ONTD

100. October 3, 2000
Radiohead release Kid A
Spontaneously, guitar fans everywhere begin weeping.

99. December 11, 1965
The Velvet Underground play their first show
Giving birth to the sound of alternative rock.

98. April 13, 1963
The Kingsmen record “Louie Louie”
When it becomes a hit, everyone assumes singer Jack Ely’s incomprehensible mumbling masks obscenity, causing the first panic over dirty lyrics.

97. November 23, 1936
Robert Johnson’s first recording session
The King of the Delta Blues Singers hooks up with the devil, provides a Rosetta Stone for rock pioneers including Eric Clapton and Keith Richards.

96. December 14, 1977
Saturday Night Fever debuts in New York
Prompting the inexorable march of polyester suits and disco into the suburbs — and throughout the world.

95. August 21, 1966
The Doors perform “The End” at L.A.’s Whisky A Go Go
Jim Morrison’s 11–minute–plus nightmare about Oedipal desire, snakes and ancient lakes cements the Doors’ Dionysian rep — and earns them a permanent ban from the club.

94. February 1, 2004
“Nipplegate”
The Most Infamous Super Bowl Halftime Ever deep–sixes Janet Jackson’s career and ushers in a brave new era of “decency.”

93. June 30, 1989
Do the Right Thing hits theaters
Introducing Public Enemy’s righteous rage to the world at large, Spike Lee’s breakout film practically doubled as a music video for “Fight the Power,” which is heard no less than 15 times in the movie.

92. January 31, 1955
RCA demonstrates first synthesizer
The room–size machine capable of generating and shaping sounds makes Abbey Road, dance music, keytars and Madonna possible.

91. September 8, 1965
Classified ad runs to form the Monkees
The first fictional band was born, presaging Josie and the Pussycats, Gorillaz and the current incarnation of Guns N’ Roses.

90. June 18, 1988
Depeche Mode sell out the Rose Bowl
About 80,000 goths pack the So–Cal stadium — and synth–rock gets its stamp of legitimacy.

89. July 6, 1977
Roger Waters spits at a fan during a Pink Floyd show
The incident would inspire Waters to write The Wall, a masterpiece of rock–star alienation and anomie.

88. April 6, 1974
ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest
Making possible the ascendance of Swedish pop and approximately 18 bajillion drunken wedding dances.

87. October 9, 1999
Coachella kicks off
Beginning the annual pilgrimage of alterna–kids to the Sonoran Desert.

86. November 21, 1959
Alan Freed fired in first payola scandal
Ending the career of the DJ who invented the term rock & roll.

85. July 18, 1991
Lollapalooza premieres
Introducing the U.S. to the traveling music festival.

84. September 19, 1955
Pat Boone hits No. 1 with “Ain’t That a Shame”
With this bleached–out version of Fats Domino’s original, Boone becomes the trailblazer for years of Whitey childproofing R&B.

83. January 26, 1995
First MPEG3 patent filed
Turning music loving into a no–strings–attached orgy.

82 March 17, 1958
Link Wray invents distortion
The brutal “Rumble” introduces the world to the fuzztone sound.

81. June 15, 1984
Scarface tops the VHS rentals list
Sanctifying hip–hop’s Church of Tony Montana.

80. April 14, 1982
Karaoke arrives in the U.S.
At a bar called Dimples in Burbank, California.

79. April 1, 2032
Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy released
Weeks after Axl’s death in a tragic tanning–bed accident.

78. May 29, 1983
Heavy Metal Day at the US Festival
300,000 head bang to Van Halen and Mötley Crüe, confirming hair metal’s arrival.

77. October 23, 2002
Kanye West’s car crash
In which hip–hop’s best producer–rapper smashes his jaw, finds God and decides to write “Through the Wire,” a career–making song about seat–belt safety.

76. January 1, 1994
Max Martin quits cashiering, starts producing
Millions of teenage girls feel the sudden urge to squeal.

75. June 27, 1966
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention release Freak Out!
Rock’s first concept record.

74. September 9, 1934
“Muzak” is registered as a trademark
Elevators, retail stores, restaurants — none would go unmusically accompanied from here on in!

73. December 18, 2005
“Lazy Sunday” hits YouTube
The SNL skit helps turn a fledgling video–hosting site into the world’s premier time suck.

72. August 31, 1963
The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” debuts on the charts
Producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound changes the nature of pop records, from documents of performances to studio creations.

71. November 16, 1985
Starship’s “We Built This City” reaches No. 1
The low–water mark of soul–crushing corporate rock — delivered by the onetime tie–dyed standard bearers of hippiedom.

70. August 12, 1972
Willie Nelson plays his first show at Austin’s Armadillo World Headquarters
Kicks off the Nashville–defying “outlaw country” movement, bringing together gun–rack rednecks, sunbaked hippies and maybe — just maybe — a weed dealer or two.

69. October 1, 1982
The first compact disc goes on sale in Japan
Billy Joel’s 52nd Street ushers in the new format, reaping enormous profits for the music industry — but also sowing the seeds of the digital revolution that will bring the biz to its knees 20 years later.

68. July 1, 1979
The Walkman goes on sale
When your kids ask you what those clunky plastic boxes were, you can say: “0GB iPods.”

67. January 13, 1969
JÄgermeister reaches the U.s.
The after–dinner digestif is eventually adopted by hard–rock bands as the favored facilitator of wanton misbehavior and poor life choices.

66. December 13, 1967
Grateful Dead debut “Dark Star”
The live epic that spurs the birth of the jam–band movement.

65. March 30, 1980
Van Halen find brown M&Ms backstage
After a show at the University of Southern Colorado, in direct contravention of the clause in the band’s contract, to be precise. They trash the dressing room, immortalizing the benchmark for all absurd backstage demands.

64. September 26, 1984
Def Jam releases LL Cool J’s “I Need a Beat”
Hip–hop’s first powerhouse label and longest–running star both get their starts.

63.March 2, 1984
This Is Spinal Tap released
Rock bands become self–aware and drummers tread more carefully, particularly when undertaking chores in the garden.

62.December 6, 1969
Meredith Hunter stabbed to death at Altamont
Bringing a symbolic end to the optimistic peace–and–love counterculture of the ’60s.

61. June 3, 1992
Bill Clinton blows his sax on Arsenio Hall
For the first time, a member of the rock & roll generation is on his way to the White House.

60.October 1, 1957
Little Richard renounces rock & roll for the Lord
Becoming the first rock star to be born again, paving the way for everyone from Al Green to Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch.

59. June 5, 1983
U2 play Red Rocks
Despite a torrential downpour, U2 insisted that the show go on at the Colorado amphitheater, an outdoor venue formed by two sandstone megaliths. And for good reason: U2 had committed their life savings to capturing the show on tape for what would become the Under a Blood Red Sky concert video. The evening’s iconic moment came as Bono waved a large white flag during the political anthem “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” When MTV put a clip of this in heavy rotation, it ushered in U2’s quarter–century of world domination.
Unintended consequence: rock stars on Charlie Rose

58. February 17, 1976
Eagles release greatest hits
Disco may have been in ascendance, but the Eagles’ compilation nonetheless sold a million copies in 24 days — and has been selling ever since, clocking nearly 30 million record sales in the U.S. alone, making it the most–bought album of all time. The comp’s success firmly established baby boomers as rock’s cash cow, ensuring that artists who came of age in the ’60s and ’70s would have lucrative careers that far outlasted their inspiration and, in many cases, even their deaths.
Unintended consequence: “The heat is on”

57. June 23, 1987
Tiffany tours malls
Stumped by how to promote an album by a 15–year–old whose target audience was too young to even sneak into nightclubs, a desperate record executive suggested Tiffany spend her summer vacation touring the nation’s malls. “The Beautiful You: Celebrating the Good Life Shopping Mall Tour ’87” catapulted Tiffany to quadruple–platinum sales. In the process, it established the food court as the first stop of choice for many aspiring teen pop stars — including Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne — and opened the industry’s eyes to the buying power of millions of tween–age girls.
Unintended consequence: High School Musical

56. February 20, 1980
Bon Scott dies
When the AC/DC singer choked on his own vomit in a parked car after a London drinking session, the band’s Highway to Hell had just grazed the Top 20 and they were really only appreciated by serious headbangers. After recruiting new singer Brian Johnson and releasing Back in Black — as a tribute to Scott — five months later, they were the biggest rock band in the world. They never came close to recapturing this crunching Matt Lange–produced manifesto of booze and womanizing, but at 42 million copies sold, this is the hard–rock album that everyone owns.
Unintended consequence: power chords in strip clubs

55. January 1, 1953
Hank Williams found dead in his Cadillac
The ultimate country–music death also provides the archetype for rock–star martyrs to come, from Jimi to Kurt to Tupac.

54. March 30, 1965
Owsley receives his first shipment of lysergic monohydrate
With 800 grams of the raw materials for LSD, Augustus Owsley Stanley III manufactures 300,000 capsules of “White Lightning” acid — legal in California at the time — and turns on the entire West Coast. Hello, psychedelia!

53. January 22, 1972
David Bowie reveals his bisexuality in Melody Maker
Ziggy Stardust tells a reporter, “Yes, of course I’m gay, and always have been,” becoming the first rock star to come out of the closet.

52. January 20, 1982
Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a live bat
Onstage at a solo show in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy’s ghoulish nosh establishes him as rock’s alpha nutcase — a title yet to be wrested from his trembling grasp.

51. May 19, 1965
Pete Townshend writes “My Generation”
Forced to take the train after the queen has his Packard hearse towed, the Who guitarist uses his commute to author rock’s first and greatest endorsement of voluntary euthanasia.

50. November 16, 1965
Bill Ham demonstrates the “light show”
San Francisco visual artist displays “electric action paintings” — soon he’d project them onto the area’s frumpy psychedelic bands, forever altering the course of “whoa, trippy”–ness.

49. January 18, 1966
Brian Wilson begins work on Pet Sounds
Inspired by the Beatles’ Rubber Soul, the Beach Boys’ obsessive genius transforms pop into high art with a concept album of startling complexity — just one year before he withdraws into a vortex of mental illness.

48. October 23, 2001
The Unveiling of the iPod
Apple Computer launched the iPod less than six weeks after 9/11, with the dot–com industry in free fall and sales for the Nomad and other MP3 players moping along. “Hundreds of young companies were dying,” says tech journalist Michael S. Malone. “Nobody was expecting the first great consumer electronics product of the 21st century.” People in Silicon Valley “thought we were insane,” recalls Greg Joswiak, VP of worldwide iPod product marketing.

47. August 1, 1989
The FBI sends a letter to N.W.A
A year after the release of N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton, FBI Assistant Director of the Office of Public Affairs Milt Ahlerich wrote their label’s parent company, Priority Records, to “take exception” to an unspecified N.W.A song that “encourages violence against and disrespect for the law enforcement officer.” That song, of course, was the incendiary anti–cop track “Fuck Tha Police.” The feds never took any direct action against N.W.A — but with this vaguely threatening letter, hip–hop came into its own as a source of governmental concern, foreshadowing rising public and political anxiety about the influence of gangsta rap on its increasingly white and suburban fan base.
Unintended consequence: Barbershop 2: Back in Business

46. January 30, 1973
KISS perform in full makeup
Bassist Gene Simmons and singer Paul Stanley’s previous group, Wicked Lester, had played wearing white face paint, but their new band developed this into “personalities” — the Demon (Simmons), the Starchild (Stanley), the Space Ace (guitarist Ace Frehley) and, yes, the Catman (drummer Peter Criss). At the Popcorn Club in Queens, the live debut of the self–proclaimed hottest band in the world was witnessed by a total of three people, but the idea of a band as otherworldly cartoon characters — with merchandise to match — caught on nonetheless.
Unintended consequence: Your mom may well have had sex with Gene Simmons

45. May 21, 1992
The Real World debuts
The show about seven strangers living together in front of television cameras prompts the gradual disappearance of actual music videos on MTV and gives birth to reality television.

44. April 15, 1981
R.E.M. records “Radio Free Europe”
Minting the new sound of college rock­ — jangly guitars and incomprehensible lyrics — that eventually made R.E.M. the biggest cult band in history.

43. August 15, 1955
Elvis signs with “Colonel” Tom Parker
Striking a bargain that begins the long slow death of the Hillbilly Cat, the commercialization of rock & roll — and the triumph of The Suit over creativity.

42. July 13, 1985
Live Aid
A staggering trans–Atlantic lineup and a record–breaking TV audience of 1.5 billion ensures that philanthropy — and U2’s record sales — will never be the same again.

41. July 6, 1957
John meets Paul
The teenage music geeks encounter each other when Lennon’s group takes part in a village festival; McCartney impresses him by playing “Twenty Flight Rock” on an upside–down guitar, and the partnership that would become the Beatles is born.

40. December 12, 1957
Jerry Lee Lewis marries his 13–year–old second cousin
And so the Killer extinguishes the early blaze of his career — and creates the first–ever rock scandal.

39. April 7, 1967
The birth of free–form FM radio
San Francisco’s KMPX pioneers the previously little–used FM band to eschew jingles, playlists and Top 40 singles, thus beginning the spread of the counterculture across the U.S.

38. May 9, 1974
Springsteen Discovered
Opening for Bonnie Raitt at a show in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 25–year–old Bruce Springsteen was bursting with new material and severely in need of some kind of big break. He got it when Jon Landau, reviewing the show for The Real Paper, wrote passionately (and ungrammatically): “I saw rock & roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” His next album, Born to Run, got him onto the covers of both Time and Newsweek, and the Boss never had to open for anyone else again.
Unintended consequence: “They’re not booing, they’re yelling Bruuuuuce”

37. December 23, 2006
Tower Records closes shop
In 1991, Russ Solomon sat at the head of the Tower Records empire — boasting over 200 stores and $1 billion in annual sales. But by 2000, despite the advent of MP3s, Solomon had borrowed millions to build new stores in an Internet–ignoring gambit that led to the gradual ruin of America’s most iconic record chain. Two days before Christmas 2006, the 89 remaining locations — littered with 50–cent Richard Marx “Best Of”s and the like — were shuttered. It was a symbolic funeral for the brick–and–mortar record store.
Unintended consequence: People can now buy show tunes without fear of public humiliation

36. December 7, 1877
Edison invents the phonograph
For a revolutionary invention, it looked a lot like a sausage grinder. On Christmas Eve, 1877, novice inventor Thomas Edison stretched tin foil around a metal cylinder, connected it to a hand crank and two needles, and created the first device for recording and playing back sound. It was to music what Gutenberg’s printing press was to Jesus: Music had previously existed only in live performances, but now one could preserve, collect and distribute performances on the cheap. After some
refinement, this coup led to the 45” single — and thus, pop music itself.
Unintended consequence: the double album

35. April 20, 1987
2 Live Crew release the first “clean” album
In 1986, after a Florida record–store clerk was charged with felony corruption of a minor for selling a copy of the amazingly profane The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are to a 14–year–old girl, the porn–rap crew decided to change tack. The next year, they dodged legal hot water — without hurting sales — by releasing an inoffensive alternate version of their next album, Move Somethin’; this business–savvy act of self–censorship soon allowed hip–hop to target children and go pop.
Unintended consequence: Hammer time!

34. October 11, 1975
Debut of Saturday Night Live
SNL goes on to introduce mainstream America to such musical sensations as Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and “Dick in a Box.”

33. March 5, 1971
“Stairway to Heaven” is played live for the first time
Unveiled in Belfast, Ireland, Zeppelin’s sprawling 7:55 minute quiet–loud showpiece at once breaks the rules and sets the standard for what constitutes a rock anthem.

32. January 21, 1959
Marv Johnson releases “Come to Me”
The first single on Berry Gordy’s little Detroit label Tamla — later known as Motown — is also its first hit, featuring the Funk Brothers, musicians whose sound would help make the label famous.

31. December 16, 1991
Grand Upright Music vs. Warner Bros.
Rapper Biz Markie’s defeat in this federal–copyright lawsuit had a chilling effect on then–unlimited hip–hop sampling. Goodbye, Bomb Squad; hello; Diddy.

30. October 5, 2001
Pop Idol debuts on British TV
One year before American Idol flipped the music and TV businesses on their heads, former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller turned U.K. couch potatoes into A&R reps and nobodies into platinum–selling megastars.

29. August 18, 1969
Hendrix plays “The Star–Spangled Banner” at Woodstock
On a Monday morning, 400,000 hippies ditched work to watch him immortalize the festival as a countercultural landmark with his feedback–tortured transformation of the national anthem.

28. November 26, 1976
Sex Pistols re­lease “Anarchy in the U.K.”
The first punk band in Britain had been making headlines for close to a year; now it was time for them to make a record. Their first single, with its Situationist slogans and commands to destroy everything, terrified the stodgy older generation as much as it delighted the kids. Every British punk band of the next few years sprang to life in the wake of “Anarchy” — and, for a few months, the Pistols made it seem like punk was actually going to incite a political revolution.
Unintended consequence: $400 ripped T–shirts at Fred Segal

27. August 28, 1964
The Beatles smoke pot
Bob Dylan had thought that the line “I can’t hide” in “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was “I get high,” but he was wrong. Hanging out with the Beatles at New York’s Delmonico Hotel after their gig in Forest Hills, Dylan discovered that, despite the Fab Four’s years playing in the fleshpots of Hamburg, they’ve never tried anything stronger than the occasional pill. He smoked them up, and Paul McCartney began a lifelong love affair with pot, declaring, “I’m thinking for the first time — really thinking.” After that, it was a straight line to Pepperland, Strawberry Fields and glass onions.
Unintended consequence: goo goo g’joob

26. December 31, 1942
Frank Sinatra plays the Paramount
Two full decades before Beatlemania, Ol’ Blue Eyes sends bobby–soxers into shrieking hysterics, shutting down Times Square and forcing NYC cops to call in the riot squad.

25. September 18, 1979
The Sugarhill Gang release “Rapper’s Delight”
Hip–hop’s first classic is also its first gold record, proving the genre’s commercial viability — and paving the way for the Rappin’ Granny.

24. May 15, 1954
The first Fender Stratocaster is shipped
Among rock guitars, this is the O.G. — the one Hendrix used to play Woodstock, the one George Harrison used on Rubber Soul and the one that adorns Buddy Holly’s grave

23. July 26, 1979
Congress hears of an impending cocaine–smoking epidemic
In a few years, urban America will be ravaged by “crack” — offering rappers nationwide their tragic muse.

22. December 8, 1980
John Lennon murdered
Never mind what the calendar says: This is the day the ’60s died.

21. May 25, 1991
SoundScan Debuts
In mid–1991, Billboard began using bar–code–based data from SoundScan to track CD sales, rather than relying on retailers’ own often–faulty, sometimes–fraudulent tally. The week of the change, 15 more country albums appeared in the Top 200 than the previous week; four months later, Garth Brooks’s Ropin’ the Wind became the first country album to debut at No. 1. The more democratic chart system opened the industry’s eyes to the widespread popularity of not only country but also hip–hop, which had been considered little more than a niche genre. In turn, country and urban artists were lavished with more attention and dollars, fueling the commercial ascent of both.
Unintended consequence: The Life of Chris Gaines

20. November 20, 1969
Clyde Stubblefield plays on “Funky Drummer”
Beginning with Stubblefield’s first single with James Brown, 1967’s “Cold Sweat,” the Godfather made room for his mind–bending drummer to solo whenever possible. Five minutes and 22 seconds into the final hit recorded by Brown’s classic ’60s band, at a session at King Records in Cincinnati, Stubblefield got his defining moment: an entire song built around his eight–bar break. When DJs a decade later discovered that they could loop two copies of it endlessly, Stubblefield’s beat became arguably the most–sampled rhythm in hip–hop history, appearing on well over 150 records.
Unintended consequence: crate–digging nerds

19. September 14, 1984
Madonna sings “Like a Virgin” at the VMAs
Before the Sex book, the burning crosses, the Britney–Christina three–way and African adoptions, Madge was just a 26–year–old girl in a wedding dress. Performing her first No. 1 hit at MTV’s inaugural Video Music Awards, she danced on a 10–foot wedding cake in a veil, garters and her infamous “Boy Toy” belt, then descended to the stage for a bout of simulated masturbation. The ensuing media firestorm taught her valuable career–defining lessons: Sex sells, and controversy is fun. It also cemented her relationship with MTV and set the bar for countless outrageous VMA moments to follow — not a few of which also involved Madonna.
Unintended consequence: Diana Ross boob–jiggles Lil’ Kim

18. August 21, 1993
Police raid Neverland Ranch
Investigating allegations of child molestation, the LAPD search Michael Jackson’s home in the Santa Ynez Valley, California, precipitating the superstar’s slide from King of Pop to Wacko Jacko.

17. April 16, 1956
Chuck Berry nails down his guitar sound
With the chord barrage that opens “Roll Over Beethoven,” recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago, Berry perfects the sound of rock & roll lead guitar.

16. August 16, 1977
Elvis Presley dies
The King is found slumped in the bathroom of Graceland, launching a still–thriving multimillion dollar industry and a wave of implausible legends and posthumous “sightings.”

15. July 25, 1965
Bob Dylan goes electric at Newport
Backed up by members of Paul Butterfield’s Blues Band, he makes it through only three electric songs before getting booed offstage by the folk–festival crowd; but that’s enough to slam the door shut on the ’60s folk revival. Acoustic guitars never get anyone laid again.

14. October 8, 1980
Prince poses in black undies
Until this point, Prince had been just another upstart R&B singer. With the cover of his third album, Dirty Mind — a black–and–white shot of him giving the camera a come–hither look, wearing bikini briefs, a jacket, a bandanna and nothing else, and standing in front of an abstract design that looks a lot like bedsprings — he became something else. It looked (and the album sounded) like a new–wave record, and it delivered two clear messages. One was “I don’t fit into any category anybody wants to put me in.” The other was “I am coming to fuck you, right now.” The combination worked well for Prince for the better part of 20 years.
Unintended consequence: Carmen Electra’s career

13. March 25, 2002
Justin and Britney split
When they split, Britney Spears was pop’s reigning princess and Justin Timberlake was a singer for a boy band with little musical credibility and plummeting commercial prospects. Maybe Brit was weighing JT down? He’s since released two monster solo albums, establishing him as a credible superstar on speed dial for rappers hunting for pop crossover. She’s released one album of new material — a relative flop — and spent her time getting married (twice), having kids (twice), entering and ditching rehab, shaving her head and, for a while, carrying on a public campaign against wearing underwear.
Unintended consequence: “Popozão!”

12. February 2, 1976
Ramones make a record
It is a tale told by four idiots, full of sound and fury, recorded for $6,000. “It was real rushed,” Tommy (Ramone) Erdelyi says of recording at Radio City Music Hall’s studio. “Very low–budget and quick.” Each song got one take: guitarist Johnny played in a gym the Rockettes used for dance rehearsal; bassist Dee Dee in the control room; and in another room on drums, Tommy — a guitarist who’d never sat behind a kit in his life.

11. October 12, 1995
Suge Knight bails out Tupac
Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. started out friends, but their relationship began to crumble when Shakur was shot in late 1994. One day before, Shakur was found guilty of sexual assault and later imprisoned at NYC’s Clinton Correctional Facility, where he heard rumors that Biggie had arranged the shooting. Death Row honcho Suge Knight, who had a longtime rivalry with Biggie’s mentor P. Diddy, stoked Tupac’s anti–B.I.G. rage and — in exchange for signing a contract with Death Row — posted ’Pac’s $1.4 million bail. It would prove a Faustian bargain: With Shakur under Knight’s wing, the Death Row/Bad Boy feud escalated, diss tracks led to assaults and by 1997, Pac and Biggie had been murdered — set up, some close to the case contend, by Knight himself.
Unintended consequence: 1,376 posthumous tuPac albums (and counting)

10. April 26, 1977
Studio 54 opens
It was the hottest spot of the disco era, a destination where glamorous people, groovy music and tons of white powder joined forces to change celebrity culture forever. Bianca Jagger, Donald Trump and 11–year–old Brooke Shields hustled across the converted TV studio’s parquet floor on its opening night, while Bianca’s then–husband Mick and Frank Sinatra were among the hundreds stranded outside. Studio 54 made the party’s exclusivity more important than the party itself — though the party was still awesome. “It was the only club where you could have sex,” said Prince Egon von Furstenberg.
Unintended consequence: Paris Hilton

9. May 6, 1965
Keith Richards writes the “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” riff
One night on the Rolling Stones’ third U.S. tour, Richards awoke in his room at the Gulf Motel in Clearwater, Florida, with a riff in his head: He played it into a tape recorder beside the bed and went back to sleep. The next day, Keith explained to Mick Jagger that the words he’d thought up were “I can’t get no satisfaction”; neither Keith nor Mick wanted the finished song released as a single, but they were outvoted — it became the Stones’ first No. 1, and the ascent of the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World began.
Unintended consequence: Pirates of the Caribbean, 1–3

8. December 21, 1960
Bob Dylan leaves Minnesota
He’d been talking for ages about hitting the road like his idol Woody Guthrie, and a few days before Christmas, 19–year–old folk–music buff Bobby Zimmerman finally made his move: He packed up his guitar and harmonica, walked out to Highway 61 and hitched a ride away from the Twin Cities. (As he later put it: “I had to get out of there and not come back.”) Thirty–four days later, “Bob Dylan,” as he was now calling himself, arrived in New York and played his first gig there, an open mike at Cafe Wha?, beginning his career as the king of the New York folkies.
Unintended consequence: Jews get cool

7. March 2, 1983
MTV airs “Billie Jean” video
Formerly all but off–limits to black artists, the fledgling music video channel is finally strong–armed into featuring Michael Jackson. Everyone gets richer and cooler.

6. October 25, 1997
Dr. Dre hears Eminem freestyling on KPWR’s “Wake Up Show” in L.A.
Afterward, Dre tracks down Marshall Mathers, signs him, and “white hip–hop” goes from low–melanin punch line to a multimillion–dollar one–man art form.

5. August 1, 1981
MTV debuts
In a banner day for lip–synching, outrageous fashion and rebellious teens, music hops mediums, making walking, talking 2–D video stars accessible 24 hours a day.

4. March 30, 1994
Kurt Cobain buys a Remington M–11 20–gauge shotgun and a box of ammunition
Six days later, grunge and its reluctant poster boy are dead.

3. June 1, 1999
Napster released
Early in 1999, after his roommate at Northeastern University complained about the unreliability of MP3 download sites, Shawn Fanning became obsessed with devising software to make music file sharing easier. Fanning dropped out of college and, after three months in front of a laptop in his uncle’s office, completed coding “Napster,” sent it to 30 chat–room friends — and asked them to keep it to themselves. By February 2001, 26.4 million people were using it to trade songs. Five months later, an RIAA suit shut them down — but by then, people were used to getting music for free; CD sales began their downward spiral.
Unintended consequence: Lars Ulrich has one less Basquiat in his collection

2. August 11, 1973
Kool DJ Herc invents hip–hop
Aiming to use his budding local rep as a DJ to raise money for back–to–school clothes, the 18–year–old born in Kingston, Jamaica, crammed the rec room of a Bronx apartment complex with paying customers. He earned $500, but Herc’s real achievement was in noticing that people most enjoyed songs’ instrumental breakdowns: He started looping one break endlessly into itself, while rapping friends’ nicknames into a mic. Hip–hop as we know it would flow from that moment: “After that,” Herc tells Blender, “You couldn’t put a cap on it. It was like The Beverly Hillbillies: black gold. And it’s still gushing.”
Unintended consequence: Skyrocketing sales of Cristal, Versace and Escalades

1. February 9, 1964
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan
By the time the Beatles debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show, America had heard them: Six of their songs were on the radio, two albums were running up the charts and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was midway through its two–month residence at No. 1. But seeing the Beatles was different. Their hair looked funny; their skinny legs ended in pointed boots; they jittered with excitement and they wore the most extraordinary expressions — amused and amazed, grinning and scanning the furthest reaches of the scream–packed balcony, as if trying to fathom the hysteria they were causing. Playing “All My Loving,” “She Loves You” and even the mildly drippy “’Til There Was You,” the Beatles revolutionized music that night, and everyone watching felt either a promise or a threat. The songs were full and melodic like pop, yet put across by this self–contained, electric unit — goodbye, gloopy orchestras. They were tight, brothers in arms, not phony or ingratiating — making a gorgeous, joyous racket that seemed to spill from their suits, their hair, their fingertips. It was a moment of celebrity uncorrupted, where rock & roll began its modern life as a cultural force, and the Beatles were as jazzed as everyone else that they were the vehicle of delivery.

Seventy–three million people watched — still one of the largest TV audiences ever — including the entire next generation of rock stars, from Billy Joel to Gene Simmons of Kiss. Bruce Springsteen, who’d picked up a guitar after seeing Elvis on Ed Sullivan in ’56, went out and bought an amp. “Most of us guys were screaming on the inside,” says Steve Van Zandt, E Street Band guitarist. “It was absolutely life–changing. There was no Plan B. There was no choice. These guys dropped in from another planet, and invited you to this new world.”


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