History Highlight:

Today in 1989, three years after landing their first hit, the Pet Shop Boys, who had been notoriously averse to live performance, launched their first tour with a show at Hong Kong Coliseum. The tour, dubbed the MCMLXXXIX Tour, comprised 14 show dates: two in Hong Kong, five in Japan (including three shows at the famous Budokan), and seven in Britain (three in Birmingham, one in Glasgow, and three in London). Filmmaker Derek Jarman had created a series of films to be projected on the upstage wall during the performances. The Pet Shop Boys’ touring band included percussionist Danny Cummings and additional keyboardist Dominic Clarke, plus four backing singers (Mike Henry, Jay Henry, Carroll Thompson and Juliet Roberts) and six dancers (Casper, Cooley, Hugo Huizar, Tracey Langran, Jill Robertson and Robia LaMorte).

Also, Today In:

1957 - The government of Iran officially banned rock and roll after declaring rock dancing "as harmful to health." The ban stayed in place until the 1990s.

1966 - Neil Diamond played TV’s American Bandstand for the first time, performing his hit "Cherry, Cherry."

1969 - On this day in 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played at Mile High Stadium in Denver in what was to be their final gig together. The group formed in Westminster, London, in September 1966. They released three studio albums — Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968) — that all featured in the top 100 of the Rolling Stone list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time," at positions 15, 82 and 54, respectively. In 1992, the Jimi Hendrix Experience were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1970 - NBC presented the Liza Minnelli special Liza, also starring songwriters Anthony Newley, Jimmy Webb and Randy Newman.

1975 - An upbeat Elton John turned up unannounced at a concert at the Oakland Coliseum in California featuring the Eagles and The Doobie Brothers; he sang with both bands.

1975 - American singer songwriter Tim Buckley died of an overdose of heroin and morphine aged 28. Released nine albums including the 1972 release “Greetings from L.A.” Buckley is the father of singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley.

1976 - The Memphis City Council voted to change Elvis' home street, Highway 51 South, to "Elvis Presley Boulevard."

1979 - Lowell George, frontman for Little Feat, died of a heart attack at age 34.

1981 - Kim Wilde released her self-titled debut album. It features “Kids in America.”

1984 - After a failed attempt shooting a studio video for "Dancing In The Dark," Bruce Springsteen did it live at his concert in St. Paul, Minnesota. During Clarence Clemons' sax solo, the Boss brings a doe-eyed, 19-year-old Courteney Cox on stage to dance with him.

1985 - John Lennon's 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V limousine, with psychedelic paintwork, sold for a record sum of $3,006,385 ($9.3 million in 2026) at a Sotheby's auction in New York.

1987 - Tiffany released her debut studio album, Tiffany. It features the singles "Danny," "I Think We’re Alone Now," "Could’ve Been," and "Feelings of Forever."

1987 - In a meeting at a London pub, a group of record label executives decided to use the term "World Music" to promote their international artists. This new designation became a section in many record stores and made it much easier to classify artists that didn't fit the other genre classifications in use at the time.

1988 - The Guardian newspaper reported that many music CDs would fade and distort over the next few years due to manufacturing faults, sending shockwaves through the music industry.

1991 - De La Soul's second album, De La Soul Is Dead, debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

1994 - Barbra Streisand set a new record after grossing $16 million for a series of Madison Square Garden comeback shows.

1994 - Oasis made their debut on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops performing their new single "Shakermaker."

1995 - Ringo Starr's first-ever TV commercial, for Pizza Hut, debuted in the U.S., as did a similar spot by the newly reformed Monkees.

1996 - Record producer George Martin received a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music.

1998 - George Harrison announced that he would be undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer, with assurances that, "I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." He succumbed to the disease three years later.

2000 - The casket holding Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt was stolen from its mausoleum in Jacksonville, Florida, but left behind after vandals were unable to open it. The ashes of Steve Gaines, the band's guitarist who died in the same plane crash that killed Van Zandt, were spilled from his urn, which was also stolen.

2001 - Dream A Little Dream: The Almost-True Story of the Mamas & the Papas, a stage musical penned by former Papas member Denny Doherty, premiered in Toronto.

2002 - Rosemary Clooney died of lung cancer at age 74.

2003 - Beyoncé started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. album chart with “Dangerously In Love,” also a U.S. No. 1.

2004 - Rush released their 18th studio album, Feedback, comprising eight cover songs selected from tunes that influenced each band member in their younger years.

2007 - Lily Allen was questioned by police over an alleged assault on a photographer outside a nightclub in London. She was freed on police bail after questioning.

2007 - George McCorkle, guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band, died shortly after a cancer diagnosis at age 59.

2009 - La Roux released their self-titled studio debut album. It features “In for the Kill” and “Bulletproof.”

2012 - Photographers were planning to boycott the forthcoming Stone Roses reunion concerts in Manchester in a dispute over the use of their images. They claimed a contract issued by the band was unfair as it expected them to surrender all rights to their pictures. The National Union of Journalists was also supporting the boycott.

2015 - Miguel released his third studio album, Wildheart. It features “Coffee.”

2016 - Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie filed for divorce from her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, just months after the couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary the previous January. Lisa Marie had formerly been wed to Danny Keough from 1988 until 1994, Michael Jackson from 1994 to 1999, and to actor Nicolas Cage from 2002 to 2004.

2018 - Florence and the Machine released their fourth studio album, High as Hope. It features “Sky Full of Song” and “Hunger.”

2018 - Gorillaz released their sixth studio album, The Now Now. It features “Tranz,” “Hollywood,” and “Humility.”

Birthdays:

Celebrated American singer and actor Nelson Eddy was born today in 1901. He died in 1967.

Little Eva, known for the hit "The Loco-motion,” was born today in 1943. She died in 2003.

Gary Busey, who played Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story, is 82.

Lincoln Gordon of The Equals was born in Jamaica in 1948.

Eric Wrixon, musician with the Northern Irish band Them, was born in 1947. He was also a founding member of Thin Lizzy.

Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice is 78.

Colin Hay is 73. Born on June 29, 1953, in Scotland, Hay’s family emigrated to Australia, where his parents ran a small music shop. Hay came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the Australian rock band Men at Work - best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", and "It's a Mistake" - and later known as a solo artist and part of Ringo Starr’s band. Hay's music has been used frequently by actor and director Zach Braff in his work, which helped spur a career rebirth in the mid-2000s.

Don Dokken of Dokken is 73.

Robert Forster of the Go-Betweens is 69.

John Feldmann frontman of Goldfinger is 59.

Matthew Good is 55.

Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords is 50.

Sam Farrar of Phantom Planet is 48.

Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls is 48.

Aundrea Fimbres of Danity Kane is 43.

Oliver Tree, a singer-songwriter, producer, and rapper, was born today in 1993. He died in a helicopter accident in Brazil on June 14, 2026.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Pet Shop Boys official website, Pet Shop Boys Technology, U.S. Inflation Calculator, and Wikipedia.