Today in Music History...February 25, 2017

Music History: February 25

 

2015 Madonna falls down a set of stage stairs during her performance of "Living For Love" at the Brit Awards when the cape she is wearing doesn't release properly when pulled by a dancer. She gamely gets up and finishes the performance, later reassuring fans that she is fine, and that "love really lifted me up."

2014 Kelis' Saucy and Sweet show premieres on The Cooking Channel. The singer trained part-time as a chef in the late 2000s, eventually graduating from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school.

2012 Bluesman Louisiana Red (real name: Iverson Minter) dies after suffering a stroke in Hanover, Germany, at age 79. Known for his 1975 song "Sweet Blood Call."

2011 Rick Coonce (drummer for The Grass Roots) dies of heart failure in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at age 64.

2009 Memphis bluesman Mark Sallings (Mark Sallings and the Famous Unknowns) dies in a car accident in Arkansas at age 56.

2004 Estelle Axton, co-founder of Stax Records, dies at age 85.

2003 Having recently signed with Columbia Records, Switchfoot release The Beautiful Letdown, their major label debut album.

1999 Prince, who is now using an unpronounceable symbol for his moniker, sues nine websites to prevent unauthorized downloads. He takes another stand in 2007 when he sued other sites to remove images of him.

1998 Bo Diddley and Roy Orbison receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Grammys.

1995 Frank Sinatra performs in public for the last time. On the last day of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament in Palm Springs, Ol' Blue Eyes sings a handful of songs to a VIP invitational audience: "I've Got the World On a String," "You Make Me Feel So Young," "Fly Me to the Moon," "Where or When," "My Kind of Town," and "The Best is Yet to Come."

1995 Madonna's "Take A Bow" hits #1 on the Hot 100 and stays for seven weeks. The song is produced by Babyface.

1993 Toy Caldwell (lead guitarist for The Marshall Tucker Band) dies of cocaine-related cardio-respiratory failure at his home in Moore, South Carolina, at age 45.

1992 James Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

1991 Director Cameron Crowe brings members of the cast and crew of his movie Singles to the Off Ramp in Seattle, where Pearl Jam, who appear in the film, is playing. Matt Dillon and Campbell Scott hang out with the band all night, but the real Seattle scene is a little too grungy for the other actors, who leave early.

1987 Frank Sinatra guests on an episode of Magnum, P.I. on CBS-TV.

1984 Van Halen's "Jump" hits #1 in the US, where it stays for five weeks.

1982 Bad Religion release their first full-length studio album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

1982 Alabama: Mountain Music

1973 Justin Jeffre (98 Degrees) is born in Mount Clemens, Michigan.

1971 Daniel Powter is born in Vernon, British Columbia. The budding violinist switched to piano after a group of bullies destroyed his violin.

1963 The Beatles, "Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why"

1961 Elvis Presley plays the first of two charity shows in Memphis. It's his concert since entering the army in 1958.

1959 Mike Peters (lead singer for The Alarm) is born in Prestatyn, Wales.

1957 Buddy Holly records "That'll Be The Day" with his band The Crickets at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. In September, it will hit #1 in the US.

1957 Dennis Diken (drummer for The Smithereens) is born in Belleville, New Jersey.

1947 Bassist David Stensen (The Grass Roots) is born in San Bruno, California.

1942 Roy Michaels (Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys)

Soy Bomb And ODB Disrupt Grammy Awards

 
1998

Strange things are afoot at the Grammy Awards. A shirtless dude with "Soy Bomb" written on his chest intrudes on Bob Dylan's performance, and when Shawn Colvin wins Song Of The Year (for "Sunny Came Home"), Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu-Tang Clan rushes the stage, commandeering the microphone and talking about how his group should have won the Best Rap Album award over Puff Daddy because "Wu-Tang is for the children."

 "Soy Bomb" is a performance artist named Michael Portnoy. For a good 30 seconds, he dances wildly next to Dylan, who is completely unfazed. When security finally comes for him, Dylan simply goes on performing the song, "Love Sick."

Portnoy infiltrated the show by getting work as a "head nodder," whose job is to appear in the background during performances and act like he's having fun. These folks are often hired for awards shows since regular fans can be unpredictable.

He explains that "Soy Bomb" is a two-word poem with a deep meaning. "Soy represents dense nutritional life. Bomb is, obviously, an explosive destructive force. So, 'soy bomb' is what I think art should be: dense, transformational, explosive life."

In 2005, Eels write a song about him called "Whatever Happened to Soy Bomb."

Colvin is a big winner. She and her co-writer John Leventhal win Record of the Year for "Sunny Came Home" and accept it without incident, but when they win for Song of the Year, ODB beats them to the podium and gives a bizarre speech. "I went and bought me an outfit today that costed a lot of money, because I thought Wu-Tang was going to win," he says. "Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. Puffy is good, but Wu-Tang is the best."

Colvin is confused, but accepts the award without further incident.

Other winners at the ceremony include Paula Cole for Best New Artist and Dylan for Time Out of Mind, which wins Album of the Year.