Today In Music History
Important events in music history for the month of April.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| April 1, 1970 | Joni Mitchell releases her third studio album, Ladies Of The Canyon, with the songs "Big Yellow Taxi" and "The Circle Game." |
| April 2, 1977 | Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album hits #1 where it spends an astonishing 31 (non-consecutive) weeks at the top spot. |
| April 3, 1995 | The RealAudio Player is introduced, allowing internet users to stream audio for the first time. |
| April 4, 1964 | The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" single goes to #1 and stays at the top spot for five weeks. |
| April 5, 1985 | "We Are The World" simultaneously airs on thousands of radio stations around the world and, within weeks, goes to #1 in America and the UK. |
| April 6, 1968 | Simon & Garfunkel's soundtrack album The Graduate hits #1 in America thanks to "Mrs. Robinson," which tops the Hot 100 less than two months later. |
| April 6, 1974 | The Swedish pop group, ABBA, wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, UK with their song "Waterloo." |
| April 7, 1979 | Rickie Lee Jones appears on Saturday Night Live and performs her hit "Chuck E.'s In Love" and goes full beatnik for "Coolsville," complete with cigarette and beret. |
| April 8, 1968 | NBC TV airs the special Petula. At one point in the show, host Petula Clark grabs hold of Harry Belafonte's arm while they are singing a duet. This marks the first time a white woman and Black man have physical contact on TV in such context. |
| April 9, 1969 | Bob Dylan surprises fans and critics alike with the release of Nashville Skyline, a country album with an entirely different style of singing compared to past Dylan releases. |
| April 10, 1990 | A Tribe Called Quest release their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. |
| April 11, 1970 | Fleetwood Mac founding member Peter Green announces he is leaving the group to do "what God would have me do." Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks join the band for their most successful lineup in 1974. |
| April 12, 1966 | Jan Berry of Jan & Dean crashes his Corvette into a parked truck on Beverly Hills' near a stretch of road in Los Angeles known as Dead Man's Curve. He won't perform live again for a decade. |
| April 13, 1973 | Bob Marley and The Wailers, release their fifth studio album, Catch a Fire. The first for new label Island Records, it makes Marley and the Wailers international recording stars and puts reggae music in the spotlight. |
| April 14, 1969 | Barbra Streisand (in Funny Girl) ties Katherine Hepburn (in The Lion In Winter) for the Best Actress Academy Award. |
| April 15, 1964 | After filming all day Ringo Starr tells the other Beatles it's been "a hard day's night." John Lennon turns the phrase into a song, and the movie title is changed from Beatlemania! to A Hard Day's Night. |
| April 16, 1971 | The Rolling Stones issue "Brown Sugar,"their the first release on their own label: Rolling Stones Records. |
| April 17, 1970 | Paul McCartney releases his first solo album: McCartney. |
| April 18, 1973 | The Neil Young movie Journey Through the Past debuts at the Dallas Film Festival. |
| April 19, 1980 | Bob Marley and the Wailers perform in front of 100,000 fans in Zimbabwe. The group was the only international artists asked to participate in Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations |
| April 20, 1931 | Louis Armstrong records "When It's Sleepy Time Down South." |
| April 21, 1956 | Elvis Presley's breakout hit "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to #1 in America. |
| April 22, 1978 | John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd debut the Blues Brothers on Saturday Night Live, later becoming the first characters from the show to get their own movie. |
| April 23, 1971 | The Rolling Stones release Sticky Fingers, with "Brown Sugar," "Wild Horses" and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" It's their first album released on their own label, Rolling Stones Records. |
| April 24, 1961 | Bob Dylan makes his professional recording debut playing harmonica on Harry Belafonte's version of "Midnight Special." Dylan is paid $50 for the session. |
| April 25, 1999 | It's Joe DiMaggio Day at Yankee Stadium, so of course Paul Simon performs "Mrs. Robinson," featuring the line: "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?" |
| April 26, 1969 | Walter Carlos' album Switched-On Bach, an album featuring classical music compositions performed on the newly-invented Moog synthesizer, reaches #10 on the Billboard Albums chart. |
| April 27, 1969 | Joe Cocker makes his TV debut, singing "Feelin' Alright" on The Ed Sullivan Show. |
| April 28, 1973 | Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon hits #1 on the Billboard Albums chart. But it only stays at the top for just one week, but then goes on to eclipse the record for most weeks on the tally, with over 880 (non-consecutive). |
| April 29, 1967 | Aretha Franklin releases her single "Respect" (written by Otis Redding). It becomes the Billboard Song of the Year for 1967. |
| April 30, 1962 | R&B group The Orlons record "Wah Watusi." Ah, the Philly sound! |