This Day in Music History: Oct. 14, From the Everly Brothers to Bowie’s ‘Heroes’
This date also marks chart breakthroughs and landmark releases from the Everly Brothers, Bobbie Gentry, Michael Jackson, Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This Day in Music History: Oct. 14, From the Everly Brothers to Bowie's 'Heroes'
David Bowie released “Heroes” on Oct. 14, 1977, turning his Berlin experiments into an album whose reach would extend far beyond its initial audience. Its combination of rock songs and atmospheric instrumental music made room for both direct emotion and adventurous sound. Forty-nine years later, it remains a defining milestone on a date that also brought breakthroughs for the Everly Brothers, Bobbie Gentry, Michael Jackson and Prince.
The story begins on Oct. 14, 1957, when the Everly Brothers reached No. 1 on Billboard’s pop best-sellers chart with “Wake Up Little Susie.” This was before the Hot 100 began, so the achievement belongs to an earlier chart system. Don and Phil Everly’s first pop chart-topper established that their tightly matched voices could carry country-rooted music into the center of the emerging rock ’n’ roll market.
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Written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the song joined an everyday teenage predicament to an urgent performance. Its importance went beyond the hit itself. The Everlys drew on Appalachian folk, bluegrass and country traditions, giving rock audiences a close-harmony sound distinct from larger vocal groups. That approach became a model for the Beatles, the Byrds, the Hollies, and Simon and Garfunkel. Their success helped make the two-voice partnership a lasting part of popular music’s vocabulary.
A decade later, the Billboard album chart dated Oct. 14, 1967, placed Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” at No. 1. Her debut displaced the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” ending its 15-week stay at the summit. That was more than a change of leaders: A new singer-songwriter, working with Southern settings and a highly individual voice, had broken through during a year dominated by major rock releases.
The title song had already topped the singles chart, creating the demand that brought the album together quickly. Arranger Jimmie Haskell’s strings supplied dramatic shading around Gentry’s storytelling rather than overwhelming it. The album also included “Mississippi Delta,” “Chickasaw County Child” and other songs that broadened the picture beyond one successful single. Gentry’s arrival received further recognition at the 1968 Grammy Awards, where she won best new artist and honors for “Ode to Billie Joe.” Her album breakthrough gave a distinctive female writer-performer a place alongside the era’s leading acts.
On the Hot 100 dated Oct. 14, 1972, Michael Jackson earned his first solo No. 1 with “Ben.” He was 14. Already known through the Jackson 5, Jackson now had a chart-topping recording under his own name, an important step in establishing a musical identity outside the family group. The record spent one week at the top.
Written by Don Black and Walter Scharf for the film “Ben,” the ballad offered a different setting for Jackson’s voice than the upbeat group records that had introduced him to many listeners. Its success rested on his ability to communicate tenderness and loneliness with a restrained performance. The milestone did not mean he had left the Jackson 5; it demonstrated that group membership and a successful individual career could develop together. It was an early indication of the solo possibilities that lay ahead.
Bowie’s “Heroes” followed on this date in 1977. Produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, it was his second studio album of the year, following “Low.” Bowie returned to Berlin’s Hansa studio with musicians from the earlier project, joined by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. Brian Eno again contributed to the creative process. Although grouped with “Low” and “Lodger” as the Berlin trilogy, “Heroes” was the only one recorded entirely in Berlin.
The album reached No. 3 in Britain and No. 35 in the United States, while British music publications NME and Melody Maker named it album of the year. Its title song’s later life became even larger than those initial results suggest. Artists ranging from Motörhead to Lady Gaga covered it, and it appeared in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. The recording’s continuing reach illustrates how an experimental album can produce a song that travels across generations and musical communities.
On Oct. 14, 1981, Prince released his fourth studio album, “Controversy,” through Warner Bros. Records. Building on “Dirty Mind,” he expanded his subject matter to include race, religion, sexuality and political conflict. The title track placed questions about identity alongside the Lord’s Prayer, while “Ronnie, Talk to Russia” brought international tensions into his music. Dance rhythms carried material that asked listeners to consider more than romance.
Prince recorded most of the album himself, although Lisa Coleman and other bandmates contributed. That combination of individual control and selective collaboration foreshadowed the fuller band approach of his later work with the Revolution. “Controversy” was an important stage in his development: It sharpened the connection between personal freedom, public identity and funk, without separating serious questions from the pleasure of the dance floor.
The date’s release history continued on Oct. 14, 2022, when the Red Hot Chili Peppers issued “Return of the Dream Canteen.” Its 17 tracks came from the same sessions as “Unlimited Love,” released that April. Guitarist John Frusciante and producer Rick Rubin participated in both records. Rather than save the remaining material for another year, the band released a second full-length album, making 2022 the first year it had issued two studio albums back to back. The decision captured an unusually productive period of renewed collaboration, adding another chapter to Oct. 14’s history of artists finding fresh possibilities in familiar partnerships.
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