History Highlight:

Today in 1984, Matthew Followill of Kings of Leon was born in Oklahoma City, making today his 40th birthday. Followill, together with his cousins Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill, formed the band Kings of Leon in Tennessee in 1999. Reflecting their shared family roots, the band’s name is inspired by their common grandfather, whose name was Leon. Kings of Leon’s particular brand of garage rock has led them to be described as a “Southern-fried Strokes,” and since 2003, Kings of Leon have released nine studio albums, the most recent being 2024’s Can We Please Have Fun.

Also, Today In:

1964 - Rod Stewart recorded his first single, a version of Willie Dixon's "Good Morning Little School Girl." Future Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones played on the session.

1965 - The Byrds begin recording "Turn! Turn! Turn!". Unlike their first hit, "Mr. Tambourine Man," members of the group itself were permitted to play on the recording rather than session musicians.

1966 - The Beatles' Revolver hit No. 1 on the album chart, a position it would hold for six weeks.

1966 - The Supremes started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "You Can't Hurry Love," their sixth No. 1 single.

1967 - Elvis Presley recorded "Guitar Man" at RCA studio in Nashville. The Jerry Reed song would become the last in a string of 11 number-one country hits for Presley.

1974 - The New York Dolls spilt up. The band formed in 1972 and made just two albums, 1973's and 1974's Too Much Too Soon.

1975 - Kiss released its first live album, Alive! The double album features “Rock and Roll All Nite” and proved to be one of the favorites of their catalog.

1983 - Former Stevie Wonder guitarist Michael Sembello started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Maniac." The track appeared in the film Flashdance.

1988 - Guns N' Roses started a two-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Sweet Child O' Mine," their first No. 1 hit. The song appeared on their debut album Appetite for Destruction and was released in August 1988 as the album's third single. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart becoming the band's only No. 1 U.S. single. Guitarist Slash said in 1990, "[The song] turned into a huge hit and now it makes me sick. I mean, I like it, but I hate what it represents."

1990 - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuts on NBC, catapulting a rapper named Will Smith into superstardom.

1990 - Vanilla Ice released his debut album, To the Extreme. It features “Ice Ice Baby.”

1991 - Nirvana's single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released in the U.S. The unexpected success of the song in late 1991 propelled Nirvana's album Nevermind to the top of the charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point where alternative rock entered the mainstream.

1996 - Lee Baker the blues guitarist of Lee Baker and the Agitators was murdered.

2005 - Grammy-award winning guitarist and singer Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown died in Texas at the age of 81.

2009 - A harmonica owned by Bob Dylan sold for £2,700 (about $4,100) at an auction in Norfolk, England, which was more than four times the guide price. Dylan had presented the chromonica harmonica, made by Hohner, to a member of his wardrobe department in 1974.

2010 - Weezer released their eighth studio album, Hurley. It features “Memories.”

2015 - Guitarist Don Griffin was killed in a car accident in Denver, Colorado. He was 60 years old. Griffin appeared on The Miracles 1976 No. 1 hit, "Love Machine" and also worked with Anita Baker. Griffin's dance band Madagascar was signed by Clive Davis to Arista Records in 1981 and released the single "Baby Not Tonight".

Birthdays:

Vinyl inventor Waldo Semon was born today in 1898. Vinyl is used to make LP and 45 records. Semon died on May 26, 1999, at the age of 100.

Raymond Scott — a fascinating guy who invented several electronic instruments and his compositions were used in Looney Tunes, The Ren and Stimpy Show, The Simpsons, SpongeBob Squarepants, Bluey, and more — was born today in 1908.

Jump blues legend Roy Brown (“Good Rockin’ Tonight”) was born today in either 1920 or 1925.

Tommy “T.O.” Overstreet — “Ann (Don’t Go Runnin’)” — was born today in 1937.

Roy Ayers — vibraphonist, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” — is 84.

Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night is 82.

Singer-songwriter José Feliciano is 79.

Don Powell, drummer for Slade, is 78.

Barriemore Barlow, drummer for Jethro Tull, is 75.

Rockabilly star Rosie Flores is 74.

Joe Perry of Aerosmith is 74.

Pat Mestelotto — drummer for XTC, King Crimson, Mr. Mister, and others — is 69.

Johnnie Fingers, keyboardist for the Boomtown Rats, is 68.

Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama is 66.

David Lowery, frontman and co-founder of the bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, is 64.

Bill Stevenson, drummer for the Descendents, is 61.

Big Daddy Kane is 56.

Mikey Way of My Chemical Romance is 44.

Ashley Monroe is 38.

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