Music

Kenny Everett promised not to play Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and then aired it fourteen times in two days. Music is in every human society, and these stories show how uneven the paths through it can be. Michael Jackson paid 47.5 million dollars in 1985 for a catalog holding most of the Beatles's songs. Bob Dylan answered a heckler by telling his band to play louder. Aretha Franklin took "Respect" from Otis Redding and reached number one. DJ Kool Herc stretched a drum break with two copies of one record at a 1973 Bronx party.

• The BeatlesIn 1964, an estimated 73 million Americans watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.

  12 min
• Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.

  11 min
• Bob DylanAt a 1966 Manchester concert, Bob Dylan told his band to play loud after a heckler called him Judas.

  15 min
• David BowieDavid Bowie died two days after releasing his final album. He planned Blackstar as a parting gift while privately dying.

  13 min
• Elvis PresleyA teacher told young Elvis Presley he had no aptitude for singing. He later sold an estimated 500 million records.

  18 min
• Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix's first guitar was a one-string ukulele found in the garbage. He learned by ear to Elvis songs.

  10 min
• Taylor SwiftEvery record label in Nashville turned Taylor Swift away when she was 11. She kept going and began writing songs.

  14 min
• Ludwig van BeethovenBeethoven was deaf when a singer turned him around to see applause. It happened at the premiere on the 7th of May 1824.

  13 min
• Wolfgang Amadeus MozartMozart finished more than 800 works in thirty-five years and died with his Requiem unfinished.

  11 min
• Billie HolidayBillie Holiday died with seventy cents in the bank. She earned $250,000 in the three years before her 1947 arrest.

  14 min
• Aretha FranklinOtis Redding said Aretha Franklin took his song "Respect" away from him. Her version hit number one in 1967.

  12 min
• Johann Sebastian BachFor decades after he died, Bach was remembered as an organist, not a composer.

  11 min
• MusicMusic is in every human society, yet scholars cannot agree what defines it.

  19 min
• Bohemian RhapsodyKenny Everett promised not to play Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and then played it fourteen times in two days.

  10 min
• Dolly PartonDolly Parton refused to give Elvis Presley half the publishing rights to "I Will Always Love You."

  13 min
• DJ Kool HercDJ Kool Herc played two copies of one record to stretch a drum break. He debuted the trick at a Bronx party in 1973.

  10 min