History Highlight:

Today in 1999, Rage Against the Machine released their third studio album, The Battle of Los Angeles. Produced by Brendan O’Brien, The Battle of Los Angeles features the songs "Guerrilla Radio," "Sleep Now in the Fire," “Calm Like a Bomb” and "Testify," all of them powerfully political tracks. Music videos for “Testify” and “Sleep Now in the Fire” were directed by filmmaker Michael Moore, and the video shoot for “Sleep Now in the Fire” took place in New York City and led to a real-life protest on Wall Street on a trading day. The Battle of Los Angeles went on to be certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of more than two million units. It was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards, and “Guerrilla Radio” won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. At year’s end, Rolling Stone and TIME magazine each named The Battle of Los Angeles the best album of 1999.

Also, Today In:

1920 - KDKA in Pittsburgh became the first commercially licensed radio station in the United States. It was not the first station on the air, but the first to get a broadcast license. With consumers unsure of the benefits of radio, the station announced results of the Harding-Cox presidential election, getting the news to those with a radio much faster than everyone who had to wait for the morning paper.

1956 - Police used tear gas to break up a riot that broke out during a Fats Domino concert in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Fats and three of his sidemen suffer minor injuries.

1963 - Reviewing The Beatles' concert the night before in Cheltenham, England, the British paper Daily Mirror used the headline "Beatlemania!", effectively inserting the phrase into the popular consciousness for the first time.

1963 - Folk music was in the air as Peter, Paul and Mary's album In The Wind hit No. 1 in the U.S.

1966 - Country blues musician Mississippi John Hurt died of a heart attack at age 74.

1967 - Cream released their second studio album, Disraeli Gears, which became the group's U.S. breakthrough, becoming a massive seller in 1968, and reaching No. 4 on the American charts. The album features the two singles “Strange Brew” and “Sunshine of Your Love.”

1969 - Creedence Clearwater Revival released Willy and the Poor Boys, the third studio album the band released that year. The album features the songs "Down on the Corner," which the album title references, as well as the protest song, "Fortunate Son." The album was the last of three studio albums the band released that year, arriving just three months after Green River.

1971 - Cher’s song “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” was No. 1 on the Billboard Pop Chart.

1972 - Carly Simon released "You're So Vain."

1974 - Stevie Wonder's "You Haven't Done Nothin'," a dig on President Richard Nixon, hit No. 1 in the U.S.

1979 - The Who's musical film, Quadrophenia, which features a small part played by Sting, opened in U.S. theaters.

1982 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their fifth studio album, Long After Dark. It features the singles "You Got Lucky," "Change of Heart," and "Straight into Darkness."

1983 - Irene Cara released her second studio album, What a Feelin'. It features the singles "Flashdance... What a Feeling," "Why Me?," "The Dream (Hold On to Your Dream)," "Breakdance," and "You Were Made for Me."

1985 - Stevie Wonder went to No.1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Part-time Lover," his ninth No. 1 single.

1985 - The Miami Vice soundtrack album, featuring the No. 1 hit theme song, topped the albums chart in the U.S., ushering in a new age of TV soundtracks.

1987 - George Harrison released Cloud Nine, a commercial comeback that includes the No. 1 hit "Got My Mind Set On You." It was the last album he put out in his lifetime.

1987 - George Michael released his first solo album, Faith. Packed with hits ("I Want Your Sex," "Father Figure," the title track), it went to No. 1 in both the U.K. and U.S., and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2003, the album was ranked number 480 in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." In addition to playing a large number of instruments on the album, Michael wrote and produced every track on the recording except for one, "Look at Your Hands," which he co-wrote with David Austin.

1989 - Bad Religion released their fourth full-length studio album, No Control.

1992 - Neil Young released his 21st studio album, Harvest Moon. It was the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album that he’d put out in years. Many of the backing musicians also appeared on Young’s 1972 album, Harvest.

1993 - Frank Sinatra released his studio album Duets. It features electronically assembled duets with artists including Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Julio Iglesias, Gloria Estefan, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Charles Aznavour, Carly Simon, Liza Minnelli, Anita Baker, Bono, and Kenny G.

1995 - Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders guest-starred on the Friends episode, "The One with the Baby on the Bus," playing a fictional character called Stephanie who is a coffeehouse musician. In the episode, Hynde (as Stephanie) performs "Angel of the Morning" and learns the song "Smelly Cat" from Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow). The real-life Hynde was a co-writer of the song “Smelly Cat” along with Kudrow and Friends writers Adam Chase and Betsy Borns.

1995 - Record producer Florence Greenberg died of heart failure at age 82. As founder of Scepter Records, she worked with hot '60s acts such as Dionne Warwick, B.J. Thomas, and The Shirelles.

1996 - Counting Crows went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Recovering The Satellites.

1996 - Singer Eva Cassidy died at the age of 33, following a battle with skin cancer.

1997 - Brandy became the first Black princess in a Disney production when she played Cinderella in the ABC TV movie. Whitney Houston played her Fairy Godmother.

1998 - Portishead released their live album Roseland NYC Live. It features performances of "Humming," "Cowboys," "All Mine," "Mysterons," "Only You," "Half Day Closing," "Over," "Glory Box," "Sour Times," "Roads," and "Strangers."

1998 - Oasis released their compilation album The Masterplan. It features the singles "Acquiesce" and "The Masterplan."

1998 - U2 released their first greatest hits compilation, The Best of 1980–1990. It features the single "Sweetest Thing" and includes hits such as "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "New Year's Day," "With or Without You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and "Desire."

1998 - Bright Eyes released their second studio album, Letting Off the Happiness.

1998 - Viewers tuned in for part two of The Temptations miniseries on NBC. Based on the autobiography of group founder Otis Williams, the film was a ratings success and was nominated for five Emmys.

1999 - Foo Fighters released their third studio album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. It was the band's first album to feature drummer Taylor Hawkins — former drummer for Alanis Morissette on her “Jagged Little Pill” and "Can't Not" tours. Hawkins was voted "Best Rock Drummer" in 2005 by the U.K. drumming magazine Rhythm.

1999 - The Roots released their live album The Roots Come Alive.

1999 - Lil Wayne's debut studio album, Tha Block Is Hot, soared to No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart and went on to sell 1.4 million copies worldwide.

2001 - Gorillaz' "Clint Eastwood" and Fatboy Slim's "Weapon Of Choice" each took three trophies at the Billboard Music Video Awards.

2004 - Queen Elizabeth II awarded guitarist Eric Clapton a CBE — Commander of the British Empire, an order of chivalry of British democracy — for his services to music.

2007 - A rite of passage for any up-and-coming British musical act, Laura Marling made her debut on Later…with Jools Holland, performing the songs "Ghosts" and "New Romantic" before a live studio audience. The former Squeeze founder's late-night music variety show is an institution in the U.K., and many other networks rebroadcast it around the world.

2009 - The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas released his solo debut, Phrazes for the Young. It features “11th Dimension” and “Out of the Blue.”

2012 - Brian Eno's new album LUX is previewed for travelers at Tokyo International Airport, a fitting move for a composer whose 1978 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports was designed for such purpose.

2015 - Adele went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Hello," the lead track from her third album 25. "Hello" became the first song to sell more than a million digital copies in a single week and the third-highest weekly sales total since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, "Hello" won three awards; Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance.

2016 - Taylor Swift was the highest-paid woman in music, according to Forbes' annual list, having earned more than double her nearest competitor Adele. The 26-year-old Swift had amassed earnings of $170 million over the preceding year, mainly thanks to a world tour named after her 1989 album.

2018 - Rosalía released her second studio album, El mal querer. It features the singles "Malamente," "Pienso en tu mirá," "Di mi nombre," "Bagdad," and "De aquí no sales."

2018 - The Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, opened in theaters. It won four Oscars, including Best Actor for Malek.

2020 - Thanks to a swell of views from children who were at home during the coronavirus pandemic, "Baby Shark" overtook "Despacito" as the most-viewed video in YouTube history, with a little over 7 billion views.

Birthdays:

Recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder — who worked on albums by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and many others — was born today in 1924.

Country singer Charlie Walker, best known for his 1958 hit, “Pick Me Up on Your Way Down,” was born today in 1926.

Earl “Speedo” Carroll, lead vocalist of the Cadillacs, known for their 1955 hit, “Speedoo,” and later a member of the Coasters, was born today in 1937.

Bruce Welch of the Shadows is 85.

Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer was born today in 1944.

Songwriter J.D. Souther — including the Eagles’ “Heartache Tonight” and “New Kid in Town” — was born today in 1945.

Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention is 79.

Lindy Morrison of the Go-Betweens is 75.

R&B singer Maxine Nightingale, who enjoyed a global hit in 1975 with “Right Back Where We Started From” (which featured heavily in the soundtrack to the 1977 hockey comedy film, Slap Shot), is 74.

Carter Beauford, drummer for the Dave Matthews Band, is 69.

k.d. Lang is 65.

Bobby Dall, bassist for Poison, is 63.

Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu of Korn is 57.

Nelly is 52.

Prodigy of Mobb Deep was born today in 1974.

Chris Walla, producer and former guitarist with Death Cab for Cutie, is 51.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts, Rage Against the Machine official site, and Wikipedia.