History Highlight:

Today in 1976, Bob Dylan released his 17th studio album, Desire. Following less than a year after the acclaimed Blood on the Tracks and about six months after the release of The Basement Tapes, Desire charts a slightly different course for Dylan, who has a penchant for reinvention. On Desire, Dylan did something that was and remains rare for him in that he collaborated with a co-writer, Jacques Levy, on all but one of the album’s nine songs. A vastly collaborative effort, for the Desire recording sessions, Dylan played alongside his Rolling Thunder Revue musicians while welcoming singers Emmylou Harris, Ronee Blakley and Steven Soles as backing vocalists, and guitarists Eric Clapton and Vinnie Bell as session players. Desire features the songs "Hurricane" (Dylan’s protest song for the release of wrongly convicted boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter), "Mozambique," “Joey,” "One More Cup of Coffee," "Romance in Durango," and “Sara,” a song about Dylan’s eroding relationship with his first wife — and probably the most autobiographical song in Dylan’s entire canon.

Also, in:

1959 - Buddy Holly released his final single, "It Doesn't Matter Any More," backed with "Raining in My Heart.” The former was one of the few songs Holly recorded that he didn't write; Paul Anka was the songwriter on that one.

1967 - Paul McCartney recorded his vocal track for The Beatles' "Penny Lane" at Abbey Road Studios in London.

1968 - Nine months after its release, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits went Gold.

1973 - Bruce Springsteen released his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. The album garnered average sales but positive critical reviews and had the singles "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night." Rolling Stone ranked the album No. 379 in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, however, the writers named the album one of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time." On Nov. 22, 2009, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was played in its entirety for the first time by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, to celebrate the last show of the Working on a Dream tour.

1975 - The Wiz, a soul version of The Wizard of Oz, opened at the Majestic Theater on Broadway. It starred future disco diva Stephanie Mills ("Never Knew Love") as Dorothy. In 1978, the production was turned into a movie starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

1978 - The Sex Pistols made their U.S. debut at the Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta. The band formed in London in 1975 and although they lasted just a few years, they helped initiate the punk movement and were one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music. In their one studio album, they tackled heavy subjects such as the music industry, consumerism, abortion, violence, apathy, anarchy, fascism, the British Royal Family and the Holocaust.

1979 - Elvis Costello and the Attractions released their third studio album, Armed Forces, in the U.K. It features the singles "Oliver's Army" and "Accidents Will Happen."

1979 - The album Briefcase Full Of Blues by The Blues Brothers achieved Platinum status from the RIAA. Briefcase Full of Blues went on to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart for the week of February 3, 1979.

1980 - Donna Summer scored her third U.S. No. 1 album with On The Radio - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & II.

1980 - "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang became the first rap song to hit the Top 40 when it reached No. 37 on the chart.

1980 - KC and the Sunshine Band had their fifth U.S. No. 1 single and scored the first No. 1 of the 1980s when "Please Don't Go" went to No. 1 in the U.K. In 1992, British group K.W.S. would enjoy a U.K. No. 1 for five consecutive weeks with their cover of the song; it also reached No. 6 in the United States.

1991 - Madonna went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Justify My Love," a song co-written with Lenny Kravitz.

1991 - Iron Maiden went to No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart for the first and only time with "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter," which spent one week at the top.

1998 - Singer, songwriter, actor and congressman Sonny Bono, formerly one-half of the singing duo Sonny & Cher, was killed in a skiing accident at a South Lake Tahoe, Nevada, resort.

2003 - Little Richard made a guest appearance on The Simpsons.

2004 - While visiting New Orleans, Ray Davies of The Kinks was shot in the leg when he pursued two men who had snatched his companion’s purse.

2005 - Danny Sugerman, the second manager for The Doors who wrote a number of books about the band, died of lung cancer at age 50.

2008 - Josh Groban was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with his Christmas album Noel.

2010 - Record producer Willie Mitchell, who ran Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, died of a cardiac arrest at age 81.

2010 - Kesha released her debut studio album, Animal. It features “Tik Tok” and “Blah Blah Blah.”

2015 - Taylor Swift was at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with her fifth studio album, 1989, which was the best-selling album of 2014 in the U.S. market, having sold more than 5.5 million copies.

2019 - British musician Eric Haydock died at age 75. He is best-known as the original bass guitarist of The Hollies from December 1962 until July 1966. He was one of the first British musicians to play a Fender Bass VI, a six-string bass.

Birthdays:

Producer Sam Phillips of Sun Records was born today in 1923.

Producer Phil Ramone (Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Bono, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, and many more) was born today in 1934.

Athol Guy of the Seekers is 86.

Grady Thomas of Funkadelic is 85.

Chris Stein of Blondie is 76.

Iris DeMent is 65.

Grant Young of Soul Asylum is 62.

Kate Schellenbach of Luscious Jackson is 60.

Marilyn Manson is 57.

Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age and A Perfect Circle is 56.

Danielle Ponder is 44.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts, RIAA Gold & Platinum, Billboard, and Wikipedia.