December 6

 

Folk blues lost its greatest voice today in 1949 when Huddie William Ledbetter, known as Lead Belly, died from ALS complications at 61, ending the life of the Louisiana songwriter whose "Goodnight Irene" and massive song repertoire preserved African-American musical traditions for future generations…

 

The 1960s dream died violently today in 1969 when The Rolling Stones' free concert at Altamont Speedway in California descended into chaos as Hells Angels security stabbed fan Meredith Hunter to death, forever marking the tragic end of the hippie era's innocence…

 

Rock and roll lost its most operatic voice today in 1988 when Roy Orbison died of a heart attack at 52, just as his comeback album 'Mystery Girl' was nearing completion, silencing "The Big O" whose soaring ballads had influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Chris Isaak…

 

Pop met jazz aristocracy on this day in 2003 when Elvis Costello married Diana Krall in a ceremony at Elton John's UK mansion, uniting the British new wave iconoclast with the sophisticated jazz pianist in one of music's most elegant pairings…

 

R.E.M.'s jangly architect Peter Buck was born today in 1956, the guitarist whose Rickenbacker riffs helped create college rock's signature sound and made the Athens, Georgia band alternative music's most important American group of the 1980s…

 

Soul lost a smooth operator on this day in 2011 when Dobie Gray died in Nashville from complications of cancer surgery at 71, ending the career of the singer whose "Drift Away" became one of the 1970s' most enduring anthems of musical salvation…

 

The Rolling Stones stripped away psychedelia today in 1968 with the release of 'Beggars Banquet,' the back-to-basics album featuring "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Street Fighting Man" that proved the band could still create primal rock and roll after their experimental detour.