History Highlight:

Today in 2009, Bon Iver released Blood Bank, a four-track EP and follow-up to the hugely successful 2007 debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. Blood Bank was variously recorded at studios in and around Eau Claire, Wisconsin, as well as in Raleigh, North Carolina, and in Montreal. The song "Woods," which features on the EP, went on to be sampled by Kanye West on his track "Lost in The World." In 2020, record label Jagjaguwar released a deluxe edition of Blood Bank that includes a live recording of each of the four tracks, captured at concerts in Stockholm, Dallas, London and Paris, respectively.

Also, Today In:

1964 - The Beatles' debut U.S. album, Meet The Beatles, was released.

1965 - The Rolling Stones and The Kinks made their first appearances on ABC-TV's Shindig!.

1968 - Despite his supposed falling out with the New York-Cambridge (Massachusetts) folk-singer circle, Bob Dylan joined Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Odetta, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and The Band in commemorating the late Woody Guthrie.

1969 - Bruce Springsteen had two of his poems published in the Ocean County College literary yearbook, Seascapes. Springsteen was in his second semester at the college located in Toms River, New Jersey.

1975 - Bob Dylan released his 15th studio album, Blood on the Tracks. It includes such tracks as “Tangled Up In Blue,” “Idiot Wind” and “Simple Twist of Fate.” Dylan began recording the album in New York City in September 1974, but in December of that year, not long before Columbia was due to release the album, Dylan decided to re-record many of the album tracks at Sound 80 studio in Minneapolis. The finished album includes five tracks recorded in New York and five recorded in Minneapolis. One of the Minneapolis-recorded tracks is the well-known album opener, "Tangled Up in Blue."

1977 - Jimmy Buffett released his seventh studio album, Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. It features the singles "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" and "Margaritaville."

1978 - XTC released their debut studio album, White Music. It features the singles "Science Friction," "Statue of Liberty," and "This Is Pop."

1978 - Gerry Rafferty released his second studio album, City to City. It features the singles "Baker Street," "Right Down the Line," and "Home and Dry." In 2018, Lucius covered “Right Down the Line” and included it on their compilation album, Nudes.

1979 - Eric Clapton peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart with "Promises," which was Clapton's third top-10 single as a solo artist in the U.S.

1980 - Pink Floyd's The Wall began a 15-week run as the No. 1 album on the U.S album chart.

1982 - Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat during a concert at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa. Osbourne thought it was a rubber bat, so he bit its head off and was taken to a hospital after the concert to undergo a rabies injection.

1983 - Def Leppard released their third album, Pyromania, which went on to reach No. 2 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and sell 10 million copies in the U.S.

1983 - The Oak Ridge Boys released their eighth studio album, American Made. It features the singles "Love Song," "American Made," and "I Told You So."

1986 - Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder performed together at a concert in Washington, D.C., commemorating the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States.

1988 - The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1994 - Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream was No. 20 on the Billboard album chart. It would go on to sell four million copies.

1997 - Ben and Jerry's introduced “Phish Food,” a new flavor of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients were chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge chunks.

2000 - Tourism chiefs in Liverpool were banned from putting up motorway signs reading, "Liverpool, the Birthplace of The Beatles," because the Highways Agency thought the signs would distract drivers.

2002 - George Harrison had a posthumous U.K. No. 1 single with the re-release of the 1971 former No. 1 "My Sweet Lord."

2006 - Cat Power released her seventh studio album, The Greatest. It features the singles "The Greatest" and "Lived in Bars."

2006 - American music executive Johnny Bienstock died of complications from heart disease at age 83. Bienstock owned Moss Rose Music, and worked with Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Elvis Presley, The Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, Del Shannon and Meat Loaf.

2009 - Andrew Bird released his fifth studio album, Noble Beast. It includes the tracks
"Tenuousness" and “Fitz and the Dizzy Spells.”

2009 - Matt and Kim released their second studio album, Grand. It features “Daylight” and “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare.”

2012 - Etta James died from complications of leukemia at the age of 73. She is best remembered for her signature song "At Last," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart, and she also placed nine other songs in the American Top 40, won three Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

2015 - The Decemberists released their seventh studio album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World. It features “Make You Better” and “The Wrong Year.”

2015 - Sleater-Kinney released their eighth studio album, No Cities to Love. It features “Bury Our Friends.”

2015 - Preoccupations released their debut album, Viet Cong. At that time, the band’s name was Viet Cong.

2015 - Björk released her eighth studio album, Vulnicura. It includes the tracks, “Lionsong,” “Stonemilker,” “Quicksand,” and the 10-minute track, “Black Lake.”

2017 - Cherry Glazerr released their second studio album, Apocalipstick. It features the singles "Told You I'd Be with the Guys," "Nurse Ratched," and "Only Kid on the Block."

2021 - At Joe Biden's inauguration, Lady Gaga sang the national anthem and Jennifer Lopez belted out "This Land Is Your Land" before Biden was sworn in. At night, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Demi Lovato, and Tim McGraw all performed on a socially distanced concert special capped by a fireworks display on the National Mall as Katy Perry belted out, of course, "Firework."

2022 - Meat Loaf died at 74. His 1977 album Bat Out Of Hell is one of the best-selling albums of all time; its 1993 sequel, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, contains the No. 1 hit "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)."

Birthdays:

Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter), the blues musician who recorded iconic renditions of the traditional tunes, "Goodnight Irene," "The Rock Island Line," “In The Pines,” and “The Midnight Special,” was born today in 1888. It was Lead Belly’s recording of “In The Pines,” also known as “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” that inspired Nirvana’s cover of the song during their 1993 special, MTV Unplugged in New York.

Mexican band leader, composer and pianist Juan García Esquivel, known as Esquivel!, was born today in 1918.

Country singer Slim Whitman, known for his falsetto and yodeling abilities, was born today in 1923.

Ron Townson of The 5th Dimension was born today in 1933.

William Powell, singer from The O'Jays, ("Love Train") was born today in 1942.

Eric Stewart of 10cc and the Mindbenders is 81.

Director David Lynch was born today in 1946.

Ian Hill, bassist for Judas Priest, is 75.

Paul Stanley, co-founder and frontman of KISS, is 74.

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Rusty Anderson, best known as the accompanying lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's tours since 2001, is 67.

Greg K. of the Offspring is 61.

John Michael Montgomery is 61.

Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers is 57.

Ahmir Khalib Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is 55. Questlove is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thought) for the hip hop band the Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014. Questlove has produced recordings for artists including Elvis Costello, Common, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Booker T. Jones, Al Green, Amy Winehouse, and John Legend. In 2021, Questlove made his directorial debut with Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured performances by Stevie Wonder, Sly and The Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, B.B. King, and many other top Soul, Jazz, Gospel and Latin artists of the era. Summer of Soul won both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for documentary at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

Gary Barlow of Take That is 55.

Sid Wilson of Slipknot is 49.

Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park is 47.

Nathan Connolly of Snow Patrol is 45.

Kevin Parker of Tame Impala is 49.

Joey Badass is 31.

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