October 6th

 

Musical birthdays today include composer and guitarist Glenn Branca (76), Commodores lead guitarist Thomas McClary (75), REO Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin (73), Los Lobos guitarist & singer David Hidalgo (70), ex-Skids lead singer Richard Jobson (64), guitarist Matthew Sweet (60), Anathema guitarist Danny Cavanagh (52), and Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist William Butler (42).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for soprano Jenny 'The Swedish Nightingale' Lind, born on this day in 1820... for band leader Nelson Riddle, who died today in 1985... and for Ginger Baker, who left us five years ago today. 

Also on October 6: Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest surviving opera, premieres in Florence. This is often considered the beginning of the Baroque period in classical music (1600)... Beethoven files his will, the Heiligenstadt Testament, to be opened after his death (1802)... Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony № 1 has its first performance in Leeds (1910)... The Jazz Singer, the first film with a musical soundtrack, premieres in NYC (1927)... The Beatles record 'Eight Days a Week' in the afternoon, then spend the evening partying with the Ronettes and Mick Jagger at London's Ad Lib Club (1965)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience record a session for the BBC Radio show 'Top Gear'. Stevie Wonder, also appearing on the program, jams with the group afterwards... Pink Floyd play at the Miss Teenage Brighton beauty pageant, providing the musical interlude during the contest... The SFPD raid the Matrix Club in Haight-Ashbury while Big Brother & the Holding Company are on stage (1967)... George Harrison gets his first A side single, as the Beatles release 'Something' (1969)... The Buzzcocks open for Joy Division at the Odeon Theatre in Edinburgh ~ admission is £2.50... Bob Dylan has his 12th US top 40 hit, as 'Gotta Serve Somebody' enters the chart. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin's In through the Out Door is the № 1 album (1979)... Michael Jackson gives away the bride at Elizabeth Taylor's seventh wedding, to construction worker Larry Fortensky. The nuptials are held at the singer's Never Neverland Ranch (1991)... 'Grind', the first single from Alice in Chains' eponymous debut album, is released to radio via satellite uplink to stem the proliferation of taped copies of the song (1995)... The Jack Black comedy School of Rock goes on general release in US cinemas (2003)... Bruce Springsteen is served with notice that he is being sued for $850,000 by a man who claims he backed out of a contract to buy a horse. Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa are both named in legal documents filed in Florida by Todd Minikus. He claims that the singer and his wife reneged on a $650,000 deal to buy a horse of his named Pavarotti (2007)... A set of John Lennon's fingerprints are seized by the FBI from a NYC memorabilia dealer who intended to auction them off for a $100,000 minimum bid. The prints were taken at a NYPD precinct in 1976 when the former Beatle applied for permanent US residence. The Bureau states that they believe the card is still US government property, and are investigating how it ended up in private hands (2009)... Rolling Stone Magazine publishes the results of its poll of readers and critics to determine the worst song of the 1980s. Rounding out the top 5 are: 1) 'We Built this City' ~ Starship. 2) 'The Final Countdown' ~ Europe. 3) 'Lady in Red' ~ Chris de Burgh. 4) 'Wake Me up (before You Go Go)' ~ Wham! 5) 'The Safety Dance' ~ Men without Hats (2011).