April 12 in Music History: R.E.M. release Murmur, Metallica sues Napstser

1954 – Bill Haley records “Rock Around the Clock” at Pythian Temple studios in New York City. It is considered by many to be the version of the song that put rock and roll on the map around the world. The song is used over the opening titles for the film Blackboard Jungle and goes on to be a worldwide #1 & the biggest selling pop single with sales over 25 million.

1965 – Martha Reeves & the Vandellas release Dance Party.

1973 – Stevie Wonder becomes one of the first rock stars to appear on Sesame Street.

1975 – David Bowie announces his second career retirement, saying, “I’ve rocked my roll. It’s a boring dead end, there will be no more rock ‘n’ roll records from me.”

1979 – Mickey Thomas, vocalist on the Elvin Bishop Band’s 1975 hit “Fooled Around And Fell In Love,” becomes the new lead vocalist for Jefferson Starship.

1983 – R.E.M. release their debut album, Murmur.

1989 – Two DJ’s on Los Angeles station KLOS ask, “What ever happened to David Cassidy?” while acknowledging his birthday on-air. The singer, who just happens to be listening, calls the station and the presenters invite him on the show. David plays three songs live and is subsequently signed by a new record label, reigniting his career.

1993 – David Gray releases his debut album, A Century Ends and Bruce Springsteen’s In Concert/MTV Plugged album is released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvXpEb_YWzI

1994 – Hole releases their second album, Live Through This.

2000 – Metallica files a suit against Napster, Yale University, The University of Southern California, and Indiana University for copyright infringement.

2008 – Lou Reed marries his third wife, the conceptual artist Laurie Anderson. The couple, who had been together since the early ’90s and decided to get married the previous day, meet at a friend’s house in Boulder, Colorado and hold the ceremony in the backyard.

2013 – A study published in the journal Science states that listening to new music is rewarding for the brain. Using MRI scans, a Canadian team of scientists found that areas in the reward center of the brain became active when people heard a song for the first time. The more the listener enjoyed what they were hearing, the stronger the connections were in the region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens.

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