The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now
Today In Music History

August 23 in Music History: a big day for albums in 1994

Among the albums released on this date in 1994 was "Grace" by Jeff Buckley, pictured.
Among the albums released on this date in 1994 was "Grace" by Jeff Buckley, pictured.David Gahr/Courtesy of the artist

August 23, 2024

History Highlight:
On this day in 1994, seven landmark albums were coincidentally released: Dinosaur Jr.’s sixth studio album, Without a Sound, which features “Feel the Pain”; Luscious Jackson’s debut studio album, Natural Ingredients, which features “Citysong”; Toadies’ debut studio album, Rubberneck, which includes “Possum Kingdom”; The Jesus and Mary Chain’s fifth studio album, Stoned & Dethroned, which features “Sometimes Always” with Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval; Sebadoh’s fifth album, Bakesale, which features “Magnet’s Coil”; Rusted Root’s second studio album, When I Woke, which features “Send Me on My Way”; and Jeff Buckley’s debut — and only — album, Grace. Buckley’s album includes his hit single “Last Goodbye,” and perhaps most notably, it features Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” was re-released as a single in 2007, 10 years after Buckley’s accidental death by drowning, and in 2013, it was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

Also, Today In: 

1962 - John Lennon married Cynthia Powell at Liverpool's Mount Pleasant register office. He then played a gig that night with The Beatles at Liverpool's Riverpark Ballroom. 

1965 - Security guards at a Manchester TV studio hosed down 200 Rolling Stones fans after they broke down barriers while waiting for the band to arrive for a performance. 

1966 - The Beatles were at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with the double a sided "Yellow Submarine - Eleanor Rigby". The group's eleventh No .1, Paul McCartney said he came up with the name Eleanor from actress Eleanor Bron, who had starred with The Beatles in the film "Help!". Rigby came from the name of a store in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers.  

1967 - Enjoying a wild birthday party, Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, drove a Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool. 

1967 - Joni Mitchell played her first ever U.K. show when she opened for The Piccadilly Line at The Marquee Club in London. 

1969 - The man in black, Johnny Cash, began a four-week run at the top of the album chart with the live album, Johnny Cash At San Quentin

1969 - The Rolling Stones had the No. 1 song in the U.S. with the rock classic, "Honky Tonk Women." 

1969 - Ibex, featuring vocalist Freddie Bulsara (later known as Freddie Mercury) played a gig at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, Lancashire, U.K. 

1969 - Johnny Cash started a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Johnny Cash At San Quentin'. The album was a recording of a live concert given to the inmates of San Quentin State Prison and was the follow-up to Cash's previous live album, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful At Folsom Prison. 

1970 - Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed together for the last time at Max's Kansas City in New York. The band released a live recording of the night, Live at Max's Kansas City, and released it in 1972. The band's 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, featured Lou Reed and gave them some of their biggest songs including "Heroin," "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "Venus in Furs." 

1974 - John Lennon claimed to see a UFO from his New York apartment. He described it as an archetypal flying saucer, surrounded by lights with a red one on top. In his next album, Walls and Bridges, he included this note in the booklet: "On the 23rd August 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a U.F.O. - J.L." 

1975 - Joy Division singer Ian Curtis married Deborah Woodruff, whom he met while still at school, when he was 19 and she was 18. They remained married until his untimely death at 23. 

1980 - David Bowie released Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), featuring "Ashes To Ashes." The song referenced Bowie's Major Tom character from his 1969 song, "Space Oddity." Bowie described the song as a "nursery rhyme" and also as his way of "wrapping up the 70s" for himself. 

1993 - Testifying in court against his former Guns N' Roses bandmate Steve Adler, Duff McKagan is asked about "the spaghetti incident," referring to a time when Adler may or not have eaten McKagan's leftover pasta. The band finds this hilarious and names their next album The Spaghetti Incident.

1994 - Jeff Buckley's first and only album, Grace, was released by Columbia Records. The album initially had poor sales and received mixed reviews. However, in recent years it has dramatically risen in critical reputation. The album is now recognized by critics and listeners as one of the greatest albums of all time. In fact, in 2003, the album was ranked number 303 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 304 in a 2012 revised list, and later 147 in the 2020 list. An extended version of the album (subtitled "Legacy Edition"), celebrating its tenth anniversary, was released on August 23, 2004. Since Jeff Buckley only completed this one album, many posthumous releases, as well as bootlegged unreleased live recordings, have proved popular with fans. 

1994 - For no apparent reason the British duo The KLF burn £1 million on the Isle of Jura in Scotland. 

1995 - Industrial/techno musician Dwayne Goettel (of Skinny Puppy) dies of a heroin overdose in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at age 31. 

2005 - Les McKeown, the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers, appeared in court charged with drugs offences. 

2007 - Brian May of Queen earns a PhD in astrophysics from London's Imperial College. 

2008 - Erykah Badu joins My Morning Jacket during their performance in Dallas to perform her song "Tyrone." 

2008 - Madonna kicked off her 86-date Sticky & Sweet Tour at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Wales. It became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist, breaking the previous record Madonna achieved with her 2006 Confessions Tour. 

2013 - In an interview with AARP Magazine, Linda Ronstadt reveals she has Parkinson's disease, which ended her singing career in 2009. 

2014 - The Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack, an awesome mix of '70s hits, goes to #1 in America, where it stays for two weeks. 

2019 - Taylor Swift released her seventh studio album, Lover. In addition to being her sixth consecutive No.1 debut on the Billboard 200, all 18 tracks on the LP charted on the Hot 100, breaking the all-time record for the most simultaneous entries by a female artist.

2019 - Jay Som released her third studio album, Anak Ko. It features “Superbike.”

2019 - Missy Elliott released the Iconology EP. It’s her first new collection of music since 2005’s The Cookbook.

Birthdays: 

Gene Kelly was born today in 1912.

Bob Crosby of the Bob-Cats was born today in 1913.

Tex Williams was born today in 1917.

Rudy Lewis of the Drifters was born today in 1936.

Roger Greenaway (“I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing”) is 86.

Keith Moon was born today in 1946. He passed away in 1978. 

Linda Thompson is 77.

Rick Springfield is 75. 

Jimi Jamison who had the hit single, 'Eye of the Tiger' was born today in 1951. He passed away in 2014. 

Edwyn Collins who had the hit single, 'A Girl Like You' is 65. 

Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots is 63.

Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays and Black Grape is 62. 

Cedella Marley of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers is 57. 

Julian Casablancas is 46. He is best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since their founding in 1998. In 2020, The Strokes released, The New Abnormal, produced by Rick Rubin and it went on to win Best Rock Album at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Casablancas also released a solo album, Phrazes for the Young, in 2009. That same year, he founded the independent record label Cult Records, which has represented artists such as The Growlers, Rey Pila, and Karen O. 

Joe Talbot, frontman for IDLES, is 40.

Sky Blu of LMFAO is 38.

Lianne La Havas is 35.

Trixie Mattel is 35.

Lil Yachty is 27.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Song Facts and Wikipedia.