This Day in Music History: Bruce Springsteen gets his first #1 album, Nirvana: MTV Unplugged in New York is released

1894 – Billboard Advertising begins publication. Within a few years, it starts focusing on billboards for entertainment shows and drops “Advertising” from its name, and by the 1930s, it is covering radio and sales of a new medium: jukebox records.

1955 – R&B group The Famous Flames, led by James Brown, cut their first demo (of “Please, Please, Please”) at a radio station in Macon, Georgia. It leads to their contract deal with King Records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qbhwcpA6A

1959 – Ray Charles leaves his old label, Atlantic, for a better deal at ABC-Paramount Records.

1968 – George Harrison releases Wonderwall Music, thereby becoming the first member of The Beatles to release a solo album. The songs are mostly Harrison instrumentals featuring Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and an unaccredited banjo contribution by Peter Tork of The Monkees.

1969 – Faces join Warner Brothers records.

1970 – ABBA, then known as the Festfolk Quartet, play their first-ever concert at a restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden.

1980 – Bruce Springsteen scores his first US #1 album with The River.

1985 – The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) agrees to demands made by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). As a result, any album deemed to contain offensive lyrics must be issued with a warning label, or the lyrics must be printed on the sleeve. Most record companies go with the labels, which don’t seem to hurt sales.

1994 – Nirvana releases MTV Unplugged in New York with two extra tracks that did not air on the television broadcast.

1996 – U2 sets up a video link to an internet site from their recording studio in Dublin so fans can watch them record their new album.

2000 – Ben Folds Five announces their breakup. Folds continues as a solo artist.

Information for this post was gathered from This Day in Music, The Music History Calendar, On This Day, and Wikipedia.