This Day in Music
On September 26, 1969, The Beatles released their 11th studio album, Abbey Road, in the UK. Featuring one of the most iconic jacket covers in history (in which the band is walking on the zebra crossing outside of Abbey Road Studios), the songs on the album marked the Beatles’ final recordings together. Sessions for Abbey Road began just three weeks after the group wrapped work on the proposed Get Back album (released in 1970 as Let It Be), and ran throughout the summer. Despite tensions between the band members, Abbey Road resulted in some of their best material, including “Come Together,” “Here Comes the Sun,” and “Something,” which marked the first Beatles A-Side to feature a George Harrison composition. The highly-influential title topped the album charts in the UK as well as in the US, where it was released a week later, on October 1.
In 1979, U2 made their recorded debut with Three, a three-song EP featuring the songs “Out of Control,” “Stories for Boys,” and “Boy/Girl.” Upon its release, all 1,000 copies of the 12-inch vinyl sold out instantly, making the EP the fastest-selling 12-inch record ever in Ireland.
In 1967, Pink Floyd played their first live dates in the US, with a three-night stint at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The band, which formed in 1965, took so long to make it stateside in part because of frontman Syd Barrett’s health problems.
In 1937, “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith died at the age of 43, after sustaining injuries in a car accident. Considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of blues music, Smith often delivered social commentary in her songs, speaking to the struggles of the working class, women, and Black Americans. Her powerful voice, meanwhile, can be heard on such hits as “Downhearted Blues,” “The St. Louis Blues,” and “After You’ve Gone.”
In 1987, Michael Jackson began a six-week run at the top of the US album chart with Bad. Anticipation for the project was through the roof, in part because it had been five years since Jackson’s 1982 all-time epic, Thriller.
In 2004, Green Day scored their first No.1 album in the UK with American Idiot. The album marked their seventh full-length release.
In 1989, Paul McCartney started his world tour at The Drammenshallen, in Drammen, Norway. It was McCartney’s first major tour outing in ten years, and his first under his own name, after over a decade of touring with Wings.
BORN ON SEPTEMBER 26
1945: Bryan Ferry
1948: Tiran Porter (The Doobie Brothers)
1948: Olivia Newton-John
1954: Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos)
1972: Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men)
1981: Christina Milian
