History Highlight:

On this day in 2018, The Minnesota State Fair Grandstand hosted The Current’s Music On-A-Stick featuring Trampled By Turtles with special guests Lord Huron and Lissie. On a beautiful summer Saturday evening, Lissie began with songs from her album, Castles, which had released in March of that year, and ended her set with “In Sleep,” a cut from her 2010 debut album, Catching a Tiger. Lord Huron, who had released the album Vide noir in April 2018, played a 13-song set that included five tracks from Vide noir, including the favorite “Wait by the River.” The sun had set by the time Trampled by Turtles took the stage, but the Duluth-based bluegrass outfit treated the audience to a 21-song set that was typically short on talk but long on music, including a crowd-pleasing performance of “Wait So Long” near the end of their set. For further details, check out this full show recap from 2018.

Also, Today In:

1958 - Staten Island, New York, doo-wop group The Elegants went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with their re-worked version of the Mozart lullaby, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," re-titled "Little Star."

1962 - Little Eva went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "The Loco-motion." Songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin had offered the tune to Dee Dee Sharp ("Mashed Potatoes"), but she turned it down. As a result, King and Goffin asked their babysitter, Eva Boyd, to record it — and she took it to No. 1.

1966 - The Supremes released The Supremes A' Go-Go, their ninth studio album. In October of that year, it would go on to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — the first time ever an all-woman group held the top spot in the album chart.

1967 - At a concert in Honolulu, Brian Wilson returned to performing live with The Beach Boys after a two-year hiatus.

1967 - Bobbie Gentry started a four-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Ode To Billy Joe." Gentry is known for being one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. The song was a No. 1 hit in the United States, and became a big international seller. The song is a first-person narrative that reveals a family at dinnertime on the day that "Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

1970 - Elton John performed in the U.S. for the first time. His gig at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles launched a 17-date tour and the first big impact Elton John would make in the States.

1973 - At the Las Vegas Hilton, Bobby Darin performed his final concert. Darin died on Dec. 20, 1973, following open-heart surgery. He was 37 years old.

1975 - Bruce Springsteen released his third studio album and big breakthrough, Born to Run. Although Springsteen’s first two albums were critically praised, they didn’t sell well beyond the northeastern United States. Springsteen conceived of a unifying theme for the album, and he worked alongside manager Mike Appel and producer Jon Landau to create a “Wall of Sound” effect with the E Street Band. Recorded over six months in New York, the effort was well worth it; the album charted well in much of the world, and it catapulted Bruce Springsteen from regional act to global superstar. Born to Run features the title track, “Thunder Road,” “Jungleland,” “Backstreets,” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”

1976 - Boston released their self-titled debut album, which despite being mostly recorded in Tom Scholz' basement studio, became one of the best-selling debuts of all time. It features “More Than a Feeling,” “Long Time,” and “Peace of Mind.”

1979 - Willie Nelson and Family, with Hank Cochran, performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand for the first time. They played sets at 6:30 and 9 p.m.

1979 - The Knack started a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "My Sharona," the group's only chart topper.

1981 - The Replacements released their first studio album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash via Twin/Tone Records. Retrospectively, AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine considered Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash to be "one of the best LPs the entire scene produced in the early '80s." To celebrate its 40th anniversary, on October 22, 2021, Rhino Entertainment released a deluxe edition of the newly remastered album which included a previously unreleased 27-track live concert recorded on January 23, 1981, at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. It features “I’m in Trouble.”

1986 - Paul Simon released his epic Graceland album. It features “You Can Call Me Al,” the title track, “The Boy in the Bubble,” and “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”

1986 - The Jets performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

1987 - The Cars released their sixth studio album, Door to Door. It features “You Are the Girl.”

1987 - Aerosmith released their ninth studio album, Permanent Vacation. It features the singles "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," "Angel," and "Rag Doll."

1988 - Metallica released their fourth studio album, …And Justice for All. It features “One.”

1989 - Chicago mayor Richard Michael Daley declared it "Pops Staples Day" to honor the Chicago musician and leader of The Staple Singers.

1992 - Eric Clapton released Unplugged. It features “Tears in Heaven.”

1992 - Lucinda Williams released her fourth studio album, Sweet Old World. It features “Six Blocks Away” and “Something About What Happens When We Talk.”

1992 - The Wallflowers released their self-titled debut album. It features “Ashes to Ashes.”

1992 - Bobby Brown released his third studio album, Bobby. It features “Humpin’ Around” and “Something in Common.”

1994 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant taped a show in London for MTV's Unplugged series. It was later released as Unledded.

1995 - Forty-three-year-old bassist and singer Doug Stegmeyer died by suicide. The New York-based artist worked with many artists during his career, including Billy Joel, Hall and Oates and The Carpenters.

1997 - Stereophonics released their debut studio album, Word Gets Around.

1998 - Fugees member Lauryn Hill released her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first-week sales by a female artist. It featured three hit singles: "Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything". "Doo Wop (That Thing)", the lead single, peaked at No. 1 in the U.S., with the latter two singles peaking within the Top 40. To promote the album, Hill did performances on Saturday Night Live and on the Billboard Music Awards before embarking on a sold-out, worldwide concert tour, and the album became the first hip-hop album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

1998 - Elliott Smith released his fourth studio album, XO. It features "Waltz #2 (XO)" and “Baby Britain.”

1998 - Godsmack released their self-titled second studio album.

1998 - Rob Zombie released his debut solo studio album, Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside the Spookshow International.

1998 - Bob Mould released his fourth solo studio album, The Last Dog and Pony Show. It features "Classifieds" and "Moving Trucks."

2000 - Academy Award-winning film score composer and record producer Jack Nitzsche died of a heart attack. He produced The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield and The Walker Brothers, as well as musical scores including The Exorcist and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and he co-wrote “Up Where We Belong” with Buffy Sainte-Marie for the 1982 film, An Officer and a Gentleman.

2001 - After shooting the music video for "Rock The Boat" in The Bahamas, 22-year-old Aaliyah died in a plane crash along with eight others when the overloaded aircraft went down shortly after takeoff.

2003 - The Raveonettes released their debut studio album, Chain Gang of Love. It features "That Great Love Sound."

2009 - Arctic Monkeys released their third studio album, Humbug, in the U.S. It features “Crying Lightning,” “Cornerstone,” and “My Propeller.”

2009 - During a radio broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music, Bob Dylan revealed that he was speaking to a number of car companies about becoming the voice of their GPS systems. Dylan said he thought it would be good for drivers to hear him saying things like, "Take a left at the next street. No, a right. You know what, just go straight."

2009 - Chris Brown was sentenced to five years probation and six months hard labor for assaulting Rihanna the night of the Grammy awards.

2013 - Miley Cyrus released “Wrecking Ball” which became Cyrus' first No. 1 song on the chart after the release of its controversial music video. Nine weeks later, the track returned to No. 1, and consequently had the largest gap between No. 1 sittings in Billboard Hot 100 history within a single chart run.

2013 - Sheryl Crow performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

2014 - Ariana Grande released her second studio album, My Everything. It features “Problem,” “Break Free,” “Bang Bang” and “Love Me Harder.”

2014 - Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was voted the greatest guitar riff of all time by listeners of BBC Radio 2 in the U.K.

2016 - Kanye West began his Saint Pablo Tour in Indianapolis. This was the tour that featured the floating stage.

2017 - Daniel Caesar released his debut album, Freudian. It features “Get You.”

2017 - Queens of the Stone Age released their seventh studio album, Villains. It features "The Way You Used to Do."

2017 - The War on Drugs released their fourth studio album, A Deeper Understanding. It features “Thinking of a Place” and “Pain.”

2017 - Stevie Nicks performed at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

2018 - Neil Young and American actress and environmental activist Daryl Hannah married in a secret ceremony in Atascadero, California. It was Young's third marriage and her first.

2022 - Blues singer Mable John, the first female artist signed to Berry Gordy’s Tamla label, died at the age of 91.

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

Birthdays:

Composer Leonard Bernstein (West Side Story, others) was born today in 1918.

Jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who played with Miles Davis, was born today in 1933.

Gene Simmons of KISS is 77.

Willy DeVille, frontman of Mink DeVille (no relation to The Current’s Bill DeVille), was born today in 1950.

Rob Halford of Judas Priest is 75.

Geoff Downes of the Buggles, Yes, and Asia, is 74.

Elvis Costello, born Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus, is 72.

John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees was born today in 1955.

Director Tim Burton is 68.

Billy Ray Cyrus is 65.

Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard and Dio is 64.

Shock G of Digital Underground was born today in 1963.

Mia Zapata of the Gits was born today in 1965.

Derek Sherinian, keyboardist for Alice Cooper and Billy Idol, is 60.

Norman Rogers known professionally as Terminator X of Public Enemy is 60.

Jeff Tweedy is 59. Tweedy is a musician, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Originally from Belleville, Illinois, he started his music career in high school in his band The Plebes with Jay Farrar, which subsequently transitioned into the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo. After Uncle Tupelo broke up, Tweedy formed Wilco which found critical and commercial success, most notably with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, the latter of which received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005. Across his career Tweedy has released 20 studio albums, including four with Uncle Tupelo, eleven with Wilco, three solo studio albums, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians.

Stuart Murdoch, frontman of Belle & Sebastian, is 58.

Spider One of Powerman 5000 is 58.

Jo Dee Messina is 56.

Cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib, who wrote the book Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest, is 43.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Setlist.fm (for Lord Huron and Trampled by Turtles), Billboard and Wikipedia.