History Highlight:

Today in 1990, Scottish band Cocteau Twins released their sixth studio album, Heaven or Las Vegas. It features the title track as well as “Iceblink Luck” and “Cherry-Coloured Funk.” Heaven or Las Vegas proved Cocteau Twins’ most commercially successful album, and In 2020, Rolling Stone listed it at No. 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Also, Today In:

1931 - The first long-playing record, a 33 1/3 rpm recording, was demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York by RCA Victor. Given the high price of compatible record players, which started around $95 (about $1,140 in today's dollars), the LP wasn't revived until 1948.

1967 - The Doors appeared on Ed Sullivan's Sunday-night variety program. Sullivan asked Jim Morrison to omit or alter the lyric, "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" in "Light My Fire." Morrison, to his credit, ignored Sullivan's request. As a result, however, the Doors were not invited back to the program.

1969 - Media on both sides of the Atlantic were running stories that Paul McCartney was dead. He was supposedly killed in a car crash in Scotland on Nov. 9, 1966, and that a double had been taking his place for public appearances ever since. It turned out that Paul and his then-girlfriend Jane Asher were on vacation in Kenya at the time of the purported crash. That, and the fact that Paul McCartney is alive proved the stories incorrect.

1978 - The video for Queen's single "Bicycle Race" was filmed at Wimbledon Stadium in south London. It featured 65 naked female professional models racing around the stadium's track on bicycles that had been rented for the film shoot. When the rental company found out how the bikes had been used, it reportedly demanded payment to replace all the bicycle seats.

1980 - The Doobie Brothers released their ninth studio album, One Step Closer. It features “Real Love.”

1982 - Pink Floyd's seminal double album The Wall makes it to the big screen as a feature-length musical. Few expected the sprawling concept album to be turned into a feature film, but the band's celluloid collaboration with director Alan Parker and animator Gerald Scarfe becomes a surprise box office hit and a cult classic.

1985 - Thompson Twins released their fifth studio album, Here’s to Future Days. It features “Lay Your Hands on Me,” “Don’t Mess With Doctor Dream,” “King for a Day,” and “Revolution.”

1991 - Rob Tyner, lead singer of the incendiary Detroit band, MC5 ("Kick out the Jams, Mo-fos") died of a heart attack at age 46.

1991 - Hole released their debut album Pretty on the Inside.

1996- Tool released their second album, Anima. It opens at No. 2 in the U.S. and goes on to sell over 3 million copies.

1996 - Björk avoided a potentially deadly run-in with a dangerous package. Miami police alerted Scotland Yard after discovering the body of stalker Ricardo Lopez, who had made a video of himself constructing an acid-spraying bomb, which he mailed to Björk's London home before killing himself. Detectives in London intercepted and destroyed the package.

2010 - American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, Alex Chilton died in hospital of heart problems in New Orleans aged 59.

2011 - Adele went to No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with "Someone Like You."

2014 - Country music star George Hamilton IV died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 77. The singer and guitarist, who began performing as a teenager in the 1950s, had a top five hit in the U.S. with "A Rose and A Baby Ruth", which led to tours with pop idols Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers.

2016 - English indie rock band The 1975 were at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with their second album I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It.

2017 - Brazilian musician and producer Laudir de Oliveira died of a heart attack at the age of 77 while performing onstage in his native Rio de Janeiro. He is mostly renowned for his time as percussionist with the band Chicago from 1973 until 1982. As a session musician he worked for other musicians like Chick Corea, Carlos Santana, The Jacksons, Wayne Shorter and Nina Simone.

2019 - American R&B musician Andre Williams died in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 82.

Birthdays:

Country music legend Hank Williams was born in Butler County, Ala., today in 1923. Regarded as one of the most significant country music artists in history, Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked No. 1. The songs Williams wrote and recorded have been covered by numerous artists and have been hits in various genres including pop, gospel and blues. For his outstanding work, Hank Williams has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.

Fee Waybill of The Tubes is 74.

Mandawuy Yunupingu of Yothu Yindi was born today in 1956.

Baz Luhrmann, director of the 2022 film Elvis starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks, is 62.

BeBe Winans is 62.

Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and Rites of Spring is 59.

Doug E. Fresh is 58.

Anastacia is 56.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin singer Jonn Penney is 56.

Keith Flint of The Prodigy was born on this day in 1969. He died by suicide in 2019.

Vin Rock of Naughty by Nature is 54.

Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan is 45.

Former Panic! at the Disco bassist Jonathan Jacob Walker is 39.

Sophie Xeon a singer, songwriter, and DJ producer who just became known as her stage name Sophie was born on this day in 1986. She passed in January 2021.

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