This Week In Music History Sept 29-Oct 12

The week in music history brought to you by MusicGoldmine.com.

Just a couple of highlights from this week in music history!

OCT 5: Happy birthday to Steve Miller! He has always been the definition of cool—part bluesman, part cosmic rocker, and all heart. Born in Milwaukee in 1943, Miller grew up surrounded by legends; Les Paul was a family friend who showed him a few early tricks on the guitar. After cutting his teeth in Chicago’s electric blues scene, Miller packed up for San Francisco, right as the counterculture was exploding. There, he formed the Steve Miller Band, fusing blues roots with psychedelic sounds and a sense of pure West Coast freedom.

OCT 7: Happy birthday to John Mellencamp! He is one of America’s most enduring rock storytellers — a heartland poet who’s spent decades chronicling small-town life, working-class grit, and restless rebellion. Born in Seymour, Indiana, in 1951, Mellencamp grew up on a steady diet of rock ’n’ roll and Midwestern realism. He battled through early struggles in the late ’70s under the moniker “Johnny Cougar,” a name he never liked but used to get his foot in the industry door. By the early ’80s, he hit his stride with American Fool (1982), featuring “Hurts So Good” and the anthemic “Jack and Diane,” songs that captured blue-collar defiance and youthful nostalgia.