Mental Floss

MUSIC

American singer Aretha Franklin, circa 1968.

The documentary of Queen of Soul's legendary gospel album, 'Amazing Grace,' has finally been released—nearly 50 years after it was recorded.

Garin Pirnia








Pius Utomi Expei, AFP/Getty Images

As a 17-year-old boy in South Africa, Hugh Masekela received a trumpet that had been donated by a jazz musician in America. That musician was Louis Armstrong.

Emily Petsko
Illustration by Mental Floss. Image: Rischgitz, Getty Images

Haunted houses wouldn't be as scary without the Baroque master's 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.' But that's not all we have to thank him for.

Lucas Reilly








Hulton Archive/Getty Images

On February 24, 1969, Johnny Cash performed "A Boy Named Sue" for the first time at California's San Quentin State Prison. The words, however, were written by Shel Silverstein.

Stacy Conradt
MGM

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

Eric D Snider






Express Newspapers/Getty Images

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.

Stacy Conradt


Frank Micelotta, Getty Images

The beloved musical 'Wicked' first opened on June 10, 2003 in San Francisco—and it was just announced that it will be turned into a film, hitting theaters December 2021.

Stacy Conradt
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."

Jeff Merron