10 ready-to-read segments for October 8, lead story first. Free to use on air; a quick credit to Today in Tunes is appreciated.
On this day in 1980, 46 years ago: Prince releases Dirty Mind, his basement-made breakthrough. Prince cut the album on a 16-track setup in the basement of his Lake Minnetonka home, playing nearly everything himself and engineering it under the alias Jamie Starr. Here's Prince with “Dirty Mind.”
On this day in 1964, 62 years ago: The Beatles record 'She's a Woman' at EMI. McCartney arrived at the session with only about one verse and finished writing the song in the studio; it became the B-side of 'I Feel Fine'.
On this day in 1988, 38 years ago: Def Leppard's 'Love Bites' tops the Hot 100. The power ballad replaced Bobby McFerrin's 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' at the top and held on for one week before UB40's 'Red Red Wine' took over.
On this day in 1991, 35 years ago: Soundgarden unleash Badmotorfinger. Their third album spawned 'Outshined' and 'Rusty Cage' and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance.
On this day in 1930, 96 years ago: Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu is born in Tokyo. Largely self-taught, he won international notice after Igor Stravinsky heard his Requiem for strings in 1958 and praised it publicly.
On this day in 1948, 78 years ago: Johnny Ramone, punk's downstroke pioneer, is born in Queens. His relentless all-downstroke rhythm playing helped define the punk guitar sound, and Rolling Stone ranked him among the 30 greatest guitarists.
On this day in 1967, 59 years ago: Teddy Riley, architect of new jack swing, is born. Credited with creating the hip-hop/R&B hybrid new jack swing, he later co-produced half of Michael Jackson's Dangerous and led Blackstreet to No. 1 with 'No Diggity'.
On this day in 1985, 41 years ago: Bruno Mars is born Peter Gene Hernandez in Honolulu. He grew up performing with his father's band in Hawaii and went on to win 16 Grammys; 'Uptown Funk' with Mark Ronson ruled the Hot 100 for 14 weeks.
On this day in 1953, 73 years ago: Contralto Kathleen Ferrier dies at 41. Months earlier her weakened femur partly gave way mid-performance at Covent Garden, yet she finished the show without the audience noticing; conductor Bruno Walter ranked knowing her above knowing Mahler.
On this day in 2011, 15 years ago: 'Autumn Leaves' pianist Roger Williams dies. His 1955 'Autumn Leaves' is the only piano instrumental ever to reach No. 1 on Billboard's pop chart, selling more than two million copies.
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