November 15
2007: Jay-Z went to #1 on the US album chart with American Gangster, his 10th #1 album. He tied with Elvis Presley and joined him for the second most albums on the #1 chart. Only The Beatles have more.
November 16
1968: The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” was #1 on charts for 8 straight weeks.
1971: Before Cat Stevens was known as one of the coolest cats in the world, he released the first single of his career “Wild World,” which has since been featured on BBC’s Skins and covered by notable acts such as Nirvana.
November 17
2003: A 21-year-old Britney Spears became the youngest singer to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The title was taken from her in the following year by 18-year-olds Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
2010: Patti Smith, rock god herself, won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids, which then sparked an era of popularity among rock memoirs. Since 2010, Carrie Brownstein released Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl and Chrissie Hynde released Reckless: My Life as a Pretender. In October, Smith released her second memoir, M Train.
November 18
1990: Paul McCartney’s birth certificate sold for $18,000 in an auction. Who knows what he’s doing without it.
2005: Walk the Line, a movie detailing the life and times of Johnny Cash, began airing in theaters.
November 19
1993: Nirvana recorded unplugged in New York with MTV.
This was pretty bad day to be Michael Jackson.
2002: Michael Jackson famously horrifies fans by dangling his newborn son out of a window.
2003: Due to charges of child molestation, an arrest warrant is issued for Michael Jackson.
2012: After the death of ELO’s Mike Edwards, two farmers were found not guilty of safety violations after one of their giant bales of hay crushed him to death.
November 21
1983: In more Michael Jackson news, the music video for “Thriller” premiered in Los Angeles.
2007: The Red Hot Chili Peppers were caught up in a lawsuit with the show Californication. The band believed that the title was “immediately associated in the mind of the consumer” because of their album.
2009: Pete Doherty, lead singer of The Libertines and The Babyshambles, was arrested on suspicion of drugs; rumor has it he brought heroin into a courtroom. The Libertines recently reunited — fans hope that Doherty, although barred from the U.S., will end up in the States on their comeback tour.
