1916
HMS New Zealand fights at Jutland
In the misty North Sea on the last day of May 1916, 250 warships from Britain’s Royal Navy and Germany’s High Seas Fleet clashed in the First World War’s greatest and bloodiest sea battle.


Mona Blades and the orange Datsun car she was reportedly last seen in
1975
Mona Blades vanishes
Eighteen-year-old Mona Blades was last seen sitting in the back seat of an orange Datsun station wagon. Her body was never found and her disappearance has never been explained.



In Music History

2025-On the Hot 100, 37 songs are from Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem album, breaking a record he set two years earlier when 36 songs from his One Thing at a Time album made the chart at the same time.

2024-Charli XCX releases a remix of her popular song "360," featuring dance-pop artist Robyn and rapper Yung Lean, both of Sweden. Charli and Robyn, who is 13 years her senior, met while they were touring the same festivals in Australia and became good friends.

2019-Psychedelic-music legend and frontman for the 13th Floor Elevators, Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson passes away at 71 years old in his home in Austin, Texas.

2016-Alicia Keys announces that she will no longer wear makeup, embracing the #nomakeup movement.More

2007-Rob Grill, lead singer of The Grass Roots, is arrested for illegal possession of prescription painkillers at his home in Mount Dora, Florida.

2006-Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook of Little Big Town get married in a quiet ceremony but don't go public with the news until two months later, surprising fans who didn't know they were a couple.

2005-Strawberry Field (no s), the Liverpool orphanage which inspired The Beatles' famous song, is closed by the Salvation Army after almost seventy years.

2004-Rock guitarist Robert Quine, known for collaborations with Lou Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Tom Waits, commits suicide by heroin overdose at age 61.

2003-50 Cent's second single, "21 Questions," tops the chart for the first of four weeks. Featuring Nate Dogg on the chorus, the song explores 50's romantic side, as he asks a girl if she would be there for him through thick and thin.

2000-Soul singer Johnnie Taylor dies of a heart attack at age 66.

1998-Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) announces that she is leaving Spice Girls, releasing a statement saying: "Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left the Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best... PS, I'll be back." Halliwell was planning to leave the group in September at the end of their world tour, but grows frustrated and leaves early. The group continues as a quartet, but splits up in 2000. In 2007, they reunite with Halliwell back on board.

1996-Bass singer Elsbeary Hobbs (of The Drifters) dies from throat and lung cancer in Manhattan, New York at age 59.

1993-Jon Bon Jovi's wife, Dorothea Hurley, gives birth to their first child, a daughter named Stephanie Rose.

1991-Randy Travis marries his manager, Lib Hatcher, who was his court-appointed legal guardian when Randy was 17 and she was 35.

1991-Azealia Banks is born in New York City.

Five Genesis-related Acts Share Space In Hot 100
1986
Genesis enter the Hot 100 with "Invisible Touch," joining four acts by current or former members of the group on the chart.

1985-The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) sends its first letter to the RIAA requesting a ratings system for albums and concerts. The group is led by Tipper Gore, the wife of Senator Al Gore, so the record industry takes it seriously, and cuts back on their metal budgets. The end result is warning stickers on albums containing offensive lyrics.

1983-After a break in which David Byrne and Jerry Harrison release solo albums and Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth form Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads return with their fifth album, Speaking In Tongues. It contains their biggest hit, "Burning Down The House."

1980-Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley is born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

1980-The disco group Lipps, Inc. goes to #1 in America with "Funkytown," a tribute to New York City.

1976-Tom Waits begins a two-week stint performing at Ronnie Scott's Club in Soho, London, England. The club is run by Pete King, and the experience inspires Waits to write "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King)."

1975-Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" hits #1 in America.

1974-Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown album is certified Gold.

1971-Badfinger record "Day After Day."

1968-While recording vocals for "Revolution," John Lennon does some improvised ranting that is later used in the head-scratching "Revolution 9."

1967-Big Brother & the Holding Company film a scene in the Richard Lester movie Petulia.

1965-Steve White (drummer for The Style Council) is born in Southwark, London, England.

1964-The family-friendly Dave Clark Five go on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, performing "Glad All Over." They're a hit with the host, who has them on 18 more times.

1964-Darryl McDaniels, the DMC of Run-DMC, is born in Harlem, New York City. He creates a new rap style by trading off lines with his fellow MC Joseph Simmons (Run). They also become fashion icons, with gold chains, fedoras and sneakers with no shoelaces.

1962-Pop singer Corey Hart is born in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

1961-Chuck Berry opens the Berryland amusement park, complete with guitar-shaped swimming pool, in Wentzville, Missouri, outside of St. Louis.

1954-Vicki Sue Robinson ("Turn The Beat Around") is born in New York.

1952-Karl Bartos (of Kraftwerk) is born in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

1947-Junior Campbell (of Marmalade) is born William Campbell Jr. in Glasgow, Scotland.

1940-Augie Meyers (of the Sir Douglas Quintet) is born in San Antonio, Texas.

1938-Johnny Paycheck is born Donald Eugene Lytle in Greenfield, Ohio. His stage name comes from a boxer who was knocked out by Joe Louis.

1938-Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) is born in Manhattan, New York.

1938'-60s pop singer Lenny Welch is born in New York.

1931-Jazz guitarist Dick Garcia is born in New York City.

1930-Clint Eastwood is born in San Francisco, California. The actor/director also dabbles in music, releasing an album of Cowboy Favorites in 1959 and composing scores for several of his films, including Mystic River, Gran Torino, and Grace is Gone.





Featured Events

2014-The trustee for Randy California, leader of the band Spirit who died in 1997, sues Led Zeppelin, claiming a song California wrote called "Taurus" was stolen for the intro to "Stairway To Heaven." After a legal odyssey that includes testimony from Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin prevails in 2020.

2014-Michael Jackson becomes the first artist with Top 10 hits in five consecutive decades on the Hot 100 as "Love Never Felt So Good" reaches at #9.

Priest Rules In Heavy Metal Parking Lot
1986-Jeff Krulik and John Heyn film the parking-lot antics of fans tailgating at a Judas Priest concert in Landover, Maryland. The result is Heavy Metal Parking Lot, a 16-minute film that captures the energy and absurdity of heavy metal culture in the '80s.More

"Got To Get You Into My Life" Brings Back The Beatles
1976-Ten years after it appeared on The Beatles' Revolver album, Capitol Records issues "Got To Get You Into My Life" as a single in America.More

1976-The Who set the record for "World's Loudest Rock Band" when their show in London measures 126 decibels. Concerned about hearing loss, Guinness later stops certifying the record.

1961-Jimi Hendrix enlists in the Army and is stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. He signs up for three years, but is honorably discharged a little over a year later, ostensibly because he hurt his ankle in a parachute jump, but really because he is a lousy soldier, constantly thinking about or playing his guitar.

1956-Buddy Holly sees the John Wayne film The Searchers. Wayne's line, "That'll be the day," inspires him to write a song with that title.

1948-Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham is born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England.

1976 The Who set a new record for the loudest performance by a rock band at 120 decibels during a concert at Charlton Athletic Football Ground.

1977- The BBC banned the Sex Pistols song "God Save The Queen" due to its anti-royalist theme, despite efforts to ban it.

1980-Disco and funk group Lipps Inc hit No.1 in the US with "Funkytown" for the first of four consecutive weeks.

1980- The theme song "Suicide is Painless" from the 1970 film "MAS*H" reached No.1 on the UK Singles chart for the first of three consecutive weeks.

1980- Singer-songwriter Paul McCartney started a two-week stint at number one in the UK on this day with his second studio solo album "McCartney II".