May 16

Progressive rock's greatest guitar intellectual Robert Fripp celebrates his 80th birthday today, the King Crimson founder whose discipline and technical mastery proved that virtuosity and avant-garde experimentation could coexist while his marriage to Toyah Willcox showed even perfectionists could find love…

 

Heavy metal lost one of its greatest voices today in 2010 when Ronnie James Dio died at 67 after battling stomach cancer, ending the career of the diminutive singer whose work with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own band proved that fantasy lyrics and operatic power could define the genre…

 

Jazz-rock fusion's most explosive drummer Billy Cobham celebrates his 82nd birthday today, the Mahavishnu Orchestra timekeeper whose technical precision and polyrhythmic mastery influenced every fusion and prog-rock drummer who followed across five decades of powerful innovation…

 

Grunge's tallest bassist Krist Novoselic turns 61 today, the Nirvana co-founder whose melodic playing and post-Kurt political activism proved that Seattle's most tragic band contained members capable of productive lives beyond heroin and suicide…

 

We remember Nazareth's powerhouse drummer Darrell Sweet on his birthday today in 1947, the Scottish timekeeper whose work on "Love Hurts" and decades of hard rock proved that solid timekeeping mattered more than flashy solos before his heart attack death in 1999…

 

Pop royalty Janet Jackson celebrates her 60th birthday today, the youngest Jackson whose 'Control' and Super Bowl controversy proved she could escape Michael's shadow while her influence on R&B choreography and production defined 1980s and '90s dance-pop…

 

Jazz guitar lost its founding gypsy genius on this day in 1953 when Django Reinhardt died at 43 from a stroke, ending the career of the two-fingered Belgian guitarist whose swing style influenced every jazz musician despite his Romani heritage and handicap…

 

Proto-punk's most innocent voice Jonathan Richman celebrates his 74th birthday today, the Modern Lovers frontman whose childlike wonder on "Roadrunner" proved that punk could be joyful rather than nihilistic across five decades of deliberately primitive performances…

 

Pop perfection arrived today in 1966 with the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds,' Brian Wilson's masterpiece proving that teenage surf music could evolve into sophisticated art while the album's commercial disappointment and 'Smile' collapse led to his mental breakdown…

 

Rock's first double album arrived today in 1966 with Bob Dylan's 'Blonde on Blonde,' the Nashville-recorded epic featuring "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" that proved Dylan's amphetamine-fueled creative peak could produce sprawling masterworks that redefined album length.