Music History

The Oscar-nominated musical is also a history lesson about Hollywood in the late 1920s, when silent pictures were giving way to talkies.

Nina Simone—who was born as Eunice Waymon on February 21, 1933—was known for using her musical platform to speak out.

A collection of Bob Dylan poems that was auctioned off by Christie's in 2005.

Dylan's personal copy of "The Catcher in the Rye" is one of the rare items on display. In it, he wrote notes and drew doodles.

On February 9, 1964, The Beatles—identified in a press release as a wildly popular quartet of English recording stars—performed on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in New York City and changed the course of music history.

Brunswick Records, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

On February 3, 1959, musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson (along with pilot Roger Peterson) were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. The date became known as "The Day the Music Died."

The original footage was deleted long ago, but a fan happened to record it.

Evening Standard, Hulton Archive/Getty Images

On January 30, 1969, the Fab Four appeared on the rooftop of their record label’s headquarters, unannounced, and started performing. It would be their final live show.

Hang this on your (wonder)wall.

It includes the earliest known version of 'Space Oddity.'

For a time, David Bowie stored his urine in his refrigerator out of fear that a wizard might steal it.

“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em all over everything you do.”

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007).

Christmas is a time for joy, thankfulness, love … and, when it comes to Christmas carols, the occasional bout of cringe.

The singer would have celebrated his 103rd birthday today.

Before he was one of the world's most iconic musicians, John Lennon was a choir boy and a Boy Scout.

"And it burns burns burns, that ring of fire ..."

The performance is part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Fluxus Festival.

Even the amendments most history books gloss over.

In 1956, Chrysler introduced a record player that could be mounted under dashboards and promised that it would never skip. Common sense argued otherwise.

Respect.

It sat in storage for almost a decade.

Mick Jagger in David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin's Gimme Shelter (1970).

The best music documentaries deliver a stellar soundscape, offer a backstage pass to the real humans who make it, and hold our ears even if we aren’t already devoted fans. If a little history gets made in the process, even better.