October 21st: The Biggest Music Headlines

Leonard Cohen Releases Final Album, ‘You Want It Darker’

On October 21, 2016, Leonard Cohen released his final studio album, You Want It Darker, just 17 days before his death. The lauded singer, songwriter, and poet had experienced a decline in his physical health, after years of touring, but used it as an impetus to focus on his final project. “In a certain sense, this particular predicament is filled with many fewer distractions than other times in my life,” he explained to the New Yorker, adding that it “actually enables me to work with a little more concentration and continuity than when I had duties of making a living, being a husband, being a father.”

In 1972, Curtis Mayfield began a four-week run at the top of the US album chart with the soulful soundtrack to Super Fly. The album became one of the few soundtracks in film history to out-gross the film it accompanied, thanks in large part to the album’s Top Ten singles, “Superfly” and “Freddie’s Dead.”

In 1976, The Who concluded their North American tour with a show at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. It would mark Keith Moon’s final concert with the band. Due in part to the hard-partying drummer’s deteriorating health, the British rockers took a break from the road. Less than two years later, following Moon’s death, the band released a statement saying, “We are more determined than ever to carry on, and we want the spirit of the group to which Keith contributed so much to go on, although no human being can ever take his place.”

In 1972, Chuck Berry began a two-week run with his first and only No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “My Ding-A-Ling.” Across the Atlantic, the single would also mark Berry’s sole chart-topper in the UK.

In 1958, Buddy Holly’s last recording session took place at Pythian Temple Studios in New York. The songs he recorded, including “Raining in My Heart” and “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” are colloquially known as “The String Sessions.”

In 2013, famed concert promoter Sid Bernstein died at the age of 95. He was known for bringing The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, The Moody Blues, and The Kinks to America.

In 2001, benefit concerts were held at New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Washington DC’s RFK Stadium to raise money for victims of 9/11. Performers included Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, and The Who.

In 2006, Evanescence’s The Open Door topped the Billboard 200, becoming the 700th album to hit No.1 on the American chart.

Looking for more things that happened on this day in music?
Keep scrolling for all of the headlines for October 21.

BORN ON OCTOBER 21:

1940: Manfred Mann
1941: Steve Cropper
1946: Lux Interior (The Cramps)
1947: Tetsu Yamauchi (Faces, Free)
1952: Brent Mydland (Grateful Dead)
1953: Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go’s)
1957: Steve Lukather (Toto)
1971: Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age)
1993: Kane Brown
1995: Doja Cat

Looking for more artists born on this day?
Keep scrolling for all of our October 21 birthdays.

What to find another day?

October 21st