Music History on June 16

HMS Pinafore

1879 W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's comic opera "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theater NYC

  • 1902 "The Wizard of Oz" musical first opens in Chicago, Illinois
  • 1958 "Flip Top Box" by Dicky Doo & The Don'ts hits #46
  • 1961 Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to West at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France
  • 1966 20th Tony Awards: "Marat/Sade" (play) & "Man of La Mancha" (musical) win

Music History

1966 Rowan & Martin host "The Dean Martin Show" Summer Series, on NBC-TV

  • 1967 50,000 attend first day of the Monterey International Pop Festival - beginning of the Summer of Love
  • 1967 The first Montreux Jazz Festival is held in Switzerland, created by Claude Nobs [1]

Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust

1972 RCA releases David Bowie's fifth studio album "The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"; it is considered his artistic breakthrough

  • 1977 "Beatlemania" opens on Broadway

Grease

1978 Film "Grease" opens, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, based on the 1971 musical

  • 1979 Single "Logical Song" by Supertramp peaks at #6

The Blues Brothers

1980 Musical comedy film "The Blues Brothers", starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, and directed by John Landis, premieres in Chicago, Illinois

Somewhere in the Stars

1982 Columbia Records releases "Somewhere in the Stars", the fourth studio album by Rosanne Cash; produced by husband Rodney Crowell, and featuring her father Johnny Cash on one track

  • 1983 Ringo Starr releases album "Old Wave" album in West Germany; soon after releases follow in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Brazil
  • 1989 "Ghostbusters II", American supernatural comedy film sequel, directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd premieres

Glastonbury Festival

1989 Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England opens: Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, and Suzanne Vega headline; other performers include: Bhundu Boys, Fairground Attraction, Hothouse Flowers, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, Yossou N'Dour, Pixies, The Proclaimers, Throwing Muses, The Waterboys, Lucinda Williams, Womack & Womack, and Flaco Jiménez

  • 1990 "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer peaks at #8

Musical Finale

1991 Revival of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick's musical "Fiddler on the Roof", starring Topol, closes at Gershwin Theater, NYC, after 241 performances

Music History

2012 Collapse of a stage at a Radiohead concert kills one person in Toronto, Ontario

Everything is Love

2018 Beyoncé and Jay-Z release their joint album "Everything is Love"

Music History

2022 American rocker Bruce Springsteen joins British legend Paul McCartney for two songs (Glory Days; I Wanna Be Your Man) at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

  • 2023 The Recording Academy announces new rules for Grammy Awards aimed at AI use - stating “only human creators” can win but a work containing AI eligible as long as human input is meaningful [1]