The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

March 9 in Music History: Wilco released 'Summerteeth'

Singer Jeff Tweedy performs with his band Wilco at Artpark July 12, 2000 in Lewiston, NY.
Singer Jeff Tweedy performs with his band Wilco at Artpark July 12, 2000 in Lewiston, NY.Harry Scull, Jr.

March 09, 2024

History Highlight:

On this day in 1999, Wilco released their third studio album, Summerteeth. The album was heavily influenced lyrically by 20th century literature, as well as singer Jeff Tweedy's marital problems. Unlike previous albums, Summerteeth was heavily overdubbed in the studio with Pro Tools. Tweedy and Jay Bennett wrote most of the album in the studio, a contrast to the band's previous albums, which were often recorded live by the entire band with minimal overdubs.

Also, Today In:

1964 - The Beatles filmed the last day of train scenes for the movie A Hard Day's Night. During their six days of filming aboard a moving train, The Beatles travelled a total of 2,500 miles on the rails.

1966 - The Beach Boys started recording "God Only Knows". It became a U.K. No. 2 single in 1966 and the B-side of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" in the U.S.

1970 - Having recently changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward made their concert debut at The Roundhouse, London.


1969 - Wiggen sisters Dorothy, Helen, Betty, and Rachel record Philosophy of the World as The Shaggs. Numerous music critics and historians consider it the worst album ever recorded, but years later both Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain call it one of their favorites ever made.

1981 - Robert Plant played a secret gig at Keele University, England with his new band, The Honey Drippers.

1985 - Dead Or Alive were at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)". It was the first No. 1 for the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman who went on to produce over 100 U.K. Top 40 hits.

1985 - REO Speedwagon started a three-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Can't Fight This Feeling."

1987 - U2 released The Joshua Tree. It would go on to win a Grammy for Album Of The Year and go Diamond (sales of 10 million copies).

1990 - Legendary singer-songwriter Carole King was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City. King is one of the most prolific songwriters of our lifetime, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. She has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. She has won four Grammy Awards, the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (the first woman to be so honored) and is a Kennedy Center Honoree.

1991 - "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" gave The Clash their only U.K. No. 1 single. Although the track was originally released in 1982 as part of the Clash's Combat Rock album, "Should I Stay or Should I Go" re-entered the public consciousness after the track was used in a TV commercial for Levi's jeans, propelling the song up the charts. "Should I Stay or Should I Go" includes backing vocals sung in Spanish by Joe Strummer and by Joe Ely, who assisted on the record. Strummer got the idea to sing in Spanish while recording the track; tape operator Eddie Garcia and his mother checked the Spanish lyrics for accuracy.

1996 - Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher walked off stage during a gig at the Vernon Valley Gorge ski resort in New Jersey because his hands were too cold to play.

1996 - Take That scored their eighth and last U.K. No. 1 single (until re-forming in 2006) with their version of The Bee Gees 1977 song "How Deep Is Your Love" (originally intended for US singer Yvonne Elliman), and used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever.

1997 - Notorious BIG was killed as he left a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Born Christopher Wallace, the rapper was pronounced dead on arrival at Cedars Sinai Hospital. He was 24 years old.

2004 - Tom Jones was banned from wearing tight leather pants by his son — and manager — Mark Jones. Mark told Tom it was time to "dress his age" as he was in danger of becoming a laughingstock at 63.

2012 - 76-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married for the seventh time when he wed his caregiver Judith Brown. Lewis split from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, in 2004 after twenty years of marriage. Brown, who was 14 years younger than Lewis, was previously married to the star's cousin Rusty.

2020 - American record producer Keith Olsen died at age 74. He worked with many artists including Rick Springfield, Fleetwood Mac, Ozzy Osbourne, the Grateful Dead, Whitesnake, Pat Benatar, Heart, Santana, Foreigner, Scorpions, Magnum, Journey, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joe Walsh, and Eric Burdon & the Animals.

Birthdays:

Pianist and composer Samuel Barber was born today in 1910.

Keely Smith (“That Old Black Magic” with husband Louis Prima) was born today in 1928.

Free jazz legend Ornette Coleman was born today in 1930.

Lloyd “Mr. Personality” Price ("Lawdy Miss Clawdy," “Stagger Lee”) was born today in 1933.

Country singer Mickey Gilley was born today in 1936.

John Cale of the Velvet Underground is 82.

Mark Lindsay, frontman for Paul Revere & the Raiders, is 82.

Robert Calvert, frontman for Hawkwind, is 79.

Procol Harum guitarist Robin Trower is 79.

Jeffrey Osborne, drummer and lead singer for L.T.D., is 76.

Brendan Canty, drummer for Fugazi, is 58.

Ben Folds Five bassist Robert Sledge is 56.

Shannon Leto, drummer for Thirty Seconds to Mars, is 54.

Chingy is 44.

Chad Gilbert, lead guitarist for New Found Glory, is 43.

Rapper Bow Wow is 37.

Rapper YG is 34.

Suga of BTS is 31.

Highlights for Today in Music History are gathered from This Day in Music, Paul Shaffer's Day in Rock, Song Facts and Wikipedia.