History Highlight:

Today in 2006, My Chemical Romance released their wildly popular third album, The Black Parade. To record the album, the band bivouacked themselves at the Canfield-Moreno Estate, also called the Paramour Mansion, in Los Angeles. Frontman Gerard Way thought that by isolating, the band could truly develop a concept album, which The Black Parade truly is; a rock opera, the album follows the story of a character known as “The Patient,” who is dying of cancer. Although the self-imposed isolation at the Paramour Mansion had negative mental-health effects on the band, they were eventually able to finish writing and recording the album with the assistance of producer Rob Cavallo. The Black Parade was named among the best albums of 2006 by several publications, including NME, Rolling Stone, and Spin. Beyond that, it is considered the most important album in the emo genre and the hallmark album for My Chemical Romance. The Black Parade features the singles “Welcome to the Black Parade,” “Famous Last Words,” “I Don’t Love You” and “Teenagers.” My Chemical Romance are currently on a world tour, dubbed Long Live The Black Parade, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the album, and 20th-anniversary deluxe reissue featuring six bonus tracks drops today, Oct. 23, 2026, via Reprise Records.

Today In:

1961 - Dion started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Runaround Sue."

1962 - A 12-year-old named Little Stevie Wonder recorded his first single for Motown Records. It was called "Thank You For Loving Me All The Way."

1963 - Bob Dylan began recording "The Times They Are A-Changin" in a two-day session at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. It is one of Dylan's signature tunes, and it is considered one of the greatest protest songs in history and a classic of 20th century popular music. The song was ranked No. 59 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song has been covered by many different artists, including Nina Simone, Josephine Baker, the Byrds, Peter, Paul and Mary, Tracy Chapman, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, Joan Baez, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and Burl Ives.

1976 - The band Chicago started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "If You Leave Me Now."

1978 - "Mother" Maybelle Carter, one of the founding members of the pioneering country-folk group The Carter Family (including June, who later wed Johnny Cash), died at the age of 69.

1979 - Cabaret Voltaire released their debut studio album, Mix-Up. It features a cover of The Seeds' 1966 song "No Escape."

1982 - The Damned released their album titled Strawberries, packaged with a Strawberry-smelling lyric sheet.

1984 - Some reports maintain Talking Heads released the live album, Stop Making Sense. The album is the soundtrack to the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film of the same name, which got its commercial release just days earlier, on October 19. Filmed and recorded across four nights in December 1983 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, the Stop Making Sense soundtrack album originally included nine songs from the film (subsequent re-releases and anniversary editions have included all songs), including live takes of “Psycho Killer,” “Burning Down The House” and “Once in a Lifetime.” The album spent two years on the Billboard 200 album chart, and Rolling Stone magazine has ranked Stop Making Sense at No. 345 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

1989 - Nirvana played their first-ever European show when they appeared at Newcastle's Riverside Club in the northeast of England.

1990 - Gear Daddies — from Austin, Minnesota — released their second album, Billy’s Live Bait. It includes the songs “Stupid Boy,” “Time Heals,” “Color of Her Eyes,” and “(I Wanna Drive the) Zamboni.”

1990 - The Charlatans U.K. released their debut album, Some Friendly. It features “The Only One I Know” and “Then.”

1991 - Rage Against the Machine played live for the first time with a show at California State University, Northridge, opening with "Killing In The Name," which is still an instrumental.

1995 - Def Leppard gave themselves a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by playing three gigs in three continents in 24 hours. The shows were in London, England; Vancouver, Canada; and Tangier, Morocco.

1995 - Cat Power released her debut studio album, Dear Sir.

2000 - PJ Harvey released her fifth studio album, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea. Co-produced by Harvey, Rob Ellis and Mick Harvey (no relation to PJ), the music on the album is more pop- and indie-rock-oriented than PJ Harvey’s previous work, with songs like “Good Fortune” being compared to Pretenders and to Patti Smith. The album’s sound was deeply influenced by the nine months Harvey spent living in New York, but she insists Stories is not a “New York album,” given songs on the album were also written in London and in Dorset. As a producer, Harvey had been interested in trying a different vocalist on some of her songs, so a notable collaborator on the album is Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who contributes vocals on three tracks. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea features the aforementioned “Good Fortune” as well as the songs “A Place Called Home” and “This Is Love.” The album sold more than one million copies in Harvey’s native United Kingdom, and it charted in both the U.K. and the United States.

2001 - The Dismemberment Plan released their fourth studio album, Change. It features the track "Time Bomb," which received a music video despite not being released as a single.

2001 - Pinback released their second studio album, Blue Screen Life. It features the single "Penelope."

2002 - Kanye West was involved in a car crash after he fell asleep at the wheel while driving home from a recording studio in West Hollywood. No other cars were involved in the incident, which left West with his jaw fractured in three places.

2007 - Ween released their ninth and final studio album, La Cucaracha. It features the single "Your Party."

2007 - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's first collaborative album, Raising Sand, was released. It features “Killing the Blues” and "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)."

2009 - Wolfmother released their second studio album, Cosmic Egg. It features “Back Round,” “New Moon Rising,” “White Feather,” and “Far Away.”

2015 - Joanna Newson released her fourth studio album, Divers. It features "Sapokanikan" and “Leaving the City.”

2015 - Julien Baker released her debut album, Sprained Ankle.

2016 - Dead Or Alive lead singer Pete Burns died of a heart attack at age 57. Known for the 1985 hit "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)," Burns estimated that he had 300 plastic surgeries in his lifetime.

2019 - The tracklist for Coldplay's forthcoming album was exclusively announced for the first time in a classified advertisement in the North Wales Daily Post. The ad appeared alongside items for sale including a fridge freezer and a bale of hay, and below a Welsh Government public notice. Coldplay have strong links to North Wales, with the band's guitarist Jonny Buckland having grown up in Pantymwyn, near Mold. The band had been drip-feeding details of their new double album Everyday Life with a series of hints.

2020 - Gorillaz released their seventh album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.

2020 - Jeff Tweedy released his fourth studio album, Love Is the King.

2020 - The Mountain Goats released their 19th studio album, Getting Into Knives.

2020 - American country music singer and songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker died of throat cancer at age 78. His best-known song is “Mr Bojangles,” which has been recorded by Bob Dylan, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Garth Brooks, Chet Atkins, Jim Croce, Jamie Cullum, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Billy Joel, Elton John, Don McLean and Dolly Parton.

Birthdays:

Soul singer Carol Fran, who enjoyed hits with her soul-blues covers of “The Great Pretender” and “Crying in the Chapel,” was born today in 1933.

Charlie Foxx, part of R&B duo Inez & Charlie Foxx, was born today in 1939.

Ellie Greenwich — one of the most successful songwriters of the 1960s whose co-writes include Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Chapel of Love” and “Leader of the Pack” — was born today in 1940.

Grammy-winning saxophonist Ernie Watts, who collaborated with the Rolling Stones (Ernie is no relation to Stones’ drummer Charlie Watts), is 81.

Greg Ridley of Spooky Tooth and a founding member of Humble Pie was born today in 1947.

Michael “Würzel” Burston of Motörhead was born on this day in 1949.

Country singer David Wills, perhaps best known for his 1975 hit “There’s a Song on the Jukebox,” is 75.

Five-time Grammy-winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 70.

Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 70.

Alfred Matthew Yankovic, better known as "Weird Al," is 67.

Mirwais Ahmadzaï, a frequent producer for Madonna (“Music,” “Don’t Tell Me”), is 66.

Robert Trujillo of Metallica is 62.

Jimmy Wayne is 54.

Matt Schultz, frontman for Cage the Elephant, is 43.

Miguel is 41.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, AllMusic, Song Facts, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea liner notes, NME, and Wikipedia.