This Day in Music

January 5th

Three releases go double-platinum, a superstar of the music industry meets with tragedy, and Elvis buys a horse, on this day in music.

Releases

1976: Legendary American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan releases his 17th studio album, "Desire,” a collection of nine songs with lyrics that tell various stories, seven of which were co-written with songwriter and Broadway theatre director, Jacques Levy.

Well-regarded by critics and fans, the album features the songs "Hurricane," the story of wrongfully-convicted boxer Rubin Carter, "Joey," a romanticized tale of gangster Crazy Joey Gallo, and "Isis," the story of a young man who learns the value of love and loyalty while on a quest shortly after his wedding. The collection also includes the deeply personal song, "Sara," about his estranged wife, Sara Dylan (nee Noznisky).

With compelling stories and intricate musical arrangements accented by the haunting vocals of Emmy Lou Harris, the record was a huge success, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200, where it was certified double-Platinum, and No. 3 in both Canada and the UK, where it was certified Platinum and Gold respectively.

1973: “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” the debut studio album from local youngster Bruce Springsteen is released. Although many of the musicians appearing on the album would become The E. Street Band, it is officially a Springsteen solo work.

Music journalist Lester Bangs described The Boss as "a daring new artist who sets himself apart from his contemporaries with songwriting that either has a serious meaning or showcases his uninhibited gift for verbose, overloaded lyrics and rhyme schemes." Bangs was not alone, as most critics wrote about the album with high praise.

Springsteen classics "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night", songs he continues to perform live to this day, first appear on this record. Though it only reached No. 60 on the Billboard 200 at the time, Springsteen's success and popularity with subsequent releases has resulted in its double-Platinum certification.

1973: Aerosmith, the hard-partying band from Boston, release their debut studio album, "Aerosmith.” For some unknown reason, enough people bought the album to earn it double-Platinum certification by the RIAA, and No. 21 on the Billboard 200.

Events

1998: U.S. Congressman, former mayor of Palm Springs, CA, songwriter, and music business icon, Sonny Bono, dies in a skiing accident in South Lake Tahoe, CA. He was 67-years old.

Sonny and his then-wife Cher placed 11 songs on the Billboard Top-40 between 1965 and 1972, including the classic, "I Got You, Babe." Sonny entered politics in 1988 after becoming frustrated with local government bureaucracy when trying to open a restaurant in Palm Springs.

2017: Satellite radio service SiriusXM announces that its subscriber base has grown to 31.3 million, after adding 1.6 million new subscribers in 2016. In the nine subsequent years, subscribers have grown at a slower pace due to competition from streamers like Spotify and Pandora. SXM now has approximately 33 million customers.

The Daily Elvis

1967: Elvis purchased what would become his favourite horse, a golden palomino Quarter Horse named Rising Sun. The barn at Graceland was then renamed “House of the Rising Sun” to honour the horse.

Pictured: Bruce Springsteen in 1973.