January 17th

 

Musical birthdays today include classical violinist Ulf Hoelscher (83), Chris Montez (82), former Rolling Stones lead guitarist Mick Taylor (76), Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder Ryuichi Sakamoto (73), jazz fusion bassist Jeff Berlin (72), Steve Earle (70), Paul Young (69), Susanna Hoffs (66), former Berlin guitarist John Crawford (65), Magnetic Fields lead singer Stephin Merritt (60), Richard Hawley (58/span>), Kid Rock (54), and Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson (47). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Betty White [she sang, too!], born on this day in 1923... for Eartha Kitt, born in 1928... for Dalida, born in 1933... for Françoise Hardy, who would have been 81 today... for for Slits lead singer Ariane 'Ari Up' Forster, who would have been 63... for composer Tomaso Albinoni, who died on this date in 1751... for early country fiddler Blind Alfred Reed, who died in 1956... for scat singer Billy Stewart, who was killed in a road accident on this day in 1970 at the age of 32... for rock impresario & TV presenter Don Kirshner, who passed away in 2011... and for Johnny Otis, 'The Godfather of Rhythm and Blues', who left us today in 2012. 

Also on January 17th: Massenet's opera Manon premieres at the Opéra Comique in Paris (1884)...  The Beatles play at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead. The latter show sells out completely, leaving 500 disappointed fans waiting outside... The Rolling Stones are the first of two opening acts for The Velvets at London's Marquee Club ~ tickets at the door are 4 shillings [$0.56] (1963)... The Rolling Stones release their first EP, which includes ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’ (1964)... Simon & Garfunkel release the Sounds of Silence album... NBC buys The Monkees series, placing it on the autumn schedule (1966)... The Daily Mail runs a story about a local council survey in Blackburn, Lancashire that has found 4,000 potholes in the local roads ~ the article catches John Lennon's eye...  40-year-old London Symphony Orchestra member David Mason records the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatles' 'Penny Lane' at Abbey Road Studios. He is paid £27, 10 shillings ($42) for his performance. In August, 1987, the trumpet he used sold at a Sotheby's auction for $10,846...  The Jimi Hendrix Experience record a session for Radio Luxembourg's program  'Ready Steady Radio'. The band run up a bar bill of £2.5 shillings, ($6.21), which they were unable to pay (1967)... The Beatles release the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album in Britain, and Led Zeppelin I comes out in America (1969)... A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road keeps its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church (1972)... Bob Dylan & the Band release Planet Waves... Joni Mitchell releases Court and Spark... Dean Martin's son Dino is arrested after attempting to sell two AK-47 assault rifles to an undercover FBI agent (1974)... Barry Manilow has the № 1 single in the US with 'I Write the Songs' (1976)... Donny Osmond takes part in a charity boxing match held in Chicago against former Partridge Family member Danny Bonaduce ~ Donny is knocked out in the third round (1994)... A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger is set to spark a bidding war at a forthcoming London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song 'Too Many Cooks' and Lennon playing guitar. The track had never been released because the two artists were signed to different record companies (2003).

January 16th

 Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Marilyn Horne (91), Ronnie Milsap (79), Sade Adu (66), former Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (63), ex-En Vogue vocalist Maxine Jones (60), Fozzy lead guitarist Rich Ward (56), former Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O'Hare (54), Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds (51), Strokes lead guitarist Nick Valensi (44), Ordinary Boys lead singer Samuel Preston (43), Front Line Assembly guitarist Jared Slingerland (41), A Lot Like Birds led singer Kurt Travis (41), and Slovenian pop singer Maja Keuc (33). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Ethel Merman, born on this day in 1908... for rockabilly singer Mac Curtis, who would have been 86 today... for Aaliyah, who would have been 43... for conductor Arturo Toscanini, who died on this date in 1957... for Alvin and the Chipmunks creator and producer Ross Bagdasarian, who passed away in 1972... for former Coasters bass singer Will 'Dub' Jones, who died in 2000... and for Van der Graaf Generator bassist Nic Potter, who passed away in 2013... and for Phil Spector, who left us two years ago today.

Also on January 16th: With John Hammond as organizer and producer, the inaugural 'From Spirituals to Swing' evening takes place at Carnegie Hall, the first time that the venue hosts a jazz concert (1938)... Tennessee Ernie Ford has the № 1 single in the UK with 'Sixteen Tons' (1956)... The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool (1957)... The Beatles play two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, the first of an 18-show engagement. Opening night is attended mostly by members of Parisian 'high society' dressed in formal evening attire. The French press has little good to say about The Beatles in the next day's papers, but the Fab Four don't care, since they have just received the news that their single 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' has hit № 1 in the US, selling 10,000 copies an hour in New York City alone (1964)... Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Albert Collins all appear on the bill at the Fillmore West (1969)... Two days after it opened, the Bag One Gallery in London, England is raided by Scotland Yard. The police remove eight John Lennon lithographs under the Obscene Publications Act (1970)... ZZ Top's debut album, the ingeniously named ZZ Top's First Album, is released (1971)... Blue Öyster Cult's eponymous debut album is released... (1972)... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band appear at Villanova University, Philadelphia before an audience of 25 people. Due to a strike at the time by the campus newspaper The Villanovan, the concert had gone unadvertised ~ as far as is known, it is the smallest paying crowd Springsteen has played in front of since signing a Columbia Records contract in 1972 (1973)... Bob Dylan releases the album Desire (1976)... Sid Vicious ODs on heroin, falls through a ground floor window at the Sex Pistols' San Francisco hotel, and is rushed to hospital (1978)... Paul McCartney is jailed for nine days in Tokyo for marijuana possession after being found with 219g on his arrival at Narita Airport (1980)... David Bowie's schizophrenic half-brother Terry Burnes commits suicide by lying down on the railway lines at the Coulsdon South station in the London network. He is killed instantly by a passing train ~ he was 47 (1985)...  Presenter Jools Holland is suspended from UK Channel 4's music show The Tube for 6 weeks after using the phrase 'groovy fuckers' during a live trailer broadcast in a children's hour (1987)... 24 years after The Beatles first topped the chart, George Harrison goes to № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Got My Mind Set On You' an old favourite of George's that was originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. In the UK, Belinda Carlisle is at № 1 
with 'Heaven Is a Place on Earth'... Tina Turner earns herself a place in the record books when she performs in Rio de Janeiro before an audience of 182,000, the largest crowd ever to gather in South America to hear a single artist (1988)... Eric Clapton records his Unplugged session for MTV (1992)... Reports appear in the British press that Mick Jagger has lost the chance of a knighthood because of his philandering ways, British Prime Minister Tony Blair having doubts about the message it would send with regard to family values (2000)... Michael Jackson appears in court and pleads not guilty to seven charges of child molestation. The singer, who arrived 20 minutes late, is told off by the Santa Barbara judge, who says 'Mr Jackson, you have started out on the wrong foot here ~it is an insult to the court' (2004)... Bob Dylan and his brother David Zimmerman buy Aultmore House, a mansion in the Scottish Cairngorms National Park, near Nethybridge, Invernessshire (2007).

January 15th

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist Ruth Slenczynska (100), Louisiana Creole accordionist Queen Ida (96), producer & DJ Pete Waterman (78), reggae singer Sister Carol (66), Marillion bassist Pete Trawavas (66), Venom lead singer Conrad Lant AKA Cronos (62), Tool guitarist Adam Jones (60), Cult Jam leader Lisa Velez AKA Lisa Lisa (58), rapper Patrick '9th Wonder' Douthit (50), rapper D'Juan 'Young Dro' Hart (45), singer-songwriter Howie Day (44), rapper Armando 'Pitbull' Pérez (44), and singer-songwriter & electronic musician Sonny John Moore AKA Skrillex (37). Shoutout to the Great Beyond for British song & dance man Ivor Novello, born on this day in 1893... for jazz drummer Gene Krupa, born on this day in 1909... for Don van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart, who would have been 83 today... for Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder Ronnie van Zant, who would have been 77... for jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden, who died on this date in 1964... for song & dance man Ray 'The Scarecrow' Bolger, who passed away in 1987... for bassist and longtime Elton John sideman Dee Murray, who died on this day in 1992... for songwriter Sammy Cahn, who died in 1993... for Harry Nilsson, who passed away in 1994... for pianist and songwriter Les Baxter, died in 1996... for Kim Fowley, who died in 2016... for Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, who passed away in 2018... and for Carol Channing, who left today in 2019. Also on January 15th: Smetana's first opera Braniboři v Čechách [The Brandenburgers in Bohemia] premieres in Prague (1863)... The Everly Brothers make their US television debut on The Perry Como Show (1958)... At Berry Gordy's insistence, The Primettes change their name to The Supremes before signing their first Motown contract (1961)... Before an audience of around 2,000, The Beatles make their French live debut at the Cinema Cyrano in Versailles as a warm-up for their three week run at the Olympia in Paris beginning tomorrow (1964)... The Who release their first single, 'I Can't Explain'. Session man Jimmy Page accompanied Pete Townshend on the recording (1965)... Having returned to the studio, George Harrison has a five-hour meeting with John, Paul and Ringo in which he makes it clear that he is fully prepared to quit The Beatles for good. Harrison is unhappy with plans for live performances and with the current Let It Be film project (1969)... The MC 5's Back in the USA, today considered one of the watershed proto-punk albums, is released (1970)... Don McLean's 'American Pie' goes to № 1 in the USA. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' make its debut on the singles chart. The group's third stateside 45, it will peak at No.15. The song's title is a reference to a nameless black Labrador retriever that was wandering around the Headley Grange studio during recording (1972)... The Police kick off the North American leg of their 119-date Ghost In The Machine world tour at Boston Garden, with The Go-Go's as their opening act (1982)... Sean Lennon's updated version of his father's 'Give Peace A Chance' is released to coincide with the United Nation's midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait (1991)... Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer who defended P Diddy against weapons possession charges, joins the legal team of Michael Jackson. The King of Pop is accused of several counts of child molestation (2004).

January 14th

 Musical birthdays today include T-Bone Burnett (77), French rocker Étienne Daho (69), former Queensrÿche lead singer Geoff Tate (66), White Lion frontman Mike Tramp (64), singer-songwriter Ellis Paul (60), LL Cool J (59), Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde (58), Dave Grohl (56), and The Saturdays vocalist Frankie Sanford (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter & bandleader Billy Butterfield, born on this day in 1917... for harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková, born in 1926... for jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, born in 1930... for producer Allen Toussaint, who would have been 87...  for former Be-Bop Deluxe bassist Charlie Tumahai, and former Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams, both of whom would have been 76... for film musical actress Jeanette MacDonald, who passed away in 1965... and for New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, who left us today in 1992. 

Also on January 14th: Mozart completes his String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, commonly known as the 'Dissonance Quartet' because of its unusually slow introductory movement (1785)... Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome (1900)... Alban Berg's atonal opera Wozzeck premieres in Berlin (1925)... Charlie Watts makes his live debut with The Rolling Stones at the Flamingo Club in Soho, London (1963)... The Beatles make their French debut, arriving in Paris to begin an 18-night stand at the Olympia (1964)... Bob Dylan continues work on what will become the Bringing It All Back Home album; among other songs, he finally records 'Mr Tambourine Man', which he has been performing live since the Newport Festival of the previous July (1965)... David Jones legally changes his name to David Bowie in order to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single 'Can't Help Thinking about Me'. He would later say that he chose the name because he liked "That big American bear-killin' knife" (1966)... Over 25,000 people attend 'The Human Be-In: A Gathering Of The Tribes' at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The event is a harbinger of the Summer of Love, as well as of major outdoor rock concerts to come, and features The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company (1967)... At the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, Diana Ross makes her final appearance with The Supremes. During the show, Diana introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell, who will lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries 'Up The Ladder To The Roof' and 'Stoned Love' later in the year (1970)... Paul Simon releases his self-titled debut solo album (1972)... Elvis Presley's concert 'Aloha from Hawaii' is transmitted live via satellite, and sets a record for the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history (1973)... David Bowie releases Low, the first of the Berlin Trilogy albums (1977)... The Sex Pistols play their last live gig, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco (1978)... Paul McCartney is at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pipes Of Peace.' With this release, Macca makes chart history by becoming the first artist to have a № 1 as a solo artist, in a duo [with Stevie Wonder], in a trio [with Wings], and in a quartet [with The Beatles] (1984)... Bob Dylan gives the first public performance of his new song 'Wiggle Wiggle' to a bemused audience in State College, PA (1990)... Garth Brooks appears on Sesame Street, performing 'Together We Make Music' with a chorus of Muppets (1999)... A $100,000 statue honouring the late Johnny Ramone is unveiled by his widow Linda at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Johnny died from prostate cancer in September 2004 at the age of 55. Hundreds turn out for the ceremony, including Tommy Ramone, the only surviving band member. Dee Dee died of a drugs overdose in 2002, and Joey succumbed in 2001 to lymphatic cancer (2005).

January 13th

 

Musical birthdays today include operatic baritone Renato Bruson (89), santoor virtuoso Shivkumar Sharma (87), Yes vocalist Trevor Rabin (71), Megadeath bassist James LoMenzo (66), Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne (64), Madness frontman Graham 'Suggs' McPherson (64), Trace Adkins (63), 3OH!3 singer Nathaniel Motte (41), and ex-Vanilla Ninja vocalist Triinu Kivilaan (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical violinist Nathan Milstein, born on this day in 1904... for jazz guitarist Joe Pass, born in 1929... for Stephen Foster, who died on this date in 1864... for Donny Hathaway, who took his own life today in 1979 at the age of 33... for Michael Brecker, who passed away in 2007... and for Teddy Pendergrass, who left us today in 2011.   

Also on January 13th: Wagner completes his final opera Parsifal (1882)... The first public radio broadcast takes place when a performance of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC (1910)... The first country music television show, 'Midwestern Hayride', goes on the air at WLW in Cincinnati, OH (1948)... Chubby Checker takes 'The Twist' to № 1 for the second time [the first was in September, 1960], a unique feat in the history of the Billboard chart (1962)... Bob Dylan releases the album The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)... Dylan begins recording the landmark album Bringing It All Back Home at Columbia Studio A in NYC. Accompanied by just producer Tom Wilson and John Sebastian on bass, he spends most of the day laying down acoustic tracks (1965)... The Rolling Stones appear on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform their new single 'Let's Spend the Night Together'. The producers insist that Mick Jagger sing the words 'Let's spend some time together' instead... Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are both in the audience for a Jimi Hendrix Experience gig at the Bag O'Nails club in London (1967)... Johnny Cash records the Live at Folsom Prison album (1968)... The Beatles release the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album... Elvis Presley goes into American Sound Studios in Memphis to begin the sessions that will produce 'Suspicious Minds', his final US № 1. It is the first time that Elvis has recorded in his adopted hometown since his Sun Records debut in 1956 (1969)... Steel Mill featuring Bruce Springsteen become the unplanned headliners at the Matrix in San Francisco when scheduled lead act Boz Scaggs falls ill. Philip Elwood, rock critic for the SF Examiner who came to review Scaggs, writes a rave review of Steel Mill instead (1970)... Sarah Caldwell takes up the baton and becomes the first woman to conduct the NY Metropolitan Opera orchestra, leading the musicians in a performance of La Traviata (1976)... With a budget of only £1,500 borrowed from Stewart Copeland's brother Miles, The Police begin recording their debut album at Surrey Sound Studios outside of London with producer Nigel Gray (1978)... BBC Radio 1 announce a ban on 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after DJ Mike Read calls it 'obscene'; a BBC TV ban also follows. The song will go on to become a UK № 1 and spends a total of 48 weeks on the national singles chart (1984)... The off-Broadway musical 'The Fantasticks' closes after a run of 17,162 performances over nearly 42 years (2002)... An article in the New Musical Express says that more songs have been written about Elvis Presley than any other recording artist. It lists over 220 songs including: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon, ‘A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel’ by U2, ‘Calling Elvis’ by Dire Straits, ‘Happy Birthday Elvis’, by Loudon Wainwright III, ‘There's a Guy Works down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis’ by Kirsty MacColl, ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’ by Ray Stevens, ‘Elvis Has Left the Building’ by Frank Zappa, and 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis' by Ray Herndon (2005).

January 12th

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist & composer Raimonds Pauls (89), Oak Ridge Boys vocalist William Lee Golden (86), former Stone the Crows lead singer Maggie Bell (80), ex-Sly & the Family Stone trumpeter Cynthia Robinson (79), jazz guitarist John Etheridge (77), former Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds guitarist Blixa Bargeld (66), Os Infernais frontman Nando Reis (62), former White Zombie lead singer Robert 'Rob Zombie' Cummings (60), former Rage against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha (55), Raekwon (55), ex-Reel Big Fish bassist Matthew Wong (52), Melanie 'Mel C' Chisholm (51), producer & session multi-instrumentalist Jason Freese (50), and ex-One Direction vocalist Zayne Malik (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Delta bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, born on this day in 1904... for country singer Tex Ritter, born in 1905... for jazz pianist & singer Jay McShann, born in 1916... for country singer Ray Price, born in 1926... for folk singer & former Limeliter Glenn Yarbrough, born in 1930... for jazz drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, who would have been 85... for fusion keyboardist George Duke, who would have been 79... for NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino, who would have been 70... for Traffic percussionist Rebop Kwaaku Baah, who died on this date in 1983... for Maurice Gibb, who passed away in 2003... for singer-songwriter Randy Van Warmer, who died in 2004... and for Alice Coltrane, who died in 2007... and for Ronnie Spector, who left us three years ago today. 

Also on January 12: Georg Friedrich Händel's opera Ottone premieres at the King's Theatre in London (1723)... Berry Gordy, Jr. founds Tamla Records in Detroit. When the label is incorporated in April, 1960, the name will be changed to Motown Records, Inc. (1959)... Led Zeppelin's debut album is released in the UK. Recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, the album took only about 36 hours of studio time to complete at a cost of just £1,782, most of the tracks being recorded 'live' in the studio with almost no overdubs (1969)... The Steve Miller Band have the № 1 single in the USA with 'The Joker' (1974)... EMI Records issue a statement saying that they feel unable to promote The Sex Pistols records in view of the adverse publicity the group has generated over the last two months... Keith Richards is fined £750 for possession of cocaine found in his car after he was involved in an automobile collision the previous November... The Police have their first rehearsal at the London flat of drummer Stewart Copeland, with Henry Padovani on guitar (1977)... The Washington Post reports that the outgoing Carter administration has added albums by Bob Dylan, Kiss and The Sex Pistols to the official White House record library (1981)... Van Morrison fails to turn up at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction dinner, making him the first living honoree not to attend (1993)... British Airways staff file a formal complaint against Oasis singer Liam Gallagher after he had grabbed a flight attendant's bottom, refused to stop smoking and thrown food around the 1st Class cabin during a flight from London to Rio De Janeiro (2001)... It is announced by the City of Liverpool that the Strawberry Field Children's Home immortalised by The Beatles is to close. The  establishment in Woolton  was made famous when John Lennon wrote 'Strawberry Fields Forever' from his memories of playing there as a child (2005).

January 11th

 

Musical birthdays today include former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye (79), ex-Dire Straits drummer Terry Williams (77), jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour (73), Americana singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen (69), former Bangle Vicki Peterson (67), deathrock singer Eva O (64), No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont (57), Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands (54), Bus Station Loonies lead singer Chris Willsher (54), Aquabats lead singer Christian 'The MC Bat Commander' Jacobs (52), Kasabian lead singer Tom Meighan (43), singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner (40), and pop singer Cody Simpson (28).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Laurens Hammond, inventor of the organ that bears his name, born on this date in 1895... for composer Maurice Duruflé, born in 1902... for blues harmonica virtuoso Slim Harpo and cabaret singer Don Cherry, both born in 1924... for former Willie Nelson sideman Jody Payne, who would have been 89 today... for Clarence Clemons, who would have been 83... for Naomi Judd, who would have been 79... for Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, who died on this date in 1843... for former T Rex drummer Mickey Finn, who died in 2003... and for songwriter and Bread guitarist Jimmy Griffin, who left us in 2005. 

Also on January 11th: German composer Paul Hindemith becomes a US citizen (1946)... The release date for the Elvis Presley single 'Jailhouse Rock' is put back a week after the Decca Records pressing plant in the UK is unable to meet the advance orders of 250,000 copies (1958)... Howlin' Wolf's eponymous second album is released (1962)...The Beatles record their first British national TV appearance, on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'. They lip-synch to their new single 'Please Please Me' which is released on this day (1963)... Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash becomes the first country album to go to № 1 on the Billboard album chart. The № 1 single is 'Louie Louie' by The Kingsmen  (1964)...Bob Dylan makes a surprise appearance at The Playhouse on MacDougall Street, performing some of the material that will appear on the album Bringing It All Back Home... The Righteous Brothers arrive in Britain for a promotional visit. They are slated to appear on three TV shows, 'Ready Steady Go!',  'Scene At 6.30',and 'Discs A Go-Go' (1965)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience record 'Purple Haze' at London's De Lane Lea Studios (1967)... Janis Joplin's final album Pearl is released posthumously (1971)... DJ Alan Freeman of BBC Radio 1 broadcasts a Pink Floyd show recorded at the Empire Pool, Wembley the previous 16th of November. The band played four nights at Wembley on their Dark Side Of The Moon tour, and tapes from these shows have been remixed... Led Zeppelin play their first concert in 18 months, appearing at the Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland, in one of two warm-up shows for their forthcoming North American tour. The set list included the as yet unheard songs 'Sick Again', 'The Rain Song', 'Kashmir', 'No Quarter' and 'Trampled Under Foot' (1975)... Frankie Goes to Hollywood kick off what will prove to be their final UK tour with a show at the G-Mex in Manchester (1987)... On the same day that their album Nevermind goes to № 1 on the US charts, Nirvana appear on Saturday Night Live, performing 'Smells like Teen Spirit' and 'Territorial Pissings' (1992)... Pete Townshend issues a public statement denying that he is a paedophile after his name is linked with a police Internet porn inquiry. But The Who guitarist admits studying child pornography for research into a campaign against it (2003)... Ringo Starr helps launch the celebrations for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. He is joined by acrobats who dangle on wires from cranes as the opening party kicks off a year-long programme of more than 350 events. Organisers hope the Capital of Culture tag will attract an extra two million visitors to Liverpool and £100 million into the local economy (2008).