#OnThisDay 2010 Beneath This Burning Shoreline by Cherry Ghost released Simon Aldred’s second album The songs were mainly written in Berlin and Rome and the album was recorded at the Frank Bough Sound III studio in Cheshire (The private recording studio of label mates Doves)

#OnThisDay 1980 Wednesday Week by The Undertones released The 7th single from the Northern Ireland punk band It was included on their Hypnotised album and it reached No11 in the UK (their 2nd biggest hit after My Perfect Cousin)

#OnThisDay 1993 Debut by Bjork released Her first album after leaving the Sugarcubes to go solo She went to Manchester and met Graham Massey of 808 state and was fascinated with the local dance scene It reached No3 in the UK

#OnThisDay 2003 Barry White died He was born in Galveston,Texas The “Walrus of Love” had nine children (2 by the time he was 16) As a solo act and with Love Unlimited he sold over 100 million records and he voiced himself twice on The Simpson’s

#OnThisDay 1938 Bill Withers born The American Soul singer was born and raised in West Virginia He self financed his first hit “Ain’t no Sunshine“ and even after it was a hit he refused to give up his job as he saw the music business as fickle He has won 3 Grammys

#OnThisDay 1971 Jim Morrison died The Doors lead singer and lyricist died in Paris Their was no autopsy done on Morrison which has led to many different theories about his death While at Highschool he scored an IQ score of 149 which is higher than 99.94% of the general population

#OnThisDay 1957 Poly Styrene was born The X-Ray Spex front woman was born in Bromley as Marianne Joan Elliott-Said After watching the Sex Pistols at Hastings Pier she was inspired to form a band While on tour in 1978 she was misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia and was sectioned for months

#OnThisDay 1973 David Bowie retired Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars In the final concert of the tour at The Hammersmith Odeon Bowie told shocked fans the it “was the last show we’ll ever do” It also came as a shock to “Spiders” Woody Woodmansey & Trevor Bolder who had not been told

#OnThisDay 1977 I Feel Love by Donna Summer released The song was co-written by Summer,Giorgio Moroder & Pete Bellotte Originally released as the b side of Can’t We Just Sit Down but after 2 months it was re-issued with the sides flipped (then it went to No1 in the UK & No6 in the USA)

#OnThisDay 1971 Get It On by T. Rex was released It was No1 in the UK In the USA was No10 but the name was changed to Bang A Gong (Get It On) because a group called Chase had a hit called Get it On The Piano was by Rick Wakeman (but Elton John mimed the piano when they were on Top Of The Pops)

#Thisweek 1979 The Sony Walkman was released in Japan Sony thought the name wouldn’t make sense in the West so in the UK they originally called it “The Stowaway “ (Soundabout in the USA) B.E.F. Released a cassette only album for it called Music For Stowaways

#OnThisDay 1994 Gorgeous George by Edwyn Collins released The former Orange Juice frontman got to No8 in the UK with his 3rd solo album Guest musicians on the album included Paul Cook (Sex Pistols),Vic Godard & Dennis Bovell His biggest hit “A Girl like you” was off this album and was a UK No4

#OnThisDay 1945 Debbie Harry born The Blondie front-woman was born in Miami as Angela Trimble to parents of Scottish Ancestry At 3 months old she was adopted,renamed and raised in New Jersey Her early jobs included working for the BBC (in NYC) & as a Playboy Bunny

#OnThisDay 1983 Life’s a Riot with Spy vs Spy by Billy Bragg released His debut album played at 45rpm instead of 33rpm but was classified as an album because it had 7 tracks The album title comes from a comic strip in Mad Magazine Kirsty MacColl had a UK No7 with her cover of A New England

#OnThisDay 1977 Cluster and Eno by Cluster and Brian Eno released The album by the German electronic group and the ex Roxy Music avant-garde musician/producer was recorded at Conny Planks studio in Cologne Holger Czukay (the bassist with Can) was a guest on the album

#OnThisDay 1978 Love You More by Buzzcocks released The single was only 1 minute 29 seconds which made it the shortest hit in the 1970s Written by Pete Shelley it was their 6th single (including the Spiral Scratch e.p.) and it was their 3rd UK Top40

#OnThisDay 1978 Love You More by Buzzcocks released The single was only 1 minute 29 seconds which made it the shortest hit in the 1970s Written by Pete Shelley it was their 6th single (including the Spiral Scratch e.p.) and it was their 3rd UK Top40

#OnThisDay 1978 Being Boiled by The Human League released Their debut single was first released on the Fast Product label but a re-recorded version reached No6 in the UK and Germany The music was created by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh before Phil Oakey joined the band

#OnThisDay 1976 Bret McKenzie born Half of The Flight Of The Conchords He was the musical supervisor for films The Muppets & Muppets Most Wanted (his song Man or Muppet won an Academy Award for best original song) He also played an Elf in 2 Lord of the Rings films and as Lindir in The Hobbit

#OnThisDay 1981 Sat In Your Lap by Kate Bush released It was the first single released off her 4th album The Dreaming The drum sound is very similar to Paper and Iron by XTC from 1980 (Both were produced by Hugh Padgham at The Townhouse Studios) It peaked at No11 in the UK

#OnThisDay 1979 Death Disco by Public Image Ltd released The second single by P.I.L. who at the time comprised of :- John Lydon (Sex Pistols) Keith Levene (Founding member of The Clash) Jah Wobble Jim Walker The song was written by Lydon about the death of his Mother

#OnThisDay 1986 Contenders by Easterhouse released Their only album with brothers Andy & Ivor Perry When Johnny Marr left The Smiths Ivor Perry was considered his replacement (including recording some new songs) but according to Perry the sessions ended with Morrissey running out of the studio

#OnThisDay 1988 It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy released The 2nd album by the East Coast rap pioneers The album went to No8 in the UK but only No42 in the USA (but it stayed in the Top200 for 47 weeks) Q Magazine hailed it as the greatest rap album of all time

#OnThisDay 1959 Steve Strange born He formed Visage with Rusty Egan (Rich Kids),Midge Ure and Billy Currie (Ultravox) and Barry Adamson,John Mcgeogh and Dave Formula (Magazine) Their 1st single Tar failed to chart and Steve was in the David Bowie video for Ashes to Ashes before success

#OnThisDay 1980 Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division released The Manchester bands 4th single was also their first hit single It was released one month after Ian Curtis took his own life In 2002 The New Musical Express named Love Will Tear Us Apart as the greatest single of all time

#OnThisDay 1980 Private Life By Grace Jones released The single was off her Warm Leatherette album which was produced by Sly & Robbie It was the Jamaicans 1st hit single and it went to No17 in the UK It was a cover of a song off The Pretenders debut album Pretenders

#OnThisDay 1986 Labyrinth opens in US Cinemas The Jim Henson movie starred David Bowie & Jennifer Connelly Produced by George Lucas and screenplay by Monty Pythons Terry Jones Music by Bowie & Trevor Jones with b vocals by Luther Vandross,Chaka Khan and Danny John-Jules (the cat in Red Dwarf)

#OnThisDay 2000 The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy released His debut album won the Mercury Music Prize The album came out on Twisted Nerve (a label started by Damon Gough & Andy Votel) Votel did the album artwork and label mates Alfie and neighbours Doves helped with the music

#OnThisDay 2013 Run the Jewels by Run the Jewels released The debut album by the Brooklyn duo of El-P and Killer Mike Killer Mike debut recording was on OutKast’s Stankonia Other artists on this album are Big Boi,Prince Paul and Until The Ribbon Breaks

#OnThisDay 1990 Goo by Sonic Youth released The 6th album for the NYC alternative rock band The band consisted of Thurston Moore,Kim Gordon,Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley The 1st single off the album (Kool Thing) was a collaboration with Chuck D of Public Enemy

#OnThisDay 1937 Eddie Floyd born The soul singer was born in Montgomery He was in a band called The Falcons who recruited Wilson Pickett as lead singer When they split up Floyd signed with Stax records as a songwriter & joined up with Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG’s) and wrote Knock On Wood

#OnThisDay 1984 Purple Rain by Prince released The album preceded the movie of the same name by a month It was Prince’s 6th album (and his 1st No1 album in the USA) The name Purple Rain comes from lyrics of Ventura Highway by America

#OnThisDay 1971 Shaft opens at the Cinema The Blaxploitation film starred Richard Roundtree as private detective John Shaft Isaac Hayes won a Grammy for the soundtrack and the “Theme From Shaft” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first African American to win that honour)

#OnThisDay 1961 Curt Smith born He was born in Bath and he met his his future Tears For Fears bandmate while they were teenagers Their 1st 2 singles failed to chart but their 3rd single Mad World went to No3 in the UK They never had a No1 single at home in the UK but hit No1 twice in the USA

#OnThisDay 1959 Andy McCluskey born He met his future Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark partner Paul Humphries while both were in Dalek I Love You He played keyboards on The Lightning Seeds debut album He also founded pop group Atomic Kitten (who he wrote for and produced)

#OnThisDay 1945 Colin Bluntstone born The Zombies lead singer was born in Hertfordshire He started his solo career using the pseudonym of Neil MacArthur and released 3 singles In 2019 he was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

#ThisMonth 1981 Dumbo was released on VHS for the 1st time (one of Disneys first Home videos) The original was released in 1941 and it was made to try and recoup the losses of both Pinocchio and Fantasia In 2019 a live action version directed by Tim Burton was released

#OnThisDay 1968 Nancy & Lee by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood was released The album made the Top20 in both the USA and the UK The singles released off the album included Jackson, Summer Wine and Some Velvet Morning

#OnThisDay 1981 The Passion Of Lovers by Bauhaus released The 6th single by the Northampton Goth Pioneers On the B-side of the single each band member created a separate part that they mixed together and called :- 1.David Jay 2.Peter Murphy 3.Kevin Haskins 4.Daniel Ash

#OnThisDay 1984 Top Secret was released in USA Cinemas This was the movie debut of actor Val Kilmer The quirky comedy was Zucker,Abraham’s and Zuckers follow up to Airplane The music was by Maurice Jarre (Jean-Michel Jarre’s brother)

#OnThisDay 2018 Boys by Lizzo released The first single off her Cuz I love you album Melissa Viviane Jefferson (Lizzo) was born in Detroit The single failed hit the Top30 anywhere apart from Isreal where it went to No1

#OnThisDay 1961 Bobby Gillespie born The Primal Scream leader and vocalist was born in Glasgow He started in music as a roadie for Altered Images before becoming the Bassist for Factory Records The Wake He then played drums for The Jesus and Mary Chain (well snare drum and floor tom)

#OnThisDay 2015 Architect by C Duncan The debut album by the Glasgow born singer was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize As a Gay singer he uses his platform to champion LGBTQ+ causes and said that Gay alternative musicians are not very common but is happy to be part of that group

#OnThisDay 1971 I Just Want To Celebrate by Rare Earth released Although signed by Motown the band released records on the Rare Earth label (Motown named the label after the band because they didn’t want a rock band on the main label) The single got to No7 on the Billboard Hot 100

#OnThisDay 1944 Ray Davies born The Kinks songwriter and lead singer was born in Fortis Green, London He attended secondary school with Rod Stewart He has been nicknamed “The godfather of Britpop” and in 1990 he was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame (with the Kinks)

#OnThisDay 1989 Love Shack by The B-52s released The single was from the Athens,Georgia bands 5th album and was produced by Don Was (Was not Was) It reached No2 in the UK and No3 in USA (their 1st stateside top 40 single) Shaquille O’Neal used the song in Lip Synch Battle (Love Shaq)

#OnThisDay 1969 Scott Sings Songs From His T.V. Series by Scott Walker released It was the Walker Brothers lead singers last Top10 album and featured songs from his BBC TV Series The album went to No7 in the UK and comprises of cover versions he sang on his show

#OnThisDay 1942 Brian Wilson born The Beach Boy was born in Inglewood,California Wilson decided to quit touring to co-write (with Tony Asher) and self produce Pet Sounds using The Wrecking Crew musicians The Beach Boys only added vocals when the album was almost complete

#OnThisDay 1984 Soul Murder by Brilliant released The single was Food records 1st release (and signed Blur,Jesus Jones and The Supernaturals) It featured Youth (Killing Joke) Jimmy Cauty (The Orb,KLF) produced by Bill Drummond (KLF) Managed by David Balfe (the subject of Blur’s Country House)

#OnThisDay 1989 Protest Songs by Prefab Sprout released Their 4th album was self produced and recorded and was meant to be the 3rd album but was held back 4 years for the album From Langley Park To Memphis The album went to No18 in the UK and the single Life of Suprises went to No 24