This Week in Music History | October 5 – 11

October 4, 2020

Posted in: This Week in Music History

Here we go again with another week of music history! This week, we’re saying “Hello” to one of Lionel Ritchie’s biggest hits, Elton John’s best selling album, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, to the streaming service that changed the way we all consume music, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Get all the information that you need to know below!

1973 – October 5th, Elton John released his seventh studio album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

  • GYBR as we affectionately call it, has sold over 30 million copies and is Sir Elton’s best-selling studio album.
  • Highlighted tracks — ‘Candle in the Wind’, ‘Bennie and the Jets’, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’.
  • Elton John composed most of the music in three days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica.
  • John had wanted to go to Jamaica in part because the Rolling Stones had just recorded Goats Head Soup there.
  • In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1983 – October 11th, Lionel Richie released his second solo album, Can’t Slow Down.

  • Can’t Slow Down has sold over 20 million copies and is Richie’s best-selling album of all time.
  • Can’t Slow Down achieved the feat of having every single released hit the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
  • Five singles were released, including two that reached #1: ‘All Night Long (All Night)’ and ‘Hello’.
  • “The global smash ‘All Night Long’ – is an anthem to good times that makes the heart sing and feet twitch”.
  • The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1985.

1987 – October 10th, Whitesnake went to #1 on the US singles chart with ‘Here I Go Again’.

    Originally released on their 1982 album, Saints & Sinners, it was re-recorded for their 1987 self-titled album.

  • The video includes appearances by model Julie E. “Tawny” Kitaen, who was married to Whitesnake’s David Coverdale
  • This song is notable for being the only Whitesnake song to get airplay on adult contemporary stations.

1993 – October 9th, Nirvana entered the US album chart at #1 with In Utero.

  • In Utero was their third and final studio album.
  • Nirvana intended for it to diverge significantly from the polished production of their previous album, Nevermind.
  • Kurt Cobain had originally wanted to name the album I Hate Myself and I Want to Die.
  • Dave Grohl said, “A lot of what Kurt has to say is related to a lot of the stuff he’s gone through and it’s not so much teen angst anymore. It’s a whole different ball game: rock star angst.”

1999 – October 11th, The Who reform when they announced that they will play a concert in Las Vegas.

  • The Who broke up in ‘83 when Pete Townshend announced he was leaving the band.
  • Townshend left for several reasons including the death of Keith Moon and his marriage was falling apart.
  • The 1999 Las Vegas reunion concert was filmed and made into a DVD called The Vegas Job.
  • Andy Greene in Rolling Stone called the 1999 tour better than the final one with Moon in 1976.

2007 – October 10th, Radiohead released their seventh studio album, In Rainbows.

  • They took an innovative approach by offering it as a pay-what-you-want download.
  • Most people paid nothing for it, but it still fared better than the previous album, Hail to the Thief.
  • In Rainbows is more personal than previous albums, with singer Thom Yorke describing it as “seduction songs”.
  • “Our aim was to describe in 45 minutes, as coherently and conclusively as possible, what moves us.”
  • It won Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package.

    • 2008 – October 7th, Spotify was launched.

    • The most-streamed song for 2008 was ‘Human’ by The Killers.
    • Over ten years later, the company boasts 180 million active users and over 40 million songs.
    • There are over 50 million tracks available to listen to on the app.
    • At the end of 2019, Spotify’s market share accounted for 36% of music-streaming subscriptions.

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