This Day in Music
On this day in music, July 30, 2016, Third Man Records – a label owned by former White Stripes singer/guitarist, Jack White – celebrated their seventh anniversary by launching a specially engineered turntable into space. Propelled via a high-altitude balloon, The Icarus Craft (as it was dubbed), played the very first vinyl record in space. Fittingly, the 45 RPM single, “A Glorious Dawn,” was a musical collaboration between scientist Carl Sagan and composer John D. Boswell. During its 80-minute flight, The Icarus Craft reached over 94,000 feet before the balloon burst and dropped back to Earth.
In 1955, Johnny Cash recorded “Folsom Prison Blues,” one of his most iconic numbers. He wrote it after seeing the 1951 movie Walls of Folsom Prison while stationed in Germany with the United States Air Force. Released as a single, the track rose to No.4 on the Billboard country chart. In 1968, a live version taken from the album At Folsom Prison did even better, reaching No.1.
In 2015, Lynn Anderson, one of the most prominent country artists of the 1970s, died at 67. The North Dakota-born singer scored her first Top 10 US hit in 1967 with “If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away).” Three years later, she released her signature song, “(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden,” which topped the US country charts and also reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100. In 1974, Anderson became the first country music artist to win an American Music Award; the same year, she achieved another precedent by becoming the first country singer to headline and sell out Madison Square Garden.
In 1966, The Troggs topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with “Wild Thing,” which had the distinction of being the only No.1 single to be simultaneously released by two competing record labels. Due to an unresolved dispute over the record’s US distribution, both Fontana and Atco pressed up the single, which led Billboard to combine their sales figures when compiling the chart.
In 1977, Andy Gibb – the younger brother of the Bee Gees’ Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb – made his own mark on the music industry when he scored his first US No.1 hit with “I Just Wanna Be Your Everything.” Penned by Barry Gibb, the song marked the 19-year-old’s first of three chart-topping hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2003, record producer Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley, died at the age of 80. A pivotal figure in the rise of rock‘n’roll, Phillips established Sun Records in 1952, introducing the world to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. He sold the label in 1969.
In 1968, The Beatles closed their London-based Apple Boutique, which opened just seven months earlier. After announcing that they would be giving away the shop’s stock, huge crowds descended on the boutique, stripping it bare within hours.
BORN ON JULY 30
1936: Buddy Guy
1941: Paul Anka
1944: Jimmy Cliff
1957: Rat Scabies (The Damned)
1958: Kate Bush
1968: Sean Moore (Manic Street Preachers)
1980: Seth Avett (The Avett Brothers)
