October 23

 

Late-night television's undisputed king Johnny Carson was born on this day in 1925, the Tonight Show host whose program became the launching pad for countless musical careers and whose drummer Doc Severinsen led one of TV's most celebrated jazz bands before Carson's retirement in 1992…

 

Protest music's greatest anthem was captured today in 1963 when Bob Dylan recorded 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' at Columbia Recording Studios in New York, creating the title track that would become the civil rights movement's rallying cry and cement Dylan's role as a generation's spokesman…

 

Parody's musical genius "Weird Al" Yankovic, born Alfred Matthew Yankovic, celebrates his 65th birthday today, the accordion-playing satirist whose clever rewrites of pop hits have made him rock's most successful comedy act across four decades of cultural commentary…

 

Entertainment lost one of its pioneers today in 1950 when Al Jolson died at 64, ending the life of the blackface performer whose "The Jazz Singer" brought sound to cinema while his controversial legacy raises ongoing questions about racism in early American entertainment…

 

Country music's matriarch Mother Maybelle Carter passed away on this day in 1978 at 69, ending the life of the Carter Family guitarist whose influential "Carter scratch" picking style and preservation of traditional songs helped establish country music's foundation…

 

Rock tragedy struck today in 1978 when Neil Young's Zuma Beach, California home burned to the ground in a brush fire, destroying the sanctuary where the Canadian rocker had created some of his most personal work during the turbulent 1970s…

 

Pop culture's oddest couple united today in 2010 when Katy Perry married British comedian Russell Brand in an elaborate ceremony in Rajasthan, India, beginning the short-lived union between the chart-topping singer and the controversial comic that would end in divorce just 14 months later.