired on NBC. The movie is based on a true story about Dolly's upbringing in 1955 as her family struggled with poverty while living in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains. The screenplay was written by Pamela K. Long (a writer on the soap opera Guiding Light), and the film was directed by Stephen Herek (whose credits include directing Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure). In Coat of Many Colors, Dolly's mother is played by Jennifer Nettles, lead vocalist of the country music duo Sugarland; Dolly’s father is played by Rick Schroeder; and Dolly Parton herself is the narrator.

2015 - Janis Joplin's psychedelic 1965 Porsche sold for $1.76 million at RM Sotheby's car auction in New York City. The car was originally expected to be sold for between $400,000 and $600,000.

2019 - Gershon Kingsley, the German-American composer and a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer, died at age 97. His best-known composition "Popcorn" has been covered by Jean Michel Jarre, Aphex Twin, Herb Alpert, Muse, Crazy Frog and The Muppets.

2021 - Michael Nesmith of the Monkees died in Carmel Valley, California, at the age of 78.

Birthdays:

Jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer Ray Nance of the Duke Ellington Orchestra was born today in 1913.

Blues, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll musician Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones — best known for his 1953 song "The Things That I Used to Do," now a blues standard — was born today in 1926.

Jessica Cleaves — vocalist for the Friends of Distinction, Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelic, and Raw Silk — was born today in 1948.

Walter "Clyde" Orange, drummer and vocalist for The Commodores, is 79.

Country singer Johnny Rodriguez, who had a No. 1 country hit in 1973 with “You Always Come Back to Hurting Me,” is 74.

Jack Hues of Wang Chung is 71.

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is 60 today.

California-based musician and surfer Donavon Frankenreiter is 53.

Brian Molko, lead singer of Placebo, is 53.

Meg White of The White Stripes is 51. Born and raised in Detroit, White as a high school senior aspired to be a chef and began working at a restaurant, where she met another student her age, Jack Gillis. The two became friends, and White began to learn to play drums. White married Gillis in 1996 (at which point Gillis legally changed his name to White’s surname), and the pair formed the rock duo The White Stripes in 1997. Starting with their self-titled debut album in 1999, the White Stripes would go on to release a total of six studio albums, the final one being 2007’s Icky Thump. An acclaimed, six-time Grammy-winning duo who now hold legendary status within the annals of rock and roll, The White Stripes disbanded in 2011. Since that time, Meg White has maintained a very low profile, preferring her privacy to any kind of life in the spotlight.

Raven-Symoné is 40.

Teyana Taylor is 35.

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