History Highlight:

Today in 1939, Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and The Great Society was born, making her 87. Regarded as a prominent figure in San Francisco’s psychedelic music scene of the 1960s, Slick came to fame as the lead singer and frontwoman of Jefferson Airplane and the subsequent spinoff bands, Jefferson Starship and Starship. Slick retired from the music business in 1990. In a 2007 interview, Slick said, "You can do jazz, classical, blues, opera, country until you're 150, but rap and rock and roll are really a way for young people to get that anger out.” She has since put more energy into painting and drawing, sometimes depicting fellow 1960s musicians, such as Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and others.

Today In:

1964 - Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman" was certified Gold after spending 15 weeks on the singles chart.

1968 - Marvin Gaye scored his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.” Though the Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong song is now a soul classic affiliated with Gaye, that wasn’t always the case. Gaye’s rendition was actually the third to be released, following versions by The Miracles (1966), and by Gladys Knight & the Pips, who also scored a major hit with the song in 1967.

1970 - Jim Morrison of The Doors was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $500 for exposing himself during a concert in Miami.

1970 - Elton John released his third studio album, Tumbleweed Connection. The cover photo for the album was taken at Horsted Keynes railway station, 30 miles south of London, and captured Elton John and Bernie Taupin in front of the late-19th-century station to represent the album's rural Americana concept, despite the English location.

1971 - Pink Floyd released their sixth studio album, Meddle, in the U.S. The U.K. release would follow on November 13.

1975 - Bob Dylan performed the first show of his Rolling Thunder Revue at the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The concert would later became the subject of two documentaries.

1982 - Australian band Men At Work went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Who Can It Be Now,” the group's first U.S. No. 1.

1990 - Axl Rose was released on $10,000 bail after being arrested for allegedly hitting a neighbor over the head with a bottle. The incident happened after a complaint to the police about loud music coming from the singer's house.

1990 - Monie Love released her debut album, Down to Earth. It features the hit “It’s a Shame (My Sister)” and “Monie in the Middle.”

1991 - Superchunk released their second studio album, No Pocky for Kitty. It features the songs "Skip Steps 1 & 3," "Seed Toss," "Cast Iron," "Tower," and "Throwing Things.”

1995 - Pulp released their fifth studio album, Different Class. Produced by Chris Thomas, whose credits include work with the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Pretenders and INXS, Different Class was Pulp’s second release on the Island label. With music collectively composed by the band and lyrics by Jarvis Cocker, the music is ambitious thematically; songs like “Common People,” "Mis-Shapes," "Sorted for E's & Wizz," “Disco 2000,” and “Something Changed” address issues like socioeconomic class, drug use and abuse, people who feel like outsiders, boorish behavior, and the seeming randomness of important life events. Different Class was a huge success for Pulp, earning critical praise and winning the 1996 Mercury Music Prize. Fans snapped it up, too; Different Class debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. Album Chart. On October 24, 2025, Pulp released a 30th-anniversary expanded reissue of Different Class on 4 LPs and double-CD.

(Incidentally, the wedding photo on the album cover is real; the couple — Dom and Sharon O’Connor, still together — agreed to let photographer Donald Milne take photos of their wedding party with the life-size cutouts of Pulp in exchange for a discount on their actual wedding photos. The couple didn’t know their photo would be used on the cover of Different Class until the groom’s mother saw it in a record store. In 2017, Jarvis Cocker sent the O’Connors a signed poster of Different Class, writing, “Thanks very much Dom and Sharon for letting us crash your wedding.")

1998 - All four original members of Black Sabbath reunited to perform "Paranoid" on Late Night with David Letterman. Prior to that date, Black Sabbath had not appeared on television since 1976.

1999 - Santana's Supernatural album went to No. 1 in the U.S., giving the group its first chart-topping album in 28 years.

1999 - In an early attempt at video over the web, Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert was "cybercast" to a few brave souls trying to get their modems to work. The Who, Pearl Jam, and Brian Wilson performed at the show.

2000 - U2 released their 10th studio album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind. It features “Beautiful Day,” “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Elevation,” and “Walk On.”

2001 - The National released their debut studio album, The National. It features the songs "Beautiful Head," "Cold Girl Fever," "The Perfect Song," "American Mary," and "29 Years."

2002 - Jason William Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay, was murdered by an unknown assassin's single bullet at his recording studio in Queens, New York. Jam Master Jay was the DJ of Run-D.M.C., who became one of the biggest hip-hop groups in the 1980s and are credited with bringing hip-hop into mainstream music.

2003 - Steve O'Rourke suffered a stroke and died in Miami. O'Rourke had managed Pink Floyd since 1968, and was the executive producer for their 1982 film, The Wall.

2006 - Keane became the first major act to release a song on a USB memory stick. Fans could purchase the 512MB drive at HMV stores, plug it into a computer, and transfer the track "Nothing In My Way" along with various videos and screensavers. The "single on a stick" format failed to catch on.

2008 - American producer and saxophonist Mike Terry died in Detroit at age 68. Terry worked with Martha And The Vandellas, Jackie Wilson, Mary Wells, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Kim Weston, Marvin Gaye, The Isley Brothers and Edwin Starr.

2009 - Weezer released their seventh studio album, Raditude. It features "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" and “I’m Your Daddy.”

2010 - Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) made a rare public appearance, performing "Peace Train" at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which was organized and hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Midway through the song, Colbert interrupted him and introduced Ozzy Osbourne, who started performing "Crazy Train." Yusuf Islam and Ozzy Osbourne went back and forth, resulting in a strange and hilarious train wreck.

2015 - Car Seat Headrest released their ninth studio album, Teens of Style. It features “No Passion,” “Something Soon,” and “Times to Die.”

2015 - The Neighbourhood released their second studio album, Wiped Out!. It features “Daddy Issues” and “R.I.P. 2 My Youth.”

2016 - With the Cubs in the World Series for the first time since 1945 (and they hadn't won it since 1908), longtime fan Eddie Vedder led the crowd in "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. The Cubs eventually won the 2016 series in seven games.

2016 - American songwriter Curly Putman died aged 85. He wrote "Green, Green Grass of Home" which was covered by many artists including Elvis Presley, Johnny Darrell, Gram Parsons, Joan Baez, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, Joe Tex and Tom Jones. He also co-wrote (with Bobby Braddock) the song, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," made famous by Tammy Wynette.

2020 - Ariana Grande released her sixth studio album, Positions. It features the title track, “34+35,” and “POV.”

2020 - Sam Smith released their third album, Love Goes. It features “My Oasis,” “Diamonds,” and “Kids Again.”

2021 - Carole King, Tina Turner, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Todd Rundgren, the Go-Go's, and Foo Fighters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Birthdays:

Country and western singer-songwriter Patsy Montana (whose birth name was Ruby Blevins) was born today in 1908. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Patsy Montana was the first woman performer in country music to have a million-selling single with 1935’s “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.”

Jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer Clifford Brown was born today in 1930. Brown’s career was tragically cut short when he died at age 25 in a car crash. Despite his short life, three of his works, "Sandu," "Joy Spring" and "Daahoud," are now considered jazz standards.

Eddie Holland of Motown's legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland production team is 87.

Grace Slick is 87. See highlight, above.

Otis Williams of The Temptations is 85.

Chris Slade, drummer for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and AC/DC, is 80.

Timothy B. Schmit, bassist for the Eagles and Poco, is 79.

Guitarist, teacher and author Arlen Roth is 74. Often called the “Master of the Telecaster,” Roth has performed on tour and in studio with a wide array of artists, including John Prine, Dusty Springfield, Simon & Garfunkel, the Bee Gees, and Patti Smith.

Country singer T. Graham Brown, who enjoyed three No. 1 hits in the mid-1980s with “Hell and High Water,” “Don’t Go to Strangers” and “Darlene,” is 72.

Jeannie Kendall of the Kendalls is 72.

R&B singer, composer and keyboardist Grayson Hugh, best known for his 1988 hit, “Talk It Over,” is 66.

Gavin Rossdale of Bush is 61.

Ken Stringfellow of the Posies and Big Star is 58.

Canadian rapper and musician Snow (birth name Darrin O’Brien), who had a No. 1 hit with 1992’s “Informer,” is 57.

Eels bassist Tommy Walter is 56.

Stalley is 44.

Vanessa White is 37.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts, uDiscoverMusic, Huffington Post, BBC Radio 6, Different Class liner notes and Wikipedia.