History Highlight:

Today in 2006, the Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand. A severe thunderstorm with torrential rain and high winds hit the fairgrounds shortly before showtime, putting the highly anticipated concert in jeopardy. The opening slot by the Magic Numbers had to be canceled, but the storm did eventually clear, and after Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne helped mop the stage, the two indie legends turned the night into a memorable one. Sonic Youth started their set with "Teen Age Riot," which includes the lines, "Everybody's talking 'bout the stormy weather/And what's a man do to but work out whether it's true?" Flaming Lips’ 12-song set included Coyne’s trademark hamster-ball excursion among the audience, along with such favorites as “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “Do You Realize??” before the band concluded the evening with a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”

Also, Today In:

1956 - Buddy Holly was in the audience when Little Richard played the Cotton Club in Lubbock, Texas.

1963 - Stevie Wonder became the first artist ever to score a U.S. No. 1 album and single in the same week. Wonder was at No. 1 on the album chart with Little Stevie Wonder: The 12 Year Old Genius and had the No. 1 single "Fingertips part 2." This was also the first-ever live recording to make No. 1.

1966 - The Doors started recording their first album at Sunset Sound Recording Studios on West Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

1969 - Folk singer Arlo Guthrie's film Alice's Restaurant, based on his hit song of the same name, premiered in Los Angeles and New York.

1969 - John Lennon wrote, rehearsed, and recorded a song about his recent heroin withdrawal entitled "Cold Turkey," where he also put into practice his recent introduction to "primal scream" therapy. Fans and critics were shocked and appalled by the emotionally raw recording, a prelude to his eventual John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album.

1974 - Paul Anka with Odia Coates started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "You're Having My Baby", Anka's 24th U.S. top 40 hit.

1975 - Queen started recording "Bohemian Rhapsody" at Rockfield studios in Monmouth, Wales (the song was recorded over three weeks). Freddie Mercury mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout the sessions. May, Mercury, and Taylor sang their vocal parts continually for 10 to 12 hours a day, resulting in 180 separate overdubs. The band’s painstaking approach to recording the song is depicted in Bryan Singer’s 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.

1977 - Country legend Waylon Jennings was arrested for cocaine possession in New York City by federal agents, an event which inspired his song, "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got out of Hand?" The charges were later dropped.

1979 - The Ramones' movie Rock & Roll High School opened in theaters. The title song became one of the Ramones’ classics, and the film gained a cult following.

1981 - John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman was sentenced to a 20 years in prison for Lennon’s murder. The 25-year-old had shot Lennon five times at close range on December 8, 1980, in front of The Dakota apartment building in New York City. Chapman became eligible for parole after 20 years, and since that time, a two- or three-member board has denied him parole 14 times.

1981 - The Rolling Stones released Tattoo You. The big hit from the album was "Start Me Up," which they first recorded with a reggae rhythm in 1977. That version was scrapped, but they rocked it up for Tattoo You with better results.

1982 - R.E.M. released their debut EP, Chronic Town. It features “Gardening at Night.”

1985 - Huey Lewis and the News started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Power Of Love," which featured in the hit movie Back To The Future. Throughout the Back To The Future films, the song is played at five various points and is sometimes used as a plot device. The song was the band's first No. 1 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, their second No. 1 hit on the U.S. Top Rock Tracks chart, and was a top 10 hit on the U.K. singles chart. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 58th Academy Awards, but lost to Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me."

1985 - The Suburbs performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

1987 - John Cougar Mellencamp released his ninth studio album, The Lonesome Jubilee. It features “Paper in Fire” and “Cherry Bomb.”

1987 - Wendy and Lisa released their self-titled debut album. It features “Honeymoon Express” and “Waterfall.”

1989 - The Who performed a special 20th-anniversary charity concert of their rock opera Tommy at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, featuring guests Elton John (as the Pinball Wizard), Patti LaBelle (as the Acid Queen), Steve Winwood (as the Hawker), Phil Collins (as Uncle Ernie), and Billy Idol (as Cousin Kevin).

1990 - Sinead O'Connor refused to perform at the Garden State Arts Center in New Jersey until it agreed not to play the U.S. national anthem before the show.

1991 - Lenny Kravitz was at No. 2 in the U.S. singles chart with "It Ain't Over Till It's Over," which was held off the No. 1 position by Bryan Adams "(Everything I Do), I Do It for You."

1993 - Cracker released their second studio album, Kerosene Hat. It features “Low,” “Euro-Trash Girl,” and “Get Off This.”

1995 - Microsoft launched the Windows 95 operating system. The start-up music was composed by Brian Eno, a pioneer in ambient music who in 1978 released an album designed to soothe travelers at airports. Eno said that he found the task funny and then addictive, considering the amount of adjectives in the company’s creative brief (“inspiring, universal, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional”) compared to the short, three-hundredths of a second the musical tone had to last. Ironically, Eno created the final pieces (he ended up making 84 concepts for Microsoft’s review) using a Macintosh, rather than a PC.

1996 - The song “Missing” by U.K. duo Everything But The Girl broke the all-time U.S. chart stay record previously held by The Four Seasons' “December, 1963 (Oh What A Night),” when “Missing” appeared on the Billboard chart for the 55th week.

1996 - Oasis singer Liam Gallagher failed to turn up for the recording of the band's MTV Unplugged session at London's Royal Festival Hall, where 400 fans sat in anticipation of the performance. Liam later sat in the audience and watched the show as his brother, Noel Gallagher, took over on vocals.

1998 - UNKLE released their debut studio album, Psyence Fiction. It features the singles "Rabbit in Your Headlights" feat. Thom Yorke and "Be There."

1998 - Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats and Live Aid fame began hosting a show on the London radio station XFM. In his first broadcast, he announced (incorrectly) that English singer-songwriter and actor Ian Dury had died. Dury lived until March 27, 2000.

1999 - Christina Aguilera released her self-titled debut album. It features “Genie in a Bottle” and “What a Girl Wants.”

2004 - Drive-By Truckers released their fifth studio album, The Dirty South. Recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, The Dirty South includes the tracks, “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac,” “The Day John Henry Died,” and “Where the Devil Don’t Stay.”

2004 - Guided by Voices released their 15th studio album, Half Smiles of the Decomposed. It features “Girls of Wild Strawberries.”

2009 - The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide caused by a mix of drugs meant to treat insomnia. On Feb. 8, 2010, Dr. Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles. Dr. Murray pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $75,000 bail, but he would be found guilty in November 2011, at which time he was sentenced to four years in a Los Angeles County jail.

2010 - Teenage Dream, Katy Perry's sophomore album, was released. It features "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg), "Teenage Dream," "Firework," "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)."

2013 - The Under The Sun tour featuring Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray & Gin Blossoms stopped at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

2014 - Doo-wop singer Tommy Gough (of The Crests) died of throat cancer at age 74.

2018 - Interpol released their sixth studio album, Marauder. It features “The Rover” and “If You Really Love Nothing.”

2018 - Jain released her second studio album, Souldier.

2019 - Billie Eilish ended a 19-week run at No. 1 for Lil Nas X’s song "Old Town Road" when "Bad Guy" claimed the top spot on the Hot 100.

2021 - Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts died at the age of 80 in London. As a founding member of the legendary rock band, Watts began his nearly six-decade-long tenure with the Stones in 1963.

2021 - Thirty years after appearing as a baby grasping for a dollar bill on Nirvana's Nevermind album cover, Spencer Elden sues the band and others associated with the photo shoot, claiming it caused him "extreme and permanent emotional distress.

2023 - The Black Keys performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand. Here’s a recap.

Birthdays:

Blues artist Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, writer of Elvis Presley's hit, "That's All Right (Mama)", was born today in 1905.

Blues singer Wynonie Harris, whose 1947 jump-blues recording “Good Rocking Tonight” is considered a rock ‘n’ roll precursor, was born today in 1915.

Singer and saxophonist Jackie Brenston, who played in Ike Turner’s band and recorded the first version of “Rocket 88” with that band in 1951, was born today in 1930.

Mason Williams — guitarist, composer, writer, comedian, and poet — is 88.

David Freiberg of Jefferson Airplane is 88.

Pop and soul singer Jimmy Soul (birth name James McCleese), best remembered for his 1963 song, “If You Wanna Be Happy,” was born today in 1942.

John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service was born today in 1943.

Ronnie Blakley — singer and actress in Nashville — is 81.

Molly Duncan of Average White Band was born today in 1945.

Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep was born today in 1945.

Danny Joe Brown, lead singer of Molly Hatchet, was born today in 1951.

Steve Holley of Wings is 73.

Madness bassist Mark Bedford is 65.

Heavy metal singer John Bush, formerly of Anthrax, is 63.

Bassist Oteil Burbridge, a founding member of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, is 62.

Dave Chappelle is 53.

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