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Today in rock history: On this date in 1995, quirky Icelandic singer and former lead singer of alternative darlings The Sugarcubes, Björk, released her second solo album, Post. Never afraid to take chances and cross musical boundaries, the album found the adventurous and gifted singer working with a variety of producers and creating one of her absolute best works. A huge hit in Europe, the album contained several hits like the sonically breathtaking songs “Army of Me” and “Hyperballad” as well as a rousing cover of “It’s Oh So Quiet,” a song popularized in 1951 by actress and singer Betty Hutton. Considered to be one of her strongest albums, Post rose to No. 2 on British sales charts and helped establish Björk as one of the most unique and unpredictable artists to break out on her own in the '90s.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1995, young Canadian singer and songwriter Alanis Morissette released her third album, Jagged Little Pill. Already popular in her home country, this was the first album Morissette would release internationally. Signed to Madonna’s Maverick Records label, she teamed up with established songwriter and producer Glen Ballard and quickly started writing and recording songs. The album became an unprecedented and unexpected success. It topped album charts in 10 countries around the world and was the first album to ever top the Billboard chart in America by a female Canadian artist. Several singles helped fuel the enormous success and sales numbers for the album including the scathing “You Oughta Know,” “Hand In My Pocket” and “Ironic,” Alanis’ biggest hit single to date. Selling over 30 million copies worldwide, Jagged Little Pill was one of the best-selling albums of the 1990s and earned Morissette five Grammy awards including the coveted Album of the Year trophy.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 1969, experimental British rock band Pink Floyd released its third album, More, in England. The record wouldn’t be released in America until August of 1969, where its title would be elongated to Original Motion Picture Soundtrack From The Film More. As the extended title suggests, the music contained on the record served as the accompanying soundtrack for the directorial debut of Barbet Schroeder, who was making a name for himself in French cinema. A mixture of sounds and styles, the album finds the band dipping into folky ballads, instrumentals and some of the heaviest material it had recorded to date, including the heavy metal-sounding “The Nile Song.” The album marked the first of the band’s albums to not include any contributions from founding member Syd Barrett, who’d already been dismissed from Pink Floyd at the time of its release. Also notable for the fact that it contains no lead vocals by Roger Waters, the album is the only one to not feature his singing from his tenure with the band. Considered an ambitious and challenging work, More was the first Floyd album to get lukewarm reviews in comparison to the raving ones the band’s two previous records received.
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Today in rock history: On this date in 2003, British rock band Arctic Monkeys made its debut live appearance when it performed at a small music venue in Sheffield, England called The Grapes. Still teenagers, the fresh new group played a 25-minute set that included covers of Fatboy Slim’s dance hit “Rockafeller Skank” and “Teenage Kicks,” the 1978 pop-punk classic by Irish band The Undertones. The band was paid a total of £27 for its performance which converts to about $36 American. The band’s leader Alex Turner would later admit that his sole motivation for the performance was to get the attention of a girl he was interested in. Within three years, the band would be signed to a major label and release its debut album, 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not which is still the fastest-selling debut album of all time in Britain.
